Eventually the extended version of 'In the clouds' appeared on the re-released double CD version of the band's eponymous debut album in 2015. But that was a long time after I bought this disc.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: [unknown], 1989
Tracks: 'In the clouds [extended version]' / 'She moves through the fair', 'Calling your name'
Take for instance this limited edition version of the same 12" single. It comes in a box, which includes the 12" single in a completely different sleeve plus an enamel badge. That's all. No posters or postcards, just a badge. However, the 12" features an extra track compared to the 'regular' 12" single. The fourth track is a 'reprise' of 'What kind of fool' - a song that would get a single release some months later after the chart success of 'Martha's harbour'.
It's a nice package, which I managed to buy at a record fair some time after its release.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1990
Tracks: 'Wild hearted woman [extended]', 'What kind of fool (Reprise)' / 'Appletree man', 'Like Emily'
The 12" single features an extended version as well as two B-sides, adding 'Like Emily' to the 'Appletree man' which already appears on the 7" single. Both tracks appear on the band's debut album, released the same year.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: [unknown], 1989
Tracks: 'Wild hearted woman [extended]' / 'Appletree man', 'Like Emily'
Lead vocalist Julianne Regan confessed years ago that she couldn't take any credit for a song like 'Every angel', because such speedy little nuggets were usually the specialty of fellow band members Tim Bricheno or Andy Palmer.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1989
Tracks: 'Every angel (extended version)' / 'Wild flowers', 'Candy tree'
It turns out that the 12" single actually features an extended version of 'Road to your soul', which doesn't appear on the CD-single at all. I did find out about this years ago, but it didn't prompt me to buy the disc immediately. However, I recently found out that a shop in my neighbourhood could get it for me, and so I ordered it. As it turns out, the disc is in near mint shape and the art print is still in there! I am one happy customer.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: 33|45 Records, Den Haag, 17 August 2024
Tracks: 'Road to your soul [extended]' / 'Pieces of our heart', 'Hard Spaniard'
You could say it's a nightmare for collectors, but all these years later it's still a major joy to look back and go through all these different versions.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1989
Tracks: 'Martha's harbour', 'Another door' / 'In the clouds (live)', 'Shelter from the rain (live)'
However, some record companies stuck by the format, and there were really some attractive releases in the early Nineties still. This 12" single of All About Eve's 'The dreamer', for instance, featured four tracks and the sleeve was signed by all four members of the band. It was a numbered limited edition, and I got number 4947. Both remixes of 'The dreamer' remain unreleased on CD until now.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Wreckastow, Rotterdam, 1991
Tracks: 'The dreamer (extended remix)' / 'Frida of blood and gold', 'Road to Damascus', 'The dreamer (Nightmare mix)'
The A-side features both sides of the 7" single, which leaves space on the B-side for a bonus track. It's a live version of one of the album's most fiery tracks, 'In the meadow'. Unfortunately the sleeve gives no information on when and where this version was recorded. But Tim Bricheno does give you one of his excellent guitar solos.
My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, unknown date
Tracks: 'Martha's harbour', 'Another door' / 'In the meadow (live)'
'Scarlet' was the third single from their second album 'Scarlet and Other Stories', released near the end of the Eighties. The B-side features a live version of one of their earliest tracks, 'Our Summer'. This promotional 7" single features a slightly edited version of 'Scarlet', chopping off 20 seconds without doing the kind of damage some other single edits can do. Still, this edit does not appear anywhere else, which makes this single a bit of a rarity.
My collection: 7" single no. 6335
Found: Discogs.com, received 29 December 2020
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Scarlet [edit]' / 'Our Summer (live)'
I got to know All about Eve thanks to a TV special on a satellite channel. On that occasion I saw short clips of 'Every angel', 'Martha's harbour' and 'Flowers in our hair'. I hadn't had much of a chance to find out more about them, but within weeks I spotted this 12" single in a discount record store. A once in a lifetime chance, as I found out later. At least, this 12" single became quite expensive in later years, although the price seems to have dropped in recent years.
Collectors items can be very frustrating to a collector, as sometimes you think you may never get hold of them. When I became interested in the band All about Eve, I quickly became aware of their early 'indie' releases. 'Our summer' was released in 1987 as the band's third indie release on 12", and it was one of those frustrating items for me for years.
All about Eve have really had only one big hit; the immortal 'Martha's harbour'. The single reached number 10 and it was their only single to reach the top 10 in the UK. It was an astonishing success, since at the time, inane house music and assembly line pop from the Stock/Aitken/Waterman stable was dominating the charts.
All about Eve were in the business of creating beautiful songs, but they were also smart enough to saturate the market with many different versions of their singles. In 1990, they released 'Scarlet' as the third single from their second album 'Scarlet and other stories' on 7", 12" and two different cd-singles.
Although by 1991 the chart rules in the UK had restricted the number of different formats any single could be released on in order to count for sales, All about Eve still used the maximum amount of different formats to sell their singles. 'The dreamer', the last single to be taken from the album 'Touched by Jesus', was released on 7" single, cd-single, 12" single and this picture disc 12".
This 12" single was released as a numbered limited edition, this being number 3608. The edition must have been 5000 or 10,000 copies. Besides the free colour poster included in the package, this 12" was notable for its cover version of 'Silver song', a track originally recorded by the folk group Mellow Candle. As you can hear in the video below, the original is also a beautiful recording, but it can't hold a candle (sorry for that pun) to All about Eve's beautiful cover.
All about Eve had a habit of releasing as much formats of their singles as possible. Just before the invention of chart rules limiting formats to three, some of their singles were released on 7", two different 12" singles, a cassette single and a cd-single (or two). It was very interesting for their fans because more often than not these different formats would have exclusive tracks on them.
When I started collecting All about Eve records in the late Eighties, I quickly became aware that they'd released some independent 12" singles at the beginning of their career. The 12" of 'D for desire' never came within my grasp for a reasonable price, and neither did 'In the clouds', their second release from 1985.
All about Eve released 'What kind of fool' as the last single from their self-titled debut album in 1988. As usual, the single was released in a variety of different formats. This 12" single was released in a limited edition and contains a version of the song that didn't appear on any other format: the Synthesis mix.
When you compare all the sleeves of All about Eve singles through the years, this one is a pretty dismal affair. It's almost a shoddy sleeve, a piece of work that could only have resulted from disinterest from the record company.
