Review: “The Language Of Life” by Everything But The Girl (CD, 1990)

Today’s Pop Rescue from an unknown future, is 1990’s fifth album The Language Of Life by British duo Everything But The Girl. Will this album speak your Language, or will it be Driving you mad? Read on…

Everything But The Girl - The Language Of Life (1990) album — Everything But The Girl – The Language Of Life (1990) album.

The album opens with the breathy ‘ha ha ha’ vocal samples of lead single Driving, as it gently slides into the first verse. Tracey Thorn sounds as wonderfully rich and soulful as always, and the track effortlessly builds around her. As with most EBTG songs, Tracey’s own backing vocals stand as wonderful harmonies, and towards the latter part of the song, she’s flanked by a perfectly placed saxophone. It’s a wonderfully warm welcome to the album – we’re off to a great start. Sadly, the UK’s single-buying public didn’t quite agree – rewarding the song with a #54 position. It returned to the UK chart in 1996, armed with some Todd Terry remixes, peaking at #36.

Then it’s Get Back Together, and this lifts the tempo slightly thanks to a snare that ensures that this is an almost instantaneous foot-tapping pop song. Once again, Tracey’s vocals sound rich and relaxed. This track probably should have been a single, but alas it wasn’t.

Piano opens Meet Me In The Morning, ushering in a softer more mellow love song. This almost minimal sound tinkles along perfectly, joined soon-after by hi-hat as the track builds. Here, we get some nice noticeable backing vocals from Ben Watt

Next up is Me And Bobby D, and this lifts the tempo back up again. The narrative builds along with the song, with the chorus being pretty catchy, again flanked by saxophone and its solos. Over all, this track is fairly jazzy, and it also vocally briefly reminds me of some of the tracks from The Beautiful South.

A slow drum fill drops us into the titular track The Language Of Life. I can imagine Tracey singing this luscious song in some late night jazz bar. It’s a magnificent song musically, vocally and lyrically, which although probably would not have touched the charts if it had been a single, but it is definitely one to listen to.

Following that is second and final single Take Me, a cover of the Womack and Womack 1986 track. Unfortunately, it failed to chart, but the song quite a nice, although loyal, update to the 1986 song. Again, it’s laden with saxophone, ensuring this song fits in with the rest of the album.

Imagining America is next up which begins with saxophone and some tinkling mysterious piano as Tracey and Ben take the vocals. Whilst the song gently ambles along, it is very melodic, and feels effortless as it transitions from verse, chorus, and back again, even though some of the vocals are spoken and there’s more saxophone solo. It’s a really nice mellow song.

That leads on to Letting Love Go and this track sounds wonderful with the vocal harmonies giving Tracey a rich foothold to project from. It’s a fairly catchy track thanks to the repetitive nature of the lyrics, and this is great! An electric guitar finally arrives, getting a near-duel with a … yes, you’ve guessed it, a saxophone as the beat and bass plod along reminding them of their limits. It’s a slick and polished track.

That’s followed by My Baby Don’t Love Me, and we hear stronger vocals from Tracey with the more upbeat pop song. The saxophone is of course nestled in there, but the track bounces along perfectly, almost radiating sunshine, despite the track’s title.

The album closes with The Road, which begins with some beautiful piano from Ben, and a mellow saxophone. Tracey matches it with a vocally lower tone as we head towards the chorus. Strings and chime bars join in, helping to swell the song around the vocals, and it brings to a close this slightly downbeat song, and this somewhat jazzy pop album.

Everything But The Girl’s lead single ‘Driving’ (1990).

Verdict

Over all, this album is a wash of jazzy pop songs – a style clearly influenced by the soft vocals of Tracey, and the career of producer Tommy LiPuma (George Benson, Randy Newman, Miles Davis etc).

The album is wonderfully produced, and is magnificently slick. This gives us plenty of really nice songs to listen to, with the likes of Driving, Get Back Together, The Language Of Life, and all four of the final tracks on the album. There are of course a couple of weaker moments, with these being Take Me (the uncharting Womack & Womack cover) and Me And Bobby D. Perhaps these are just stylistic jarrings at play, but it’s a fine line as there’s no stinkers here.

If you’re expecting to hear songs like those on later albums Walking Wounded or Fuse, then you’re out of luck – sure, Tracey’s beautiful vocals are right here, alongside Ben’s brilliant musicianship and songwriting, but the style of this album is certainly more on the jazz side.

Despite this jazz sound, and two not hugely successful singles, the album reached number 10 in the UK chart, and that alone proves that this album is worth a listen. Spin it.