Idlewild

Eighties Wine Bar music

Self indulgent lyrics over Muzak-esque soft jazz instrumentation with occasional cringey sax solos.

zzz 😖

This is a joke, right? AI concocted effemera?

Anything but the good.

Didn’t make it thru. Too much of a mix of kenny g, índigo girls & Ben fold, none of which i like. Tried listening while starting a work day & it hot off to a goober-y start.

I don’t think I can do this kind of soft rock. I tried, I really did. There’s just no punch to it. It’s the kind of thing that would be hold or elevator music. I kept wanted there to be some crazy drum fills or for that saxophone that sneaks in occasionally to have a ripping solo and then I remember what kind of music I’m listening to and am disappointed. I know I should listen to this as it is and not as I want it to be, but the dated synths and mostly uninteresting vocals fail to allow me not to consider what could be.

Among the worst things I’ve heard on this list.

Schrecklich belanglos!

So there are some terrible albums on this list but they seem to hold some cultural or other value to warrant inclusion. This album wasn’t terrible but also appears to lack any historical importance. Boring and uninspired, it’s the kind of drivel you hear waiting for the dentist to call you back. When I think of all the deserving albums (not one from Tool?), listening to albums like this just leave me angry. Grr. 1/5

Idk what to say. Boring, annoying voice, elevator music at best. Sorry lol

Why is this album on this list... every song sounds the same....

Muzak shit

It was alright. Probably before my time.

Bad late 80' / early 90's Muzak

Boring ballads. Good for focusing on work but I would probably not enjoy actively listening to them.

A cross between elevator music and the soundtrack to a tv movie of the week where one of love interests gets cancer. Borderline unlistenable.

Nope. Nothing about this was good to me, and I'm not sure I get what anyone would find here that's worth a listen tbh

Not especially bad or offensive, but also not especially good and was one of those albums that I just wanted to end sooner rather than later.

Everything but good songs, amirite?!! ✋ Christ, this is dull middle of the road dreary ballads and I would probably usually give this sort of thing 2 stars but I’m in a bad mood and this is not helping, it’s just making me miserable. Add to that, I’m just annoyed about the suggestion that I should listen to this album before I die. I’ve also discovered they have 2 albums on here 😭

Sooooo boring

90’s Christian Mom Minvan Music

this is maybe a top 10 most boring album we've had so far to me. this is multi-suite office park lobby music

I never thought an album could be this boring.

This might be one of the most boring, synthetic, over-produced and annoying thing I've ever heard.

Too twee for me.

No thanks

This album is an experiment: what if we took country music vocals and lyrics and layered them over electro-bop, bossa nova, or soft jazz? In short, it's a disaster. EBTG even admits to cringing at their early stuff. For all intents and purposes, the band doesn't find their sound until Todd Terry remixes Missing into a house track. Idlewild is when they're still finding out what doesn't work. Fascinating origin and history lesson, and kudos to them for being willing to experiment and explore new sounds on a public stage: without that willingness, they never would have become such a heavy influence on 90's electronica. Doesn't make this album easier to listen to, though.

I want to give this a one because it was so boring and bland and really annoying, but I’ll be generous and bump it up. Wait. No, I won’t. I don’t ever want to hear this terrible elevator music again. It actually made me mad.

Idlewild Jesus, I thought EBTG were a kind of coolly detached dance inflected pop band with a great singer. And while Tracy Thorn’s voice is excellent on this, musically this is the worst type of insipid, soporific, bland, self satisfied, soulless, hotel lobby, hold music to the point of feeling like an utterly pointless album. Not fun at all. 👎 Playlist submission: These Early Days

This is the musical version of wet cardboard. 'These Early Days' is one of the worst because it feels like they've said 'let's do an upbeat one', but it's more beige than my old maths teacher's corduroys. What follows is a stream of hotel cabaret schmaltz with no character. 'I Was Always Your Girl' is a watery trickle of the blandest shite. Please please don't add 80s sax as well, oh fucking hell there it is. It's worse than the music they play when you spend an hour waiting to speak to customer services at Plusnet. It doesn't even fail spectacularly like the Napalm Deaths of this world. And that's the really unforgivable thing. Thank goodness Todd Terry showed them the way, down the line.

👎

This is the 2nd god awful album from this duo. May it be the last! BRING. ON. NAPALM. DEATH!!!! 1/5 #175

Generic Hallmark Movie: The Soundtrack

I feel bad giving this a 1 but it is so so boring and uninteresting. She has a great voice but it is wasted here. This was hard to make it through - kept waiting to see why this was on the list but that moment never came.

