Love & Its Opposite

Tracey Thorn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 18, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B003E1QCEK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,991 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Oh, The Divorces!

2. Long White Dress

3. Hormones

4. Kentish Town

5. Why Does The Wind?

6. You Are A Lover

7. Singles Bar

8. Come On Home To Me

9. Late In The Afternoon

10. Swimming

Editorial Reviews

Partnering again with Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson, Tracey Thorn has created an album that is striking in its simplicity. Recorded in Berlin and London, Love And Its Opposite features contributions from Hot Chip's Al Doyle, The Invisible's Leo Taylor, Jens Lekman, Nashville songwriter-drummer Cortney Tidwell, and Lost Valentinos' guitarist Jono Ma. The tight, often undecorated arrangements for guitar, piano, bass, and drums (and a smattering of strings and woodwinds) confront the full uunvarnished weight of complex relationships in flux.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slowly engulfs you!, May 18, 2010

By 

Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Love & Its Opposite (Audio CD)

Everything But The Girl vocalist Tracey Thorn is back with her third solo album "Love and its opposite", based she says on real life after the age of 40; Moribund relationships, divorce, getting back on the dating scene, etc. There are no electronic Dance songs like "Grand canyon" "Falling off a log", or "It's all true" this time around which I missed at first, but the songs here are very strong, warm and intimate.

Opening is the gentle piano/string ballad "Oh, the divorces!", followed by the acoustic ballad "Long white dress" with percussion building in halfway through.

"Hormones" is sunny Pop/Rock with a light Country feel, followed by the brilliant haunting ballad "Kentish town" with lovely harmonies. "Why does the wind?" is beautiful Pop/Soul, the type George Michael used to make effortlessly in the eighties. E.g. "Hand to mouth".

The tender unadorned "You are a lover" is a cover of a song by The Unbending Trees. "Singles bar" is midtempo and Country-tinged. The surreal "Come on home to me" is a cover of a song by Lee Hazlewood and features additional vocals by Jens Lekman as well as ghostly effects.

"Late in the afternoon" is the grooviest song here with gentle electronic beats, though still morose sounding, and closing is the swirling and shimmery ballad "Swimming". It's like swimming in a sea of voices and cymbals. Beautiful!

At just 10 songs, it's all over too soon.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Utterly honest and beautiful., May 18, 2010

By 

apricots & jazz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love & Its Opposite (Audio CD)

This is the third solo effort from the semi-retired Everything But the Girl star, now 47, on her husband Ben Watt's label.
It's a "concept album about break-up and divorce", so it is easy to understand why you do not need "dancing shoes for this heartbreaking collection of songs about how it can all go horribly wrong in middle age, whether it's because your old man is having a mid-life crisis or the kids are driving you round the bend". - Simon Cage
If Tracey's last solo album, 2007's "Out of the Woods", saw her stepping out on the dancefloor, its follow-up finds her nestled on the sofa, watching daytime soap operas and devouring fluffy, trashy, formulaic books for women.
Her lyrics leave no romantic cliché unexplored, travelling from commitment issues "(Long White Dress") to marital breakdown ("Oh! the Divorces"), via the tragedy of dating again ("Singles Bar"), the horror of realising that your teenager wears your frocks better than you do ("Hormones"), and the recurring stagnation of long-term relationships ("Swimming").
"The music, too, is the stuff of romantic comedy soundtracks: acoustic in mood, gently pulsing, shot with silvery strings, occasionally stumbling into schmaltz". - Maddy Costa
It's a grown-up record that is never boring. It's a collection of songs that are happy and sad, easy and difficult, dark and light.
Wry, clever, emotionally focused songs dissect the battlegrounds of middle age, from parenthood to divorce. With minimal electronica and stripped-back organic arrangements, Tracey's rich, smooth and crystalline voice is a perfect, poised focal point, bringing each story to genuine life and investing it with heart-snagging emotion.
My favourite tracks: "Oh, the Divorces" (a tale of separation and shared custody) and her duet with Jens Lekman, covering Lee Hazlewood's "Come on Home to Me", which is chilling in its desolation.
All in all, forget the dance floor: this is a beatifully crafted, poignant, reflective, organic album, delivered by Tracey Thorn with back-to-basics approach, honesty and the usual clarity of her disarming beautiful vocals.
Enjoy this gem of an album.
Out of the Woods

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEAUTIFUL TRACEY, May 21, 2010

By 

John T. Borek "Johny B." (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love & Its Opposite (Audio CD)

WOW!! As a long time and very devoted fan of EBTG, I have really missed the sound of their voices and their music. This really hits the spot, and it's about time. I wish that the two of them would do another album, but this is just as good. What a BEAUTIFUL album and that voice, OMG! she just gets better and better as time goes on. Oh, The Divorces is the perfect opener to a perfect collection of music. If you are a big fan of the early EBTG, you will love this CD. This has a great mix of music for everyones taste. A few up-tempo numbers to show that she still has her groove- on and her ballads are true "Tracey Thorn". Come on Home to Me is haunting and beautifully sung, great duet with Jens Lekman. Swimming (reminds me of Driving, must be something about those"-ing" songs) and Why Does The Wind have HIT TRACKS written all over them. I couldn't be happier and more pleased than I am with this new release, I just hope they don't wait so long for the next one. LONG LIVE TRACEY THORN AND EBTG!