Everything but the Girl.

They also released some great non-album singles around that time (Mine, Native Land) but Love Not Money was a bit disappointing,

Baby The Stars Shine Bright seemed to be an exercise in concealing weak songs behind layers of orchestration.

Idlewild was better but the material still seemed to be lacking (one of the two best songs on the album was a cover) and still nothing like as good as the first one.

I stopped buying them after that.

Am I correct in thinking that Ben Watt now does Lazy Dog? If so, much respect.

'Walking Wounded' is great, even 'Temperamental' has its moments - i remember thinking how unlikely it all seemed that this duo who i jhad no time for at all in the 80s had transformed into this uber-hip pop duo after getting into house, jungle and trip-hop.

I don't find myself listening to the Marine Girls as much these days, though there are some good moments. Call me crazy, but I think Unrest's cover of "Love to Know" surpasses the original.

Classic.

To digress from EBTG for a second, I think Jane and Alice Fox are underrated in the Marine Girls' scheme of things - check out the two Grab Grab the Haddock EPs for proof.

not enough here.

i'm really liking much of walking wounded right now--the first half especially.

many of their records sound amazing when i'm listening, but i tend to underestimate them over and over again. why?

f'rexample, they have a certain kind of key change they use for a bridge, it's kind of jazzy and obv ben watt is kind of infatuated with it (for that very reason? he's def. a kind of jazz poseur, which has its definite benefits). it gets kind of tiresome. you can hear it in the bridge of "mirrorball." a song which i otherwise love.

I wanted them to turn into a Blue Nile for the post-rave nineties which they never quite did (although hinted at it in places - certainly their increasing fixation on the city and heartbreak didn't hurt) - Watts' dance-flavoured arrangements never quite let go of the efficient structuredness that I think he thinks is a key component of dance music. I don't think he's necessarily mistaken actually, but there's a lot of the stuff on the last two albums that has a remixer's singlemindedness to it...although in truth it's probably just as much radio-friendly simplicity as it is dance reductionism. Something like "Walking Wounded" the song is a big exception in that regard - much more spacious and open-ended, though it arguably sacrifices some of the duo's signature winsomeness as a result.

I also really love the title track on "Temperamental" though, and I think there's something mysteriously blank about their more recent house tracks that's quite compelling - there's something obscurely extremist about "Five Fathoms" which I can't exactly put my finger on.

LTM seemed to be an attempt to mix the jazzy vibe of Eden with the socialism of the whole Red Wedge thing and Johnny Marr's layered guitar sound. When it worked, as in "When All's Well" or "Ballad of the Times", it was sublime.

For me, Ben Watt's best moment has to be the "Some Things Don't Matter" solo single. And "Patient" was the book I was reading while I was waiting to find out if I had cancer or not a year ago today (so far so good...), and struck me by how bruisingly real but optimistic it was.

You can hear a lovers' dialogue if you separate the tracks by who wrote the lyrics. I'm not saying its necessarily autobiographical, but their words come from distinct perspectives even if Tracey's singing everything. Ben's the dumpee who still wants her but realizes he needs to come to terms with himself first, Tracey's the one who left but is starting to think that she made a mistake. There's a whole level of camoflauged drama on this album that makes it even more rewarding.

because it's sophisticated pop, it can tend to feel a little starbucks in atmosphere. probably why they're a bit underrated.

well that track is a spring heel jack /EBTG collab, so that makes sense.

i dunno. in so many ways that record exhibits so many admirable tendencies of mid-80s "smart" pop (esp. the connecting of the personal and political, the invoking of a native facism). it's of its moment. but i find that moving in itself.

oh yeah and "come on home" is worthwhile not for just being a v. pretty song but as one of the few pop tunes to pick up where "message to martha/michael" and "golden lights" left off.

also yeah the marine girls are amazing.

You're right. And that's kindof scary, now that I think about it.

LTM seemed to be an attempt to mix the jazzy vibe of Eden with the socialism of the whole Red Wedge thing and Johnny Marr's layered guitar sound.

