Everything But The Girl Album Poll

I'm very fond of Idlewild despite the production and the nice-but-not-my-thing Danny Whitten cover. Someone on the other EBTG thread rightly complimented Tracy Thorn for writing lyrics to and for other women -- these small but emphatic gestures of solidarity. "Blue Moon Rose" is in that category. And "Oxford Street" is just lovely.

― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, March 7, 2009 This makes me think of my Top Ten pick Record, which unselfconsciously takes as a given the need to think out loud, to confide, in a way not too navelgazey, self-absorbed (some singer-songwriters cam make me wonder, "Whatta they need me for?"
Will have to check her books, also ETBTG albums, having only heard a few singles, back in the day.

worldwide and language of life are missteps by this band and anyone else who made records like it.

for that sort of big budget overproduced and "schlocky to the point of detriment" thing by this school of bands, aztec camera's dreamland is far superior and still a complete disappointment of an album.

nothing but respect for ben and tracey —i would rate them as an alltime favorite— but ebtg's catalogue began with an immediate slew of highlights, hit a deep and cheesy valley of disappointment, and then careened ever so consistently back up to the heights of their early records (with a completely different vibe, obvs).

i will never be convinced otherwise and i am suspicious of anyone who tries to push a different narrative.

I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you. Keep your suspicions high and your stubbornness reaching for the stars.

btw the albums before TLOF are as uneven, i.e. three or four tuneful or attractively sung non-entities per album

be suspicious of me i don't give a shit. the songcraft fucking sings

Plus, what makes those albums' arrangements "schlock" and the 1984-1988 stuff okay?

nothing but respect for ben and tracey —i would rate them as an alltime favorite—

― the beginning of the end of discourse. (Austin), Tuesday, November 16, 2021 11:42 AM

yeah i know, you're disrespecting us instead lol

i also do not understand singling out language of life which sounds to my ears like a refinement of idlewild

mid period EBTG is my favorite too! it has a nice sort of end-of-history post coldwar anomie that suits the band. 'idlewild' is the best. some clunkers on 'language' and 'worldwide' admittedly

in any event 'tears all over town', 'old friends', 'talk to me ...', 'driving' all slap

hold up, wait a minute, "take me" is a womack & womack song????

the language of life is the best album ever

no disrespect intended. i can be suspicious of someone and still respect what they have to say.

it's just puzzling because idlewild sounds like an actual record that was made by people who cared about what it sounded like, while everything that followed (until amplified heart) sounds like the coked out producer making sure all of his best bud sessions players (who are all amazing musicians, btw) get in on the action. the term "overproduced" was created for that kind of music. it's nightmarish vaporwave twenty years before the fact. deeply unsettling and creepily contrived music.

to bring aztec camera back into the discussion, i feel the same way about his post-knife albums (he also worked briefly with tommy lipuma, who was heavily involved on the language of life). it's very forced music and i just don't buy it.

(despite my militant stance here, i do like songs from this period and i will concede that "driving" is easily one of their best songs and a mini-masterpiece, of sorts. i have to apologize; i have been experiencing more frequent dissociative episodes and sometimes i say things a little more aggressively than the situation calls for while in those moments. sorry if i upset anyone. certainly not my intent. ebtg rules. aztec camera rules. tommy lipuma doesn't, but that's okay too. anyway.)

I happen to love the Dreamland album by Aztec Camera. It's probably my favorite AC album. It's definitely polished and schmaltzy, but i like it.

it's just puzzling because idlewild sounds like an actual record that was made by people who cared about what it sounded like, while everything that followed (until amplified heart) sounds like the coked out producer making sure all of his best bud sessions players (who are all amazing musicians, btw) get in on the action

Austin, I like you, but, with respect, this is the review I'd read in AllMusic guides in the late '90s by kids flummoxed by the idea of studio rock production. What makes you think Thorn-Watt weren't in charge and didn't get what they wanted?

I own Aztec Camera's Love, also produced by the fabulously named Tommy LiPuma: same sound, different chords and sounds.

Ok

I missed this but would have voted for Amplified Heart

Because I am basic

Sry

amplified heart is an amazing album

still sounds like no other '90s album: a John Martyn or Richard Thompson album with bossa nova influences but with space.

I finally spent time (in a romantic situation, too) with Amplified Heart, after only hearing “Missing” and “Single” all too much in coffee shops and clothing stores for many years. Definitely exceeded my expectations of a superfan of their earliest albums. Had Acoustic on cassette and liked that a lot as well, am ready to try out the other mid-period ones again now that they have some age on them.

Troubled Mind is a banger imo

That's the one I had in mind.

The Language of Life also works well with Julia Fordham's Porcelain, out around the same time.

amplified heart is an amazing album

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, November 18, 2021 11:49 AM

one thing we can all agree on. i often think of it as their best.

still sounds like no other '90s album: a John Martyn or Richard Thompson album with bossa nova influences but with space.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 November 2021 19:53 (three days ago) link

Not to take away from your point, but Stina Nordenstam’s ‘And She Closed Her Eyes’ wants a word.