Meh

That was, not interesting at all

Incest/5 I avoided this at first based on the brigade of negative reviews. No offense, but the album cover looks, ahm... yeah. But I thought after listening to my other vacant albums, I wanted to give this album a chance... ...but instead of using that chance for good, it turned my ears inside and out. This is probably a good album to fuck your cousin or sister to.

This is nothing. Incredibly boring. There's like brief moments of something interesting, but they are very short lived and few and far between. The lyrics are also pretty nothing. It's almost impressive how nothing this is. For the most part, it isn't pain inducing music, which is actually a plus. But it does take a bit of a quality hit as the album goes. To the point where I'm debating on adding it to my "Did Not Finish" list. I did end up finishing it... To say that the album sucked, is going a little far, but it is not good. It's not interesting. And it for sure shouldn't be on this list. Favorite Song(s): I Don't Want to Talk About It

Of all the albums on this list, this is certainly one of them. Instrumentation is cool at times. The one thing it has going for it is that its not the worst thing I've ever heard. Its just boring and uninteresting

Uninspiring!

What a mid tier album... Why the hell is this Yankee Candle/christian book store music on this list?! Do yourself a favor and skip this one

What…did you say something?!

Pleasant but forgettable.

Too easy-listening and compressed 80s production.

1/2

Most songs opened with programmed drums and had cheesy synthesizer. The vocals were bland and boring.

Many years ago I really liked Eden but clearly my tastes have changed

Limp dick!!!!!!!!!

jesus if i wanted to listen to ballads with a biiiig side of melancholia i would have just put on whitney houston immediately followed by the smiths but this was not it

Boring, elevator/hold music vibes. I prefer to listen to opus one.

1.25

Slightly depressing music.

So. Boring. 100% not my style of music at all. Next please!

Everything but a shit, shite 80s style

This took me 45 minutes closer to the day that I die and gave me absolutely nothing in return. Utterly pointless.

I'd prefer Walking Wounded over this, literally and metaphorically.

Absolutely not, hard pass.

I love their later electronic stuff but this easy listening stuff does nothing for me. It's largely inoffensive but I don't connect at all.

ma no

Fairground Repulsion

dyk idlewild was the original name of jfk airport? also an endurance test in endless tedium

blah

From whom dont understand Portuguese the expression: mela cueca, música de motel e antena 1 songs, its exactly what this álbuns means. The word cheesy define all this songs. Its time to you in the 80s put this song and iniciate the art of copulation with the song of this lazy sax. Mental!

Second EBTG album, still not had their "big hit" so I'm worried there is a third that I have to endure.

Yawn

Gah. I’m one song in, and I’m already pissed and bored. I ended up listening to some of this while my 7yo son was in the car, and he asked if we could listen to anything else. I said we could, and then we laughed about how much we couldn’t stand this.

I hated pretty much every minute of this inane nonsense. Vapid rhyme schemes, dull backing tracks, and cringey AF lyrical content. How did this even get made? Never again. This list honestly puzzles me sometimes.

So cheesy dreadful. More like Everything But The Music. I'd be happy to never hear this soulless mess again.

I'm not sure why this album is on this list at all. Sure, we can think about representation of all genres, but this is generic and bland especially considering the time in which it was released. A few tracks have some crooning horns, which had been done with more style and originality by Tom Waits in his early works over a decade prior. Generic ballads abound here, nothing of note. Pass.

Dreadfully boring.

Wow, that was intense... ly boring.

When I get these Brit I always listen hoping that this will be the one that resonates. This wasn't the one that resonates and I'm starting to think maybe Brit Pop might be the equivalent to me of what other people think when they get the a hardcore album from Napalm Death or an out there album from the Butthole Surfers.

Please, no. Anything but 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭.

Music for waiting rooms, but with slightly more interesting lyrical content.

An 80's version of Joni Mitchell. I dislike Joni Mitchell

I actually like this music (I like elevator music). What's wrong with some low key vibes for a lazy Sunday morning reading the newspaper in the sun. But needing to hear this before I die?? Embarrassing. To quote Aesop Rock, these are songs for people "who have never had a day a snow cone couldn't fix".