I suppose you mean the second album Love Not Money? I've never heard that Johnny Marr played on that. I'm a Johnny Marr freak so I don't think it's possible to talk of the "Johnny Marr sound" unless you're talking about something he actually did because I think his sound is pretty unmistakeable and not easily copied. I mean, there are things I hear him do that I think "no way could that be anybody else but him".

"Eden" is one of my favourite albums of all time, if we ignore the fact that as an American I don't know it by that title, and the U.S. version had a slightly different tracklisting. Still, all the key songs are there. The second and third albums have their highlights, too, but proved far less memorable. I bought "Walking Wounded" when it came out. I liked a few songs a lot, then sold it. But I think that might have been because of a certain relationship I was in at the time.

I remember liking a lot of 'Temperamental', esp. 'Lullaby of Clubland' and 'Hatfield 1980'. I love the city songs over the minimal focus of the production. nice stuff.

Could never get into 'Idlewild' or 'Baby, the Stars...', which I generally attribute to the busier production. I came to LOVE Tracey's voice on the gorgeously ungussied 'Amplified Heart', and hearing it reverbed, etc. throws me off. The last two albums are different beasts, but there's a close recording of her voice again, which goes a long way.

it's kind of amazing that they manage to turn cap'n beefheart's "my head is my only house unless it rains" into a normal EBTG song, but on the downside the result isn't necessarily much more than a normal EBTG song.

Thorn book is £1.99 in the Book Store (Banbury but presumably other branches, too).

the ben watt memoir of his parents is really moving and much of it is beautifully written

still think his album is great, but nobody wants to talk bout it here

**shrug**

I'll talk about it. It's a nice album.

Everytime I turn around there's another EBTG rarity I can't find...I wish they would put out a collection of their singles and comps tracks

― iago g., Saturday, March 20, 2010 11:05 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

there's a great comp floating around the internets. whatsitcalled. ah yes, kitchen sink treasures.

― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, May 11, 2010 5:10 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Surprised there's no discussion of the reissues...bonus discs of b-sides, demos. Bought the first 4, haven't listened yet but psyched they finally did this. Now only if they would tour!

they're not going to tour.

i haven't bought those reissues yet, just a lack of funds and the fact that i've heard a lot of the "bonus" stuff already. would love to read a good review though.

too bad, i'd never heard any of these demos, they're excellent. thanks for the reply!

The Ben Watt record is a bit weak on the lyrics but I like it nonetheless. It reminds me in parts of the Beyond The Wizards Sleeve remix of Midlake.

https://soundcloud.com/ben_watt/ben-watt-pearson-park-deep-folk-mixtape-4

I saw you standing at the bar
Don't know your name or who you are
It's packed at 2 a.m
I've got no coat

I still really, really like Walking Wounded, particularly the title track. I remember when they put that out as a single, and of course the remix of 'Missing' was a big hit and I knew about Thorn's work with Massive Attack, but even with all that in mind I couldn't believe it was the same band that put out songs like 'Driving' ... it caught my ear in a way that no Everything But The Girl song had done before.

Ben Watt's latest (Fever Dream) is even better than Hendra. It sounds a lot like Hendra —nice, strummy and modest— but just stronger overall songs. Some of the tunes even bare a strong resemblance to Amplified Heart. 'Women's Company' is a fantastic number. It's been out since the beginning of April, but I'm just now catching up to it.

Pitchfork's Britpop special got me thinking about their historical place. Here's a short appraisal and top ten.

Well, I certainly don't think of Everything But the Girl in terms of that stupid and meaningless word, but I do think of them as being very much part of the pop music landscape in '96 with singles like the remix of 'Missing' and 'Wrong' (although I thought that 'Walking Wounded' was the best track of them all) and I remember thinking how much of a surprise it was, both in the sense that they were now having big hits (I think many considered them to washed-up by the mid '90s), but also in the direction their music had now gone in.

wow that EBTG top 20 couldn't be more different than mine... band contains depths. super underrated

I should have known it would be a mistake to read the R Schreiber 1999 review of "Temperamental":

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2855-temperamental/

I should have known it would be a mistake to read the R Schreiber [year] review of [album]

every late nineties pitchfork review that mentions hearing certain songs in the context of some public place ("on the dance floor at the local sportsbar") make me feel like these people literally never left their dorms

or his parents' basement

But at the end of 60 straight minutes of this record, you feel like you've just spent half your life in an upscale women's clothing store.

