Everything But The Girl - The Language Of Life (1990)

A few months back, I vowed to check out the early discography of EBTG when, serendipitously, this CD appeared in a used bin. The Rolling Stone ★★★½ review called the album "an exquisitely crafted work of intelligent jazz-inflected pop" and you just know that's right up my alley. Then I see the pièce de résistance: "Produced by Tommy LiPuma." I'm all in, baby! Other guest artists on the album include John Patitucci, Jerry Hey, Kirk Whalum, Russell Ferrante, Omar Hakim, Stan Getz, Joe Sample, and Michael Brecker - that's a helluva line-up.

In her first memoir, singer Tracey Thorn writes that LiPuma produced "a fully realised, immaculately performed and produced modern American soul-pop record." A bit of hyperbole, for sure, but there's some good stuff here, although a bit generic at times. It's a CD I wish I'd found in 1990. And, to be honest, since I enjoyed Amplified Heart so much in the mid-'90s, there's really no excuse for why I didn't go diving into the duo's back catalog at that time.

Press of the time:

• CashBox: "works on many levels, depending on how much the listener is willing to invest."
• Billboard: "Sultry shades of sound from coed duo fall squarely in the AC/contemporary jazz vein"
• Stereo Review: "the duo has wound up with a purely superficial coat of polish and little substance"
• Entertainment Weekly: "Too bad that, toward the end, the songs start sounding routine. The first few make you hope for just a little more than you get."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #77
Peak on Billboard Pop CD chart: #26

Tracks: Nothing here to skip - it's a very easy listen of sophisti-pop/soft rock from top-to-bottom, clocking in at 41 minutes. The album's lead single and a lead track, Driving, features sax work from Brecker and hooks galore, but only managed to reach #23 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and #54 on the UK charts. The follow-up, a cover of Womack & Womack's Take Me, reached #30 on the AC chart. I was familiar with Me And Bobby D - with lyrics about Bob Dylan - from its inclusion on the Acoustic album and it's one of the better songs here and Whalum's solo takes it up a notch.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Missing (1995)
Amplified Heart (1994)
Acoustic (1992)