Winter Words, Hits And Rarities (Vertigo CD/Cassette)

All About Eve are quite happy to see one of these albums released and the other one makes them rather mad. The Vertigo album (the one they don't like) is a collection of the old hits, the odd unreleased track and the old B-sides from the label they left in inglorious circumstances.

Yet when the band first appeared, they were quite refreshing. They may not have been original, but hey were honest and wrote fine four minute pop songs with hooks and an enchanting whimsy that caught the imagination. Their story book lyrics and a whiff of traditional English folk music was just the tonic we needed in the late 80's and Julianne Regan was a strong front woman.

Often written off as all hippy dippy and girlie flower stuff, she was in fact, a woman with balls and had a voice which, although could lean towards 'finger in the ear' folkiness, had a charisma and power. When she stretched herself and her interpretive talents, like on the great 'Martha's Harbour', we all forgot that our cred was round our ankles for liking them and wept. True, they could wimble (see 'Flowers In Our Hair' and some of the later stuff for evidence) but they were different.

Ultraviolet (MCA/All formats)

So what a monumental shock to find that with 'Ultaviolet' they appear to have undergone a massive personality switch and hey presto! We have All About Curve! The last vestiges of their former jolly sound has been drowned in swathes of layered, fuzzy guitar and Julianne sounds as if she's had a surgical appliance attached to her vocal chords. Instead of the pure, clear cut tones we're used to, she sings as if she's swallowed a bag of sugarcubes complete with bag.

Ditched in the Vertigo dumper are the pop songs and in their place comes track upon track of similar sounding, decidedly gloomy psychedelic romps which they do, on occasion, pull off by the skin of their mushrooms.

'Freeze' is a slab of sensual luguriousness while 'Things He Told Her' captures some of the pop spirit of old. 'Ultraviolet' is both brave and a foolhardy step. They've sacrificed some of their originality for a more 'contemporary' sound, yet it's encouraging that they show such willingness to innovate - even if it does end up sounding as if they're still stumbling through the undergrowth. They're also supremely naive if they don't think at some point in the future that MCA will hike out a similar compilation to the one Phonogram just have ... that's always assuming that they sort themselves out enough to have the required amount of hits (6) for 'Hits', (5) for the newie.

Nancy Culp