ALL SAINTS – "Never Ever"

The intro really bothered me too. Even as a teenage boy who hated smart-arse, noisy Girl Power, I didn’t want this as an alternative, I knew this wasn’t how women were meant to be in the 90s. I think you’re right that the record rises out of the ashes of abjection. I still can’t forgive All Saints for ushering in an era of beige music and beige clothing. Without the intro and the context I’d maybe stretch to a seven, as it is, I’m hovering around 5/6.

One of the things that struck me about listening to Barbie Girl is how recently Barbie Girl type sentiments were wholeheartedly knocking about in pop world. I feel quite uncomfortable listening to northern soul classics like Doris Troy’s I’ll Do Anything or Maxine Brown’s One In A Million and thinking what a bleak world to grow up in.

My abiding memory of this is on a minibus going to and from a sixth form history conference in Manchester. This was one of two songs that seemed to keep coming up on the radio in an endless loop (Choose Life by the PF Project was the other) and I remember the spoken intro used to make my teeth grind.

Never Ever took nine weeks to get to the top (the longest climb since Think Twice three years before and, leaving aside re-issues, I’m not sure if anything has topped it since) by which time it had grown on me.

I’m not sure whether All Saints were ever intended as the anti Spice Girls, like East 17 before them they were rather swept up in the vanguard. I did read once that Shaznay Lewis was the songwriter, Mel Blatt the voice and the fact that the Appleton sisters grabbed the limelight derailed the whole thing.

In the Spice Up Your Life thread I tried to kickstart a little sideshow but nobody took the bait. Which was worse – Spiceworld or Honest?

listening to this again recently I was surprised at how long it went on for. I’d be interested to hear a female perspective on the record – did/do women like it because they could recognise the sentiments in the lyrics? I seem to recall that when this was performed on TOTP there was always a triumphant whoop from the audience when Shaznay began her contributions

I was sorely tempted to make an obvious Beatles/Stones comparison in regard to Spice Girls/All Saints, but for reasons Tom states in his review, All Saints hit the top just as Spicemania was beginning to peter out. Before that “I Know Where It’s At” suggested All Saints was populated entirely by Sporty Mel C-alikes, with a very TLC-alike sound. That had to be a winning combination didn’t it?

As I recall it, All Saints were touted as a more sophisticated and nuanced girl group, who understood their forebears from the pop’s past and built their sound on a steadfastly R&B foundation. Yes, “Never Ever” was unexpected, and somewhat welcome as a form of contrast to primary-coloured Aqua or Spice Girls.

Listening to it now though, it doesn’t sound like a natural follow-up to IKWIA. It sounds resigned and world-weary. The “Amazing Grace” chords tie it to pre-pop. The spoken intro recalls Spector. The wah-wah guitar recalls 70s funk, all filtered through a lens that might have been formerly used by The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. It’s still very listenable, despite the weedy lyrics. If the Spice Girls were hankering after a “man”, All Saints were getting all cut up over what was definitely the “boy who thinks he can”. Given the choice, I’d prefer the sassier IKWIA over this.

To date they are the only number 1 act I’ve actually met, albeit obliviously at the Reading Festival in 1997. They were just this group of girls walking past me until one of them (Shaznay) stopped and asked where I got my T-shirt from. ‘A shop in Norwich’ I replied of which one of the Appleton’s then took the piss out of my home town (This might of been pre-Partridge, or at least him being synonymous with Norwich/Norfolk). Noting the unplaceable accent ‘So where you from then?’ I asked ‘London’ came the stock response from all four. I just assumed they were just four mates at a festival and thought nothing of it until about a month later they were promoting ‘I know where it’s at’ on TV and then it hit home when I recognised that accent again.

An exemplary and most auspicious start to what was, in chart terms, the real year of Girl Power; statistically, 1998 boasts the largest proportion of number one singles by female artists throughout any calendar year. And while there is little doubt that much of this triumph was owed to the example that the Spice Girls set – there are least two chart-topping acts from this year I can think of who can fairly be said to have been directly inspired by them – the demographic and range was large.

