Customer Reviews

Language Of Life

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

LANGUAGE is arguably one of the best albums ever made that blends perfect pop with jazz sensibilites. Moody, but also provocative. Stunning vocal performance by Tracy Thorn and the jazz stylings of Ben Watt. There are even a few duets that showcase their sympatico.

This album stands at the crossroads of their career and would be next to the last before they shifted their musical focus to electronica. Here are my favorite tracks.... hope they will be yours.

"Driving" starts with the gentle "ha ha ha" (inspired by Laurie Anderson's "O Superman"...?) and thus begins the album with keyboard and sax meeting together beautifully. Tracy's emotional words and velvet voice melt in the ear.

"Get Back" picks up the beat with Ben getting more vocals this time...almost a duet. A perfect example of their chemistry coming thru the music.

"Meet me in the morning" has Tracy beconing an invitation for an illicit rendevouz. "I haven't come to break your home...
I haven't come to harm your children, I've come to be your love". Beautiful.

"Me and Bobby D" is a sorta lively catalog of ex-lovers. The happy beat and catchy hook masks the portrait of abusive and neglected relationships.

"Language of Life" features a piano, Tracy's smooth notes, and Ben following her lead...gorgeous! A perfect centerpiece for this album.

"Take me" a great standard. Originally a hit for the Isley Brothers. Here sung heartfully by Tracy Thorn.

"Imagining America" another "duetish" song about lovers parted by an ocean during wartime. Great string and sax arrangment! This song has a driven quality, almost urgent as Ben speaks the words Tracy will then sing. Original vocal delivery.

"The Road" is sung solo by Ben Watt. A trait that happens on most of their albums. Ben ussually delivers a heartfelt and very introspective performance... this is no exception. A perfect song to end the journey.

If your CD collection contains artists like Basia, Swing Out Sister, Julia Fordham, or even Norah Jones... then Ben and Tracy will fit nicely along side them. Enjoy!

OK, maybe it's not the perfect CD that 5 stars suggests, but it's close. A few years ago, a good friend of mine loaned me her copy of this CD. She said she had been in Seattle on vacation, and ended up listening to it all week. I had never heard of EBTG, but gave it a try. What a great CD! The other reviewers are right -- it's intelligently written light jazz/pop, with enough musical hooks to keep you coming back. The AllMusic Guide gives this CD the lowest rating of any CD from EBTG, and if that's the case, the others must be superb. However, this one will be with me for a while. Don't buy the forgetful "Jazz for a Rainy Day" or other such compilation CDs -- buy this one instead. You won't be disappointed.

This is one of those alblums that you never get tired of. I listen to all kinds of music from speed metal to classical and this album is one of those that you'll always want to have around. You start by liking one or two tracks and before you know it, you're listening to the album from start to finish. Light un-filling POP with a little melancholy thrown in for good measure. Excellent work!

If England's Everything But the Girl stopped making records after Language of Life in 1990, they could have rested quite satisfied, though we would have lost two incredibly talented musicians. Because this record is their masterpiece and one of the classiest albums you are likely to ever hear. The album scintillates from beginning to end with exquisite writing, musicianship, arrangements, and production. At the heart of it all is the awesome beauty of Tracy Thorn's voice, which is rivalled only by Sade's for being the best in the business. The comparison is apt in another way. Both Sade and EBTG have a similar integrity and appeal to similar audiences. Hardly anything being recorded today comes close to the emotional truth evoked here on the subject of mature relationships. Nor is it being done so beautifully. If you've never heard Everything But the Girl, or if you haven't yet heard this record, buy it. You will enjoy every track and consider yourself lucky fo! r having made the discovery. Best of all, you will play it again and again, in the car or at home.

P.S. Attention movie producers: need good songs for your soundtracks? Start here.

In 1996, the name "Everything but the girl" was synonymous to "Missing" - their breakthrough single. It was the first time I had ever heard of them. It was impossible to escape from Tracey Thorn's vocals. They were practically stuck in my head for the longest time. Little did I know that the duo from England had a career spanning almost 12 years before that. Yet, I was not particularly curious as to what their earlier music was all about.