One hit wonder

I remember Everything But The Girl feeling quirky and a little different back in the nineties, so I came to Idlewild expecting something with a bit of edge. Instead, it falls quite flat for me. The album leans heavily into soft, middle of the road ballads that feel safe and overly restrained. There is a gentle, understated style running through it, but very little that truly grabs the attention. I found myself zoning out for much of the listen, with tracks blending into one another without a standout hook or moment. I can appreciate the clean production and Tracey Thorn’s smooth, controlled vocal, but as a complete record it feels lifeless rather than intimate. It is hard for me to see why this would land on a must hear list when there are so many more dynamic albums from the era. Favourite track: None really stood out. Least favourite: Difficult to choose as everything felt similarly subdued and forgettable. Album artwork: A nice, nostalgic cover that captures their late eighties image well

nope

Everything But a Song I Want to Listen To.

Nope, couldn't connect to them. Just not my cup of tea. Did like I don't want to talk about it song, but that was only because I'd forgotten the song so hunted out my Rod Stewart version

in what universe is this an album someone must hear before they die? tepid tunes, horrible '80s production, muzak-y arrangements. the only thing it's missing is a dentist asking the hygienist to pass the drill.

I lost any and all manhood after that

Very bad. Couldn’t finish it.

Horrid, one of the worst ones I've ever listened.

Nope

1/5 - not for me. Wrong kind of 80s music

Yawn, boring…..

Adult contemporary bullshit.

I.....can see why someone would like this, but didn't have enough pep or enough of anything to really do much for me.

1 booooorinh

Quasi muzak. Inoffensive enough, but an absolute chore to get through. What is this doing on a list like this?

Trash.

This really wasn't that good. I know that Everything But the Girl have some decent tunes, but I guess they came after this period because this hasn't aged well at all.

Curiously bad. The leader singer has a compelling voice, and does different things with it. Knew I didn’t like it from the outset, but had to solve the mystery of why and play the whole thing back. I think sound mixing may be the crux of the issue—the guitar and drums wash her out, like live music at a restaurant not designed for live music.

https://youtu.be/uzidMPMhYiA

Everything But The Girl before their uber-hit Missing. You realise very quickly indeed why they weren't big before Missing. I find this incredibly boring and the worst kind of synth-dominated aseptic 80s ballad. Yes, the whole album. Extra point deduction would be well-deserved for combining gratuitous 80s sax with senseless, soulless programmed cowbell on "I always was your girl". But 1 is the lowest ranking already.

This sounds like the most generic coffee shop music of all time. 2/10

I really hated this one. It sucks. No. 0.75/5

Horrible. Boring. No substance.

This is album #28 and this is the fourth album that I have given 1 star. For the other 3 albums, although I did not like or get into them, I could still understand why they were on the list of 1001 albums to hear before you die for historical or influential reasons, but for this one I just don't get it. Rather dull and uninspiring to be honest. Did like the voice of the female singer though.

...what the hell was that? What an awful album. Also, possible incestuous relationship with her brother in Oxford Street. Big woof. 1 for sure.

Sophisto-pop? More like sophisto-snoozefest!! Sophisto-poop! Sophisto-trash! This is very boring - maybe it would work in a restaurant or a lobby or something, but wow.

God bless them but everything about this is so terrible

The most interesting part of listening to this is wondering whether the Soft Rock - Smooth Jazz - New Age production vibe of the 80s is just triggering for me or objectively irritating. Incredible, in retrospect, that the industry turned away from the tube systems and whole room recording techniques for all of this close-mic'd-nascent digital reverb-solid state processing. Throw in the regular appearances of Kawai synths and Kenny G sax stylings and by Oxford Street I was so depressed by the sound that I started focusing on the lyrics. That made it worse. Like a sophomoric ode to meek suburban living.

Do people actually like this?

I understand if something isn’t for me but holds great historical or genre significance for one reason or another. This just baffles me. Lovely voice, but I’m struggling. I could easily die without hearing this.

The highlight is a cover of Rod Stewart song and the rest of utterly forgettable.

It gets funky and groovy, bass player is a killer. The lady has an awesome voice, the dude not so much. I think my Fresh Thyme might play something from this album. Maybe it's good shopping or on hold music. It does a good job of bleeding together, the only time it got much of a reaction from me was when the lyrics were so bad "I hope you never change, I'll call you Jimmy call you James" "Every Monday is goodbye Sunday" ... no thanks

I don’t know if I could have hated this more. It was just one never ending song with no definable anything bleeding into the next. I had to stop by the 4th song because it was filling me with a rage at 7am that I haven’t felt since I was like 14 and mad at my mom all the time about nothing in particular.

