AMG Review of All Hits

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

All Saints weren't together that long -- only two albums and a handful of singles -- but that was enough to rack up a bunch of tabloid headlines, several celebrity romances (Shaznay with Damon Albarn, Nicole with Robbie Williams and Liam Gallagher), one skin-baring movie for the sisters Appleton, and several big U.K. hits (and a few minor U.S. hits). It might not be a lot for a hits collection, but it was enough, as the 13-track collection All Hits proves. This is padded out a bit, with two 1998 remixes (one of "Lady Marmalade," one of "War of Nerves") and the original hit version of the spectacular "Pure Shores" plus its "2 da Beach U Don't Stop Remix," and it bends the rules by featuring "Twentyfourseven," a hit by Artful Dodger featuring Melanie Blatt's vocals, but that's not necessarily a bad thing (particularly in the case of "Twentyfourseven"), since this does consolidate the basic hits -- "Pure Shores," "Never Ever," "Under the Bridge," "I Know Where It's At," "Black Coffee," and "Bootie Call" -- onto one disc. All Saints did make good albums -- both of their records hold their own against the Spice Girls -- but inevitably some will just want to hear the hits, and this does an excellent job of serving them up with style.