Customer Reviews

Everything But the Girl

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been listening to Everything But the Girl's debut album from the beginning, and it doesn't get any better for them. Though their sound has changed into different and pleasing forms, I will likely always prefer this, their first and most likeable to my ears.

Tracy Thorn's smoky alto voice, coupled with her plaintive style, sets the mood for the entire set. Ben Watt's arrangements and lyrics are the perfect fit for her and their talents have always well served each other.

If you're looking for some retro/lounge sounds for your next social gathering, be it an all-out party or just sipping martinis, this is the album to be played.

An 80s classic for the 21st century!

This was the album that started it all for me. I had read about EBTG in a magazine and I knew I had to get my hands on their album. When I finally got the cassette of this, it never left my player. I took it everywhere. This was the kind of music I wanted to hear all the time. since then I've explored Style Council's many albums, early albums from Ben Watt and everything from Brazilian Bossa Nova to Lounge music looking for the feeling that this album gave me some 20 years ago. Most people know EBTG from Driving or the big dance hit Missing, but if you haven't heard this album you don't know what ETBG is. Enjoy.

Wanna-be dance duo EBTG's debut CD is NOTHING what you expect! This collection of well-crafted tunes range from slow lounge, nightclub jazz to breezy neo-acoustic with silky smooth vocals. Thorn and Watt are, at times, synonymous with the vocals making it quite difficult to them apart. You can picture the 50's smoky jazz bar and these two characters conservatively attired with the spacy and enigmatic-looking drummer (wire brushes in hands) with the shiny silvery curtains in the backdrop while you sit and savour this dish! I first heard EBTG on the Style Council's "Ever Changing Moods" release (2 superb cuts). If it wasn't for that, I might have never come across this gem!

The first time I heard this record, I was immediately impressed by the style (smokey jazz) and the songs. Although the lyrics can get a bit depressing at times, each song evokes a mood and strikes an emotional chord. The marriage of words and music on this record is near-perfect. Ironic (to me at least), since most of the material deals with relationships that have gone stale or awry.

Tender Blue is a gut-wrenching song, and I can always picture the couple involved in this loveless marriage, with a child neither one wanted. Crabwalk is a nice little jazz combo piece, that, had I had the songbook years before, would have become a staple w/ my jazz combo days in college.

For me, this is the ETBG that I'll always remember and cherish. I had purchased others, including Walking Wounded, but, I guess I'm too old fashioned. I do, however, applaud them for continually moving forward and for finding new sounds.

This was the first I had ever heard of EBTG and I still find it to be my favorite. Definitely different than their others. Here's my synopsis:

EBTG - Soft/smooth Jazz with excellent lyrics (5*) Acoustic - Soft pop with great live version of "Fascination" (4*) Idlewild - Soft pop (4*) Walking Wounded - Thoughtful dance music (5*)

If you want to try something a little different and explore their range a little bit more, this is a CD for you. While their other CDs can more easily be classified and included with peer artists this one is different, very special and unique. Buy it and I think you'll love it, but know what you are getting: excellent lyrics as usual, darker than the pop-ish middle CDs in their collection and definitely more Jazz-ish.

I thought I'd rectify the 4 1/2 star situation with a 5 star rating. I also own "Walking Wounded" and "Language of Life" and find this one to be the best of the three.

I've read that this album was the blueprint for Paul Weller's band the Style Council. Well, EBTG circa 1984 was certainly on to something. This record is packed solid with great, soulful tunes and deserves recognition as a great contribution to the genre of "lounge."

I can remember walking into a mens store along Kilburn High Road in 1984 and meeting the most beautiful woman in the world (inside & out). I asked her out and she did me the honour of saying "Yes". As I made my way home with the biggest and most joyous smile I have ever had in my life, "Each & Everyone" was playing out of Ourprice. Pretty soon I loved 'Everyhing About The Girl'.

Get all their albums, some will instantly grab you - while others will rapidly creep up on your soft, romantic underside. If you like that smooth sound of Sade and her band Sweetback, with a sometimes edgy sound, (their lead vocalist Miss Thorn and the band have their own sound and style)with ever changing musical shades their albums are for you. Enjoy!

While I enjoy all of the five EBTG disks I own, this less known release is easily Ben & Tacy's best work. It shows great variety and emotion and is SUPERB technically. Great dynamics and imaging if your audio setup is capable. Still kicking myself for not getting tickets to their one show in Manhattan during the summer of 1996.

Do you like lounge music? Do you like Sinatra at the Sands? Do you like the Aluminum Group's Wonder Boy + Plus? Do you like soothing deep female vocals singing about water and other crazy, swinging, jazzy things, with the occasional 80s beat?

Yes: Buy.

No: Listen first.

That's my advice.

Take it or leave it.

This is one of the finest CD's I've ever owned. I've listened to it over and over again, and haven't yet grown tired of hearing it yet.

The skill of the musicians on the CD is amazing; the lead singer, Tracy, is terrific; and the songs are so beautiful and so well crafted--it's amazing.

Wow! Who is that incredible guitar player on this CD? And the keyboard player is good too.

It's obvious that a tremendous amount of time and effort went into making and refining this CD. Rarely is so much excellent music found on one CD.

I wish there were more CD's like this one!