Nothing left to lose (Everything But The Girl) (LP 4625 - 4628)

Everything But The Girl  At Maida Vale (BBC Maida Vale Sessions) (Vinyl, BBC Records, 2024) ***** 

Mike Oldfield  Hergest Ridge - The 1974 Demo (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 2024) **** 

Ringo Starr  Long Long Road (CD, UME Records, 2026) ***

The Moody Blues  Say It With Love (Vinyl, UME Records, 2026) ***

Genre: Alt Pop, Prog rock, Beatle pop

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Choose Love (Ringo)

Gear costume: Long Long Road (Ringo)

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: The Everything But The Girl EP At Maida Vale, The Moody Blues EP, and the Mike Oldfield album were in the Record Store Day reduced price bin at JB. I find the prices on the Record Store Day releases to be crazily out of my reach so I was delighted to find these three items selling for sensible prices.

At Maida Vale has the duo working on four mood pieces - nothing pacey going on but Tracey Thorn's vocals are a treat at any speed. Ben Watt's music is sympatico with the lyrics, the 2am vibe, and Tracey's vocals.

Single is the only song that didn't appear on the parent album Fuse. It fits in well to the EP which is superb on every level.

The Mike Oldfield 1974 demo to his second album Hergest Ridge is wonderful. This could have been released in this form quite easily. Mike plays all the instruments in these recordings from The Beacon studio in Herefordshire before heading to The Manor for the final recordings. The man's a genius!

I played Hergest Ridge straight after it and it's great to compare the two. The demo lays out the path, and the proper album follows that path with gusto by adding further instruments from guest musicians (snare drum, trumpet), strings and voices.

Ringo's latest continues in the country genre with similar approach and personnel to his previous record (Look Up). He does stray from that approach once, on a re-recording of Choose Love from his 2005 album (which is, incidentally, my favourite song here). 

It's an okay album, a couple of mawkish love songs detract a little but the rest is standard weepy country territory. On the whole it's not a peak like Look Up was, but it's hard to be niggly. Ringo is 85 and still firing so good luck to him. 

BTW, I decided on a CD copy because the vinyl version was nearly three times the price at close to $90. That's crazy!

My final purchase was another Record Store Day special - a 12 inch single of The Moody Blues' Say It With Love. That and two songs on the B-side (The Story in Your Eyes/ Steppin' in a Slide Zone) are live versions taken from Days of Future Passed Live.

Where do they all belong? There are still a couple of albums in JB Hi Fi's Record Store Day bins that I have my eyes on (Yes and Joni Mitchell) but they are much more expensive items, so we'll see.

Stop press: I did pick those up when JB had a 20% off sale last weekend.

These early days (Everything But The Girl) (LP 2477 - 2486)

Everything But The Girl  Eden (Vinyl, Blanco y Negro Records, 1984) *****  

Everything But The Girl  Love Not Money (Vinyl, Blanco y Negro Records, 1985) ***  

Everything But The Girl   Baby, The Stars Shine Bright (Vinyl, Blanco y Negro Records, 1986) *** 

Everything But The Girl   Idlewild (Vinyl, Blanco y Negro Records, 1988) ***** 

Everything But The Girl   The Language Of Life (Vinyl, Blanco y Negro Records, 1990) ***

Everything But The Girl   Worldwide (CD, Atlantic Records, 1991) *** 

Everything But The Girl   Acoustic (CD, Atlantic Records, 1992) ****

Everything But The Girl   Amplified Heart (Vinyl, Buzzin' Fly Records, 1994) ***** 

Everything But The Girl   Walking Wounded (Vinyl, Buzzin' Fly Records, 1996) ***** 

Everything But The Girl   Fuse (Vinyl, Buzzin' Fly Records, 2023) *** 

Genre: Pop, electronica 

Places I remember: Market stall and music shops in Greenwich, Chaldon Books and Records (Caterham-on-the-hill), gift from Roger Marbeck, Slow Boat Records, JB Hi Fi.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Oxford Street (Idlewild)

Gear costume: Don't Leave Me Behind (Baby, The Stars Shine Bright); I Always Was Your Girl (Idlewild)

Active compensatory factors: The eighties and EBTG passed me by at the time, because these were our child rearing days. So, it was a catch up that I embarked upon while living in England after reading Tracey's superb books that resulted in owning many of these albums. Along the way, I fell in love with the mystique around her relationship with musical and life partner, Ben Watt, (they would marry in 2009), her books and her voice.