This thread led me to discover deluxe editions of most EBTG albums on Spotify. Love hearing the home demos of the Eden tracks after knowing the album versions by heart, just starting to get into the demos and remixes on the mid/later albums.

when all’s well
my love is like cathedral bells

impossible to rank their albums bc they’re all so good

the language of life
temperamental
amplified heart
walking wounded
idlewild
love not money
baby the stars shine bright
eden

sorry 2 eden-heads

worldwide is between idlewild and love not money

Austin, I like you, but, with respect, this is the review I'd read in AllMusic guides in the late '90s by kids flummoxed by the idea of studio rock production. What makes you think Thorn-Watt weren't in charge and didn't get what they wanted?

I own Aztec Camera's Love, also produced by the fabulously named Tommy LiPuma: same sound, different chords and sounds.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, November 18, 2021 11:39 AM

thanks, i like you too.

but i do hear it as:

deeply unsettling and creepily contrived music.

it's overproduced. the underwhelming calibre of the songs doesn't match the uber glossy production. by being too cohesive, it ends up not being cohesive at all. it sounds unnatural and OFF. if such a thing as "so bad it's good" exists, then surely the inverse can also apply.

i also own and know love (the aztec camera album, not the human emotion) quite well — because for some reason i kept listening to these kinds of albums, looking for something that's obviously not there. always feel like watching american psycho afterwords.

("killermont street" and "somewhere in my heart" admittedly still decent though.)

the language of life
temperamental
amplified heart
walking wounded
idlewild
love not money
baby the stars shine bright
eden

sorry 2 eden-heads

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson)

The last four correctly placed.

no worldwide on that list huh?

i'll just assume it's not there because it's so forgettable.

=)

Walking Wounded
Amplified Heart
Temperamental
Worldwide
Idlewild
The Language of Life
Baby The Stars...
Love Not Money
Eden

i wont countenance the idlewild disrespect. easily top 3 for me, so many hooks. although you can destroy 'caruso'

for me the highlights of the mid-period -- 'driving', 'old friends', 'talk to me like the sea', 'tears all over town' -- meld the sort of anesthetized blank sheen criticized by austin with a deeply felt humanity. the combo is very evocative of the brief, forgotten cultural moment between 80s cold war jitters and 90s techno-paranoia and its very much my thing ...

i just think it's awesome —and definitely agree with brad's sentiment that they have so many absolutely great albums— that i legitimately can't stand some of their material, but i also can't imagine not ever loving other material.

like i can't narrow it down and pick my a #1 album for them. it's just too difficult.

(candidates would be eden, amplified heart, idlewild, and tempramental)

what about the pre-ebtg "solo" material? any love for that stuff?

(i happen to prefer north marine drive and a distant shore over at least —**ahem**— a few ebtg albums. they're very sparse and nice coffee shop jangle.)

A Distant Shore, Love and Its Opposite, and Record rule.

agreed. in terms of non-band recordings, i prefer tracey's output. ben's more recent albums have been okay, but very mor middle aged rock. some good songs scattered throughout for sure.

i used to play a cover of "small town girl." it's one of the first songs i learned on guitar.

uptown churl otm about the way the production works with the songcraft in the mid-period. such tremendous longing expressed with expert finesse, emotions blushing through frosted glass + unimpeachable michael brecker sax solos. and, like, again, the songs are so good, they don’t get bad just bc they shine like linoleum

i find that people think there is a line that jazz-pop or sophistipop crossed where it becomes as unbearably cheesy as smooth jazz or whatever but ime this line is so subjective as to be practically imaginary. give me that hiroshima sound where each instrument sounds like a raindrop reflected in glass, i love it, it’s beautiful

What I love about Worldwide is how it sounds like demos for an album that might become The Language of Life.

what i like about worldwide is how it's sometimes forgotten.

=)

(okay, i'll stop now.)

Revisiting Eden this week, having learned this songs by heart from their self-titled US album at age 16 or so, it struck me for the first time how most of these songs are about emotional and/or physical abuse. The albums after this one have the freedom of someone who has left those situations to make their own life.

As far as early albums, would also add the two Marine Girls albums, especially Tracey's songs ("Tonight?" and others).

Been hanging out this week with the deluxe editions of Amplified Heart and Walking Wounded thanks to this thread. Had previously gotten off the bus after Idlewild and will give the mid-period albums a shot soon.

Also revisiting these albums due to the thread. Had forgotten how much I liked You Lift Me Up, and Get Back Together has been stuck in my head all week. Would like to review all their albums to see if The Language of Life's back and forth interplay is the same over the catalog. Seems very pronounced, and a joy. I'd remembered their catalog being one or the other taking lead vocals.

the language of life is just the best album ever made

My baby don't love me.
Anymore.

don't let the grass grow under your feet
the sands of time keep running

for now at last i'm down on the street
with the engine running

Just thought you’d like to know that Ben and I have made a new Everything But The Girl album. It’ll be out next spring 😍@ben_watt@ebtg

— Tracey Thorn (@tracey_thorn) November 2, 2022

personally dying

I've missed them
like the deserts etc

Made my morning sunnier! Thanks!

😊

Only just found out how good Lullaby of Clubland is.

I always liked the cover of Love Not Money.