Everything But The Girl Album Poll

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.

Only just found out how good Lullaby of Clubland is.

― piscesx,

a sad earworm is hard

“Lullaby of Clubland” feels like a much bigger hit/anthem then it ever was - like, dropping it in the middle of a club set should have the same “wheeling out a classic” vibe as dropping “The Future of the Future” would.

That song acquired a life of its own the moment the album dropped. Everyone I know who bought the album loved "Song 8"

!

wonder what it's going to sound like

Is there any survey of critical appraisal of Ben Watt’s post-EBTG career in dance music? Around 1999 I was getting into both UK progressive house and IDM, and by comparison I found the timbres and flow of the particular tunes that Watts had chosen to take up, clumsy and plodding. Was my disappointment shared, or were people really moved by his new thing?

His 'Buzzin Fly' label and house adventures were very basic and plain to me, but it was very popular. His more recent solo stuff has been great but only so much acoustic guitar I can take. Hopefully this album is fully electronic but i'm going to guess it will be a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds, after all, the future of the future still contains the past.

god temperamental is so fucking awesome

otm

I played the video for Five Fathoms on repeat during the Covid lockdown. It was a beautiful reminder of the city nightlife we were missing.

Ok, nearly there now! Really excited to tell you that the new Everything But The Girl single is out tomorrow - it's called "Nothing Left To Lose" and you can hear it for the first time on @laurenlaverne's show on @BBC6Music - listen in from 8.30am GMT 😍🔥🍾

— Tracey Thorn (@tracey_thorn) January 9, 2023

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh wow, return of an old friend.

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

"worth the wait, sounds great" sez my sister (had to text her first thing). i agree!

great video now, too

I love her smokey voice.

Her voice has changed, though this is to be expected after such a long time - 24 years since the last album. It sounds deeper (in more ways than one).

sorry i'm this guy-

funny that all it takes is one classic band releasing something new to remind me how shit most other music is.

way too early in the year for such a definitive banger.

kiss me while the world decays.

p sure ben + tracey live on this street

https://i.imgur.com/NOp1ZaQ.jpeg