A little bit of soft Goth...
B: Gold and Silver
(Mercury 1988)
I've talked about All About Eve before and how they were always considered a bit Goth, but in my opinion that's a bit of convenient pigeonholing, and not completely accurate. So I won't blather on about that here. Instead I'll mention the whole romantic imagery that they had at this time. If you have a look at the official video (you can find it yourself - I have, as ever gone for my preferred option of Top of Pops clip in the above link) - they all look like like they've be clothed and housed by the Bronte sisters. Julianne Regan pulls off the dichotomous feat of looking and sounding strong, independent and self-assured whilst at the same time maintaining am aspect of delicate and demur innocence. Whilst the lads in the band are all baggy sleeved shirts and weskits - looking like they're just going out on the moors to looking pensively into the sunset and write poetry. Byronesque, is the epithet that I'm, reluctantly, reaching for.
Even without all the visuals What Kind of Fool feels autumnal. There a rumbling minor key intro that borders on the menacing, before the vocals kick in evoking a feeling of wistfulness, and this first verse is by a low drone, the occasional chime and cymbal shimmer, the melody being almost entirely with the voice. When the chorus arrives it like (and I know I'm extending the metaphor unrealistically beyond breaking point now) coming out of the dark wood and bursting out on to a windswept moor on a late October afternoon. The supporting instrumentation starts to filter in and tone of the melody changes from a timid nervousness to something stronger and more assertive. It keeps this up throughout the rest of the song, but there are still hints of menace lurking in the background when the strings make themselves heard. At the time I remember preferring some of their other records, but listening back to this now, I might be tempted to change my mind.
The (surprisingly long) intro of the b-side, Gold and Silver, has a harder rockier feel, with prominent drums and guitars and an ooohhing vocal over the top, which culminates in a huge (unmistakably All Eve) guitar part, then the vocals ease in, like oil on troubled waters calming things down, but this momentary as the strong chorus crashes in. The song goes on in this fashion with a very rock - almost metal guitar solo in the middle. As with the a-side it's better than I remember.
After that I'm left wondering why I don't listen to All About Eve more often these days. That was a good record - both sides of it, What Kind of Fool probably has the edge, but only slightly. I've got plenty more of their singles to come in the future-so I'm looking forward to that.
Next time another band that gets occasionally gets lumped into the periphery of Goth, but definitely isn't...
