All Saints
Pure Shores: The Very Best Of All Saints

The Nineties will be "imperishably" remembered for challenging the great plastic-pop battalion that emerged in the previous decade: while sequins, glitter, and disco balls had literally dominated the eighties' mood almost entirely, something was stirring in the underground scene's depths by the end of the consecration years of Jackson and Madonna. Thus emerged the grunge and alternative rock juggernaut, effectively countering the usual champions of international charts, offering a wild card akin to the spectacular pop show of the frenemies. The attempt by Nirvana and the like to break through the fortress of baroque and disco mainstream lasted for the time of a record legend, also strongly stigmatized by the sly marketing of record companies. Pop, with its best origins, not only returned to dethrone the weakened competition in the long run but also underwent a decisive revitalization in the phenomenon of boy/girl bands, a total & absolute counterposition to the much-vaunted genuineness of the alternative.

And so the nine-lane highway of the grunge/underground movement - reduced in just a few years to an uncomfortable dirt path for a small tractor - was dismantled in favor of the major mainstream hub of the various Spice and numerous Backstreet, teen-groups whose members, still far from adulthood, performed little songs about female empowerment, adolescent proto-romances, and the carefree college life (which in reality was merely an apparent background, as these youngsters were busy twelve hours a day in studios and video sets). Unplugged stages were abandoned in favor of wild American Pie parties, and record companies focused on those very young promises of the music/show biz, often still too green to fully understand the devastating power of the media stardom they would (sometimes unfortunately) encounter.

Among this nice bunch, a bit in the shadows compared to more profitable formations, was the English girl group All Saints, formed by sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton, Shaznay Lewis, and Melanie Blatt. Very young debutants in the distant 1993 under the name All Saints 1.9.7.5., the four ladies had to wait for the release of their first big hit Never Ever, taken from the self-titled debut dated 1997, to caress fame beyond just national and European borders. Despite the notable following of the second studio work Saints & Sinners and hits Pure Shores and Black Coffee, the All Saints brand reached its end in 2001 due to negative contractual indiscretions; during the gap between the breakup and the 2006 reunion, the spotlights on the former Saints didn't dim but rather focused the strobe on the alluring Appleton sisters who, busy founding the eponymous duo and flirting with Robbie Williams and the unruly Gallaghers, took the upper hand over their colleagues. Restarted in 2006, the All Saints 2.0 project failed well before taking off, and the timid success of the track Rock Steady was not enough to save the album Studio 1 from a miserable abyss.

Pure Shores: The Very Best Of thus represents a greatest hits-epitaph that the Saints granted themselves before definitively lowering the curtain. Within this extensive collection of hits, unreleased tracks, and b-sides, one finds the best and the worst of the unfortunate girl group, as well as identifying its style, namely an interesting mix of R&B/old school Hip Hop (with strong New Jack Swing influences) and electronic-underground sounds, with sporadic dance improvisations, urban and pop-rock. While tracks like I Know Where It's All and Let's Get Started remain static in the fortress of mid-90s commercial ghetto sound, hits like Pure Shores and Black Coffee bring out the "alternative" soul of the Irredeemable Saints, soul also fueled by the immeasurable production genius of William Orbit from Ray Of Light. Also present are other signature tracks of the band, first of all the soft R&B-lounge ballad Never Ever and the covers of Lady Marmalade and Under The Bridge (the latter made famous by the Red Hot Chili Peppers of Blood Sugar Sex Magik), specifically adapted into a black-refined-radical chic context, as well as the very latest Rock Steady and Chick Fit, with less electronic and more reggae/ska influences. Among the unreleased tracks stands out the sweet ambient lullaby Dreams and the funky hip hop dance track Love Is Love.

Despised without respite, but also promptly rescued from mothballs in case of sudden nostalgia, the thriving period of similar-teen bands can be read according to various schools of thought, more often verbose in defining the importance or not of such a context. Here you have, therefore, a summation of what remains of the years of the schoolgirls with microphones and the mini-cool kids roaming scenographically assembled ghettos. In a version a bit less contrived and plasticky than usual.