All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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Collection includes: All About Eve (1988); Scarlet And Other Stories (1989); Touched By Jesus (1991); Ultraviolet (1992); Winter Words - Hits And Rareties (1992); Keepsakes - A Collection (2006).

All About Eve arose out of Britain's '80s goth rock scene with a unique, folk-rock-influenced take on the style. Former journalist and Gene Loves Jezebel bassist Julianne Regan was encouraged by members of the Mission U.K. to form her own band after singing background vocals on some of their material. She assembled former Aemotti Crii members Tim Bricheno (guitar) and Andy Cousin (bass), plus drummer Mark Price, and sprinkled her songs with references to hippiedom and white-magic mysticism. Their self-titled debut sold well in the U.K. in 1988 and produced the hit "Martha's Harbour." Following the release and tour of their difficult second record Scarlet and Other Stories, Bricheno left the group and subsequently joined Sisters of Mercy.

The band regrouped, with the Church mainstay Marty Willson-Piper taking over on guitar. The resulting record, Touched By Jesus, was met with a lukewarm reception, and the band decided on a stylistic change for their next LP. 1994's Ultraviolet got lost in the shuffle, and problems with how the record company percieved the band added to an already stressful situation. A short time later, All About Eve called it a day, with Julianne Regan going on to form Mice, work with Bernard Butler, start the atmospheric Jules et Jim project, and a regular day job.

When it seemed that the band would never be heard from again, old friends the Mission decided to start touring again, and asked Regan if she was interested in opening. This was enough to not only get the band back together but to start touring on their own. After the tour with the Mission, All About Eve embarked on what turned out to be two years worth of acoustic gigs, and in 2000 released the first collection of unplugged highlights, entitled Fairy Light Nights. Fairy Light Nights, Vol. 2 and more acoustic shows appeared in 2001.

Biography by Chris True, Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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To label (in any way) the self-titled debut from All About Eve "goth" is a perfect example of how loosely the term was being thrown around in the mid- to late '80s in England. Sure, the Eves had a bit of goth cred (touring with the Mission, early singles that sounded a lot like Siouxsie), but All About Eve is more folksy than menacing, and follows the tradition of later-era Fairport Convention more than Bauhaus or the Sisters of Mercy. The band had already developed its more folksy sound on its independently released singles, but with Paul Samwell-Smith producing, All About Eve graduated from quasi-Siouxsie clones into a full-blown example of late-'80s "goth pop." Steeped in folksy melodies and hippie-esque lyrics, All About Eve can seem a bit dramatic and drippy, but it makes up for its faults with solid song arrangements and a glossy production that fits the band's melodic sensibilities and polished guitar work. While it may not be part of the pantheon of rock as a whole, All About Eve stands out as a prime example of a time in English pop music when things weren't quite certain.

Review by Chris True, Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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It happens all the time. A band puts out a well-received debut, tours successfully, and generally feels excited about its future. And while it may seem that the "sophomore slump" is an overused cliché, before issuing their premier releases most bands spend years working on songs live, refining their songwriting, and finding their place in things. They get the record deal, and take those well-worked songs into the studio with them. They record, release, and if they're lucky, the album is a moderate to big hit. If it is, then they get a follow-up to make. Only this time, the band has to come up with new tracks, usually in a sterile, studio environment, and given that they're probably sick of playing the same tunes for the last few years, cracks in morale start to appear. To say this happened to All About Eve would be hitting the nail on the head. Recorded in somewhat idyllic surroundings should have had a positive effect on the band, but instead the Eves had a bit of a meltdown. Scarlet and Other Stories, their "difficult" follow-up, is the result of a band trying to cope with moderate success while working new sounds and styles into their music. More diverse and a tad longer than All About Eve, Scarlet has some fantastic moments and some not so fantastic moments. Tracks like "Road to Your Soul" and "December" are quintessential All About Eve, while others, such as "Hard Spaniard" and "Blind Lemon Sam," are catchy and melodic but stretch the ability of the band a bit too far. Lyrically, Scarlet is considerably darker than its predecessor, lacking the angels and hippies and flower children of the debut. What it all boils down to is that when the band is playing to its strengths, the album is great. When they're trying too hard, the album feels a bit like a misstep.

