The 16-track capsule collection includes the duo’s biggest hits and deep cuts
Everything But The Girl, the UK duo formed in 1982 by singer-writer-musicians Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, will release their definitive compilation, The Best Of Everything But The Girl on 14 November via Buzzin’ Fly/Chrysalis.
Spanning over 40 years from their indie jazz-folk cult classic, Night And Day, to the acclaimed contemporary electronica of 2023’s Fuse, the 16-track capsule collection includes their biggest hits and deep evergreen cuts from a pioneering career.
“We always liked albums that had a fast side and a slow side,” says Tracey of the compilation’s running order, “so we thought we’d start with the bangers and wind down with the ballads.”
Upfront, the glimmering two-step of 2023’s Nothing Left To Lose sits among a clutch of 90s club-crossover hits – Todd Terry’s chart-topping remix of Missing, the dubby UK Top 10 breakbeat of Walking Wounded, and Tracey In My Room (Watt’s enduring dance-floor mash-up of EBTG’s Wrong and Soul Vision’s Come Into My Room).
“It also makes the album run backwards in time,” says Ben. “It gives you a sense of clubland back to bedsit, a journey that to us feels very real. And at the end, we pair the modern-day (Run A Red Light) with how we started (Night And Day).”
Definitive Compilation
The duo delivered a string of UK gold albums in the 1980s, exploring latin jazz (Each And Every One), guitar pop, orchestral wall-of-sound (Cross My Heart) and drum-machine soul – all showcasing Thorn’s unique voice, Watt’s arrangements and their shared songwriting. Their timeless cover of Danny Whitten’s I Don’t Want To Talk About It appeared in 1988 (No.3, UK Top 40).
In the early 90s, after Watt’s serious hospitalisation with a rare auto-immune disease, the pair returned unbowed with the uplifting Phil Ramone-produced The Only Living Boy In New York in 1993 and the million-selling ardent folktronica of the 1994 album, Amplified Heart (Rollercoaster). It featured their biggest hit, Missing, after New York DJ-producer Todd Terry’s remix made the leap from heavy club spins to global pop radio playlists in 1995 (No.2, US Hot 100; No.3, UK Top 40; No.1, Germany, Italy, Canada).
Inspired, the duo followed it in 1996 with the sparkling Walking Wounded (No.4 UK Album Chart), a set of emotional future-facing songs brimming with ideas from the mid 90s electronic scene. Spawning four UK Top 40 hits, it became the pair’s first UK platinum album, going on to sell approaching 2 million copies worldwide. They followed it with Temperamental (No Difference) in 1999, and after appearing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2000, chose to hit the pause button.
After 20 years of accomplished solo careers and family life, the duo returned unexpectedly in 2023 with the widely-acclaimed studio album, Fuse. Sonically adventurous, it included the radio hit Nothing Left To Lose, took them to their highest ever album chart position (No.3, UK Album Chart) and won them the Self-Producing Artist of the Year award at the MPG (Music Producer’s Guild) Awards 2024.
Tracklisting
Missing (Todd Terry Remix)
Nothing Left To Lose
Tracey In My Room (Lazy Dog Bootleg Vocal Mix)
Walking Wounded
Single
Corcovado
Before Today
No Difference
Driving
Each And Every One
Rollercoaster
I Don’t Want To Talk About It
The Only Living Boy In New York
Cross My Heart
Run A Red Light
Night And Day
Featured image credit: Zbysiu Rodak
The Best of Everything But The Girl is released on Buzzin’ Fly/Chrysalis on 14 November. The album, on double gatefold vinyl (mastered and cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road) and CD, is now available for pre-order here.
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