Everything But The Girl ‎Walking Wounded Reissue

Everything But The Girl ‎Walking Wounded Reissue

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Originally released in May 1996, Walking Wounded was something of a watershed album for the duo, on which they fully embraced the dance sound that could hardly be further from the acoustic jazziness of their first album Eden, which came some 12 years earlier. However, far from being a calculated move to boost their popularity, the change in sound was a gradual and organic process, that began the previous year with Tracey’s highly successful appearance on Massive Attack’s ‘Protection’, on which the Bristol band rightly suspected that her ‘desolate’ vocals would perfectly suit their wonderfully weathered electronic sound. They were right. The real ‘dance revelation’ though came with Todd Terry’s remix of Everything But The Girl’s ‘Missing’ single, which became a massive worldwide hit a few months later, having undeservedly stalled at No.69 when released in its original incarnation. So against this backdrop of events, it is perhaps not as surprising that the band produced a full-on Electronic dance album like Walking Wounded. Anyone hearing the album for the first time would possibly be astonished to discover that the band were not always this way, so natural is the sound. Beginning with a trio of hits‘Before Today’ sets the mood with its drum and bass stylings, giving way to Top 10 hit ‘Wrong’, which also appears here in three remixed versions and a live version, the Todd Terry mix again being a hugely successful collaboration. ‘Single’, another subtly chart-friendly track, makes up this opening salvo. The real highlight though remains the title track; the lead single and the first EBTG single since the ubiquitous ‘Missing’, it no doubt found itself under pressure to perform in the charts and I am sure it would have been a relief to the duo when it flew at No.6 just ahead of its parent album’s release. The song is perfection, with minimal but dramatic synth lines combining perfectly with the drum and bass beat and Tracey’s wonderful vocals, which further demonstrate her extraordinarily versatile style. ‘Walking Wounded’ is represented here with additional remixes from Omni Trio and Dave Wallace; both are good but neither approaches the majesty of the original.