Review by Chris True, Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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To call All About Eve's "situation" in 1991 precarious would be an understatement. Gone was guitarist Tim Bricheno, the credibility of goth pop like the Eves and the Mission had been pushed aside by shoegazing and baggy, and their sophomore release, Scarlet and Other Stories, had not met expectations critically or sales-wise (perhaps no fault of the band, but rather due to the fickleness of the pop music-buying public or the inability of music journalists not to sensationalize any new "thing" that comes along). To solve the problem of guitarists, the band managed to recruit Church mainstay Marty Willson-Piper, who brought with him a more mature and developed style. Obviously, the band itself had to mature musically as well, and on Touched by Jesus (an "unfortunate title" according to frontwoman Julianne Regan) the band does just that. From the opening notes of "Strange Way," it's obvious that All About Eve are trying to break from the past. Producer Warne Livesey gives the band a bigger sound, and Willson-Piper's guitar style steers the band away from the admittedly drippy-hippy feel of the first two albums, resulting in an album that showcases a band in flux. But like many growth spurts, mistakes will be made. While much of the album is a lush, well-arranged affair, moments (the breakdown in "Touched by Jesus," for example, or the pervasive "existential wonderings" of the lyrics) feel tacked on and overbaked. But for all the missteps there are some real gems here, including "Ravens," the euphoric melody of the chorus of "Rhythm of Life," and the catchy singles "Strange Way" and "The Dreamer." Touched by Jesus was a bit of a stylistic change (not the first nor the last for the band) for All About Eve, and while the gamble may not have paid off (for whatever the reason), the record is well crafted, well played, and for the most Eves fans, worth owning.

Review by Chris True, Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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So, 1991's attempt at mainstream cred (Touched by Jesus) didn't work out. The label (PolyGram) didn't quite know what to do with All About Eve anymore, and the band was once again teetering on the edge of oblivion in 1992. What is a band to do? Well, for All About Eve, the first step was to overhaul the entire thing. Eschewing the admittedly adult contemporary sound of the previous full-length, the bandmembers went full bore for more indie cred, opting to recast themselves in a more "shoegazer" light. The leadoff single, "Phased," must have really raised a lot of eyebrows, given that the band had not just opted for adding effects and turning up the distortion, but restructuring the basic AAE song formula and giving the lyrics a bit more dreamlike quality, at the same time losing the more dramatic and maudlin stylings of the past. While it is not uncommon for bands to wagon-jump from time to time given popular tastes, many bands go for the surface, trying to capture the sound of what the current flavor is, without understanding the depth that is sometimes involved. And this is why Ultraviolet stands out a bit from the pack of pretenders. Firstly, Marty Willson-Piper has enough psychedelic cred on his own to help guide the band in the right direction – there are some really key moments from the veteran Church guitarist on this one. More importantly, leader/vocalist Julianne Regan understands that the band can't just turn on the phase and chorus pedals and redo "Every Angel" as early-'90s British psych. Tracks like "Phased," "Freeze," and "Dream Butcher" are clean cuts with the past, a sense that the Eves had enough confidence to push aside obvious hooks to let long, floating melodies carry the weight of the song. But all is not lost in the shuffle, and the longstanding talents for hooks and melody rear up in dreamy gems like "Things He Told Her" and "Some Finer Day." To be sure, this is not a revolutionary statement, à la MBV's Loveless, but for the crop of bands enticed by the notion that noise could be beautiful, All About Eve's Ultraviolet rates pretty damn good. This would be the band's last official full-length release before going into a very long hiatus, which is a bit of a shame, given that Ultraviolet was possible proof that the band had more to offer.

Review by Chris True, Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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A fairly good compilation, Winter Words features most of the singles that the band released during their short career. While the collection is buyable for the few B-sides thrown in for good measure ("Theft," in particular, is one of the best All About Eve tracks around, and makes this worth having), it's more "hits" than "rarities."

Review by Chris True, Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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3 CD set that includes a limited edition DVD (PAL/Region 0). Keepsakes has been overseen, compiled and assembled by Julianne Regan, the front woman and founder of All About Eve. Collecting together all their hits, including the top 10 'Martha's Harbour' and the other 9 top 40 hits, alongside favorite live recordings and BBC sessions, this is a definitive All About Eve release. The DVD portion features all of the AAE promo clips along with TV performances from Top Of The Pops, Going Live and Daytime Live, and includes the classic Top Of The Pops performance of 'Martha's Harbour' and more, plus a 16 page booklet packed with photos from Julianne's personal archives, handwritten lyrics and sleeve notes by the legendary music journalist Dom Wills (one of the Stud Brothers).

Considered in the '80s as too goth for the pop mainstream and too pop for the goth crowd, All About Eve's blueprint of grungy rock guitars topped with ethereal female vocals nonetheless was extremely influential on the contemporary European goth-metal scene. Keepsakes: A Collection is a weighty best-of collection from the much-maligned '80s band, compiling all their top tunes, including their best-known song and only Top Ten hit, the beautiful "Martha's Harbour."

Allmusic.com

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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All About Eve - Albums Collection 1988-2006 [7CD+DVD5]

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