This album felt like being on hold with the cable company for 45 minutes...I really don't want to experience either situation ever again.

Das war so langweilig. Nichts stach heraus, weder Instrumente noch Gesang. Beim Hören spürte ich nichts als Langeweile. Das kann in einer Hotellobby im Hintergrund laufen, aber käme das im Radio beim Autofahren würde ich einschlafen.

3/10 Fav tracks - Blue moon rose

Unspeakably bland.

Unbelievably boring and cheesy. I can clearly imagine the 90s office mom who was so excited to have discovered this album. It tries its best to shake the milquetoast affect of its front woman with its hot beats, but it falls short.

It's like a nightmare. I hated every single sound

No thank you!

Boring.

No business being on this list

Idlewild has earned the distinct dishonor on my first one star review. As mentioned to Stijn yesterday, it sounds like elevator music without the fun of being in an elevator. While elevator/waiting room music is bland, I appreciate it because that's what its purpose is. Digestible music that will offend no one, and cover up the sound of the old lady across from you coughing. This is just as bland, but they were clearly trying to make good and meaningful music. You can hear them thinking "Yeah that sounds good. These lyrics are deep. I'm really telling the tale of my fellow impoverished Scotsmen." But it doesn't sound good. It sounds like beige. I listened to the second half of this sitting in traffic, and it made me much more aware that my time and life are finite. It sounds not like waiting, but like time is wasting. When I don't listen to an album for this group, it's usually because I weigh the opportunity cost of listening. I could listen to this unknown album on my drive home, or I could listen to a familiar playlist or podcast I know will bring me joy. This album took me 5 attempts to finish, because each time I would think "Life is passing me by. I could be listening to Doolittle again." The lone bright spot was the sax on I Always Was Your Girl. I thought in that moment "If they do this more, we have ourselves a second star". But then they shelved the sax for the rest of the album. Booooooooo. Album cover: (C+) I like the photo well enough. That has some nostalia energy. The text and graphic design are pretty amateurish looking.

Opens with a desecration of 'I Don't Want to Talk About It' & goes downhill from there. No idea what this is doing on the list.

Such a relief to see "boring" as the top keyword. Feels good to finally agree with people here. Ahh can't wait to listen to another Bob Dylan album, now that's real music

Booooring

generic 80s pop

Edit: This was horrible, and I should have given it a 1 to begin with. “I don’t want to talk about…” how overly long this felt. It gives adult contemporary a bad name.

To anybody that hasn't started: go, save yourself.

Drænende... Hader det..

This was fucking boring.

Boring

Idlewild is the smoothly of the smooth jazzy dad rock I’ve ever heard, to the point of being offensive. 3.2/10

Not really my style, knew a few of the sings but a little too slow for me

More like Everything but the Good Music. She can sing. Ben can seemingly write decent music. Put them together and it's a steaming turd of no thanks.

Easy listening music that is extremely hard to get through.

Truly awful. A band with a one hit wonder which isn’t even on this album.

Not a redeemable quality about it

A bit depressing. Not the best album.

Could t finish it. Not my type of music at all.

I'm pretty sure that this is going to be my least favorite album on this whole shindig. DNF

boring 80s ballads, could have gone fine without ever hearing this

I just got one of their albums and it made me realize that they're embody my least favorite type of music. Now you lay this shit on me again?

Execrable

Corny and dated and not good.

I first heard of Everything But The Girl in the mid 90's with Missing You which was a huge hit in the UK and I didn't like it as I thought it was boring. The music on this album might be slightly different from later EBTG albums but unfortunately they are just as boring.

I'm not sure what I expected, but bland, below average pop tunes was not it.

This is offensively anodyne. Why is this album on a list of albums I must listen to. 1/5

ass

Never liked them, always found them dreary and drippy and this album just reinforces that. Awful!

Christ I hated them in he 80’s - I haven’t changed my opinion - hold music for car insurance.

No redeeming features

DNF not for me.

Really, really awful.

Forgettable 80's soft pop. Surprised this would make the list.

This was ass. Fuck right off.

Horrible

This is the music they play in hotel lobbies. I was going to give this a 2, as I was eating breakfast and not really having to give this my full attention, but then I was done and had to actually listen to the last 3 songs and oh, no. They felt longer than the 9 songs I didn’t actively listen to as much, they are that boring. And I listened enough to know that they’re the same exact type of music, that they’re basically the same songs, the same boring songs, and this 1 star rating is for all the people who had to actively listen to this for an excruciating 45 minutes. And also since it got me specifically so bored but still.

