| Red Flag | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 8 April 2016 (2016-04-08) | |||
| Recorded | 2014–2016 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:36 | |||
| Label | London | |||
| Producer | ||||
| All Saints chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Red Flag | ||||
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Red Flag is the fourthstudio album by English girl groupAll Saints. It was released on 8 April 2016, byLondon Records, which relaunched especially for the project. It serves as the group's comeback album, their first in nearly a decade, following the release of 2006'sStudio 1, which resulted in them being dropped byParlophone. A string of live performances and touring with theBackstreet Boys in 2014 sparked interest within the group to reform and recordRed Flag. All Saints collaborated with producersKarl "K-Gee" Gordon, Hutch,The Invisible Men,Fred Ball, and Utters for the album.
The album received positive reviews from music critics with some even considering it their best work yet. It was a success in the United Kingdom, where it debuted at number three on theUK Album Chart.Red Flag was preceded by the release of "One Strike" as itslead single on 23 February 2016. To further promote the album, All Saints played a headlining gig at London'sKOKO on 4 April 2016 and embarked on their first headlining tour in 15 years, theRed Flag Tour, in October 2016.
In 2007, All Saints were dropped byParlophone following lacklustre sales of their third studio album,Studio 1.[3] Two years later, group memberMelanie Blatt declared that All Saints would be "never ever getting back together again".[4] A limited release of the group's third compilation album,Pure Shores: The Very Best of All Saints, was commissioned by Music Club Deluxe in September 2010.[5][6] The group were approached to star inthe second series ofThe Big Reunion, but promptly declined the offer in April 2013.[7] Unexpectedly the following year, All Saints were invited to perform as special guests for five dates of theBackstreet Boys'In a World Like This Tour in Ireland and the UK.[4] Their tour dates ran from 26 March to 5 April 2014.[8] Although All Saints made no money from the tour and funded their sets themselves, they saw it as an opportunity to do what they enjoyed the most and did the least, describing the experience as "refreshing" and "money well spent".[4] It ultimately sparked interest within the group to pursue a new studio album and full-scale comeback; group memberNatalie Appleton explained: "We thought we'd just do it for a laugh, but then we just didn't want it to end. We liked being together. We wanted to be together. I mean we hang out anyway, but we wanted to be together inthis world."[4]
All Saints went on to perform additional gigs atG-A-Y,Manchester Pride and theV Festival that year.[9][10] The string of live performances were viewed as a triumphant return for the group and prompted much reunion speculation.[4][10] A promotional video was shared by All Saints onsocial media in June 2015, suggesting an upcoming project and tour.[10] Similarly, on 1 January 2016, the group posted a promotional image of themselves looking upwards in front of a grey background with the text "2016".[11]
We didn't force ourselves into this situation and it couldn't have happened at a better time in all of our lives. I just missed being with the girls. It makes us happy.[4]
Writing and recording ofRed Flag began in April 2014 after the In a World Like This Tour.[12] All Saints decided that they would not pursue a studio album had they not believed in the music they recorded. This was especially important for Blatt who considered theStudio 1 era and Parlophone contract fraudulent.[4] In an interview fori-D, group memberShaznay Lewis said the comeback was about the group's relationship with each other and "nothing to do with the industry, or making money, or selling records".[4] Unlike with the group's previous albums,Red Flag's recording happened casually and on good terms; Lewis stated it would have been completed "a lot quicker if [the group] spent less time joking around while making it".[13]
Red Flag was the first album to be entirely arranged by the group with no record label input.[14] Prior to its development, Lewis had taken notice of a new producer, Hutch, whose work she loved and saw the album as the ideal opportunity for a collaboration with him. The group also approached other producers including, Utters andThe Invisible Men, andK-Gee who had produced much of their back catalogue. K-Gee insisted that All Saints worked with other producers before working with him and consequently became the record's executive producer.[4] The track listing was ordered from the first track the group recorded for the album to the last. A total of 20 songs were recorded with eight later recordings not making the cut.[15] The group became so involved during the recording and development process that they kept returning for additional sessions and further fine-tuning. Only when the album was complete did they seek investors and a label for the project.[14]
Most tracks onRed Flag were written by Lewis with themes very personal to the group.[15] They were written with a significantly more mature perspective than that of the group's previous releases. In an interview forThe Observer, Lewis explained: "Because we're old enough to know that hey, life's not perfect, and it's not like: 'I'm in love and nothing bad will ever happen to me …' No. Shit happens."[14] "One Strike" was inspired by the breakdown of group memberNicole Appleton's highly publicised marriage toOasis andBeady Eye band memberLiam Gallagher. It details Nicole's emotions when it was revealed to her that Gallagher had an affair and was expecting a child with American journalist Liza Ghorbani.[4][16] Blatt citedRed Flag as the group's best output[14] and her favourite All Saints album and the one she "always wanted [them] to make",[4] while Lewis said it "couldn't feel any more right".[12]