However, while there will be plenty of Spice input into 1998 it could also be said that the baton was in the process of being taken, or wrested, from them. In the case of All Saints, the tortoise/hare scenario seems particularly apt, since the heroines of Ladbroke Grove had been in existence for most of the decade in one form or another – Shaznay Lewis and Mel Blatt being the dual constants – and earlier in the nineties had even been on the books of ZTT, based one road up in Basing Street. There is the story that they even briefly toyed with the notion of calling themselves Spice. But nothing quite gelled until at the eleventh hour Canada came to the rescue in the form of the Appletons; and more prosaically, practical help and artistry was provided by the avant-New Pop reliable Cameron McVey, one of the key bridging figures between New Pop Mks I and II and much else worthwhile in contemporary British pop besides.

Their official debut single, “I Know Where It’s At,” did very well indeed, peaking at number four in the early autumn of 1997, though at that stage it was still unclear whether they intended to be Spice competition or the next and better Eternal. But “Never Ever” stopped everyone in our tracks with its patient humility and uncomprehending but solidly restrained anger. While “Too Much” was finally not much more than a sterile run through of stock moves designed to neutralise the kinks out of the Spice Girls and make them palatable to the dreaded “international audience” – and yet the brashly, cheerily unrefined “Wannabe” was their biggest global seller – “Never Ever” feels like a living ballad, one that’s still being written even as it’s being sung. The opening deadpan, or blank, monologue over Sunday School piano, organ and harmonised hums, too numb to do more than mouth the speaker’s words of mystified betrayal, reminds me of a nervous convent schoolgirl sitting awkwardly in the confession booth, trying to stutter out guilt she isn’t at all convinced is hers to own; it is fully worthy of comparison with the Shangri-Las except it boldly persists for over a minute – “commercial suicide!” screamed the suits – before the musicians kick in and the song begins to unfold, or fold unto itself.

It kicks in with a teasing tickle of question mark guitar gestures – performed by session guitarist Richard Hawley – half-hidden funk beats, Shuggie Otis organ splurges and the six-inch trampoline bounce of the underlying rhythm. Already the girls are sufficiently distracted to seek self-pleasure – feel that choral rivulet on the word “roam” which intrudes as they “take a shower/I will scour.” The astute round robin of lead vocal duties – all four Saints take multiple turns, but as seamlessly as the transition from acoustic to electric bass near the beginning of the title track of Bitches’ Brew – means that we view different perspectives of the same basic (if naturally muddled) thought process; the voices change from soft and vulnerable (though these get the more troubled feeling: “Don’t wanna communicate,” “Go insane”) to strident and mildly resentful in a tiger purring kind of way (“I’m not crAAA-zAYYY!”). Shaznay’s lyric, too, is meticulously assembled, its schemata so subtle that it can be made to rhyme with both “A to Z” and “A to Zee.”

Then all join forces for the sensual sleigh bell chorus, all coming down and breathing with just the right amount of gap left in between the “never”s and “ever”s, as if showing their betrayer how mad he must be to walk out on a summoning of sirens which is beyond sexy. Note how McVey subtly increases the density of the arrangement in minute steps, such that we have a virtual synth orchestra decorating the final, climactic chorus, before at the end pulling out the rug of sorrow and self-examination to reveal a wonderfully dirty funk undertow with wolf-whistle scratching as Lewis demands that he get in touch, by letter (“baaaabe”) or ‘phone or “to my face” before heading off to search for him. You hardly notice that the record lasts just under six-and-a-half minutes – you would only narrowly fail to fit the first three Supremes hits into that timespan – but it needs its length, to ponder, to develop, to realise.

