Male, British, ex-RAF. Is anyone else experiencing REALLY bad lag in the review text box at the mome...
Male, British, ex-RAF. Is anyone else experiencing REALLY bad lag in the review text box at the moment? Its so bad I have stopped writing & editing reviews completely. Can't Ciao fix this?
Member since:14.02.2006
Reviews:412
Video reviews:1
Members who trust:12
Put simply this is a brilliant album. It's not just my fellow Coventrian Julianne Regan's awesome voice or Tim Bricheno's guitar wizardry. You got great lyrics written on songs for all kinds of dark moods. If you can't enjoy the counterpoints and melodies presented on this then you have no soul. Well, that's my opinion at least.
All About Eve get pinned as Gothic but that's most likely due to their very early look and the fact that Miss Regan was dating Simon Hinkler better known as the guitarist of Goth group The Mission which eventually broke up leaving her in a rather fragile state.
It might not seem like it now but Julianne was greatly depressed during the making of this album after her break up with Hinkler & brief relationship with fellow band member Tim Bricheno which broke up (he actually left the band immediately after this album was completed) leaving her to write songs like Pieces of Our Heart & December which reflected her mood and state of mind at the time.
This album wasn't as successful as their 1st but 3 songs (Road to Your Soul, Scarlet & December) all made it into the top 40 as singles but only just in each case. I think only Dream Now & Gold and Silver aren't as good as the rest of the tracks but theres not really a weak or bad song on this album and thats rare for any artist & I can and quite often do listen to this album in its entireity.
So whats on Scarlet And Other Stories then?
01 - Road To Your Soul. Its a soft rock ballad that builds up into
quite an anthemic track & Julianne positively belts out her lyrics in the chorus in a style reminiscent of Bonnie Tyler, if her voice doesn't make your hairs stand on end then I think you might be dead It kind of reminds me of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison and that middle 8 is rather haunting.
02 - Dream Now. Blimey but this sounds like it belongs on their very first album as it would fit in perfectly amongst tracks like Wild Hearted Woman. A ton of spanish guitar and great vocals.
03 - Gold And Silver. Another soft rock ballad a lot like Road To Your Soul in many respects but it cuts into a wicked guitar riff that reminds me of Every Angel from their first album and then totally calms down. Thats one thing that can be said about an All About Eve song, it can go from mellow to rocky with almost no transition between. I guess it reflects how quickly Juliannes moods can change and its about what love is worth.
04 - Scarlet. Around the time of this albums creation Regan & Hinkler actually had a big break up & separated but if you want to hear Juliannes feelings on the subject then listen to this track, the creation of which prompted The Missions lead singer Wayne Hussey to write "Butterfly On A Wheel" as their response about the break-up. The lyrics are truly brilliant, it certainly seems that Hinkler was the more dominant one in their relationship & Julianne certainly lets you know it here by expressing her inner freedom now.
05 - December. Can you tell she's mourning the end of her relationship with Tim Bricheno here? Julianne is certainly wearing her heart on her sleeve for the whole world to see in this, the lyrics very much speak about looking back and endings and the guitar break in the middle is rather excellent too.
06 - Blind Lemon Sam. This has a rather delta blues guitar opening and all the lyrics rhyme beautifully, its almost as though Julianne set out to make that deliberately happen. Rather unshockingly Sam from the title is described as a Blues man hence the delta blues guitar then. The lyrics run like a little story but normally I am too busy enjoying the great guitar lines and vocal harmonies.
07 - More Than The Blues. Another great intro, that banjo could have been lifted right from "Journey Of The Sorceror" by The Eagles, Julianne is singing that it takes more than the blues to bring her down. 2 failed relationships within the same band which led to the band splitting might do it dear? This one is rather upbeat and optimistic considering what she was going through as far as her emotional state went.
08 - Tuesday's Child. Another typical All About Eve song that would have easily fitted on their first album, this one also reminds me of Every Angel (in fact I was actually singing some of the lyrics along to this and they fit perfectly). Apparently Tuesdays Child seems to know the answer, to what question and I wonder what that answer might be?
09 - Pieces Of Our Heart. A great acoustic guitar intro and then Julianne just sounds stunning, another one of those tracks where she is missing Tim Bricheno and you can tell from the lyrics like "sad guitars" and "it doesnt feel right" exactly where she is coming from, whats even odder is Tim is actually playing guitar here as he didn't leave the band until after this album.
10 - Hard Spaniard. Another one of those songs where the lyrics tell a little story about "the night before the morning after" but Julianne sings it boldy. Its real powerful stuff.
11 - The Empty Dancehall. Another classic All About Eve style track, something old or forgotten or left behind this time the dancehall of the title is only left full of the ghost of memories past. Is this more of Julianne lamenting her 2 lost loves? Almost certainly yes I'd say.
12 - Only One Reason. If I'd have been in charge of choosing singles I would have released Only One Reason as it sounds like the hits from their 1st album. The lyrics might not be very uplifting but they certainly are very meaningful & Julianne sings them with great passion (especially that "feeling so afraid like a child in an air-raid" line).
The guitar break is almost like the awesome Slash riff from "November Rain" (yes, its THAT good!) and I actually half expect Tim to start playing it as they are so similar in structure and style.
Little wonder he had no problem finding employment after leaving the band (with The Sisters Of Mercy where ability like this perfectly fitted in, listen to the "Vision Thing" album and tell me he didn't massively influence it).
13 - The Pearl Fishermen. Quite a weird lamenting type song about 2 men fighting over 1 womans love (oh, spooky echoings of Julianne, Tim & Simon perhaps?), never let it be said that Julianne didn't use her own experience to write songs. This really reminds me of "Fragile" by Sting, its probably the amazing Spanish guitar line played wonderfully well by Tim.
If you are a fan of All About Eve and don't own this album then I'd definately recommend adding it to your collection. And then start looking into Julianne's side projects with Mice (you can find my review of their "New And Improved" album on here) and Jules Et Jim (which you can now read a review of as I have finally written one), their both excellent as well.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Jan 1st, 2009
(Jul 23rd, 2009)
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (82%):
helpful by (14%):
![Appetite For Destruction [PA] - Guns N' Roses](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/237/prod_small-44237.jpg)
![River Is Wide, The [Remastered] - Forum (The)](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/251/prod_small-6006251.jpg)
![101 [SACD] - Depeche Mode](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/598/prod_small-43598.jpg)
![Back In Black [DualDisc] - AC/DC](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/505/prod_small-6303505.jpg)