Disappointing

Why is this album on this list. I didn't need to listen to this album before I die. I did not lis this at all. I cannot beleive this was their forth album!

Pure Moods has found its polar opposite.

I love waiting rooms.

Boring cheesy 80s ballads, nonstop

This is absolute garbage and its inclusion on this list should embarrass the authors and editors. It’s this kind of detritus that clogged up the pop airwaves for 40 years. If you’re not going to do anything interesting, get the fuck out.

This was one of the worst records I had to listen to.

This just sounds like an audition to get the job as the lounge singer on a Carnival Cruise, not something that should be on this list. And based on this album, I don't think she's going to get the job either.

This album was just so boring. It sounded like someone playing keyboards in the 70s lounge at a steakhouse. The singing was fine but the exact same song sounding like every single time. I had to skip through all songs and couldn’t finish this album.

Awful 80s pablum

Stuck in the elevator on the way to the dentist’s waiting room.

wyjec ktorego wynajmuja na wesele, co to ma byc w ogole

My reviews keep getting messed up.l, but this was a snooze fest. Some kind of soft pop with smooth instrumentals, but not a good smooth (more of a sterile smooth jazz). Music you would hear your weird aunt listening to when you were young and/or the theme song to a cancelled pilot about a boring family with a dog named Benny. Not for me at all.

I made it 4 songs in and had to turn it off. Why is this here? Trash "easy listening" with shaky vocals. 2.5/10 (1.25/5)

Nope

Terrible

Nope.

Aus meiner Sicht gibt es 2 Einsatzmöglichkeiten für dieses Album: Option 1: Softporno-Hintergrund-Mukke (da dann gerne auch ohne Vocals) Option 2: Hintergrundmusik für den clichéhaftesten Urlaubsabend am Mittelmeer von Manfred und Uschi. Für die beiden ist es so authentisch und einmalig, während ich mir nichts schlimmeres vorstellen könnte. Darauf kann man mit dem roten Hauswein anstoßen, bevor es dann hophop schnell wieder auf das Kreuzfahrtschiff zum Bingospielen geht. Es ist ja per se keine schlechte Musik und sicherlich besser als irgendeine Avantgarde-Experimentier-Kacke, Ich habe aber keinen Sinn für diese Mucke..

Nothing special about this, maybe just the first song is great.

One of the most boring albums I’ve ever listened to holy shit

Boring synth pop. No real standout songs

Yawn. Couldn't get through this. Expected to enjoy it going in, but I was very very wrong.

Apparently this album was critically acclaimed. We really need a punch a rock critic day. Good Lord this was rubbish.

I don't understand. 1/5

pallosissimo

One tearjerker is not enough ....

More like "Everything But Good Music". This album had to have been one of the ones they US government used to torture prisoners at Guantanamo. Just so laughably bad. The singing alone reminded me of those hopeful early American Idol contestants who are terrible singers. How did this make the cut!? 2/10.

So boring

Not my style of music, most songs song exactly the same. Like background/montage music for an 80s rom-com.

Made me of think of the Robot Wars promo that said: and why is this on PBS?! ... IT'S BRITISH!

This is 80s music in its worst possible form. I'd rather listen to A-ha for 10 hours straight.

Generally horrible.

Dentist office reception area music Very forgettable

boring. couldn't wait till the end.

Okay. Real talk. How does a group like this get signed? There is no bar for a talent scout to see them perform. There is no demo where someone would hear this and want to pay for more. And this is the FOURTH record by them! Additionally, who was like, yeah, 4th record, let's just use the beats that come out of the Casio keyboard we bought for $100 that's meant to teach children how to play piano. This record sucks. It's not even good elevator or dentist office music. It's total shit. 11 songs in btw. They choose to use a real guitar and some Hammond organ and bongos. They waited 11 so gs to use real

Nope. Not for me. Slow, boring, don't like her voice. Snooze fest.

Sounds like falling in love in your 70s on a cruise ship

4 tracks in and it's doing nothing for me. Pure pop with a crap drum machine. 8 tracks in and simply bored. Finished the album. A definite 1.

It's not music, it's muzak.

Lame is the adjective that best describes this album. EBTG has one good single - Missing, but it ain't on this album. I knew this was gonna be a slog when the first song was a lame cover of I don't want to talk about it (even Rod Stewart did it better). Sophisti-pop was the rage in the 80s and 90s but other groups such as Sade, Style Council and Matt Bianco did it much better.

