EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL : EDEN

 

  1. Each And Every One
  2. Bittersweet
  3. Tender Blue
  4. Another Bridge
  5. The Spice Of Life
  6. The Dustbowl
  7. Crabwalk
  8. Even So
  9. Frost And Fire
  10. Fascination
  11. I Must Confess
  12. Soft Touch

Label : Blanco Y Negro

Length : 33:40

Release Date : June 4, 1984

Review (AllMusic) : The debut effort by multi-instrumentalist Ben Watt and vocalist and songwriter Tracey Thorn took the alterna-pop world by surprise in 1985. And rightfully so. Watt's lush chamber orchestra jazzscapes, full of Brazilian bossa nova structures and airy horn charts, combined with Thorn's throaty alto singing her generation's version of the torch song, was a sure attraction for fans of sophisticated pop and vocal jazz. Featuring 12 tracks, the album has deeply influenced popular song structures since that time; this is evidenced in the work of more R&B-oriented acts such as Swing Out Sister and Tuck and Patti. The set opens with "Each and Everyone," a slow samba-flavored pop song. The song comes from the broken side of love, with Thorn entreating from the heart: "You try to show me heaven but then close the door...Being kind is just a way to keep me under your thumb/And I can cry because that's something we've always done." A trumpet fills her lines and makes them glide above Watt's Latin mix. Elsewhere, the folk bossa of "Fascination" is all the architecture Thorn needs to sink deep into her protagonist's brokenness. Guitars chime and stagger one another, slipping and sliding just above the bassline, and vanish into thin air. On "I Must Confess," a riff similar to "The Girl From Ipanema" locates Thorn next to a deep ringing upright bass and Watt's glissando guitar, played Charlie Byrd-style, before Nigel Nash punctures Thorn's vocal with a velvety tenor solo. Once again, the notion of loss, memory, and the resolve of the left half of a relationship to go on, carrying regret but not remorse, is absolutely breathtaking. Thorn continually meditated on broken relationships here, and that extended tome, which echoes through every song on the record, seems to have resonated with everyone who heard it. The set closes with Watt's vocal on "Soft Touch," a folksy pop song, illustrated with guitars, a fretless bass, and piano, that sounds like something from Supertramp in their better moments - and no, that's not a bad thing. His voice - while not nearly as dramatic as Thorn's - is wonderfully expressive, and his lyrics extend the feeling of Eden to its final whisper. This set proved itself to be an auspicious debut that testified to the beginning of a long and creatively rewarding partnership that has endured.

Review (Wikipedia) : Eden is the debut studio album by the British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 4 June 1984, by Blanco y Negro Records. The album contains the single "Each and Every One", which peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. The cover design was by lead singer Tracey Thorn's former colleague in Marine Girls, Jane Fox. Eden was the first professional recording by EBTG with a bigger company and a proper producer, Robin Millar, who was parallelly producing Sade's Diamond Life. Though it was finished in the autumn of 1983, it wasn't released until June 1984, due to contractual obligations between the band and Cherry Red Records. By the time Eden was finally released, EBTG felt it didn't represent their current sound and interests and did very little promotion to it. "Each and Every One", the only single, became a UK Top 40 single that surpassed the band's expectations and previous efforts. In the time between recording and releasing Eden, Thorn and Watt opened themselves to new influences, mostly The Smiths, with whom they became close. "Never Could Have Been Worse" (the b-side to "Each and Every One") showed this influence in sound and lyrics. This was part of the band's following two singles. "Mine" was released only four weeks after Eden, and marked a departure from the album's themes and sound, with Thorn singing about a single mother and gender politics involved in surnames. It reached No. 58 in the UK Singles Chart. "Native Land", which featured Smith's Johnny Marr in harmonica, only reached to No. 73. Although these weren't included in Eden, they did make the US only album Everything but the Girl.