Tracey Thorn: "Goodbye Joe" / "Plain Sailing"

6 January 1983

"Everything But The Girl chanteuse Thorn provides all vocals and instruments and artfully assumes the kind of breathy, mysterious tone of the '50s solo girl singers she doubtless greatly admires."

— Mark Ellen, probably

It must frustrate pop critics to no end how the acts they frequently tip for the big time end up not quite getting there. Obviously there are many better examples covered just in this blog than Everything but the Girl even if it took the duo some time before they began to score hits — and even then, chart action was something that came and went for them until their massive 1995 breakthrough "Missing". Yet, there was so much potential there that journalists and other musicians could see that otherwise went unrecognized by the public at large — until they inevitably caught on.

Mark Ellen (the presumed reviewer this fortnight who must've been feeling more comfortable in a state of anonymity) cites Tracey Thorn as being from Everything but the Girl but it is likely that her better-known project of the time was Marine Girls, a group that the singer had formed with school friend Gina Hartman. Though only in their late-teens, they had already issued in the album Beach Party in 1981. Still, with Thorn heading up to Hull for university, Marine Girls would be on hiatus but she remained signed to indie label Cherry Red as a solo artist. It was there she met label mate Ben Watt with whom she would form Everything but the Girl.

So, let's take stock: Tracey Thorn, solo artist; Ben Watt, solo artist; Marine Girls, group; Everything but the Girl, group. All signed to the same hip record label and all seemingly being given equal attention. This is not a rock band with extra curricular projects floating about during off periods, it's almost as if Thorn and Watt were hedging their bets. As Johnny Black says in the 1984 Smash Hits Yearbook, EBTG was "not so much a group, more a kind of ongoing creative liaison". Black concludes the piece by wondering which musical project will end up having hits first.

The double A side of "Goodbye Joe" and "Plain Sailing" proves that it could just as easily have been Thorn on her own. With all due respect to Gina Hartman, Ben Watt and Paul Weller, her talent is sufficient to craft remarkable pop. Neither of these sides had much in the way of commercial potential but it should have been clear to all that she had the voice, the musical chops and the command of pop. In one way or another, she was going to take off eventually.

Originally laced with irony by The Monochrome Set, "Goodbye Joe" is given a mournful treatment as performed by Thorn. Silly, inconsequential fun in its original form becomes stately here. While it could be said that she manages to strangle all the humour out of it, perhaps one of Thorn's great talents is to find the tracest elements of sorrow and tragedy in even the most trivial of songs and still manage to avoid self-righteousness or melodrama. She also plays a precision guitar solo, the sort of which provided the foundation for Belle & Sebastian's very existence. (Her partner Watt was meanwhile busy inventing everything that made Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience worthwhile)

Its companion piece, "Plain Sailing", is equally affecting. First released on her '82 solo debut A Distant Shore, the original version is full of echo and has a sparseness that goes with all-acoustic, no-special-guests works. Redone for the legendary 99p Cherry Red compilation Pillows & Prayers, it has sleigh bells (or bells of some kind) added to help give it a breezier pace. They're a welcome decorative touch and one that doesn't feel crassly commercial. Yes, I know we're supposed to appreciate the rawness of indie darlings recording on a shoestring but the single release is more professional and fleshed-out without sacrificing any of the original's beauty.

Only Thorn's vocals give an indication of what was coming and that was jazz pop. It took a little longer to catch than Ellen predicts but it eventually would. It may have come as Marine Girls or as Everything but the Girl or as Tracey Thorn herself but it was bound to happen.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

The Box: "No Time for Talk" (aka The Box EP)

Not to be confused with the Montreal new wave band of the same name. Turns out, this lot are the much better Box. Sounding as if the Art Ensemble of Chicago had decided to dabble in amphetamine-fueled post-punk, I was expecting something of a slow burn but I was drawn in about halfway through my first listen. Ellen isn't terribly impressed ("It's a lot more challenging to try and make records you can actually listen to") but it's thrilling in places and I'm quite pleased that there was someone out there looking to merge free jazz with modern sounds, rather than more mellow and trendier styles the way Weekend (and indeed Everything but the Girl) had gone about it. Not the sort of thing I'd listen to on a regular basis but this Box deserves props for trying out something that no one else had the nerve to do themselves.

(Click here to see my original review)