The debut album from Everything But The Girl (Eden - Everything But The Girl)

Member Name: micksheff

Product:	Eden - Everything But The Girl
Date:	07/11/07 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good songs, good lyrics

Disadvantages: Some songs are very short

Everything But The Girl are probably best known these days for there 1995 hit "Missing" which was an existing track from a couple of years earlier which had been remixed by Todd Terry, this gave the duet their commercially most successful single. This single sold over 1 million copies in the UK alone and went on to become one of the biggest selling singles of that decade.

Everything But The Girl however have a history that is much richer and diverse than that of simply a one hit wonder, and contrary to common belief this was not even their first assault on the charts.

I have been a fan for as long as I can remember and I have seen them live over 20 times so for me their transgression towards a dancefloor band was somewhat surprising considering their early roots.

The band consists of just two members. Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt who met at Hull University during the late 1970's. A loving friendship developed between the two of them and by coincidence they were both signed to the same record label, Cherry Red Records. Tracey with her punk style band The Marine Girls, and Ben as a solo artist, and they had both released moderately successful indie albums.

As the relationship developed they began to appear at the same gigs and together the two of them started to perform a few songs together including the Cole Porter classic "Night and Day" which received excellent feedback. This was released by Cherry Red under the name Everything But The Girl as a one off project in 1981.

Three years later The Marine Girls has disbanded and Tracey had released a solo Album "A Distant Shore" again with critical acclaim, but Tracey and Ben were now performing together more and more frequently.

January 1994 saw the release of Everything But The Girl's debut Album "Eden." This was released hot on the heels of their second single "Each and Everyone." This single, the only one to be lifted from the album peaked at number 28 in the UK Singles charts, a vast improvement on their number 92 peak of "Night and Day."

Publicity surrounding the album "Eden" was quite intense and although it peaked only at number 14 on the UK albums chart, its sales were steady throughout the year. It was also voted NME's album of the year in that same year.

The album contains 12 tracks as below:

Each and Everyone
Bitterweet
Tender Blue
Another Bridge
The Spice of Life
The Dustbowl
Crabwalk
Even So
Frost and Fire
Fascination
I Must Confess
Soft Touch

Each and Everyone opens with a jazzy saxophone intro followed by Tracey's unique soft, vocals. The influences of jazz and blues set the tone for the rest of the album, but for me it is Tracey's voice and the pure genius of the bittersweet lyrics that shine through on every track.

Bittersweet and Tender Blue both follow on in a similar theme. As do the next couple of tracks, which for me are the highlights of this album. Another Bridge and The Spice of Life are both upbeat, still slightly Jazzy, but at the same time they are quite laid back. You really can close your eyes and imagine the pain in Tracey's heart when she penned these lyrics about a failed relationship.

In the opening verse of Another Bridge Tracey sings:
"Your words stung me to the heart
I hadn't even noticed how far we had drifted apart
can I still count you as a friend
or have I done too much now to ever make amends
cause I once needed just an open mind
well that's no reason why I now should leave you behind"

The Crabwalk is an instrumental track and pure jazz at its best. Written solely by Ben this shows off his jazz roots as it rises and falls. I have never considered myself to be a big fan of jazz but there is something about this track that is guaranteed to get your feet tapping.

Even So, Frost and Fire and I must Confess deliver more bittersweet lyrics from Tracey that bring a lump to your throat.

Frost and Fire opens with the line:
"You take the name of a man you hardly know
and then you grow up and that name has to go
now you're married with kids and they don't want to know
about the dreams you had to let go"

Fascination is perhaps the most commercial track on the album yet despite picking up a fair amount of airplay at the time it was never released as a follow up single to Each and Everyone.

The final track Soft Touch is more of a blues track than jazz and the only one on the album where Ben takes lead vocals. This is my least favourite track, but one which I can still listen to quite comfortably nonetheless.

Overall I think that this is a superb album. I originally purchased this on vinyl which I still have, signed by Tracey and Ben, but I have now replaced this copy with a CD version which I find I still listen to quite frequently even though it is now over 20 years old.

The combination of Ben's musical genius, his father was the successful jazz musician Tom Watt, and Tracey's vocals and lyrics work perfectly. Many people have tried to compare Tracey Thorn's vocals to those of Sade and even Dido, but these are people that came along much later. To me Tracey was the original and is still the best.

Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have always tried to keep their private lives very private, even to the point of hiding their marriage and the birth of their three children from the public until very recently, so for me their lyrics are often the only insight that we get into the real lives of these people. It is of course never certain whether Tracey is singing about herself in their lyrics or simply about the fantasies inside her head.

It is difficult for me to criticise an album that I have played to death for the last two decades but I suppose that it would have been nice if the lyrics were included inside the album sleeve, as they are on the band's subsequent albums. Some of the tracks are also rather short, the shortest being just under 3 and a half minutes long.

Overall I consider this to be a brilliant debut album from the band.

Summary: Released in 1984 this was the first album from the Band