All About Eve is an British rock/pop band. The creative core consists of Julianne Regan (vocals) and Andy Cousin (bass guitar), with other members changing over the years.
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.
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.
Next year, their second 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.
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.
Going an altogether different way than their previous release, Ultraviolet mellowed the band's sound greatly, revisiting Scarlet's general sorrowful feel with a heavy inspiration from the shoegazing movement to turn the Eve signature sound ever colder, almost onto the road of minimalism. The album, released by MCA Records was outright hated 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.
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 (and are still collaborating at this time).
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 yet appeared).
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 (an almost irreverently minimalist electronic take on) the popular song from the animated short The Snowman, "Walking in the Air".
In mid-2004, just after the release of their first single in a decade, "Let Me Go Home", they split once again. Regan is working on projects including a cover album with Jean-Marc Lederman, prior to the long-awaited follow-up to the first Jules et Jim album, as well as collaborating with Norwegian songwriters GKraft, and a possible solo album may be in creation. The nearly-completed Eve studio album that was being worked on remains unreleased, although Regan and Cousin may soon be dusting off the recordings to finish them in the near future. A double CD collection of the singles, key album tracks and some previously unreleased rarities is due late February 2006. These rarites are rumoured to include 2 new songs written by Tim Bricheno and Julianne Regan, and Andy Cousin and Julianne Regan, respectively.
Discography
(Albums Underlined, Singles In Italics) (CDS= CD Single ; CS= Cassette Tape ; LD= Laser Disc)
Eden Period
- 1985 D For Desire (12")
- 1986 In The Clouds (7") (12")
- 1987 Our Summer (7") (12")
- 1987 Flowers In Our Hair (7") (12")
1988 All About Eve (CD) (LP) (CS)
- 1987 In The Clouds (7") (12")
- 1988 Wild Hearted Woman (7") (12") (CS) (CDS)
- 1988 Every Angel (7") (10") (12") (CDS)
- 1988 Martha's Harbour (7") (12") (CS) (CDS) (LD)
- 1988 What Kind Of Fool (7") (10") (12") (CDS) (LD)
- 1989 Evergreen (Video)
1989 Scarlet and Other Stories (CD) (LP) (CS)
- 1989 Road To Your Soul (7") (12") (CDS) (LD)
- 1989 December (7") (10") (12") (CS) (CDS)
- 1990 Scarlet (7") (12") (CDS)
- 1990 "Thirteen" (CDS)
1991 Touched by Jesus (CD) (LP) (CS)
- 1991 Farewell Mr. Sorrow (7") (12") (CS) (CDS)
- 1991 Strange Way (7") (10") (12") (CDS)
- 1991 The Dreamer (7") (12") (CDS)
1991 BBC In Concert Transcription Disc #526 (CD)
1992 Ultraviolet (CD) (LP) (CS)
- 1992 Phased (7") (10") (CS) (CDS)
- 1992 Some Finer Day (7") (10") (CS) (CDS)
1992 Winter Words - Hits and Rareties (sic) (CD) (CS)
(1992 Blessed By Angels (Bootleg CD))
1993 BBC Radio One Live In Concert (CD)
1999 The Best Of All About Eve (CD)
2000 Fairy Light Nights I aka Unplugged aka Martha's Harbour (CD)
2001 Fairy Light Nights II (CD)
2001 Live & Electric At The Union Chapel (CD) (2CD)
2002 Return To Eden, Vol. 1 - The Early Recordings (CD)
2002 Iceland (EPCD)
2003 Cinemasonic (CD) (DVD)
2003 Fairy Light Nights I + II aka Acoustic Nights (2CD)
- 2004 Let Me Go Home (CDS)
2006 Keepsakes - Compilation & Rarities Album (2CD and limited DVD) on Universal.