''The Language of Life'' is the fifth
studio album by 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 5 February 1990 by
Atlantic Records and
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 Language of Life'' became Everything but the Girl's second album to surpass sales of 500,000 copies, but the album divided the group's British fanbase. In 2012, group member
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 ...
described ''The Language of Life'' as "a slightly slick, kind of semi-jazzy, sophisticated record" and recalled that it "was a definite attempt to try and do something that had a character to it, but in retrospect when we were asked why we had taken that direction, we couldn't entirely say why".
Background
Producer
Tommy LiPuma
Tommy LiPuma (July 5, 1936 – March 13, 2017) was an American music producer. He received 33 Grammy nominations, 5 Grammy wins, and his productions sold over 75 million albums. LiPuma worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles ...
had previously worked with artists like
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
,
Horace Silver
Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s.
After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...
,
Randy Newman, and
George Benson
George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...
, and had contributed production to
Aztec Camera
Aztec Camera were a Scottish pop/ new wave band founded by Roddy Frame, the group's singer, songwriter, and only consistent member. Formed in 1980, Aztec Camera released a total of six studio albums: ''High Land, Hard Rain'' (1983), ''Knife'' ( ...
's 1987 album ''
Love
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...
''. He had expressed an interest in producing Everything but the Girl, and Tracey Thorn and
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 ...
, feeling that they had lost their place within the UK music scene, contacted him and asked him if he wanted to hear some demos. He invited them to New York City, and then to Los Angeles, where they would eventually record ''The Language of Life''.
Tracey Thorn performed lead vocals on the album, and Ben Watt played guitar and piano, as well as doing some singing. Song arrangements were written by Larry Williams and Jerry Hey. The band LiPuma put together included Omar Hakim on drums, John Patitucci on bass and Larry Williams on keyboards. LiPuma produced, in Thorn's words, "a fully realised, immaculately performed and produced modern American soul-pop record".
The cover shot was by
Nick Knight.
Track listing
Personnel
;Everything but the Girl
*
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 ...
– vocals
*
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 ...
– guitar, piano, vocals
;Additional musicians
*
John Patitucci
John Patitucci (born December 22, 1959) is an American jazz bassist and composer.
Biography
John James Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York. When he was 12, he bought his first bass and decided on his career. He listened to bass parts in R ...
– bass
*
Jerry Hey
Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...
– flugelhorn (tracks 3, 10), horn arrangements
*Larry Williams – piano, synthesisers
*
Kirk Whalum
Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it.
Basic meaning and etymology
As a common noun, ''kirk' ...
– tenor saxophone (tracks 4, 6, 7)
*
Russell Ferrante
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California.
History
In 1977, guitarist Robben Ford, for his first solo album, recruited keyboardist Russell Ferrante, electric bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ri ...
– piano (tracks 3, 6)
*
Lenny Castro – percussion
*
Michael Landau – guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6-9)
*
Omar Hakim
Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and pop music drummer, producer, arranger and composer. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Sting, Madonna, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Journey, Kate ...
– drums
*
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Cola ...
– drums (track 7)
*
Stan Getz – tenor saxophone (track 10)
*
Joe Sample
Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained ...
– piano (track 5)
*
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...
– tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 8)
*
Marc Russo
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California.
History
In 1977, guitarist Robben Ford, for his first solo album, recruited keyboardist Russell Ferrante, electric bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ri ...
– alto saxophone
;Technical
*
Al Schmitt
Albert Harry Schmitt (April 17, 1930 – April 26, 2021) was an American recording engineer and record producer. He won twenty Grammy Awards for his work with Henry Mancini, Steely Dan, George Benson, Toto, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, and other ...
– engineering
*
Bill Schnee
William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...
– mixing
*
Nick Knight – photography
Additionally,
Rod Temperton
Rodney Lynn Temperton (9 October 1949 – 25 September 2016) was an English songwriter, producer and musician.
Temperton was the keyboardist and main songwriter for the 1970s pop music, disco and funk band Heatwave, writing songs including " ...
,
James McMillan James (or Jim or Jimmy) McMillan or MacMillan may refer to:
Sportspeople
* James McMillan (footballer, born c. 1866) (c. 1866–?), played for Sunderland
* James McMillan (footballer, born 1869) (1869–1937), played for Scotland,Everton and St ...
,
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.
Biography
Travis was ...
, Damon Butcher, Steve Pearce,
Cecil and
Linda Womack
Linda Womack (née Cooke; born April 25, 1953), now known as Zeriiya Zekkariyas, is an American singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of soul singer Sam Cooke. She later had a successful career as half of the duo Womack & Womack with her hu ...
and Archie Williams are thanked in the liner notes.
Charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Language Of Life
Everything but the Girl albums
1990 albums
Albums produced by Tommy LiPuma
Atlantic Records albums