Customer Reviews

Love & Its Opposite

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

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!

If you are familiar with Everything But the Girl, then you may like this solo effort by the female half of that duo. The two songs that stand out for me are "Oh the Divorces" and "Singles Bar." They are well observed lyrically. The rest is okay and there is some filler towards the end, which is too bad for such a short effort.

Coming from a very personal place, `Love and Its Opposite' has a lot of heart (and pain) and that makes it accessible. I love this breed of folk/pop music. I've never really gotten into Everything But The Girl, and I actually hadn't heard of Tracey Thorn until I saw this album and decided to check it out. Overall, I'm glad that I did. Despite the obvious passion in play here, there are moments where the album fails to make the impact that I think it was shooting for. Like I said in my review title, this album is soft as a whisper. That's works for some tracks but also deters others from their intended effect. That's my only complaint.

Okay.

For me, the best tracks on the album are the ones with a little spunk. That's odd coming from me since I'm usually all about the dark, subtle and ominous tracks; but there is something about the way that Tracey tackles near disco pop quality of tracks like `Why Does The Wind' that makes me do a double take. In fact, `Why Does The Wind' is most certainly my favorite track on the album. I also love the bouncy rhythms of `Hormones'. The song just makes me want to move. It has such a friendly atmosphere about it. In fact, there is almost a `kid's song' vibe to it that is amusing. The 90's pop balladry that caresses `Late in the Afternoon' is just fabulous. I really love the whole feel of this song. It has some seriously deep lyrics, which rest easily against a seemingly nostalgic musical arrangement (simple yet reflective).

There is a slight upbeat quality to `Singles Bar' (a song which is supposed to be amusing I'm sure), but it also feels a tad awkward and uneventful at the same time.

Songs like `You Are a Lover' really tap into the emotional side of Thorn's album. This simple yet powerful delivery slips off every word with precision and delicacy. The opening track `Oh, The Divorces' is another example of Tracey's using her emotional state to her advantage. The song just sifts through poignant feelings while drawing in the listener. `Kentish Town' has an almost angelic feeling to it, one that also carries an almost vintage feeling (like 90's folk/rock).

`Long White Dress' has a powerful message, but the song's construction is a deterrent. It drags along and wears out its welcome very soon. It just doesn't sit well on Tracey. `Come On Home To Me' is almost eerie with the duet with Jens Lekman. It seems a bit off when placed in the midst of the album itself, but it works to a degree. Still, it is not my favorite despite the apparent haunting quality of the piece.

Reviews I've read have singled out `Swimming' as a highlight, but I have to say that it just didn't do it for me. It reminded me of k.d. Lang-lite and it lost some appeal to me because of that. I much prefer the bonus track, `Child Star'.

With an album that runs the gamut of a relationship with tracks that evoke many emotions felt by many people, `Love and Its Opposite' is a very solid album that will only get better upon reflection.

I am a huge fan of theme oriented albums, so this is a pleasant surprise for me. This is a very solid solo album from Tracey, which could easily have been an EBTG album. I prefer her voice in this type of alternative rock sound over the techno stuff, but she sounds good in both types of genres. If you are a fan of Everything but the girl or Tracey Thorn, it is hard to overlook this album. It is very enjoyable, and slowly grows on you. This is also recommended to people that enjoy any female artist since Tracey has such a stellar voice.

Longtime EBTG fans will love "Long White Dress." That alone is worth the price of the album, and Tracey's intimate songwriting style and unmistakable voice carries through. Not always as upbeat as her last album, but the songs are even stronger, so it doesn't have to be.

For Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn , middle-age is a time for first-class , bittersweet songwritting and mature reflections on relationships . Her newest offering is a collection of well-crafted moody ballads whose lyrics bite hard . " This One Is Different / And each one ofcourse is.. " she goes on the delicate break-up ballad " Oh The Divorces " while on " Singles Bar " she describes the horror of reentering the dating game after one too many years ( " Can you guess how long i've been here ? / Can you smell the fear ?.." ) , all sung with her sensitive , resilient voice . She's sounds darker on the haunting " Kentish Town " and " Come on Home " where she duets with swedish electro-pop prince Jens Lakemann . Although music promotion seems to be very low on the lady's list of priorities , ( no video was made for either of the two cd-singles of the album nor was a tour announced ) that should not stop you from rediscovering one of the stand out female presences of the pop scene today .

I was just browsing amazon for new well crafted music and came across this album.Listened to the samples and bought it right away. I also bought the EP which is excellent too.

There's no getting around it. Most of those who will be curious about this album miss the full-fledged Ben& Tracey team of Everything But The Girl. But EBTG certainly had a lot of different flavors to it. My favorite period was their last, the electronic/house period -- the final three albums. Much of their earlier work was more intimate, spare, maybe more personal in a way.

Most of the material on Tracey's Love and Its Opposite probably compare to that early work. It's softer, less beat-oriented. There is a dance song here, as I recall. And Kentish Town -- not a dance piece by any means -- still has a hypnotic rhythm. It's probably my favorite song on the album. A bit dark, mysterious, ethereal.

So, if you like the spare and acoustic EBTG, you'll probably enjoy this album more than I did. I'm not a good judge of lyrics, so I won't comment on them, except to say they didn't sound bad or clunky. I focused on the music. Though it was pretty, I can't say the songs really grabbed me. I did enjoy Kentish Town and Swimming most of all. Perhaps I'm not in the situation in my life to appreciate the topical subject matter.

I hope some day we can see another group effort. Until then, this album should satisfy at least part of the EBTG fan base.