All Saints 'I Know Where It's At'

Chart Peak: 4
YouTube

All Saints are Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis and sisters Natalie and Nicky Appleton... 'I Know Where It's At' was a No. 4 hit in early September '97 and the follow-up 'Never Ever' is due for release in early November.

And the Seventies rock connections continue, as the distinctive piano intro is sampled from Steely Dan's song 'The Fez', and indeed the  remainder of the song is close enough in rhythm that I'm surprised Becker and Fagen didn't demand a writing credit. The single was actually released in late August 1997, but as I mentioned last time All Saints cropped up on here, it was one of the new entries on the unbroadcast chart on the 1st of September. I wasn't massively impressed with the track at the time and liked it even less as I became more and more tired of the group. But taken for what it is, this is a decent funky pop record, though Shaznay Lewis's pseudo-TLS rap in the middle seems unfinished and it better forgotten. So the song has sort of grown on me, although ironically hearing how the best parts come from the Dan has put me off a bit again.

Also appearing on: Now 39, 40, 41, 42, 47, 65
Available on: All Saints / I Know Where It's At

All Saints 'War Of Nerves'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

'War Of Nerves' was the last track recorded for All Saints' debut album... Shaznay wrote the lyrics during the weekend of Princess Diana's tragic death in 1997 and says "It brought the subject of death closer to a lot of people who hadn't experienced it".

That weekend was also the weekend when All Saints made their chart debut and nobody noticed: they were a new entry at 4 on the chart dated 6th September 1997, which would normally have been announced on the 1st but for the only time I can recall the Sunday chart show was cancelled entirely that day. In the days before online publication, we didn't get to hear the position until the Wednesday. Presumably the intent of the songwriting wasn't purely self-interested, but by the time this remixed version showed up as the fifth single from the album in late 1998, there were rumours of some disputes within the band. It's certainly not an impression much discouraged by the video, very dark in the literal sense and perhaps metaphorically too. Notably you don't see all four of the band together at any point, and the repeated shots of their faces on the back of a bus implies a certain discomfort with their fame. I suppose it's just about possible that the final shot of that bus in the tunnel is a hint back towards Diana's death as well.

The song itself was surely a single too far from the album, peaking at 7 after three consecutive chart-toppers (fun fact: every follow-up to an All Saints Number One peaked at either 1 or 7) and swiftly being forgotten. I probably hadn't heard it for almost fifteen years, and I hadn't heard it much at the time either, so imagine my surprise when it turned out to be quite decent after all. Not an obvious hit at all, but there's something decidedly charming and sad about the melody, and it's swoopingly produced by no less than Cameron McVey. I also hadn't noticed until this week that the title doesn't quite appear in the lyric, she actually sings "Trying to break through this wall of nerves". Maybe the title was an accident, and the fact that it's not in the chorus makes little commercial sense, but I'm starting to wonder whether this is actually my favourite All Saints track. In the 1990s I'd never have thought it possible to have a favourite at all. The fact that they didn't make another record until 2000, a very long gap for such an act, seems to give some credence to the rumours of a fractious relationship.

Also appearing on: Now 38, 39, 40, 41, 47, 65
Available on: All Hits - Special Edition

All Saints 'Under The Bridge'

Chart Peak: 1 (2 weeks)

YouTube

I don't know whether this is the only instance of the two parts of a double A-sided single appearing on the same Now! album but I can't think of another. Perhaps its only fitting since the single spent two non-consecutive weeks at Number One. It seems odd that they're both strewn haphazardly onto the same disc instead of being spaced further apart; perhaps even odder that this more promoted side is sequenced later, although there's a tenuous logic in that the video for this one follows on from the 'Lady Marmalade' on, rather than vice versa.

Unlike some people, I didn't consider it inherantly wrong for there to be a cover version of this song by some GIRLS, but I did suspect it would be rubbish. In fact, Nellee Hooper does a decent production job, but All Saints themselves let the side down somewhat. Whatever else they might have had going for them, they were never very emotive singers and at best they fail to convey why they don't want to feel like they did that day. In the verses they sound like they've only been shown one word of the lyric at a time. It's understandable that the climactic final section from the original ("Under the bridge above is where I drew some blood", etc) but without it the track seems to lose all sense of direction well before it ends.

In fact the only reason I'm glad to see this track is that it marks my only opportunity to mention Richard Hawley, who appears here as the session guitarist reproducing some of John Frusciante's guitar parts. It's interesting to compare this with his playing on 'All Hype' by Longpigs.

Also appearing on: Now 38, 39, 41, 42, 47, 65
Available on: All Hits [CD + Bonus DVD]

All Saints 'Lady Marmalade'

Chart Peak: 1 (2 weeks)

YouTube

Oh joy, another cover version.

I can't remember who said that it was a mistake to think All Saints were more real than the Spice Girls just because they wore trousers, but I agree. I can respect that some people might prefer them, but to me it feels slightly self-flattering that some people thought it more socially acceptable to like this lot. If nothing else, you'd think the street cred would have been dented a little by their third single being a double whammy of covers. 

As I recall it from the time, 'Lady Marmalade' was the less promoted "side" of the release.Which was fine by me, as I'm no great fan of the song in any form, but it does mean I've probably heard this version fewer than a dozen times in my life. To give credit where it's due, this isn't an entirely straight cover, as there are new lyrics for the verses which replace the original storyline with a more conventional plea for sex: unfortunately, the new lyrics are cringemakingly bad in places, and with the possible exception of Shaznay Lewis's instinctively dirty rapped verse the performance is resolutely unexciting. The chorus gets undersold too, and that proto-Autotune effect doesn't so much make me think "unbridled passion" as "the producer gave up waiting for her to hit that note". In short, a band I don't like cover a song I don't like badly.

Also appearing on: Now 38, 39, 41, 42, 47, 65
Available on: All Saints