Another miracle of “Never Ever” is that it achieves precisely what none of the Soul, Passion and Honesty brigade ever did, which is to make a soul-pop record which has all the essential ingredients of a classic soul record in terms of subject matter, arrangement, pacing and performance – the Marvelettes would have been proud to have recorded it – without bashing the listener over the head with its alleged authenticity; this is because not once do any of All Saints resort to histrionic outbursts; the emotions rise organically from the nature and propulsion of the song, as they should do. Nor did they pose as Real Soul Singers onstage; their TOTP performance found them shuffling in a Brechtian chalk circle, shrugging their shoulders with hands wedged deep in the pockets of their slung-on combat trousers, each Saint patiently queuing up and waiting her turn to step back into the spotlight. If Woody Allen had been a girl group he would have been All Saints by this evidence. And it was magic; they looked and acted naturally, did not appear “professional” (even though all of them were stage school veterans), were not even apparently attracted by the global glitter which by then was beginning to squeeze the life out of the Spices. So great is “Never Ever” as a record that it takes the attentive listener a long time to work out that its chord sequence is identical to that of “Amazing Grace” (it was deliberately so) – and you instinctively think of “was blind, but now I see,” and “Never Ever” describes what they were thinking in the seconds before they saw the light – “when you gonna take me out of this black hole?” Peerless, and still New, Pop. 10

“Never ever did I ever feel so low”

We’re now entering the decline-of-Spice British Withdrawal period on the US pop chart where it seemed each big British or Irish boy or girl band would manage one, and only one, US hit which would never be heard again after it dropped off the chart*. All Saints actually bucked this trend slightly since “I Know Where It’s At” had already hit #36 before “Never Ever” got to #4. But otherwise, the trend started here as I hadn’t heard NE in years and have never heard their output after it.

That being said, I actually like this more than I remember. I don’t remember the intro at all (maybe US radio skipped over it) but it’s not bad. The one thing I don’t like about the song is its odd tailing off at the end. Overall, they seemed to be positioning themselves as a harder-edged R&B Spice Girls. It’ll be interesting to see if this sound continues over the unfamiliar bunnies to come. 6/10.

*Interestingly, this forum will not be encountering the one UK boy band to buck the trend and manage multiple US hits over the period 1998-2002: BBMak

#9 The analogy I was going to draw was that All Saints were the Clash to the Spice Girls’ Pistols, but actually they are more like the Jam: not as radical either musically or ideologically, more conventional in appearance, more obviously rooted in a tradition, and generally just not nearly as interesting.

I have been a bit surprised by some of the positive responses here – although Punctum gets great respect for the Bitches Brew comparison! – for me, Tom’s assessment and mark are spot on.

I can see they had something, though, and one of their bunnies is probably my favourite number one of the past two decades. But that’s for another day.

@20 I’d forgotten War of Nerves! That’s a great song. But the bunny I was thinking of is from the second album.

Two memories of this, both years after the initial release:

* Spring 2001, Year 7 and first year of secondary school, where a major talking point amongst friends was a pretty *huge* million-selling bunny and this, noting that if you sang them together they fit perfectly. Without going into too much detail, “Wherever you go…” “Never ever have I ever felt so low…” “Whatever you do…” “…when you gonna take me out of this black hole” etc.

* January 2013, when this played in a trendy Shoreditch bar and *every single one* of my friends knew every single line, including the youngest who was born in 1994 so wouldn’t even have been three years old when this hit the top.

I adore this, not something I play regularly but something I enjoy whenever I hear it. 8 or 9 depending on mood.

To my ears, and mind, a pretty fabulous composition, and pretty darn good performance. Possibly the final 90 secs or so could be tightened up a bit, but this is very welcome here.

‘War of Nerves’ is quite fantastic – mildly interesting to note, too, alongside some pretty great bunnies, that every one of their nine singles made the top ten.

I like these stories of when you first heard this song, and I am reminded my flatmate burst in one day to ask if I’d heard it because he was totally smitten by it. And indeed the All Saints LP was totally ubiquitous around university, so I used to hear it any time I was in someone’s flat or, especially, someone’s car. For me this song, and this album, is the sound of the Aston Expressway, as we’d listen to it while shuffling between Subway City, Bakers, The Que Club, The Arcadian Centre and other student staples in Birmingham. We absolutely lapped it up.

