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It's never easy to talk about a band that's been on the scene for over two decades. With so many albums released and so many emotions stirred in listeners, hitting the mark objectively is quite a challenge.
Moreover, discussing the changes in direction and the recycling attempts carried out during this time frame is a truly labyrinthine operation.
Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt with "Amplified Heart" arrive at their seventh full-length album (excluding compilations and live recordings). The previous album "Worldwide" was, bluntly put, a misstep, and it seemed obvious to anyone that the road to decline had been taken.
They emerged artistically in 1984, on the wave of the rising new cool trend, associated with the likes of Working Week, Style Council, and Sade on the more commercial front.
This work, in a sense, takes us back to that period, and if "Eden" seems to be a unique gem, let's say we're in the realm of its slightly less successful follow-up "Love Not Money".
Velvety atmospheres imbued with melancholy and above all the always magnificent voice of Tracey Thorn sketching ten very pleasant tracks that plow gentle melodic lines combined with a taste of moderation rarely found in contemporary productions.
Ben Watt once again proves to be a classy musician even when tackling sweet vocals on "Walking Into You" and "25th December".
Truth be told, this album did not receive enthusiastic feedback. In 1994, we were deep in the grunge craze and the intimate atmospheres did not fit the era.
It did not receive enthusiastic feedback except for that "Missing", remixed in various versions and danced on dance floors worldwide. Here it is re-proposed at the end of the CD in its most famous version, the Todd Terry one, and truthfully it seems to clash with the thirty-eight minutes that precede it. If you will, it's a small preview of the techno-dub turn pursued soon after with the following "Walking Wounded". But that is another story.
For tonight, I stop here, I'm not going out: it's raining, it's cold, I'll stay at home by the fireplace on my comforting couch. The world is outside, and it can wait.
For tonight, I let myself be lulled by "Amplified Heart"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Rollercoaster (03:13)
I still haven't got over it even now
I want to spend huge amounts of time on my own
I don't want to cause any serious damage
I want to make sure that I can manage
because I'm not really in your head
I'm not really in your head
And I see love and disaffection
and the clouds build up and won't pass over
This is my road to my redemption
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
I still haven't got over it even now
I want to spend huge amounts of time in my room (hey)
And I'm not comin' out till I feel I'm ready
I'm not running out while my heart's unsteady
and I'm not really in your head
I'm not really in your head
And when you sky falls to minus zero
well some things must dissappear
and this is my road to my redemption
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
And the names may have been changed but the faces are the same
And the names may have been changed but as people we're not the same
And I'm not
no I'm not
no I'm not really in your head
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
Yeah my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
06 Missing (04:05)
I step off the train
I'm walking down your street again
And past your door
But you don't live there anymore
It's years since you've been there
Now you've disappeared somewhere
Like outer space
You've found some better place
And I miss you
- Like the deserts miss the rain
Could you be dead?
You always were two steps ahead
Of everyone
We'd walk behind while you would run
I look up at your house
And I can almost hear you shout
Down to me
Where I always used to be
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain
Back on the train
I ask why did I come again
Can I confess
I've been hanging around your old address?
And the years have proved
To offer nothing since you moved
You're long gone
But I can't move on
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain
I step off the train
I'm walking down your street again
And past your door
I guess you don't live there anymore
It's years since you've been there
Now you've disappeared somewhere
Like outer space
You've found some better place
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain (deserts miss the rain)
09 25th December (04:03)
Words and Music by Ben Watt
And I see forests and it's the 25th of December
and my old man plays the piano for Christmas.
He plays the piano for Christmas.
And we're all there, all the aunties and uncles,
and the angle's on the top of the tree.
Up there o the top of the tree.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
Have I enough time, have I just some time,
to revisit, to go back, to return, to open my mouth again
and say something different this time.
And I see bags of newspaper and a car in the carport,
and you're a grown up and still unsure,
and I'm thirty and I don't know nothing no more.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I'm sitting, sitting on the top of the stairs,
and you're crying out on the towpath by the river
with all the swans and all the people walking by.
And all of a sudden I'm stuck with an urge to unlock a door
with a key that's too big for my hands
and I drop it, and it falls at your feet.
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
10 Disenchanted (02:04)
Look at you now, you've disenchanted,
can't believe how things can change.
Take a little out of life and things get strange.
And now you find the wishes you were granted,
things you thought were in your hands,
have slipped away.
How much can you withstand?
The wasted time, the money spent,
a sign that reads 'For Sale or Rent'.
And everything is at a standstill,
and where's someone who'll be on hand till
you're no longer disenchanted,
thinking everything is wrong?
You know you're not the only one to wait so long.
I wonder, can you try again?
Are you that strong?
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Other reviews
By sexyajax
With this album, Everything But The Girl emerged in 1994 marking a pop dance epic that would make Italy envious.
'Missing' is full of sudden changes in time, space, rhythm, and voice, as if we were in an Ariosto-like poem.