Eden is a beautiful introduction to Everything But The Girl (EBTG). For me it's right up there with Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.

The jazzy stylings and instruments suit Tracey Thorn's beautiful voice - even though these were early days. The jazzy arrangements and lush sound all make for an extraordinary debut.

Second album Love Not Money was a change of tack into a more contemporary 1985 sound. There is a lot of social commentary and it often sounds like The Smiths. It's not one of my favourites - mainly because there are no killer tunes on the album.

The other slight negative is that Ben doesn't have a really distinctive vocal style, so he pales next to Tracey's easy command when he does a few vocals on the album.

Their third was Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and it was another style shift. This time an orchestra is employed to add colour and weight to some romantically inclined songs. 

Tracey handles all of these stylistic changes with ease. She is never less than compelling.

Idlewild came after a two year break and deals with more personal things like childhood and family. Maybe it's because of that that I love it so much. A song like Oxford Street just makes me tingle!

The sound is warm, natural and textured on these songs. I even like Ben's vocals on The Night I Heard Caruso Sing.

My copy of The Language Of Life is unique in that it has Ben and Tracey's signatures on the cover! If only it said - 'To Wozza, love from Tracey Thorn, Be Lucky Ben Watt' rather than to my friend Roger Marbeck!

Roger gave me this copy obviously!

The music this time around is much less organic than Idlewild. The session players on board are impressive and get into some great grooves. Among them: Joe Sample; Michael Brecker; Vinnie Colaiuta; and Stan Getz on one track. Woh. I mean - Stan Getz!!

Even though the whole package sounds eighties slick, Tracey is still the star, even with all of those heavy hitters.

Worldwide and Acoustic are kind of a stylistic pair. They were even paired for a reissue but my CD copies haven't been messed around with bonus track wise.

They also weren't big sellers in the early nineties. Strange because they had good commercial sounding songs and Tracey sounds great as always. Maybe the sparse, more synth based sounds and programmed drums turned punters off a bit.

Ben Watt writes the lion's share of the songs and he's definitely more inclined to use synths, and other digital instruments. Tracey's songs sound more natural to my ears. You Lift Me Up from Worldwide is a good example of that different approach.

That song is followed by Ben's Talk To Me Like The Sea with its heavy processed drum and synth sound and the difference is stark.

The Acoustic album is pretty cool in comparison - stripped back and some excellent covers. Tracey and Ben make them their own. No mean feat with songs by Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Tom Waits, Costello etc.

Their eighth album was Amplified Heart in 1994. The dance remix of Missing by Todd Terry ensured this album was huge.

The rest of the album is a wonderful collection of more stripped back songs. This tends to highlight the wonders of Tracey's vocals as the backing track is more judicious and serves her voice, rather than the other way around.

Amplified Heart catches the duo at an interesting moment, as they'd embrace electronica more from here on in, so this one captures them on the cusp in a unique way.

I was pretty sure that I had all Marine Girls, Tracey solo albums and everything by EBTG. Until I did this post and realised that I was missing Walking Wounded from 1996. So I picked up a copy from JB Hi Fi this week.

It's a great early morning/ late night record I've found. The drum and bass/ techno stance from Ben Watt and Tracey's warm voice are a perfect combination.

Their Temperamental album was reviewed earlier, so that just leaves their most recent album Fuse for this countdown.

The proclivity for electronica has continued and it's taking me a while to love it. Compared to Idlewild and Amplified Heart it's a colder record, but Tracey's voice keeps the human aspect alive and well. She's a marvel!