I always liked it and especially so compared to the other albums on heavy rotation in our flat which were Tracy Chapman, an early Shania Twain album when she was still very much a country, rather than pop, artist and a Janis Joplin compilation I grew to absolutely despise. Compared to those three, I would elect to listen to All Saints as frequently as possible.

Regarding the point above, I always thought Mel Blatt was a brilliant pop star, I found her very amusing. I remember on the Record of the Year TV show – either this year or one of the later ones – when she positioned herself behind the band who won and every time they crossed over to the green room during the voting, she would be behind them pulling a series of ridiculous faces.

#16 – You say that, but nothing will ever top an Aidan Moffat-sung cover of an Atomic Bunny a few years down the line. Possibly the only time any of their songs was coupled with a Fall song anywhere (a cover of ‘Bill Is Dead’ was on the flipside).

…man, that Sick Anchors single is wonderful.

As for Never Ever, a lot of fond memories of this one. Yeah, “A few questions that I need to know…” has become a modern day “Jailbreak somewhere in this town” (see #28), but this is postmodern, magpie-eyed late 90s pop at its purest and least smug. Tarantino-style, the references are there if you get them; if you don’t, it doesn’t impair how great the song is.

Flash forward to their double-bunny covers single a few months later, and that greatness vanishes for me completely (at least for a couple of years).

This one’s a 9.

#28 It took me weeks to get over that teeth-on-edge moment. “A few questions that I need to know THE ANSWERS TO”. Cutting through the airwaves first time out alright, but to very different effect.

I warmed to it over time, as surely many people did given its chart trajectory, but both I Know Where It’s At and War Of Nerves are worth two of this.

@22 “only one #1 album… to share its name with a station on the Tube map”

Well, if you’re allowing All Saints there’s been a second album one since 2011 (the one named by some vindictive TfL employee trying to confuse tourists)

One of the last songs I remember having a long slow climb to number one.
I think it can still stand firm – The constant changes in the lead vocals and the mood are what make it compelling. It was certainly a cut-through-the-airwaves song for me as well – In fact, unless my memory has zoned out something else, ‘Never Ever’ was the first Popular entry I owned a copy of – It’s one of a very few (I’ve never really been into buying singles).

The intro may be a bit clunky and the fade is definitely wrong, but the bulk of what’s in between is better than any song I’ve heard by the Spice Girls. This is very well crafted, nicely sung, unhurried, and has plenty of sublety; it gets my highest mark yet: EIGHT.

#33 I think they’re talking about that one, All Saints the album only got to No. 2.

#30 You do if you need a band we’re likely to see here, in fairness.

#37 Oooh! Mezzanine was one of my favourite albums of the ’90s. It stands up quite well even now. I loved all the chopped up atmospherics and dubby rhythms. Even 3-D’s monotone raps just highlight how jewel-like Horace Andy’s and Liz Fraser’s contributions were. “Teardrop” was the stand out, but I’d give “Man Next Door”, “Angel” and “Black Milk” their due.

Just to keep things relevant, I think the Bristol scene had an indirect hand in determining how All Saints wanted to sound.

#43 Presumably Cameron McVey forms part of that connection – the path going through Neneh Cherry and the Wild Bunch….?

This is good – I wouldn’t go as far as some but would probably go further than Tom, in terms of the mark scheme. When I was listening to it initially, I thought “this sounds a bit cheap, they’ve done a good job rising above the backing” but on closer inspection, it’s just the drum sound that I don’t like (and the odd bit of trumpet that sounds like it is on loan from Jimmy Nail – good job keeping that to the minimum) as listening for all the other elements of it, I quite like them. The synths that Marcello identifies are a highlight, I also quite like the squelchy bass, the organ the underscores some of Shaznay’s parts and the guitar that is restrained and percussive.

Better minds than mine have identified the strength of the song itself and vocals, where it’s coming from and where it’s going to. The only other thing that I thought about when hearing this was, given the band immediately coming up next, how oddly apposite the spoken word intro was – and the resolution of the song towards “hang on, I’m certain it’s not me that’s in the wrong” too.

I have to admit I can’t hear the rapping-over-piano intro without thinking of Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” (not sure if that was a hit in the UK)….