Impressions: Love her voice but all the tracks sound the same. Favorite: Love Is Here Where I Live, Apron Strings Rating: 1/5

I remember a few years ago there was a big ‘make everything sound like 80’s music’ vibe all across the whole industry and I was so disgusted with it. This record is a great example of why I felt that way. There was a lot of great experimentation and innovation in music in the 80s but goddamn so much of it was this mopey nonsense that doesn’t seem to have any other reason to exist other than “I’m a musician! I make music!” This isn’t offensive it’s just like a braindead continuation of a line of musical thinking that went nowhere and it seems like everyone in the universe should have been able to make that determination even in 1988

Coñazo.

Alternate lifestyle easy listening?

Bravely answering the question of what of the Indigo Girls were a heterosexual couple that wrote boring ballads with bad electronic instruments, I have no idea why this album is on this list. This is about as milquetoast as you could possibly get.

Bad. Way too British and shitty writing

Boring. The soft pop sound is just blehhh for me. Nothing stands out and I didn't want to listen to any more. Not sure why this album is on the list. Others that I didn't like I can see significance in. Not with this one.

Boy did I not like this. Skeezy sax and pretty boring.

I hated how she sings

I got excited for a moment because I thought the great BAND Idlewild was assigned. Turned out this was the kind of music I was relentlessly subjected to back when I worked at Rite Aid.

This was awful. I have no idea how this made the list

This kind of soft pop is not really my cup of tea

helevete vade terist

No. Just terrible. If I was 42 in 1988 and never heard anything except dentist office or elevator music, I would still hate this album. I am 4 albums in and 2 were pure shit. Not thinking I'll make it to the tenth album at this rate.

The first mental picture that came to mind upon listening to this album was a middle aged woman driving her kids to gymnastics class. I am not a middle aged woman. If this is on the 1001 albums list, I can’t imagine how bad the 1002nd album must be.

The idiot who compiled this list sure loves sophisticrap.

I couldn't make it through five tracks: this album is the epitome of boring white people music. I literally can't separate it from being stuck in a chair, my mouth agape, having my teeth cleaned as this crap coos from the speaker softly. Just awful

Glossy 80s pop with a heavy dose of smooth jazz. Chimey slowed-down Johnny Marr-wannabe guitars and some bright synth sounds combined with a busy neo-soul bass and Kenny G saxophone. It sort of works? The songs are all lush and slow artifice with a chorus-pedal sound saturating the album. No real distinctions between the songs, it's a mood album that's calm relaxed and upbeat- but that's another word for boring. The sound of the milk aisle in the early 90s.

First album i couldn’t listen all the way through. if this is a genre someone likes, that’s fine, but there’s absolutely no reason this belongs on a general “must listen to” list. If I’m being generous, maybe I can hear some ideas that the XX use today, but i didn’t like this at all.

This is the musical equivalent of cheap lukewarm tea forgotten on a window sill for 3 days.

Why is this on the list?

Snoozefest 2023

This was really hard to get through, even worse than I had imagined it would be. Mumbling/ whiny singing, bland tunes, smooth/ cheesy sounds, horrible keyboards, saxo-fail, and jazz-lite noises thrown into a vat and blended together to come up with a dozen incredibly samey tracks that meander on and merge together into over 45 minutes of awfulness. This is the sort of music I would expect to hear when put on hold ringing a company who don't want me to wait on hold. It's almost like it's designed to offend. God the keyboards are an atrocity, a lot of work must have gone into making them sound so bad, they really are so very bad. They actually sound like something you might get out of a Christmas cracker. It's not even an excuse that this is from the 1980s, as I've heard better keyboards from albums made two decades earlier than this. This has been one of the few times I've found myself looking forward to adverts on Spotify as some relief from the horror of this album. What a worthless chore this was. Definitely 1-star, almost worth more for the sheer relief of getting to the end.

