Track Listing

1. Before Today
2. Wrong
3. Single
4. Heart Remains A Child
5. Walking Wounded
6. Flipside
7. Big Deal
8. Mirrorball
9. Good Cop Bad Cop

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25350 in Music
• Released on: 1996-05-07
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Purists on both sides scoffed, but EBTG's transition from bedsit folkies to club favourites was one of the artistic coups of its year. Ben Watt had admitted that their previous album in 1994, Amplified Heart, seemed lacklustre, the work of a band trapped by its format, and he sought an outlet for his burgeoning love of dance music. Encouraged by the chart success of Todd Terry's remix of that album's "Missing", and by partner Tracey Thorn's collaboration with Massive Attack, the pair took the plunge setting their melancholy vignettes of love-gone-wrong to discreet electronics, and recruiting an impressive roster of drum & bass producers (Omni Trio, Howie B, Spring Heel Jack) to assist with the update. The result was their most cohesive and satisfying collection since Idlewild, an extraordinary return to form that sounded nothing like their earlier work. Tracks like "Single" and "Big Deal" covered familiar lyrical terrain (loneliness, nostalgia, unrequited passion), but allied the material to a radically more contemporary sound. Yet, as ever, the real coup was not any piece of studio trickery, but Thorn's languid, sensuous vocals. Rarely has heartbreak seemed so enticing. --Andrew McGuire

CD Description
Ben and Tracey went clubbing last night and decided to go straight from the dance floor to the studio. They emerge withWALKING WOUNDED, an album that features Tracey's plaintive vocals backed by layers of electronic percussion. Tracey's soul-baring singing pulls you into the songs--we ride with her atop waves of drum beats and dreamy orchestrations in dance styles that vary from jungle to hip-hop to house. The combination brings about an interesting sensation: The beats move your feet while her wistful voice eases you into a state of relaxation. Melody and melancholy are wrapped together in these dance-sized pieces. So are crossover and hit: In Europe, a remix of the title song was the first true pop/jungle hit. (Simultaneously in the U.S., a remix of "Missing", a track from the band's previous album, AMPLIFIED HEART, stayed on the Billboard pop chart for more than a year, longer than any single in Billboard history.)

Customer Reviews

Classic Electronica
Launched into the spotlight with thier mammouth cross-over hit "Missing" (Thanks to a genius re-work by legendery Todd Terry), Everything But The Girl became somewhat reclusive with thier subsequent albums following "Amplified Heart". With this relase, one that didn't obtain nearly as much commercial success as it desserved, they bring perfection to thier previously often flawed 'Emotive Electro' style. As always, Tracey Thorn's vocals are perfect. At a time when gushing diva-esque vocalists with a range larger than Mariah Carey's were all the rage in dance music, Thorne's vocals provided (and still provide) a breath of fresh air. It's her stunning tone and the quality of her voice that is so outstanding rather than her range.

Aside from the vocals, production matches up and is brilliant throughout. The difficult task of bringing together the emotive lyrics and vocals provided by Thorn with the striking hooks and beats that make this an electro/drum and bass influenced recording has been completed successfuly. Everything just sounds fantastic and most tracks are both instantly distinctive and appealing. The two remixes that appear (courtesy of Omni Trio and Todd Terry) seem tacked on to beef up the tracklist but this can't really be said to flaw the album - there a nice little extra if nothing else. Overall, this is a much over-looked piece of Electronica history that anyone with even a slight liking/interest for the genre should adore.

Drum and Bass for beginners
Anyone who thinks Drum and Bass is just a lot of loud mindless noises strung one after the other should take a listen to this. What is so good about it is that the lyrics are up to EBTG's usual quality, and that there is a variety of rhythms used here, while still keeping it a bit techno. I love listening to this when I'm driving late at night, standout tracks for me are "Before Today", "Mirrorball", and "Good Cop, Bad Cop". Enjoy!

Find Yourself With This CD!
The tracks on this CD are some of the most atmospheric, haunting ever. Listen to the CD and hear all your life experiences put to superb melody and beats. Essential!