Review: “Always” by Tin Tin Out (CD, 1998)

Today’s Pop Rescue from an uncertain future is 1998’s Always – the second album by British dance duo Tin Tin Out. Should this album Always be There To Remind you of good times, or should it be Where The Story Ends? Read on….

Tin Tin Out - Always (1998) album — Tin Tin Out – Always (1998) album.

This 10 track CD opens with, as you can imagine, a building set of emotive strings as it leads into Strings For Yasmin which makes you think of some kind of harrowing misery, then suddenly a lone drum beats, and just as suddenly a throbbing bass drum, some pumping dance beats and big vocals arrive. There’s a sense of alarm in this track, but the nicest points are where the beats are pitched against the string section. We’ll hear more like this in a couple of tracks, but this gives us a real mixture of styles, as an operatic vocal also arrives over what reminds me of Bullet In A Gun by Planet Perfecto. At 5m 17s it’s a fairly long introduction but it sets the scene. As the album’s fifth single, it clambered up to #31 in the UK singles chart.

Then we’re treated to a short Always Something There To Remind Me (Piano Intro), the first glimmer of this Burt Bacharach and Hal David cover. Here, there’s a short sequence of chunky chords on the piano before it fades off into the distance, lasting only 37 seconds.

Here’s Where The Story Ends is next, which was released as the 6th and final single. The track features vocalist Shelley Nelson, and her vocals are soft and warm, and this compliments the soft string-backed track with the shuffling percussive beats. It’s a lovely song even now, and it reached #7 in 1998. The single was certified Silver by the BPI.

That’s followed by Dance With Me, and this features Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet. The introduction makes you think that you’re about to be hit round the chops by a Steps track, before taking an almost heavenly sound via whatever the late Robert Miles used to drink. A hard beat, tinkling pianos, and a dance beat sit comfortably underneath Tony’s vocals. His vocals suit this track well, and you can just tell he’s itching to belt out some big vocals.

Next up is the full version of Always Something There To Remind Me which features the dreamy vocals of Espiritu. When released as the second single from this album, it gave them a #14 hit in 1995. Espiritu’s vocals are soft and wafting and that suits this version well with its gentle synth pads that sit in the background of the bass, bleeping synth sequences, and dance beat. Plonking piano drops into the mix, which only helps it build and keep it catchy. The track focuses on the dance track and the song’s chorus, leaving versions by the likes of Dionne Warwick (1963), Lou Johnson and Sandie Shaw (both 1964) without a scratch. This is a great track.

Then it’s third single All I Wanna Do, which took the duo to #31 with this gurgling synth track that would excite The Outhere Brothers. Here, vocalist Michael Brooks lends his voice as the song chugs along, back with a dance beat and psuedo-alarm sounds and whistles. I can imagine this song was reasonably popular in clubs.

Following that is the album’s lead single from 1994, The Feeling which features rapper Sweet Tee. The track reached #32 in the UK singles chart, and it very much feels like an early ’90s track. It perhaps sits out a little stylistically from the rest of the album here as a result. At 7m 20s it’s the longest track here, and whilst it would have been 4yrs old when this album was released (and 30yrs as i type), it certainly has a dated charm to it. Sweet Tee sounds like a mixture of Wee Papa Girl Rappers meets young Neneh Cherry, whilst the backing track is mostly uninteresting.

That’s followed by Dealers 2 The Dancefloor, and I don’t think we’re talking about cards here folks. Growling and bleeping synths are set against thudding beats, interspersed with a vocal sample of what sounds like a baby goat looking for its mother. There’s 6mins and 47s of it, and to its credit, it does manage to build up in the mid section.

Next is Strings For Yasmin (Reprise), and so we’re treated once again to the beautiful string introduction that we heard earlier. The strings usher in what sounds like a repeated mysterious vocal sample and some wonderful sounding percussion. Synth pads slide into the mix alongside these, and even the strings from the intro return again. The track manages to build nicely, and essentially keeps away from a dance track, instead feeding us a beautiful track focusing on the strings, percussion, and even the operatic vocal returns as it leads to the end. Lovely.

The album closes with This Is For You (Tin Tin vs Mansa), which returns us to an up-beat track. Dawn Dawson is on vocal duties here, and her vocals shine here against the wrong synth – which kind of overpowers the track. Without it, the song would be a wonderful little song.

Tin Tin Out’s lead single ‘The Feeling’ featuring Sweet Tee (1994).

Verdict

Over all, this album is sort of like a singles album – with 6 singles out of an album of 8 tracks, 1 momentary intro, and a reprise. It’s a mixture of mellow and night out beats.

The highlights amongst these songs are led by Here’s Where The Story End with Shelley Nelson, Always Something There To Remind Me, Strings For Yasmin (Reprise). These are closely followed by This Is For You (minus the synth) and Tony Hadley’s turn on Dance With Me. These all feel like fully-rounded songs. The low points of the album are perhaps symptomatic to it no longer being the 1990s. The Feeling feels very dated, and Dealers 2 The Dancefloor feels like an ugly mess.

Give the album a spin, but be prepared to skip a couple. Perhaps if the album had turned its back on earlier tracks and focused on the newer material, then it would sound more consistently good.