Love Tracey Thorn's featurings on Massive Attack's *Protection*. That title-track from the Bristol trip-hop collective is a wonder (equalling later masterpice "Teardrops" with Liz Fraser). And Thorn has a lot to do with how good that song is. That's the only truly positive thing I'll ever say about Everything But The Girl. This act is too damn bland for chrissake, whatever their style du jour is (jazzy sophistipop--as in here--or eurodance, or electropop, etc.). I've recently given three stars to a Pet Shop Boys album, so I can still keep an open mind, I guess. But there's a limit. Pretty sure the music critics who have consistently and inexplicably praised Everything But The Girl for decades once received free blowjobs paid through the A&R department of the band's label. I'm a music critic as well now, for crying out loud! Why can't I receive free blowjobs??? OK, gross and puerile, I admit it. A *little* more seriously, now: I'm *not* saying that the songwriting, performances and arrangements on this record are not "competent". They are, generally speaking (even if Tracey Thorn's intonations are a little weird or forced on a couple of those tracks). The real issue is this, though: bad taste is just bad taste sometimes, period. And it's always hard to forgive bad taste, even when you hail from the dreadful eighties--where you were admittedly surrounded by it everywhere, and it was almost as if you had no choice but to surrend your soul to at least *some* of it. In other words, trying to be "objective", open-minded and benevolent about certain music styles would be a blatant lie from me. Everyone sincere enough about music who's worth their salt knows you can't fully change a leopard's spots. Just as you can't turn pumpkins into golden carriages, except in fairy tales. Or except in labels' A&R departments, selling their "products" and pretending they're so relevant on a purely artistic level. It's those free blowjobs again, remember? They're as potent as magic spells. In all seriousness now, though, I *swear*: current popular opinion is *not* always right, but you can still take it into account to separate the whiff from the chaff once in a while. And here popular opinion is quite clear. Only 15 people or so wrote a 5-star review about this record on this app. Worse, those short and very general reviews do not suggest that any of those supposedly happy reviewers were yet dead-set on defending this album to save it from the sea of negativity it's currently drowning in. I would personally do that to try to save Robert Wyatt's *Rock Bottom*, as far as I'm concerned--even to the extent of making a fool of myself. But that's definitely not how far those folks would go. You just *feel* it in their reviews. They simply liked the record, they don't care about the rest. Good for them. But they should know how bad the global score for this thing is, at least. Not that such shenanigans matter all that much, I'm gonna concede that as well. For instance, the fact that *Idlewild* has such a low score compared to the 3.29 one of Sade's *Diamond Life*--every bit its equal when it comes to cheesefest fodder--remains a total mystery to me... It's true that what makes an album popular or unpopular is a very elusive thing sometimes. And your personal definitions of "good taste" and "bad taste" will rarely explain such mysteries away. I'll grant that to the few fans of Everything But The Girl who might bump into this review one day. In the meantime... 1/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential" albums, which translates to a 6/10 grade for more general purposes (5+1). Next, please. Number of albums left to review: 454 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 255 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 130 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 163 (including this one)

Holy Marbles that was awful. Thank Heaven on High for that only being 45 minutes long because I don't think I could take a minute longer of that.

Literally the only thing one can do is yawn. Holy hell this is dull.

Bored the balls off me.

There are definitely worse albums on this list, but I don't think there are any that are less important. A total snooze fest. 1/5

Oh dear. This was terrible. The crystalline production is probably the only good thing about it, but the songs, the voices, the arrangements, I hated it.

More like IdleMILD, amirite? Jeeze, what a boring album. I had to double-check the release date on this one because it for sure felt like it was from the mid-60s. And not in a cool "throwback" way. More like a, "we forgot everything the last 20 years of music has taught us" way. So soft. So boring. So many saxophone solos. This did not merit inclusion on the list. Hard pass.

Bland 80s schmaltz at its finest. I will say this for this album: I didn't care for it, but it I was in a pissy mood when I started listening, and it's hard to feel anything while listening to this.

Only album I've given up on so far, trite and boring. Why is this on the list.

1/5 why on earth is this even on this list at all

Amazing that the Walking Wounded album they dropped in '96 was apparently this same group in the 80's. Completely different sound in that it was an excellent album with strong lyrics, top synth for the era, excellent rhythms. This one, which I had never heard, was a tough listen and fell flat on all the things that did better later. Could not figure out why this album was selected over Walking Wounded.

There's a girl right there! She's on the cover! And then she sings! On almost all the songs! Everything Including the Girl? This is apparently "sophisti-pop." Sophisti-pop blends elements of jazz, soul, and pop, using electronic keyboards, synthesizers and polished arrangements. And saxophone, Wikipedia! Corny ass saxophone! It's described as mellow, romantic, and atmospheric - the romantic atmosphere of 80s may have seems misty and mysterious, but that mist was just a cloud of hairspray. This is also the same genre and corner of British history that gave us Blue Nile, which I look back on unfondly. Gotta make sure I get this review in and go back and review Roxy Music so sophisti-pop can replace rock and roll (somehow?) on my 1001 summary list of least favorite genres... and, oh! We listened to an Everything But the Girl album from '96... but I never wrote the review. Did I like it? At least more than this one? Now I have to go back and listen to it, I guess. And I've just remembered that they did "and I miss you like the deserts miss the rain," which is a banger, so I guess sophisti-pop's not all bad?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... wake me up when they do something interesting.

