''Eden'' is the debut studio album by the British musical duo

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Wat ...

. It was released on 4 June 1984 by

Blanco y Negro Records Blanco y Negro Records ( Spanish: "White and Black"), a subsidiary of WEA Records Ltd., was established in 1983 by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Mike Alway of él Records. Michel Duval of Les Disques du Crépuscule was also involv ...

. The album contains the single " Each and Every One", which peaked at number 28 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The cover design was by lead singer

Tracey Thorn Tracey Anne Thorn (born 26 September 1962) is a British singer. She is best known as being one half of the duo Everything but the Girl from 1982 to 1999. She was a member of the band Marine Girls between 1980 and 1983 and since 2007 has bee ...

's former colleague in

Marine Girls Marine Girls were an English post-punk group from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The group was formed in 1980, by two sixth form schoolfriends; Tracey Thorn and Gina Hartman. Originally, Thorn just played guitar and Hartman was the lead voca ...

, Jane Fox.

Background and release

''Eden'' was the first professional recording by EBTG with a bigger company and a proper producer,

Robin Millar Robin John Christian Millar, CBE (born 18 December 1951) is an English record producer, musician and businessman, known variously as 'The Original Smooth Operator', 'The man behind Sade', and 'Golden Ears' Boy George. He was born in London to ...

, who was parallelly producing

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

's ''

Diamond Life ''Diamond Life'' is the debut studio album by English band Sade, released in the United Kingdom on 16 July 1984 by Epic Records and in the United States on 27 February 1985 by Portrait Records. After studying fashion design, and later modelli ...

''. Though it was finished in the autumn of 1983, it wasn't released until June 1984 due to contractual obligations between the band and Cherry Red Records. By the time ''Eden'' was finally released, EBTG felt it didn't represent their current sound and interests and did very little promotion to it. " Each and Every One", the only single, became a UK Top 40 single the surpassed the band's expectations and previous efforts In the time between recording and releasing ''Eden'', Thorn and Watt opened themselves to new influences, mostly

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...

, with whom they became close. "Never Could Have Been Worse" (the b-side to "Each and Every One") showed this influence in sound and lyrics. This was part of the band's following two singles. "Mine" was released only four weeks after ''Eden'', and marked a departure from the album's themes and sound, with Thorn singing about a single mother and gender politics involved in surnames. It reached No. 58 in the UK Singles Chart. "Native Land", which featured Smith's Johnny Marr in harmonica, only reached to No. 73. Although these weren't included in ''Eden'', they did make the US only album ''

''.

Critical reception

Eden was met with critical acclaim and ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' ranked it number 20 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1984. By 2012, ''Eden'' had sold around 500,000 copies. ''Eden'' was reissued in 2012 as a remastered two-disc deluxe set by Edsel Records.

Track listing

2012 Edsel Records reissue

Personnel

Everything but the Girl *

– vocals, acoustic guitar *

Ben Watt Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt (born 6 December 1962) is a British musician, singer, songwriter, author, DJ and radio presenter, best known as one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. Early life Watt was born in Marylebone, London, and grew ...

– guitars, vocals, Hammond organ,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, horn arrangements Additional musicians * Simon Booth – guitar *Joao Bosco De Oliveira –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Charles Hayward – drums *

Chucho Merchán Jesús Alfredo Merchán (born December 24, 1952)), known professionally as Chucho Merchán, is a session jazz and rock bassist and guitarist. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cambridge University in 1980. He has performed with Nucl ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

*Dick Pearce – flugelhorn *Nigel Nash –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

* Pete King – alto saxophone Technical *

Mike Pela Mike Pela (13 January 1950 – 23 July 2022) was a British record producer and mixer. He worked with various artists including Sade, Maxwell, Savage Garden and others, spanning a wide array of genres. Career Pela started his career in the 19 ...

– engineering *Jane Fox – cover design

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eden (Everything But The Girl Album) 1984 debut albums Everything but the Girl albums Blanco y Negro Records albums Albums produced by Robin Millar Bossa nova albums Jangle pop albums Indie pop albums by English artists Jazz-pop albums