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everything but the girl
Eden
Everything But The Girl's best-selling debut album, 'Eden' is the latest re-release from the duo to benefit from half-speed remastering at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, and a fresh 180gm vinyl pressing.
Originally released in May 1984, the album spent almost six months on the official UK album chart peaking at number 14 and spawned the UK Top 40 hit, Each and Every One. The label wanted further singles but the duo preferred the album to grow by word of mouth. 'Eden' achieved gold album status in the UK and has gone on to sell more than 500,000 copies worldwide.
Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn met at the University of Hull in 1981; they formed Everything But The Girl initially as a side-project, as both had already established themselves on the UK independent music scene as teenagers - Tracey with her lo-fi minimal girl group, Marine Girls (later name-checked as one of Kurt Cobain's favourite bands); Ben as a young guitarist and singer-songwriter, collaborating with alt-folk icon Robert Wyatt on his debut EP.
In the summer of 1983 the pair - having each gone on to to release debut solo albums - decided to pool their new songs for 'Eden'. It was recorded with producer Robin Millar (chosen for his work with Weekend and The Pale Fountains) at his Power Plant Studios in Willesden, North West London.
"All the songs were written on guitar in Hull in early 1983. We were living in one room with a shared kitchen on Pearson Park," recalls Tracey. "Power Plant seemed very glamorous by comparison. Sade was recording downstairs. We were upstairs."
The sessions featured a band handpicked by Ben and Tracey: Working Week's Simon Booth on second guitar, This Heat’s Charles Hayward on drums, and South American musicians Chucho Merchan (double bass) and Bosco D’Oliveira (percussion) plus a clutch of top horn players from the English jazz scene. The line-up was part friends from London, part musicians Ben admired from trips to the Bull's Head jazz room with his dad when growing up, in particular Peter King (alto sax).
"We were intent on being non-rock," says Ben. "No clichés. No snare drums, no solid body electric guitars or electric bass. We wanted soft horns, Gretsch guitars, no fuss, a lightness of touch. We were into pop, latin, torch songs, sharp lyrics."
The album was released on the newly-formed imprint Blanco Y Negro (co-run by Mike Alway and Rough Trade's Geoff Travis) through Warner, and signalled Everything But The Girl’s move from an independent - Cherry Red - to a major label.
The artwork by Marine Girls band member Jane Fox was delivered as a three-dimensional collage of hand-drawn art and torn paper. Warner (who were marketing and distributing the record) didn’t really know what to do with it. The original version didn’t even have the name of the band on it. In the end it was photographed and printed on ‘reverse-board stock’ - unusual for a major release at the time.
Eden (2021 Vinyl Reissue) is released on 6th August 2021 on Buzzin' Fly Records, under exclusive license to Chrysalis Recordings.
Buzzin Fly
LP
everything but the girl
Walking Wounded (Half-Speed Master)
First released in April 1996 by UK alt-pop duo Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt - debuted at #4 on the UK Album Chart and contains four UK Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hits "Walking Wounded" and "Wrong," and set new a benchmark for the intersection of contemporary electronic music and smart pop songwriting.
The album was programmed and produced by Watt in 1995 largely in the basement of the duo's north London home demo studio. "Just an Akai sampler, a computer, a synth and guitar, an inexpensive vocal mic, and an 8-track tape machine," he says of the process. "We were writing in reverse - mood first, then songs, learning and we went along. It just felt like a new frontier," adds Thorn. Producer John Coxon of the recently formed drum'n'bass-inspired duo Spring Heel Jack - and with whom the Watt and Thorn had worked on Amplified Heart - was invited to provide a backing track for the album's title song, and beats specialist Howie B worked on the groove for Flipside. The album was then mixed at The Townhouse in west London by Watt and young emerging engineer, Andy Bradfield.
Buzzin Fly / Chrysalis Records
LP
everything but the girl
Amplified Heart (25th Anniversary)
The record - released in early 1994 by UK alt-pop duo Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt - contains the original version of what was to become the band’s biggest hit, Missing. If Todd Terry’s famous house remix took that song onto theworld’s dance floors and upper reaches of the global pop charts in 1995 (#2 on US Billboard Hot 100, #1 on US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, #3 on the UK Top 40, and #1 in Canada, Germany and Italy), the original version also remains a timeless classic, now in heavy demand on modern streaming services, and one that perhaps better reflects the enduring appeal of the album’s modern-retro hybrid of ardent folk-soul and scratchy electronica.Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt met whilst at University in Hull in the early 80’s. Both were signed independently to indie label Cherry Red Records, Ben as a solo artist and Tracey as part of the band The Marine Girls. They formed Everything But The Girl in early ‘82, releasing one single on Cherry Red (Cole Porter’s ‘Night & Day’) before signing to Blanco Y Negro records and releasing their debut album ‘Eden’ to critical acclaim.Following this, they released 5 further highly praised and commercially successful albums including the much-loved classic singles, These Early Days, Driving and the covers ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’ and ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’. ‘Amplified Heart’ was the seventh full-length album released in June 1994, featuring the singles ‘Missing’ and ‘Rollercoaster’. Primarily an acoustic driven album, it features heavyweight session musicians and guests, Danny Thompson (bass), Martin Ditcham (percussion), Dave Mattacks (drums) and Richard Thompson lead guitar on the track 25th December.“We’ve alway been proud of Amplified Heart” says Ben, reflecting on the new edition. “It’s both close to the bone - understandable given it’s background - but also gentle in it’s touch, and shot through with resiliance. The newly mastered pressing sounds amazing - as good as the original tapes.”“i think it’s a real rebirth record” adds Tracey, “the momenent we got our mojo back. And it’s where ‘Missing’ began, so it’s a significant album for us.”
LP
