The cult indie band that have become one of the most collectable British acts of the last few years.
By Dave Chambers

Ever since the idealism of the late Sixties crumbled in the face of brutal reality, the media has automatically been suspicious of anyone who has tried to keep the hippie values alive. Doom and gloom have been far trendier over the last decade than optimism and hope, and writing songs that have even a vague resemblance to the flower power anthems of the Sixties has been the critical kiss of death.
Not everyone has been quite so cynical, and despite highly negative press coverage, a number of Eighties bands have preached love instead of hate.

The Goth movement of the early eighties always trod a delicate line between the nihilism of the punks, and the celebration of the hippies; and All About Eve are just one of the bands who originally aligned themselves with the bleaker side of Goth music, and then gradually steered themselves towards the light.
They have also become one of the cult collectable artists of the past year, with a score or so of keenly-sought after collectors items. Their music may owe much to the dreams of an earlier age, but their appeal is bang up to date. And in Julianne Regan they have a front woman of striking appeal, and a vocalist whose qualities rival those of the Seventies folkies who are her heroines.

All About Eve's music has been descried as 'acid-folk', or 'hippie Goth'; meaning to be unkind, some critics have compared them with American AOR bands. In fact, that last comparison isn't too far from the truth, if by AOR music you mean something that has melody, strong structure and a touch of class. It may be too soon to start placing Julianne Regan alongside the likes of Stevie Nicks, but she has the same kind of long-term potential in her voice.

All About Eve are dominated by Julianne's visual and vocal style. But their music is the result of a three-way collaboration, with the vocalist joined by guitarist Tim Bricheno and bassist Andy Cousin. These instrumentalists have worked with the likes of Gene Loves Jezebel and X-Mal Deutschland before they met up with Regan. She was a student drop-out, then a bassist in a post-punk band, before buying a portastudio and spending her time writing and recording her own material at home. When the band started working together, they played what Regan describes neatly as "cacophonous sub-Goth shit", something of that was by no means uncommon in the early Eighties.

Something of that sound survived onto their debut single, which in true indie fashion inaugurated a new label, with a title that had the air of a fresh dawn: Eden Records. "D For Desire" bears little resemblance to All About Eve's more successful work; but it is extremely rare, having been issued in 12" form only. Rumours persist of promo copies, but this seems unlikely for an indie single of this kind. Shop copies - and few shops ever bothered to stock the single - now sell for £30 or more.
The band still had no full-time drummer at this point; Mark Price has become a permanent member of the group only comparatively recently. They also had the standard indie problem of raising finance for each release. There was a nine months gap between "D For Desire" and the follow-up "In The Clouds". The change in style was also immediately apparent. All About Eve were no longer sub-Goth, but almost acoustic, spinning ethereal tales of the angels in the sky. The single nudged the bottom end of the indie charts, peaking at No. 19. Although some sources state that "In The Clouds" was only issued as a 12", it does seem to have come out in 7" form as well - though both are rare.

From there, it was another full year until the band's third single was released. Along the way, All About Eve fell in with The Mission - the spin-off group from the Sisters Of Mercy - led by Wayne Hussey. The Mission was fast becoming one of the biggest rock bands in the country, and they took All About Eve in hand, offering then countless support slots on tours and one-off gigs. The link-up had two effects: All About Eve were suddenly exposed to many thousands of people who had never heard of the band; but they were also pigeonholed as Goths in the eyes of the media, In the end, the positive side outweighed the negative; certainly the band would almost certainly not have won their eventual contract with Phonograms's Mercury label had it not been for the support of The Mission.

First recorded evidence of the collaboration came on the band's (and Eden Record's) third single. "Our Summer" was co-produced by Wayne Hussey and Simon Hinkler, who brought definite Goth overtones to an essentially upbeat pop song. The result was quite magical, and fitted in perfectly with the publicity surrounding the anniversary of the original Summer Of Love.
This single definitely came out in two formats; the 7" version, with "Our Summer" backed by "Lady Moonlight", turns up most often - though it is always described as 'rare'! The 12" has a long version of the A-side, and adds an extra song - "Shelter From The Rain", with Wayne Hussey, appearing on as well as the producing track.
For the fist time, the band tasted national chart success. With improved distribution (and publicity), the single reached No. 87 in the Gallup chart. At the same time, it soared to No. 2 in the indie listings, a far truer representation of it's sales and impact.
"Our Summer" was the breakthrough record - something which the compilers of the recent "CD88" compilation obviously realised, as it appears as the opening track. From now on, single releases would appear with precise regularity. Indeed the bands career was about to be transformed, as they signed their deal with Phonogram on April 16th 1987.

