Home Movies: The Best of Everything But the Girl

Personnel: Ben Watt (vocals, guitar, organ, percussion); Tracey Thorn (vocals); Johnny Marr (harmonica); Peter King (alto saxophone); Pete Whyman, Nigel Nash, Ian Fraser , Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone); James McMillan , Dick Pearce (trumpet, flugelhorn); Damon Butcher (piano, keyboards); Cara Tivey (piano, background vocals); Peter Murray (organ); June Miles-Kingston (drums, tambourine, background vocals); Rob Peters, Omar Hakim, Steve Gadd , Ralph Salmins, Charles Hayward (drums); Martin Ditcham (congas, tambourine, triangle); Lenny Castro (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Bill Schnee.
Recording information: Abby Road, London, England (1984); Livingston, London, England (1984); Oceanway, Los Angeles, CA (1984); Powerplant, London, England (1984); Schnee, Sunset sound (1984).
Like most Everything but the Girl compilations, 2001's Home Movies: Best of Everything but the Girl restricts itself to the duo's first decade, before they reinvented themselves as the pop face of trip-hop with 1995's "Missing." A roughly chronological sprint through Everything but the Girl's first seven albums, from 1984's Eden through 1992's Acoustic, there's no room for any more than two or three songs from any one record; while this does a handy job of tracing Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt's career path from folk-jazz indie to sophisticated and adult pop music, it also means that several worthy songs, especially from the group's early days, are missing: no "Night and Day," "When All's Well," "Riverbed Dry," "Sugar Finney," or "Oxford Street." On the other hand, the songs chosen are a balanced and representational lot, including favorites like Thorn's indelible bossa nova "Each and Every One" and the lovely, Dusty Springfield-like orchestral pop of "Come on Home." Home Movies is an excellent introduction to Everything but the Girl's early years for newcomers beguiled by later hits, but all of the group's early albums (Eden, released in a very different U.S. version as 1984's Everything but the Girl; 1985's Love Not Money; 1986's Baby, the Stars Shine Bright; and 1988's Idlewild) are well worth seeking out on their own. ~ Stewart Mason