2023 Charity Shop Purchases #14 - Everything But The Girl - Temperamental
I have a couple of things by Everything But The Girl here and there but I was not familiar with and did not recognize Temperamental.
That maybe is because it is a dance album. Following the success of Tracey Thorn's collaboration with Massive Attack on Protection they became to go down this route. Following on from 1996's Walking Wounded this was their 10th studio album and was released in 1999 on Virgin
Pitchfork are fairly critical giving it a score of 5.30.While complimenting a few songs,including the two below, which they felt could be singles they then went for the jugular by stating that at the end of 60 straight minutes of this record, you feel like you've just spent half your life in an upscale women's clothing store. Maybe a bit harsh but I can see where they are coming from.
AllMusic are more complimentary giving it 4.5 out of 5 and commenting that Temperamental tempers the lightly skittering drum'n'bass and eliminates trip-hop, yet retains the same feel as Walking Wounded . House music -- everything from classic '80s house to contemporary house -- serves as the musical foundation, which actually opens the doors for slight jazzy inflections, along with long, hypnotizing instrumental passages . Weirdly, it also serves as a good setting for a batch of songs that are essentially in the singer/songwriter vein.
Regular readers will be aware that Dance and Electronica music is really not my thing. I was probably too old when it first came out and not interested in the accompanying drug scene.
Having said that I am a big fan of Tracey Thorn's voice so as things stand this one remains a keeper.
I'm glad you pulled up the AllMusic score as it seems Temperamental is an often underrated album. I can see why they/the label tacked the Deep Dish collaboration onto the end - it's a great song, just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. And to think, until recently, Temperamental was considered EBTG's swansong. It was a fine last shout, but I'm immensely happy that there's a new album coming our way this year.
ReplyDeleteGreat purchase and a fine choice of tunes, CC.
You hit a nail on the head there. However eclectic we consider ourselves musically there are certain periods/trends we simply missed out on and...having missed them.....they become pretty much irretrievable. Their 'trip-hop' phase if that's how it can be described passed me by too
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