I stumbled across "Language of life" by mistake and I am so glad I did. I always wondered why no one else sounded like Sade and made music like she did. I guess the reason was because I had never heard "Language of Life". The immaculate production of Tommy Lipuma, the infectious and sexy voice of Tracey Thorn, and the strikingly inspired songwriting of Ben Watts come together in the most beautiful way on this album. This is NOT elevator jazz-pop. This is music that will leave you entranced for a very long time.

The album kicks off with "Driving" - the highlight of this album. It is an extremely addictive song. Tracey Thorn's voice along with the saxophone right in the middle of the song is a winning combination that is bound to leave the listener longing for more. The other highlights of this album are "Imagining America", "Letting love go" and "Meet me in the morning". This is one of the few albums that can be listened to from the beginning to the end with no incentive to skip tracks. Do yourself a favor and gratify your ears with this musical piece of perfection.

"The Language of Life" is a major candidate alongside "Worldwide" as my favorite pre-Missing ETBG album of all time but it's follow-up Worldwide may be it's main competitor for that title. Whatever the case is, the sixth release by this Thorn/Watt duo is a very inspiring release that finds the two delving into much more jazz-themed styles and includes guest appearances by several jazz legends such as Joe Sample, Michael Brecker and even Stan Getz who sadly passed away too long afterwards. My favorites are "Driving" with it's now famous "ha ha ha" voice effect that opens the track and echoes throughout it's length, "Get Back To You" with it's slightly faster rhythm and excellent rhythm. Tracey Thorn's vocals are incredible on this track. "Meet Me In The Morning" with it's beautiful soulful melody and with Tracey's autumn-like vocals, and "Me and Bobby D" with it's beautiful sound and sax playing. The album kind of drifts off afterwards with the remaining songs not standing out like the first four but that doesn't warrant this falling into the category of second half slump like many albums by many artists do. "Imagining America" is another standout track from the second half of this album. While "Missing" is a great song both in it's original and Todd Terry remix, that great song should not be allowed to overshadow the great body of works that ETBG have done from before or since all the way up to "Temperamental", their last album to date. But "The Language of Life" should be high up on the list of albums to buy and buy it new!

Funny how one can accidentally fall upon a great piece of work. I bought this album because Kirk Whalum was playing on it. I found the music delightful, the lyrics very clever - Heck, I learned what it meant to have 'grass grow under your feet' because of this album. All in all, a wonderful music experience.

This is hands-down the best oldies music album in my CD collection-it paints a great portrait of what 90s R&B music was really like in my mind. I personally like "My Baby Don't Love Me", it's just something about the line "My baby just walked out...to the door...and kept right on walkin'..." :-) ;-)

Driving was the lead single from The Language of Life and to those not aware of EBTG's indie student roots it must have painted a vastly different image of the band to what established fans already had.

However, interviews with Ben and Tracy around the release of Language... explained the roots of the sound. A trip to the west coast of America inspired the duo to write an album which captured the sunshine feel of California and in this repect Language... hits the nail squarely on the head and then some.

EBTG should not be berated for Language... after all, they are nothing if not musically mobile, which is what their fans have come to expect and appreciate. From indie to Californian AOR to drum & bass EBTG always retain their integrity and know how to make beautiful music, whatever the style.

The Language of Life is muically appealing and lyrically enthralling. A timeless album that deserves its place in the EBTG catalogue.

So they went on holiday and wrote an album about it? So what? It's cool!

Where Don't let the teardrops rust your shining heart was an introduction to their music, the language of life is where their truths are revealed.

Poignant, Sad, Real, and Beautifully crafted: this album is a classic in itself. Tracks like, meet me in the morning, drving, and language of life shows how uch this duo had been so underrated.

It remains to this day one of my favorite albums. It stood the test of time years and years later.