All Saints on a sensual trip

They may sound better but there is no use saying otherwise. All Saints was an offshoot of all the sales revenue and hoopla generated by the Spice Girls. That made everybody want to get into the girl group bandwagon. Of course, it was a big bonus when it turned out that Shaznay T. Lewis, Melanie Blatt and the Canadian-born sisters Nicky and Natalie Appleton are not only lookers. They are also good singers who write their own songs.

The debut release I Know Where It’s At came out in 1997 and the hits came instantaneously after that. Never Ever, the first single was a No. 1 in UK and a Best Single Awardee from the annual Brits Awards. Even more interesting was the next chart topper, a medley of the oldies Under the Bridge popularized by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and LaBelle’s Lady Marmalade. By the time the third hit, Booty Call came along, it finally looked like All Saints was not only a group that can stand up against the Spice Girls, but is in for the long haul as well.

Touring and family affairs kept the girls busy during the next two years and just when you thought it was safe to write All Saints off, the girls resurfaced in a big way with a dream single from a most-awaited soundtrack album. The langourous Pure Shores was not only evocative of a tropical paradise where the world stops, it was also from Leonardo DiCaprio’s follow-up release to the monumental Titanic, The Beach.

Pure Shores, which incidentally was written by Shaznay and producer William Orbit, who works with Madonna, sets the easy, sensual mood in the new All Saints album Saints & Sinners. The girls can use better written tunes. There is nothing outstanding about "You want a piece of my ass." They can also apply more grit. Even the purest of shores on The Beach turned out to be no paradise.

But you have to admit that their pretty harmonies do sound inviting and come across as an electronic version of Motown made for the new century. And if you are the sort of listener who wants something more substantial than Jim Brickman but draws the line on screaming Mariah’s, then All Saints’, sweet, easy and sexy is just the sound for you.

Other cuts in the album are All Hooked Up, Dreams, Distance, Black Coffee, Whoopin’ Over You, I Feel You, Surrender, Ha Ha, Love is Love, Ready, Willing and Able and Saints & Sinners.

Incidentally, good sounds are not all that All Saints has to offer. Just like every promoter’s dream, they have also proven themselves great fodder for the tabloids. At the last count, Nicole or Nicky, one of the sisters from Canada, has announced that she is two months pregnant with Liam Gallagher’s baby. Liam is of course, one of those famous or should I say notoriously controversial brothers behind the band Oasis. Nicky made the announcement during the annual MTV Europe Awards held in Stockholm, Sweden, where All Saints was named Best Pop Act.

Watch out too for the first big screen appearance of Melanie, Nicky and Natalie. I do not know why Shaznay proved too shy for this, but the three Saints appear in a movie directed by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. They play sexy thieves in London in the film which is titled Honest and set in the ’60s.

The other big winners of the evening were the Material Girl Madonna, rapper Eminem and the Backstreet Boys. Madonna won for Best Female Artist and Best Dance, thanks to her new album Music. Eminem got his for Best Hip Hop Act and Best Album with his The Marshall Mathers LP while the Backstreet Boys won the Best Group trophy for the second year in a row. Others who went home with trophies were Ricky Martin, Best Male Artist; Red Hot Chili Peppers, Best Rock; Jennifer Lopez, Best R&B; Rock DJ by Robbie Wiliams, Best Song; and not to forget, All Saints, Best Pop Act.

For the complete list of winners and the entire exciting show emceed by Wyclef Jean and with performers like Madonna and Ricky Martin, you can tune in to either MTV or Studio 23 at 10 p.m. on Dec. 1.