Before that could take effect, though, there was one more indie release to come - "Flowers In Our Hair", a sly, slightly tongue-in-cheek admission of the band's love of the hippie ideal. With it's chiming guitars and optimistic lyrics, it brought back some of the positive thinking records from the early Seventies - early Jefferson Starship for example. For collectors the single produced not only 7" and 12" formats, but also 7" promo releases. And in chart terms, this single made No. 91 in the national charts, but ended the groups indie career with a bang, topping the chart in August 1987.
All subsequent releases by All About Eve - with the exception of an unauthorised interview picture disk - have appeared on the Mercury label, though Phonogram retained the bands continuity by using the same series of catalogue numbers as the Eden releases.
As is usually the case with the major label acts, however, All About Eve's discography has become markedly more complicated since they joined Phonogram. Gone are the days of simple 7" and 12" releases; collectors now have to contend with CD singles, cassingles, 10" releases, and a host of special promo items. "In The Clouds" was revitalised for the band's first single under the new deal, and it showed an immediate benefit in commercial terms, reaching No. 47 in the charts. The standard formats were augmented by 7" test pressings, 12" promos, and a special 'poster pack' version of the 7" single, which now sells for around £6.
Three months later, "Wild Hearted Woman" took another step forward in chart terms, reaching No. 33. This time simple records weren't enough: cassette and CD single variations were also introduced, each with minor musical variations on the 7" and 12" singles. And there was another special limited edition, this time concerning the 12" release, which briefly came in a numbered pack with a free badge. This now sells for twice the price of the standard 12".

All this activity was building up to the release of the band's first album - which was produced By Paul Samwell-Smith. He is probably best known to collectors as an original member of the Yardbirds; but even in the mid-Sixties he was displaying his virtuosity behind the production desk, and long before the Yardbirds bit the dust in 1968 he had already left to pursue his own career. He brought a lifetime's experience to the All About Eve sessions, remixing old tracks (notably "Flowers In Our Hair") and adding strings, keyboards and French horn to the bands instrumental line-up.
To his immense credit, though he resisted the temptation to include the kitchen sink in his arranging ideas. Instead of burying the band beneath layers of guitars or the normal explosive drum sound of the late Eighties, he heightened the band's acoustic feel, only adding touches of colour where strictly necessary.
The resulting record wasn't a critical success; the weekly pop papers had the faint smell of hippies in their nostrils, and proceeded to treat the band with their customary cynicism. But the album deserved more than that. In interviews, Julianne Regan expanded on her vocal influences, like Sandy Denny and June Tabour. And much of the lightness and flavour of their work survived onto All About Eve's album as well.

To promote the album, Phonogram prepared a one-sided promo 12", entitled "Flowers In Our Hair", which included five of the LP tracks. Test pressings of the LP are also in circulation, with white labels and a printed release sheet from Phonogram Press Office. The most collectable variation of the LP is the Japanese issue, however, which sells for around £15.

Since the release of the album, three of it's tracks have been issued as singles. "Every Angel" (freshly remixed) reached No. 30; then "Martha's Harbour" made No. 10, the real commercial triumph of the band's career to date. The most recent release, "What Kind Of Fool", stalled at No. 29 - perhaps because the album has now gone gold, and most All About Eve fans will already own the song on the LP.

"Martha's Harbour" saw the band appearing on "Top Of The Pops" - and also being accused by some fans of selling out, the usual response to a cult band scoring a bona fide hit. The song was certainly far removed from Goth, sounding more like an out-take from the Joni Mitchell album than a Sisters Of Mercy rip off. But Regan had never sung better, and the simplicity of the arrangement was a refreshing change from the cluttered sound of most modern hits.

Several rare variations of "Martha's Harbour" are going the rounds. They include two special editions of the 12", in a deluxe pack with a free poster. One version is signed and numbered, the other simply numbered. Meanwhile "Martha's Harbour" appeared not only on cassette and CD singles, but also as a lead track on a CD-only promo called "The Ballads", now worth £6-£8 and rising.
Other recent collectables include U.S. CD promos of "Every Angel", with a Julianne Regan interview alongside two alternative mixes of the A-side. With interest in the group growing all the time, you can expect the values of any rare items like this to shoot up in the near future.

Record Collector
January 1989
Issue 113