Everything but the Girl, Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes
Rhino Records, 2005
Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, the duo also known as Everything but the Girl is one good influence for the youth today. Collaborating with their friends to innovate songs and tempos out of their classic hits, this European band has always made makes sensible songs [dance music, at that] and has donned a lifestyle that certainly grooves with young professionals today.
Ranging from urban trance to rock and pop to recently techno trance, their dance music which converts ballads to danceable tunes] caters to soothe the soul of perhaps the wounded workers, as termed by Bob Rosner’s “Working Wounded,” to refer to graveyard shifts and boardworks.
For instance, EBTG helps articulate the clamor of sedentary souls one that makes a living, in the dead of night. Corporate yuppies, call center agents and even office employees can easily relate to the tempos of this duo.
In the dead of night, the repetitions of a console programming bring the listener to places he’s never been before. Easy, cool listening and grooving are the name of the game for this duo’s masterpieces. Their techno approach renders their songs much volume and depth.
Their urban themes of isolation and even companionship and camaraderie can make it easy for the young professional to cope with the signs of the times.
In this era when one’s professional competitiveness is rather gauged not by fulfillment in the personal sense of the word, personal fulfillment has now come be defined by the parameters of financial capabilities to support a technological lifestyle.
This is the creed of this duo’s album. With their decade of dance remixes, they have made urban habits of night life certainly a sensible lifestyle.
“Adapt or Die: Ten Years of Remixes” has much to say about how urban music has come to the fore. Music enthusiasts will find it a good treat to listen to a tapestry of songs and techno inspired compositions that do not bore the listener who wants to relax after a tiring day.
Their collection contains soothing classics as “Wrong,” “Single,” “Mirrorball,” and “Before Today.” The group must have been so fixated in remixing, but mind you, these remixes and reprises merit a second listening. Though it may appear as a series of clichés, the collection renders fresh insights at relationships.
While “Walking Wounded” presents a lover’s self-effacement when he sustains the pains of togetherness that does not get to proceed somewhere definite, “Wrong” dissects the persona’s self-remorse after realizing his own shortcomings in a failed relationship.
“Five Fathoms” and “Downhill Racer” can certainly take you to the dance floor, and “Corcovado” sounds both mystic and ethereal, you are transported to a restrained Latino dance party. “Missing,” their classic disco mix, shall find you dancing to the coolest groove, while “Lullaby of Clubland” takes you to a high-end street walking from Smallville down to the coffee houses where you can wash down other pent-up emotions with a friend.
There are countless merits in the album that renders it totally soothing, wonderful treat for the tired soul. The 1999 “Temperamental” was tempered down in that it proceeds with a slow tempo, unlike the danceable original. “Driving” slowed down to a pace that rather gives the listener a clue of a ballad.
The other cuts are a profession of an urban philosophy that can influence young professionals whose work and lifestyle border individualism and consumerism.
“Single” professes and even glorifies the value of staying one all in one’s life. Much of the hits in this anthology were taken, rehashed but improved from their landmark “Temperamental,” a 1999 album, which reflects a cool influence to an individual’s simple life. The album caters to the lifestyle that borders isolation and individualism.
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