All Saints initially planned to start up their own record label for the release ofRed Flag, however, their former labelLondon Records decided to relaunch especially for the project.[4] On 27 January 2016, the group announced thatRed Flag would be released on 8 April 2016.[12] Each member took to Twitter the same day to post red flagemojis.[17] The album was made available forpre-order on 23 February 2016.[18][19] Signed CDs were made available for pre-order exclusively toAmazon.co.uk.[20]
To promoteRed Flag, All Saints appeared onAlan Carr: Chatty Man for an interview and a performance of "One Strike" on 17 March 2016.[21][22] The group then played their first headlining show in over a decade at London'sKOKO on 4 April 2016.[23] The show was a critical and commercial success; it received praise from reviewers forThe Daily Telegraph andThe Guardian, and tickets sold out in one minute.[24][25][26] The group were scheduled to further promote the album with performances at G-A-Y on 18 April 2016, theChipping Norton Music Festival on 9 July 2016 and at the V Festival on 20 August 2016.[27] They also embarked on their first headlining tour in 15 years, theRed Flag Tour, in support of the album.[26] Tickets for the tour were first made available on 16 March 2016 through an exclusive fan pre-sale on the group's website for its newsletter subscribers,[28] and then later through Gigsandtours.com on 18 March 2016 at 09:00BST.[12] The Red Flag Tour visited 10 British cities throughout October 2016, beginning inNewcastle upon Tyne and ending inNorwich.[29]
"One Strike" was released as thelead single fromRed Flag mid-week on 23 February 2016.[12] It bowed at number 198 initially on theUK Singles Chart, and re-entered at number 115 after the release ofRed Flag. It also received rave reviews from critics.[30][31] "One Woman Man" was released as the first promotional single from the album on 18 March 2016, peaking at number 192 on the UK Singles Chart.[32][33] "This Is a War" followed as the second and final promotional single on 1 April 2016.[31] Later, "This Is a War" was eventually announced as the album's second single.[34] On 13 May 2016, a remixes EP was released on theiTunes Store, as well as onSpotify.[35][2][36] The music video for the song was released on 8 June 2016.[37]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 6.9/10[38] |
| Metacritic | 68/100[39] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [40] |
| Exclaim! | 8/10[41] |
| The Guardian | [42] |
| MusicOMH | [43] |
| NME | [44] |
| The Observer | [45] |
| PopMatters | 6/10[1] |
| Q | [46] |
| Spin | 8/10[47] |
| The Times | [48] |
Red Flag received generally positive reviews from music critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received anaverage score of 68, based on 9 reviews.[49] Writing forQ,David Quantick called it the best album of the group's career, writing, "Unlike previous efforts, which have relied on a standout moment [...],Red Flag is both consistent and memorable."[46] Yasmine Shemesh ofExclaim! also regarded it as All Saints' best album, noting that it triumphed by being entirely contemporary while still having the group's trademark sound.[41] Similarly, John Murphy ofMusicOMH commended the group's ability to remain contemporary after a decade's absence and considered the album a more genuine follow-up to their 2000 albumSaints & Sinners than 2006'sStudio 1.[43]AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung wrote that All Saints grew with confidence and prospered with their harmonizing.[40] Brennan Carley ofSpin magazine deemed it "a mature but still totally floor-ready return",[47] while Michael Cragg ofThe Observer felt it was "expertly judged" and "a sassy and soulful return to form".[45]
Other reviewers were critical of the album's latter half. Leonie Cooper of theNME noted a large drop in quality after the track "Summer Rain", ultimately callingRed Flag equally thrilling and disappointing.[44] While impressed by "One Strike" and "One Woman Man", Harriet Gibsone ofThe Guardian said the album was beset by "rogue energies" and "mellow ballads of varying degrees of schmaltz".[42] In his review forThe Times,Will Hodgkinson wrote thatRed Flag had "some awful filler", but appreciated its genuine musicianship and called it "a far from disgraceful return".[48] Richard Folland ofPopMatters found the second half weaker, dismissing its R&B-influenced style as anonymity, but complimented the album's maturity and variety. He concluded that the group's complementary harmonies "can conjure an esoteric kind of pop magic" and that they "can still create a sound which few if any of their peers can match."[1]Digital Spy placedRed Flag at number 19 in their list of the 20 best albums of 2016.[50]
Red Flag debuted at number three on theUK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 9,298 units, behindThe Lumineers'Cleopatra andAdele's25.[51] It dropped to number 24 in its second week with sales of 3,056 units.[52]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "One Strike" |
| Hutch | 3:33 |
| 2. | "One Woman Man" |
|
| 4:01 |
| 3. | "Make U Love Me" |
| Gordon | 3:46 |
| 4. | "Summer Rain" |
| 3:43 | |
| 5. | "This Is a War" |
|
| 4:49 |
| 6. | "Who Hurt Who" | Skarbek | 4:00 | |
| 7. | "Puppet on a String" |
| Ball | 3:24 |
| 8. | "Fear" |
|
| 3:56 |
| 9. | "Ratchet Behaviour" |
| Gordon | 3:54 |
| 10. | "Red Flag" |
| Gordon | 4:19 |
| 11. | "Tribal" |
| Gordon | 4:05 |
| 12. | "Pieces" |
| Gordon | 4:06 |
| Total length: | 47:36 | |||
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[53] | 77 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[54] | 104 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[55] | 73 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[56] | 89 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)[57] | 29 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[58] | 6 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[59] | 70 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[60] | 3 |
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Compilation albums | |
| Singles | |
| Concert tours | |
| Related articles | |
