Their Best (Idlewild - Everything But The Girl)

Name: bishops

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Product:	Idlewild - Everything But The Girl
Date:	09/10/00 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Their very best album

Disadvantages: Nothing I can think of

As a music fan with wide-ranging tastes - normally some considerable distance from the mainstream - it always seems to take people a little by surprise when I announce EBTG as my favourite band. Those my age regard them as fey, under-achieving, slightly middle of the road student types, while younger music fans know them principally for their (admirable but not always succesful) ventures into House and drum and bass.

I've always loved EBTG, even from their very first solo efforts on Cherry Red, when they were just meeting at university to start their long-running musical and domestic partnership. Idlewild, their fourth studio album, is my personal favourite of all their albums. Over the years, having played everything they've ever done to death, I've grown to love practically all their music, even stuff that didn't grab me first time round, but my most enduring relationship is with this one.

I've long held that Tracey Thorn is the best female vocalist to come out of this country since Dusty Springfield, and she is in stunning voice on this album. The lyrical content is spot-on (a particular strength of EBTG), and unusually one of (maybe even THE) killer tracks has a Ben Watt lead vocal - The Night I heard Caruso Sing.

EBTG are cruelly under-rated, and if you like your music heartfelt and you haven't discovered them before, I'd urge you to give them a try. They are to be applauded for their exploration of different styles in recent years, but Idlewild is them doing what, IMHO, they do best - deceptively simple songs, largely acoustic based, with that amazing Tracey voice to the fore.

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