Everything but the Girl.

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.

how is their "back to mine" volume?

more please.

a friend used to joke that ben and tracey suffered from opposite maladies: her eyes were too close together and his were too far apart. but they are both so cool i really feel bad making any such comments.

Surely you jest!

Okay, maybe you don't. Here's Andrew in all his finery:

http://www.ultra-pop.org/images/band/som.jpg http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Basement/4286/Eldritch.GIF

Having said that, I do find it a little annoying that they nowadays behave as if their entire pre-"Missing" career is not worthy of any attention. Idlewild is, as noted at the start of the thread, a fab album melodically and lyrically; only its slightly dated and thin-sounding production lets it down. But the band doesn't perform any early tracks in their concerts (not that they've given any in a while), and the more recent remix album (Adapt or Die) should have offered them a chance to revisit and update those early tracks. Instead, all the remixes were of Wounded and Tempermental songs. Frankly I'm hurt.

just pulled this out of my shelf and played it for the first time in a long while

this is a really nice lp (mini-lp?) that time seems to have forgot

in fact i don't think anything ebtg-associated is particularly hip right now, least of all the early stuff

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