All Saints - Saints & Sinners (2000)

All Saints' second album, Saints and Sinners finds them on the run from the melancholic soul-pop of their eponymous debut. Defiantly more direct and sophisticated than its predecessor, this is a resolutely upbeat affair. Fortunately rather than re-invent themselves as men-bashing R&B divas, they have chosen to stick to their usual formula: song-writer, Shaznay's helium-high voice takes centre stage, Melanie Blatt and the Appleton sisters provide fluffy and light harmonies and a string of producers including William Orbit (Madonna) deliver euphoric, technicolour grooves. The UK version includes two rather pleasant bonus tracks, "I Don't Wanna Be Alone" and "One More Tequila", but the best material appears on the first half of the album. There's nothing quite as sublime as the undeniably feel-good opener, "Pure Shores" (also featured on The Beach soundtrack), but "Distance" a bewitching combination of flamenco guitar, piano and dance-floor friendly beats comes close. Saints and Sinners doesn't exert its power in subtle ways and there are occasions when they don't quite pull off their attempts to be quirky ("Whoopin' Over You"). However there is plenty of weight and breath here, a mood and groove for every occasion, just as long as that occasion is life-affirming. In fact, Saints and Sinners sounds like someone turned the "dark" off!--Maxine Kabuubi