Everything But The Girl : Releases >>

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Walking Wounded >>

Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn of Everything but the Girl have done their share of style-hopping, from jazz pop to Britpop to orchestral pop to contemporary R&B to jazzy R&B. Their seventh album, 1996's Walking Wounded, finds the duo landing, good as new, onto the dance floor with a batch of songs based around techno-derived beats. The shift toward electronics may seem extreme for a group that courted adult audiences, but given the huge success of their 1994 beat-driven remix single "Missing" and their fruitful collaborations on Massive Attack's breakthrough trip-hop record Protection, the rewards of embracing club sounds had already been well proven. Everything but the Girl's music has always focused on Thorn's lush, soulful voice--a tribute to its versatility, it weathered well through all the group's stylistic incarnations. Walking Wounded, however, introduces a second focal point in the insanely attractive, intricately sculpted beats of the jungle offshoot drum & bass. On cuts like "Before Today," "Single," and the title track, the interaction of a beat's minutely detailed rhythms and a voice that rides smoothly over the top makes for an elegant symbiosis. And even with the help of progressive dance specialists like Howie B. and Spring Heel Jack, Everything but the Girl retains a maturity that shouldn't alienate old fans. --Roni Sarig

Back To Mine >>

In a market saturated by mix albums of every description, Ultra Records' Back to Mine series glows like a beacon in a fog of mediocrity. The idea is simple: artists are given a free rein to compile sets that are both intuitive and personal to their tastes, resulting in mixtures of postclub textures chiefly designed for horizontal dancing and chilled-out bonhomie. Latest recruits Everything but the Girl take to the format like ducks to water, displaying a musical pedigree that touches on house, hip-hop, and light drum & bass. Although most people have warmed to the group's shift into dance culture, what will surprise is their sublime choice of tune. Kicking off with the drum-machine jazz of DJ Cam's "Friends and Enemies," the moody hip-hop noir of Deadly Avenger's "Bayou," and their own production on Beth Orton's "Stars All Seem to Weep," the mood is stoner-paced but never drab. Follow this with a little stripped-back ambience courtesy of Carl Craig and a rousingly sanguine finale featuring Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free," and you have the makings of a fine night in. --Paul Tierney

Amplified Heart >>

Acoustic >>

Taking the unplugged route, this duo is a contemplative mood that will please fans alienated by the overproduced blue-eyed soul they've turned in on earlier releases. Here they augment an EP's worth of contemporary standards ("Time After Time• and "Alison•, included) with spartan versions of their own superb originals. "•Easy listening with an edge. --Jeff Bateman

Love Not Money >>

Everything But the Girl >>

Missing >>

Home Movies - Best of ... >>

Fin de la période "acoustique" (de 1984 à 1993) du couple britannique formé par Tracey Thorn et Ben Watt, cette compilation riche et complète est émaillée de bijoux comme "Each And Every One", "I Didn't Know What I Was Looking For" ou "Driving" et augmentée de deux inédits richement produits à New York par Phil Ramone, l'original "I Didn't Know What I Was Looking For" et la superbe reprise de Simon & Garfunkel, "The Only Living Boy In New York". Une élégante façon pour Everything But The Girl de rendre hommage à l'un des groupes folk les plus illustres issus de Big Apple, avant d'expérimenter des sonorités plus électroniques dans les albums suivants. --Pierre-Marie Dufour