"haha, that'll show them"

might be late to the game, but i just came across Ada's cover of Each And Every One today—still holds up incredibly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYHbrcHMB8

"Missing" kills me. Revived my interest by finding an old cassette stuck in a player and this track was in the sequence. I know the feeling of this song to a tee, love this track

Alan Sparhawk guests on one of Ben's new tracks. Alan's interview with Ben is insightful: http://floodmagazine.com/70506/ben-watt-shares-new-single-irene-answers-questions-from-lows-alan-sparhawk/

interesting interview, thanks. the new song irene is quite wonderful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch? &v=XS3REGSWyd8

http://www.youtube.com/watch? &v=XS3REGSWyd8

ok then: https://youtu.be/XS3REGSWyd8

New song is nice and worth 3 posts :)

Just heard their "Birds" cover on the St. Giga archive (see ambient recommendations thread) and my God, so beautiful. Studying and stopped me in my tracks.

best ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vsMf1NQ1Q

"big deal" (1996)

biiiiiiig deeeal

would not be surprised if tracey has been side hustling in mental health the whole time because ... wow that's some insider info you got there, friend

sade also does this pretty well and of course she's easily tracey's equal, so.

this is a great live recording, btw. never heard it before—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLpqs2i7V84

"before today" live in tokyo, 1997 from the deluxe edition of walking wounded (which i am just now listening to for the first time. the extras are good! the album is forever classic.)

Several videos from this show are up on YT. Forum 1999, "Before Today"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YhnJFwriw8

sade also does this pretty well and of course she's easily tracey's equal, so

If I remember right, Sade was recording Diamond Life in the same studio where they were doing Eden.

...24 years later:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOF2pjm9_IE

Whoops, missed that anticipation is over here:

Everything But The Girl Album Poll

What was this in response to? "would not be surprised if tracey has been side hustling in mental health the whole time because"

Is this (new album) being discussed elsewhere? Strangely, I really like seeing the photos of them draped over each other appearing on my Twitter feed, without not really being into what I've heard of their new recordings (very open to the idea that I'll realise I love the tracks, at some later date).

Everything But The Girl Album Poll

What was this in response to? "would not be surprised if tracey has been side hustling in mental health the whole time because"

― djh, Thursday, April 20, 2023 1:24 PM

hi.

umm, i think i meant her ability to get into hyper-specific narratives that simultaneously could apply to many different scenarios? "big deal" inspired that post and here's the first verse—

You spend four nights a week now looking for your inner child
What you gonna say when you find him?
Suppose you don't like him or he doesn't like you?
Suppose once you wake him up he won't go back to bed and wants to stay up late watching TV?
But you say there must be some reason why you feel this way

i have a lot of mental health problems, so these feel like questions from a therapist. tough, maybe even intentionally provocative, but ultimately coming from a place of compassion. and only posed in the first place to redirect and change unhealthy behavior. especially when she concludes, "big deal, that's the way we all feel." (with the implication that it's okay, she's not mocking you; the world is scary and we're all in it together)

more importantly: it's framed in that song as a relationship conflict ("first you doubt yourself and then you doubt her"), but most of the song is only about what's going on for one side — a biased narrative. if the psychoeducation i've received was worth anything at all, one of the main themes is that folks like me have an inherently biased, unhealthy narrative that needs questioning, needs correction. that she frames it in a seemingly specific relationship context, yet still manages to ask universal questions, is a pretty neat trick and what inspired my post up there. she does this a lot (especially on albums like temperamental love and its opposite). i could get into many other examples, "big deal" was just hitting with some extra heft that day i guess.

“Mirrorball” ftw

Might be of interest (Ben Watt's Private Passions on Radio 3):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001l4jf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NljK-sXaMtk