43: All Saints - Pure Shores

The Noughties were barely six weeks old when the world was captivated by the adventures of Leonardo DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi in the big budget, big screen adaptation of Alex Garland's 'The Beach'. OK, so maybe "captivated" wasn't the right word to use - the movie was universally panned by critics - but it did gross $144m at the box office, and I'm sure some of you readers will recall going to your local multiplex to see it at the time.

That same week in February 2000, one of the songs from the soundtrack went to #1 in pop charts around the globe. All Saints were back, trying to prove that the three #1 singles from their quintuple-platinum selling debut album weren't going to be the extent of their pop careers. Written off as a wannabe-Spice Girls (no pun intended), 'Pure Shores' was the moment that Blatt, Lewis, Appleton and Appleton arrived. Sure, they'd already had plenty of success, and 'Never Ever' had been a massively successful hit. But this was a whole different stratosphere - 'Pure Shores' was the second biggest selling single of 2000, and it helped force both the film's soundtrack, and their own second album into the record collections of large swathes of the British and European public. This was the moment they were promoted to the Pop Premier League.



William Orbit - at the time, the coolest DJ/producer in the entire dance world - was the mastermind behind this laid-back classic. Conveniently (and I speak from experience here) this song does actually sound brilliant when laying on a sunny beach, watching the waves come in. Whether that was intentional or not, it's true. The vocals are typical All Saints - sultry, breezy harmonies. It's a chillout anthem of the very highest quality.