 

Where do they all belong? I am pretty sure I now have all of The Marine Girls, Tracey solo albums and everything by EBTG. I'm not inclined to collect Ben's solo albums (sorry). Tracey is the drawcard for me.

I also have all of Tracey's books and I recommend them unreservedly. She's a great writer, as well as a great singer.

The future of the future (stay gold) (Everything But The Girl) (LP 317)

Everything But The Girl Temperamental (ipod/CD - Atlantic-Virgin, 1999) ***

Genre:  British pop/ dance/ electronica

Places I remember: A charity shop purchase in Caterham (no one apart from me wants to buy CDs anymore) 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume:  Temperamental




Active compensatory factors: All my CDs are in a mess - having moved they are in a jumble of boxes. Temperamental isn't among them as it's still coming via sea with our stuff from England.

So, as I was pootling school-ward today along State Highway 50 (riding the 50), and crested a ridge with the splendour of the Hawke's Bay coastline bathed in vivid red sunrise colours before me, this song came on and got me a-bopping and a-grooving.

Who needs a dancefloor?

Where do they all belong? More Ben Watt influenced than our Trace (beats, dance flavoured electronica) but as soon as the sublime vocals come in, she owns it!

Times we used to spend (Marine Girls) (LP 296)

Marine Girls Beach Party (Vinyl - Whaam/Cherry Red, 1981) ***

Genre: English pop/rock  

Places I remember: record stall in Greenwich Markets - 25 quid.  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: All Dressed Up




Gear costume:  In Love, Fridays 

Active compensatory factors: Reading Tracey Thorn's Bedsit Disco Queen has been a delightful experience this week. That meant, as is my wont, a search for her recorded stuff.

Shazam - a trip to Greenwich Market saw me walking away with four Everything But The Girl albums and this one - her first tentative steps in what has become, against her better judgment, a music career.

I also managed to grab a signed copy of her third book, Another Planet from Waterstones in Canary Wharf. This will be joining my signed copy of The Language of Life when I get back to Nu Zild.

There are adjectival things about Tracey that strike a chord in people: genuine; self-deprecating; charming; funny; normal. Plus she's a hell of a singer with a unique style.

The Marine Girls album is yet to see her find her voice - instead it's lo-fi indie pop which is really catchy in a Violent Femmes sort of way. Easy to see why Kurt Cobain rated them in his diary!

Needless to say, my wife wasn't won over (can't you put some nice classical music on?).

I like the naive charm on offer here but, okay, I can't see it getting much airtime compared to EBTG albums.

Where do they all belong? Early doors. She was off to Hull University and a dramatic encounter with Ben Watts next.

If you stay here won't you listen to my heart? (Crazy Horse) #155

Everything But The Girl I Don't Want To Talk About It; Oxford Street/ I Don't Want To Talk About It (instrumental mix); Shadow On A Harvest Moon  (Blanco Y Negro 12", 0-247898, 1988)

Everything But The Girl is, of course, two people - Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. Here they take on the classic Crazy Horse song written by doomed drug addict Danny Whitten.

It's a great song and hard to muck up - although Rod Stewart had a decent go at it with a ultra soppy version that actually removes emotion from the lyric!

EBTG do a pleasant reading of it but again my rough rule of thumb holds true - the original version is usually the better one.




Danny's vocal just aches, it's perfect in its earthiness and feel, while Tracey's is like a different track being glossier pop but it doesn't match that perfection for me - listening to music is forever subjective.

Oxford St is also pleasant, non offensive stuff. Good for Sunday mornings - light streaming in, reading the Sunday papers on the floor.

To my mind EBTG embody the eighties - Tracey's hair, clothes and vocal style are rooted in that mid eighties period.

Hidden gems: The instrumental version is lovely - featuring a beautiful string arrangement. Shadow On A Harvest Moon is...yes, lovely and, um - pleasant.