Can we appreciate one of THE girlbands of the 90s up in here please?*

 

I will admit I had avoided them throughout most of my life but have recently purchased their Greatest Hits and it's FULL of life-changing GEMS of AMAZING. Their vocals and harmonies are top-notch and they were very clearly the inspiration for Sugababes (who became to Girls Aloud what All Saints were to the Spice Girls.)

 

My personal favourites:

 

Black Coffee

 

 

Pure Shores

 

Under The Bridge

 

I Know Where It's At

 

 

Special mention to 'Never Ever' too of course.

 

*(In the interest of fairness, this is also the place to vent your anger at them if you feel personally victimized by Shaznay or something.)

I used to love All Saints. It was in the Studio 1 era that I got into them. Rock Steady was probably my favourite song for a period of time, it's still amazing now. :) They did some pretty darn good songs. :)

'Pure Shores' could be released tomorrow and still be huge. I think it still sounds fresh.

Black Coffee, despite being #1, has always been under-rated imo. By far their best song!

'Black Coffee' is my favourite. :wub: I like their singles, but the albums aside from Studio 1 (which I still adore) are piss poor. Studio 1 really deserved so much better than it got, I'll always say that.

I never got into them in the same way as Sugababes, Spice Girls or Girls Aloud, but they do have some bloody good tracks! Black Coffee, Never Ever, Under The Bridge, Rock Steady, Chick Fit (yes...) and of course Pure Shores are all fabulous.

'Black Coffee' is my favourite. :wub: I like their singles, but the albums aside from Studio 1 (which I still adore) are piss poor. Studio 1 really deserved so much better than it got, I'll always say that.

 

Definitely, I was so impressed with it. I think it's another example of a comeback that might have been more successful had it not been bang in the middle of the high sales climate in mid-November. Rock Steady was an absolute tune though so I'm very glad that it was a top three hit for them, less so that it ended up behind two cover version monstrosities which dropped away as quickly as they'd appeared :/ Flashback, On & On, Chick Fit (yes, really) and the excellent Scar were amongst the many highlights.

 

As for their 90s material, I can't claim to be a massive fan as I had no time for Bootie Call, the covers double a-side or All Hooked Up but everything else was pretty decent. War Of Nerves was absolutely gorgeous, shame that nobody else has mentioned it thus far, THAT was the underrated gem of their catalogue.

I was going to mention War of Nerves actually but it's not quite up there with their other hits imo (ignoring Lady Marmalade and All Hooked Up of course, and perhaps Bootie Call too.) It is pretty beautiful though.

Rock Steady was an absolute tune though so I'm very glad that it was a top three hit for them, less so that it ended up behind two cover version monstrosities which dropped away as quickly as they'd appeared :/

 

 

While "Rock Steady" is excellent and was without doubt the most truly popular of the three, I take objection to "The Saints are Coming" being lumped in with the mess that is "The Rose". It's neither band's finest moment but it is listenable (and for a good cause).

 

I've never cared much since for All Saints since they're responsible for one of the most ill-advised and badly executed cover versions of all time with "Under The Bridge", but they did some great stuff and were without doubt a far more interesting proposition than the Spice Girls.

As for their 90s material, I can't claim to be a massive fan as I had no time for Bootie Call, the covers double a-side or All Hooked Up but everything else was pretty decent. War Of Nerves was absolutely gorgeous, shame that nobody else has mentioned it thus far, THAT was the overrated gem of their catalogue.

 

This pretty much sums up how I feel about them. They were very much an act at the top of their game when they were doing a sorrowful ballad or a William Orbit that really made the best of their harmonies. War Of Nerves was quite beautiful, although perhaps not one which really worked as a commercial single.

 

 

When they tried an uptempo, they more often than not came off more a second-rate Destiny's Child. I Know Where It's At was fun in an utterly vapid way, All Hooked Up was their most forgettable single release, Bootie Call and the two covers were DIABOLICAL, and truth be told I never thought Rock Steady was anything more than half decent; certainly it's not the pop opus half of Buzzjack believe.

I still listen to their first 2 albums quite regularly. I was a *HUGE* fan back in the day.

 

Studio 1 was a huge disappointment, but Rock Steady was pretty immense I thought.

I agree with Rich, really. Never had the time for them up until 'Rock Steady'. That is absolutely fantastic! 'Chick Fit' is addictive and has a certain charm about it. 'Pure Shores' I was never actually a fan of until about the time of 'Rock Steady''s release and I realised just how good it was. But other than those three songs, I've not really liked them. (Including 'Never Ever' - whether it's a classic or not).

Pure Shores 4eva. So many good memories from that song and The Beach.

Pure Shores, Never Ever and Black Coffee are all brilliant, alas the rest of their back catalogue are all rather forgettable, their cover of Under The Bridge is rather pointless to say the least...

:drama: I stanned for them as a child during the #teamallsaints vs #teamspicegirls era. Every SINGLE by them was a 10/10 moment for me. :wub: And like others have said, Studio 1 was extremely under-rated and deserved much better. Their album tracks are quite brilliant too, 'Dreams' in particular. Thanks goodness we had Sugababes 1.0-3.0 and Girls Aloud to carry on their legacy of top class girl band music.

Did have a chuckle at the Shaznay comment! Although to be fair the Appletons' book was basically one rather long whinge at her and Mel, wasn't it?

 

I was a huge All Saints fan, still am. Theirs was the first album I ever brought, I got it with my birthday money when I was 9 and I used to play it to death, me and my best friend at primary school were huge fans. Everyone else was a Spice Girls/B*Witched nut and there we were sat listening to these four moody girls in combats...they were so ahead of their time though. I think for me though their best album was Saints & Sinners...William Orbit did such an amazing job on the production with that record and it's a shame they broke up right before they had the chance to release any more would-be singles off that album - 'Dreams', 'Surrender', 'Ready Willing & Able'...I loved the 'Studio 1' album as well, sorely underrated record.

I'm pleased to see so many fanz! Studio 1 seems a very good album according to a lot of people in this thread and I did really like Rock Steady and Chick Fit. Maybe I should give it a shot.

You should do! The two singles were good but they didn't do justice to what was further down the album, there was a lot of stuff that was quite evocative of Burt Bacarach and that kind of 60's sounding material that Shaznay was exploring on her solo album - unsurprisingly cos' Rick Knowels worked on that album and 'Studio 1'. Check out the tracks 'One Me & U', 'Fundamental' and 'Flashback' in particular - the latter was a co-write between Natalie Appleton and Amanda Ghost who of course was the co-writer on 'You're Beautiful' for James Blunt...

'One Me & U' was the one song I really hated on that album, to be honest. :puke2:

 

Flashback :wub:

Headlock :wub:

On And On

Scar

Fundamental

In It To Win It

 

These are the best aside from the singles, I think if it were a successful era 'On And On' would've made an excellent hit single for them.

Pure Shores is LIFE. End. :wub: