All Saints - singles poll

Oh god, I remember disliking 'I Know Where It's At' a lot when it first came out - particularly Shaznay's "rapping" bits. I thought they were gonna be another in a long line of flop girl bands until they put out 'Never Ever' ...

I'd forgotten about 'Bootie Call' and 'Black Coffee', and I'm definitely gonna vote for the latter!

Pure Shores

Pure Shores comfortably. That comeback album wasn't too bad though! I voted for "One Strike" in last year's ILX poll.

voted pure shores

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i hate pure shores.

but for whatever reason when i go to the beach i often get that dumb bit of backing vocals "take me to my beeeeach" in my head when i do so

Black Coffee.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Pure Shores and Black Coffee are awesome... you get more of that pop bliss that William Orbit perfected on “ray of light” with a light touch of shoegaze (please tell me I’m not crazy and I’m not the only one hearing a shoegaze influence in there).

Personally I think All Saints make a better pairing with Orbit’s production than Madonna ever did. They sound more

Sorry hit publish by accident.

I don’t know... They sound more light and vibrant where Madonna is a bit of a mixed bag.

I like the melancholy stateliness Madonna throws in the mix but agree completely that the Orbit pop bliss is also undeniable in the hands of All Saints

I totally forgot to vote in this but I would definitely have cast a vote for War Of Nerves. Shaznay Lewis is really good at writing songs that capture moments.

Their version of Under The Bridge changes the lyrics slightly and makes more sense to me - I think it was really smart to put it out as a double single with Lady Marmalade, the former being the comedown after-the-party walk home to the latter's playfulness. They've never released a single that's been less than brilliant though.

"Recording the vocal harmonies on this one was pure joy. And the notes just poured out of my guitar, with such inspiration" was what William Orbit said about Black Coffee and I think you can hear how blissful it must have been to create. I would probably claim All Saints the best singles band of all time, really.

They are still the best singles band of all time and the new album isnt their best but it's still a really good album and I am so excited about seeing them live tonight

Although between tonight, the Cardigans last week, Lauryn Hill two weeks ago and Belly, Saint Etienne and Garbage over the summer, I fear I have stepped into a time warp inadvertently

haha, wow seeing them tonight sounds great! please report back

they were really really good! I saw them a few years ago and thought they seemed really at ease and comfortable with each other, no signs of the internal tensions that made them such tabloid favourites, but last night they seemed even more relaxed and united - the harmonising was flawless and they just looked like they were having so much fun and Shaznay especially just seemed so charismatic and unable to hide her glee that she still gets to do this. The "choreography" was hilarious, it seemed to consist basically of the girls walking between four fixed points taking it in turns to lead, and Natalie had definitely had more to drink than the rest before taking to the stage.

one of the things I really like about All Saints is how their music - especially the newer stuff - sounds like the logical apex of trends and influences that have been going on since they started twenty years ago. The kind of pop music that draws equally on r&b and club sounds and chill-out atmospheres, not retro but out-of-step with more on-trend sounds.

You summed up their newer material nicely. Even though there isn't anything to rival their absolute peaks on the latest two albums, I've enjoyed them as a whole a lot more than any of their previous albums.

Shaznay's back (solo that is)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPscHr280cw