Tracey Thorn Out of the Woods (CD, Virgin Records, 2007) ****
Tracey Thorn Love and the Opposite (CD, Strange Feeling Records, 2010) ****
Tracey Thorn Tinsel and Lights (CD, Merge Records, 2012) ****
Tracey Thorn Record (CD, Merge Records, 2018) ****
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7
Active compensatory factors: It will come as no surprise, by now, that I'm a big fan of anything Tracey Thorn does, whether it be her books, the two albums by The Marine Girls or her sublime work in Everything But The Girl. Clearly, she is a really talented writer (non-fiction and songs), singer and musician. Now my attention turns to her solo career.
That started in muted style with 1982's A Distant Shore - an acoustic album that came after The Marine Girls and before Everything But The Girl got going two years later. The understated nature of the album allows Tracey's voice to assume more importance. Her guitar work is also pretty impressive.
She uses a wide range of collaborators on the album (none of which are her husband - Ben Watt) but the whole album sounds and feels like a Tracey Thorn solo album. What a remarkable and singular talent she has, and egoless!
She succeeds brilliantly as she chronicles the changes life throws at us all, and that voice! Always brilliant.
Genre: Alt rock, Pop
Places I remember: HMV, Real Groovy Records, FOPP
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Long White Dress (Love and the Opposite)
Gear costume: It's All True (Out of the Woods)
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Long White Dress (Love and the Opposite)
Gear costume: It's All True (Out of the Woods)
Active compensatory factors: It will come as no surprise, by now, that I'm a big fan of anything Tracey Thorn does, whether it be her books, the two albums by The Marine Girls or her sublime work in Everything But The Girl. Clearly, she is a really talented writer (non-fiction and songs), singer and musician. Now my attention turns to her solo career.
Solo album number 2 emerged in 2007, 25 years after her first (she'd been busy with EBTG and raising three children). It turned out to be a terrific pop album - full of great dance floor fillers.
Love and the Opposite again employs a lot of collaborators to great effect, as she pivots away from synth pop and embraces a more organic folk rock sound. That's appropriate, as it's definitely a more grown up record - as she said, it's "a record about the person I am now and the people around me ... about real life after forty".
Tinsel and Lights is her fourth solo album. It concentrates on Christmas songs by a range of modern songwriters, as well as one standard (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas). Ben Watt appears on most tracks, and even their three children join in with some backing vocals on Tracey's song Joy.
Record is her latest solo album, as EBTG became active again in 2023. It's a return to the impressive synth pop of Out of the Woods.
Where do they all belong? I'll always be there, thanks to Tracey Thorn's warm vocals, thoughtful lyrics and sympathetic collaborators.
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