Walking Wounded - Everything But The Girl (CD 1996)

With their last record, 1995's winning AMPLIFIED HEART, Benn Watt and Tracey Thorn, the smartly sophisticated duo that makes up Everything but the Girl, pushed their songwriting to a new level. AMPLIFIED HEART was by far their best album yet. Combining their trademark acoustic harmonies with a new-found sense of musical freedom, they began to branch out from "English folk" music to create a sonically pleasing masterpiece.

The happening Todd Terry remix of that album's hit single "Missing" brought a long overdue recognition to their music, and plunged them headfirst into a brand new musical territory: techno. With the success of that single, Watt and Thorn decided to put their money where their mouths were.

Thus, WALKING WOUNDED was conceived as their first full-on dance record. And what a piece of work it is.

While AMPLIFIED HEART was an acoustic album with hints of dance conventions, WALKING WOUNDED is a dance record with hints of folk music. The about-face works well here, as the fabulous duo takes a major risk and comes out on top.

EBTG has always dealt with feelings of melancholy and loss, and this record is no exception. It opens with "Before Today," a vibrant but somber tune about lost love, before heading into "Wrong," a truly excellent dance tune that examines what happens when someone goes off in search of themselves at the expense of another's feelings. "Now you can pull a little bit/There's a lot of give and take/And love can stretch a little bit/But finally it's gonna break," Thorn sings, her vocals reaching gorgeous heights as always.

There are all kinds of great songs on this album. In fact, almost every song is a sure crowd-pleaser, but I'm going to name some of the ones that I particularly relate to. For instance, there's the lovely "Mirrorball," a recollection of Thorn's adolescence in which she owns up to her past mistakes. "Well I guess some boys adored me/But the one I loved ignored me/And caused me to ignore my best friend/And though I got her letter/It never did get better/So I got out of my head/Then I joined a band instead," she croons.

Elsewhere, the somber "Good Cop/Bad Cop" details a relationship's rocky road by placing its participants in a role playing analogy. Thorn all but chants "I don't want to feel this way" over and over as the synths and sonics create the melodious backdrop that swoons and swirls behind her.

And "The Heart Remains a Child" has got to be one of the best songs this duo has ever penned, with some of their most insightful lyrics yet: "Do I want to hear that you forgive me/Do I want to hear you're no good without me/Am I big enough to hear/That you never even think about me/Why should you ever think about me?" The acoustic backdrop on this one is languid and smooth, creating a mood that reminds you of flowing water.

EBTG writes some of the best heartbreak music I've ever heard, but they do it in such a way that you never get depressed while listening to it.

There are more Todd Terry remixes to be found here, most notably the stellar "Wrong" revisit, and the title track gets a club make-over as well, although I don't know how well it would do in a club environment.

WALKING WOUNDED is a truly stunning record, a great CD to put in for relaxing background music. You can almost see the women from HBO's SEX & THE CITY lounging in their tubs, candles lit around them, washcloths draped over their foreheads as they soak up the richness of this musical smorgasbord. It's that kind of record.

For me, this record demonstrates what a great band can do reinvent themselves without selling out in the process. WALKING WOUNDED is an excellent career rebirth for a duo that's already lived a full life. That their career is taking off in brand new directions after such a rich history of music behind them is just icing on the cake.

GRADE: A