Anyway, first up today we have the 7" of 'Wild Hearted Woman' (1988) by all About Eve. Am I right in thinking that Wayne who I used to know in Bristol was Julianne Regan's cousin? Or is that another sign of brain holes? I used to like a little bit of the goth back in the day, but sadly I got rid of most of it, including the All About Eve album which I sold to my great friend Sophie (sold! Can you believe it? I was an avaricious little shit back then. And might be still for all I know. Nobody tell me if I am). All About Eve are probably now best remembered for the TOTP fiasco when their monitors weren't turned on, so when they were supposed to be miming they were just standing around looking confused. It's quality - youtube it, surely it's on youtube? Wild Hearted Woman is pretty daft overblown goth pop, all paisley and patchouli, and the B-side, Appletree Man (it's called Appletree Man! Good God), is simply dreadful. But I can't really slag it off, because my mum found this for me in one of the Oxfam shops she was managing at the time, and that was very nice of her and I appreciated it a lot.
So, now we've got a double dose of the extremely divisive Lily Allen. From what I can gather roughly 98% of the population of the entire world absolutely loathes Lily Allen, both in terms of her records and particularly her personality. I'll put it out there with no shame whatsoever, I adore both elements. I think she's absolutely charming (especially in light of how unutterably gruesome her father and brother are) and in a world full of loudmouths I am absolutely at a loss as to work out why one of the only ones who actually says anything true or faintly amusing gets seen by the world as some hideous skank. It mystifies me. I think the tunes are fine and her lyrics genuinely uncommonly astute. In many ways I prefer It's Not Me, It's You (which is a great album title for a start) from 2009, to the debut Alright, Still (2006) because although it doesn't have the show-off swagger and don't care attitude, it has some really fabulous songwriting ('The Fear' is a real lesson) and lyrically I think it's a sister to the second Arctic Monkeys album in discussing the pitfalls of fame and success without coming across like the work of an egotistical jumped-up scumbag.
Ahhh, how sweet, it's the All Girl Summer Fun Band, who lived up to their name admirably over the course of three albums and a few singles. After the break-up of the wonderful Softies, Jen Sbragia must have felt like something a bit more upbeat was in order and this is what she came up with. While not coming close to the Softies records, they're still great, knockabout cute indie-pop records which bounce and hop around while relating their tales of indie romance. There's not a lot of point in distinguishing between the eponymous first album (2001), the Summer of '98 EP (2003) and second album 2 (2003) because they're basically exactly the same, but they're all top fun.
And finally for today we have three albums by Dot Allison. I always felt that One Dove's Morning Dove White album was a terribly underrated piece of comedown music (not that I ever had occasion to listen to it that way of course), so I was pleased to see that Dot Allison had been able to make a solo album. Afterglow (1999) is something of a mixed bag, but on the whole it's a sublime piece of emotionally distant pop, with some great tunes presented in a pleasingly aloof fashion ('Message Personnel' is so disinterested it's quite unnerving, but it's a really lovely tune nonetheless). If Afterglow is cool though, then 2002's We Are Science is positively glacial. There is a much stronger dance and club music influence, but if anything that makes the album seem even more as if you're listening to it uninvited. It sort of feels like you've gone to a party dressed in completely the wrong clothes. This does make for stretches of the album being utterly unengaging, but there is still time for some undeniable tunes ('Strung Out' is ace). After a long absence the third album, Exaltation of Larks (2008) appeared and there's a very different feel to this one. Although still strangely offish, she's introduced some lovely string arrangements and although still a bit too cool for school, it is a much more accommodating record, and the stripped back acoustics, and the obvious influence of folk over dance allow the listener a little bit of space to take part in what's going on. It's a great record, really delicate and if you can accept that you're at the party through sufferance, it's a very rewarding one.
Have wonderful weekends won't you everybody. Pip pip!
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