All About Eve (band)

All About Eve is an English pop band. The creative core consists of Julianne Regan (vocals) and Andy Cousin (bass guitar), with other members changing over the years.

Related Topics:
Julianne Regan - Vocals - Andy Cousin - Bass guitar

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Julianne Regan, a former journalist, played bass for the popular rock group Gene Loves Jezebel for a little while. The initial core of All About Eve was Julianne,guitarist Tim Bricheno, and bassist Andy Cousin from Aemotti Crii. As a three-piece (plus a drum machine), they released a series of singles including "D For Desire," "In The Clouds," and "Flowers In Our Hair." After Julianne sang backing vocals for The Mission's God's Own Medicine album, the band received greater attention and were signed to Phonogram. Drummer Mark Price was added around this time.

Related Topics:
Journalist - Gene Loves Jezebel - Guitarist - Tim Bricheno - Andy Cousin - Aemotti Crii - Backing vocals - The Mission - Drummer - Mark Price

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Their self-titled debut album was released in 1988 and produced the UK hit single Martha's Harbour. Drawing much of its lyrical material from hippie ideals, white magic and dreamlike fairy tales, the album's gentle folk rock-inspired pop sound won the band many fans (nicknamed "angels"). Often falsely lumped under goth rock, although little (if any) such inspiration actually played a part in the band's music, any "goth" connection would be likely to be drawn not from the music, but from the previous and future engagements of the band members in the musical scene of the time.

Related Topics:
Self-titled - Debut album - 1988 - UK - Hippie - Ideals - White magic - Fairy tale - Folk rock - Goth rock

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Next year, the sophomore album Scarlet and Other Stories was released, and the band toured around the UK. Widely prevalent on this album (maybe even in such effect as to overthrow the melodic nature and pop hooks of the first album) were Regan's somber, highly melancholic moods. Painful chance encounters with love also appeared on the lyrical front, and it is this motif (and period of time) which was to greatly paint the picture for the future of the band as well.

Related Topics:
Melancholic - Love - Motif

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In 1990, Bricheno left the group (later to join The Sisters of Mercy for their Vision Thing era) to be swiftly replaced by The Church's Marty Willson-Piper. They went on to record Touched By Jesus in 1991 - easily the most energetic, rocking album they had made - before changing record companies and taking a surprising, dramatic stylistic change by releasing Ultraviolet the year after.

Related Topics:
1990 - The Sisters of Mercy - The Church - Marty Willson-Piper - 1991

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Going an altogether different way than their previous release, Ultraviolet mellowed the band's sound greatly, revisiting Scarlets general sorrowful feel and turning it all ever colder, almost onto the road of minimalism. The album, released by MCA Records was not welcomed by the record company, considering the change to be for the worse, and the band subsequently went their separate ways. MCA, shedding no tears, promptly deleted the album from their catalogue.

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Regan went on to form Mice and to work with Bernard Butler, but an album with the latter never came to fruition due to internal wranglings. One of her comments on the situation stated Butler to be "the Devil". Later on, she also teamed up with her old Gene Loves Jezebel acquaintance Jean-Marc Lederman in the highly atmospheric Jules et Jim project.

Related Topics:
Mice - Bernard Butler - Jules et Jim

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At the end of the 1990s, old friends The Mission reformed after a short break and started touring. They invited Regan to open for them, and their offer was accepted, starting the second era of the band. Soon after the tour the newly-reformed (Regan, Willson-Piper & Cousin) All About Eve toured for two years, releasing Fairy Light Nights, an acoustical live collection in 2000, with Volume 2 following in 2001, and later followed by two more live albums Live And Electric At The Union Chapel and Cinemasonic (the latter of which was also released as a DVD). A collection of early recordings was also released, entitled Return To Eden, Volume 1 (no second volume has appeared yet).

Related Topics:
1990s - 2000 - 2001 - DVD

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Pretending to be spending time in Alaska (North London in reality), Julianne and Andy recorded the EP Iceland – a collection of "winter songs", including reworkings of previous fan-favourite December and cover versions of Wham!'s "Last Christmas", Queen's "A Winter's Tale", and the popular song from the animated short The Snowman, "Walking in the Air".

Related Topics:
Alaska - EP - Cover version - Wham! - Queen - The Snowman - Walking in the Air

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In mid-2004, just after the release of their first single "Let Me Go Home" in a decade, they split once again, and seem to be no more. Julianne Regan is working on her solo projects, and it has been reported that Andy Cousin has formed the band Animal Suit Driveby although there is no foundation for this rumour.. The nearly-completed Eve studio album that was being worked on remains unreleased.

Related Topics:
2004 - Animal Suit Driveby

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