This sounds like 10,000 Maniacs minus several thousand maniacs. Also, I don't really like 10,000 Maniacs. Utterly bored by this.

Really didnt like this at all. Probably the most time I’ve spent wishing for an album to end on this list! I’m not even sure what I dont like about it, it’s so inoffensive and bland. Maybe thats it. The only memorable thing about it was the longing for it to end. Either way it all sounded the same and I didn’t like that sound.

Contains a lot of the things I love about 90s rock. Reminded me of placebo, pixies and can't ignore comparisons to early Biffy, with exactly the right level of polish on the production. Will definitely listen again. ...is my review for Jack's recommendation of 100 Broken Windows by Idlewild. Idlewild the album by Everything but the Girl is Heart FM anti-music, offensively devoid of ideas or even differences between songs. No.

Didn't like this at all, found it to be very boring.

Don't like it

No good songs on the entire album

I literally can't for the life of me figure out why this is on this list. I am not sure it's good or relevant at all in any way. It's pleasant for sure, but get this out of here!

It's just too much

Uninspiring background music. Prefer to never listen again. 1/5

Booooring. Ok the mix was nice and the vocals nice, but man I was bored. I described it to my wife as "stuck shopping with grandma at Dillard's" music. Sorry but wouldn't listen again.

I thought this was an album by the band Idlewild at first, but alas. The music does nothing for me. Some of the lyrics at least have a bit of individuality to them, albeit in a super inoffensive way. The only song I recognised was a cover and apparently not even on the original release. 1.5

Not a lot compelling here. Some very earnest lyrics, but not in a charming way. The music is barely above easy listening. And somehow she seems to be both over singing and barely awake at the same time. As remarkable as that is, I can’t imagine why this was put on the list.

meh

Really, incredibly boring. I was looking forward to it after the previous album i heard of theirs via this project.

I have no idea why something like this is on this list. It's just flat out boring, there's nothing in the insturmentals or lyrics that make you say *Hey* You have to listen to this before you die.

Appallingly bad

How do they manage to sound so bored while making their own album? Geez.

meeehhhh, pas sûr de comprendre pourquoi c'est cet album qui se retrouve sur la liste. Don't Want To Talk About It est peut-être le premier hit qui a changé la carrière du groupe, mais j'avoue l'avoir entendu pour la première fois en écoutant cet album dans le cadre de ce projet. La pièce n'est pas mauvaise, mais selon moi le hit Missing de l'album Amplified Heart est beaucoup plus important pour le groupe. En plus, l'album ici souffre terriblement de la production qui vieillie très mal. On est dans les sonorités les plus mauvaises des années 80, sans parler du saxophone. La voix de Tracey Thorn est bien, mais l'emballage musical est mauvais. Honnêtement, l'écoute de l'album Amplified Heart vaut vraiment plus la peine que cet album.

Started with a nope, moved on to a nope, then followed up with a nope, then noped right the fuck out of there.

Way too cheesy. Just a bit gross

Bland new wavey bullshit

The album has the feel of a lounge act playing the early-bird happy hour at the Holiday Inn. I have no idea why this album would be something that anyone would have to hear before they die.

pling pling pling on the guitar. Some not so memorable lyrics. Nothing in that albums strikes a nerve in me. Sorry could not bring myself to listen to it all. It was just sooooooooooo bad.

Nah thanks bruh

Not exciting.

Trash

soooo bad

Nope. Not for me.

Maybe you just had to be there and I'm being over-critical, but then again maybe Hitler wouldn't have been so grumpy if people weren't ignoring his high 5s all the time. If it was a footballer, it'd be Dominic Solanke. SHACK loves lamb chops

It is so boring. Even though 1001 albums is a lot, this is literally not worth your time to listen through and more importantly, it should not have a spot on this list. The singer can only sing with a weird yelling voice, and the instrumental sounds like it belongs in an Adam Sandler rom-com. Favorite track: Blue Rose Moon

Not for me - 'It sounds like an 80s sitcom'.