Everything But the Girl

I've had it in the back of my mind to check out Everything But the Girl for some years now, and whilst perusing the used bins this weekend, I came across an import collection called The Best of Everything But the Girl from '96 for only a few bucks. It's a mixture of studio tracks and some club-friendly remixes and, from what I can tell, researching at All Music Guide, covers their releases before Walking Wounded. Here's the track listing:

Missing (Todd Terry Remix)
Driving (Todd Terry Remix)
Old Friends
One Place
I Don't Want to Talk About It
Love is Strange
The Only Living Boy in New York
Apron Strings
When All's Well
Another Bridge
Each and Every One
Rollercoaster
Driving (The Underdog Remix)
Better Things (Massive Attack with Tracey Thorn)
Protection (Massive Attack with Tracey Thorn)

So after listening I have mixed feelings. Outside of the three electrodance mixes and the two Massive Attack songs, it seems to lean heavily on maudlin balladry. I expected some of that, but this collection makes it seem like they're pretty saccharine, at least musically. I was impressed with the lyrics, however, and from what I could pick out of the techno hoo-ha "Missing" and "Driving" are excellent songs. And while I love Massive Attack, I'd've preferred a couple of EBtG tunes in place of those songs.

So my question to the EBtG fans on the board: am I missing something? And I mean that literally. I'm wondering if this collection is giving me an accurate representation of this band's work. I don't mind the ballads if they're integrated into a larger work with more variety, but this disk makes it seem like they're all ballads all the time except when everything but Tracey Thorn is being remixed out over dance beats. I feel like there's an excellent, subversie, smooth pop band in here but that I'm not getting the full picture from this comp. Is there a different comp I should use as a sampler? Should I take the plunge with one of their studio albums, and if so, which one? Thoughts?

thought
They are pretty much a dance band to begin with. You've pretty much got the best of it except for tracks from 96's Walking Wounded.
Which, imo is more of the same.

They started out as part of the mid-80s lite-jazz-rock movement that was briefly in style for a few months around 1985 or so - EBTG, the Style Council, Sade, Danny Wilson, Sting's DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLES, Fairground Attraction, Lilac Time, even Dou3le (anyone remember "The Captain of Her Heart?") etc. and were probably the best of the lot. LOVE NOT MONEY is a pretty good document of that time period - tasteful, not nearly as sophisticated and urbane as it thinks it is, but still a solid, very enjoyable album - "When All's Well' is a great song.

After that they released several more albums in the same vein - always very well done and tasteful. Worth owning of you like that kind of thing (I do up to a point), but nothing spectacular.

Then Todd Terry remixed "Missing" and gave them a second lease on life - they realized their lite-rock actually lent itself very well to dance music treatment and they pretty much threw themselves into the club scene and transformed themselves into an electronica band much more convincingly than U2 managed to around the same time. They got pretty enamored with drum & bass/Jungle and WALKING WOUNDED is probably the most successful pairing of drum & bass with more traditional pop music that anyone ever managed to come up with (though Bowie took a pretty good shot at it with EARTHLING). TEMPERAMENTAL is also a pretty good poptronica album. I'd slot EBTG v.2 next to St. Etienne, Sneaker Pimps and Portishead and depending on my mood might consider them the best of the bunch on any given day.

I agree with Paganizer - if the best-of didn't really wet your whistle to explore anything more, it's likely all you need. However, if you did want to dig a little deeper, I'd recommend LOVE NOT MONEY as the best of their original style and WALKING WOUNDED and TEMPERAMENTAL for their electricked up incarnation.

So they've rarely been amazing or revelatory or anything, but they've been consistently tasteful and intelligent and whatever they've tried they've generally done well. They're sort of like wine & cheese at an art gallery - pleasant and tasty enough, but no one is going to want to live on it.

This has to hold the record for the number of times I've used the word "tasteful." But really, that's the word that best describes Everything But the Girl.



Post Edited (02-26-07 16:16)

Gentlemen, I believe you've answered my question. This is the kind of music I don't delve into in any great detail, usually, so I suspect I'll be sticking with this comp and not going any further. Though I couldn't help but think that "Driving" and "Missing" would sound better minus the dancetronica.

Anyway, thank you both. (Not to say I won't welcome any further comments.)

By the way, breno, I love the first Danny Wilson album dearly, so thanks for mentioning them.

MEET DANNY WILSON is a very underrated album. Great, smart late-80s pop, up there with Aztec Camera's equally underrated LOVE.

Oddly, though, I never even attempted to hear Danny Wilson's second album. Was it any good?

Danny Wilson's second album is totally non-essential. Disclaimer: I haven't listened to it in probably 15 years. But that says something in and of itself.

Bebop Moptop has a bouncy, dippy single in "The Second Summer of Love" and not much else that's memorable. I recall the track "Loneliness" as being likable in a melodramatic way, despite having scratched record sounds that annoyed me.

Would those one or two songs make it worth picking up BEBOP MOPTOP if I run across it in a cheap bin somewhere?

Although I don't know how likely that might be, since checking on Amazon shows that Danny Wilson discs are going for anywhere from $15 - $120. So apparently there's a collector's market out there.

Then again, I just picked up HIGH LAND HARD RAIN by Aztec Camera on disc a couple of weeks ago for $6.99 and I think the cheapest it was going for on Amazon at that time was $45. So I guess it just depends on whether or not the local used record store checks Amazon before slapping the price sticker on any given disc.

If I found Bebop Moptop for $5-6, I'd certainly buy it to give it another shot. I wouldn't pay collectors' or import prices for it, though.

I'm listening to Bebop Moptop on CD now, just out of curiosity. There are some decent songs in a jazzy light rock vein. If You Really Love Me and If Everything You Said Was True are nice, accessable tunes that rang a bell once I heard them.

In short, I'd endorse picking it up used if the price was right. Can you sample the songs at iTunes?

Ratboy down below has it pegged, alas. The sound was the same - a little less jazzy, perhaps - but Gary Clark seemed to have misplaced his bag of hooks when writing the second album.

Though, like him, I haven't listened to it in over a decade. I've still got the vinyl lying around somewhere.

> MEET DANNY WILSON is a very underrated album. Great, smart
> late-80s pop, up there with Aztec Camera's equally underrated
> LOVE.
>
> Oddly, though, I never even attempted to hear Danny Wilson's
> second album. Was it any good?


never even heard of danny wilson til you kids mentioned them a few days ago...

but today i took a dive into the used bins and there they were! MEET DANNY WILSON. oddly, i immediately recognized the album. eh, but as much time as i've wasted in record stores, that's too be expected, right? popped it into the player while driving home and found that i was initimately familiar with EVERY SINGLE SONG! from where, i have absolutely no idea, but i was singing along with em. not my usual style, to say the least (hell, these guys almost make prefab sprout sound avant garde), but i can't seem to help myself.

errr, i think i'm trying to say "thank you". or maybe "fuck you", i'm not sure yet. hehe

Danny Wilson have been on my backburner list as well. What's the skinny rundown for newcomers?



Post Edited (02-26-07 19:15)

I know that TP is not completely up to date on everything, and i hesitate to come off like a snippy old shit, but is the lengthy and fairly detailed critical appraisal of the works of EbtG contained one click from here not of any relevance to this discussion? I mean....

I pored over the Trouser Press entries in my copies of the books before I posted, don't worry. I just wanted to get a round of opinions, since the comp didn't knock me out the way I thought it would after reading. And this comp isn't covered by TP, which is usually good for explaining why a particular comp is or isn't an accurate representation of a group's work.

I did see Swiss Family Orbison last year and liked some of their songs, I don't know if they have anything out though.