The Language of Life

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox album | name = The Language of Life | type = album | artist = Everything but the Girl | cover = The Language of Life Album.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|1990|02|05|df=yes}} | recorded = 1989 | venue = | studio = Bill Schnee Studios (Los Angeles) <br> Sunset Sound (Los Angeles) <br> Ocean Way Recording (Los Angeles) | genre = * Sophisti-pop * blue-eyed soul * smooth jazz<ref name= "RS 2004">{{cite book |chapter=Everything but the Girl|last=Sarig|first=Roni|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |year=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages= 288-289}}</ref> | length = 41:25 | label = {{hlist|Atlantic|Blanco y Negro}} | producer = Tommy LiPuma | prev_title = Idlewild | prev_year = 1988 | next_title = Worldwide | next_year = 1991 | misc = {{Singles | name = The Language of Life | type = Studio | single1 = Driving | single1date = 1990 | single2 = Take Me | single2date = 26 March 1990<ref>{{cite magazine |editor=Robin Smith |title=This Week - Releases |magazine=Record Mirror |date=24 March 1990 |page=31 |issn=0144-5804}}</ref> }} }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-language-of-life-mw0000206071 |title=The Language of Life – Everything But the Girl |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=24 July 2017 |last=Ruhlmann |first=William}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Entertainment Weekly'' | rev2score = B−<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://ew.com/article/1990/02/16/language-life/ |title=The Language of Life |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=16 February 1990 |access-date=24 July 2017 |last=Sandow |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Sandow |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808052726/http://ew.com/article/1990/02/16/language-life/ |archive-date=8 August 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | rev3 = ''NME'' | rev3score = 4/10<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Hull Hath No Fury |magazine=NME |date=10 February 1990 |last=Staunton |first=Terry |page=37}}</ref> | rev4 = ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' | rev4score = {{Rating|3|4}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Everything but the Girl: The Language of Life (Atlantic) |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=11 March 1990 |last=Moon |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Moon}}</ref> | rev5 = ''Q'' | rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Everything but the Girl: The Language of Life |magazine=Q |issue=42 |date=March 1990 |last=Beattie |first=Rob}}</ref> | rev6 = ''Record Collector'' | rev6score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Everything but the Girl: The Language of Life / Worldwide & the Acoustic EPs / Amplified Heart |magazine=Record Collector |year=2013 |last=Waring |first=Charles}}</ref> | rev7 = ''Record Mirror'' | rev7score = 4/5<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Everything but the Girl: The Language of Life |magazine=Record Mirror |date=10 February 1990 |last=Crossing |first=Gary |page=15}}</ref> | rev8 = ''Rolling Stone'' | rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/everythingbutthegirl/albums/album/236018/review/5943366/the_language_of_life |title=Everything But the Girl: The Language Of Life |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=12–26 July 1990 |access-date=24 July 2017 |last=Stenger |first=Wif |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424013611/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/everythingbutthegirl/albums/album/236018/review/5943366/the_language_of_life |archive-date=24 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | rev9 = ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' | rev9score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Everything but the Girl |last=Sarig |first=Roni |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/288 288–289]}}</ref> | rev10 = ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' | rev10score = 7/10<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Everything but the Girl |last=Crist |first=Renée |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=136–137}}</ref> }}

'''''The Language of Life''''' is the fifth studio album by British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 5 February 1990 by Atlantic Records and Blanco y Negro Records.

''The Language of Life'' became Everything but the Girl's second album to surpass sales of 500,000 copies, but the album divided the group's British fanbase.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ebtg.com/about/ |title=About |publisher=EBTG.com |accessdate=23 March 2018}}</ref> In 2012, group member Tracey Thorn described ''The Language of Life'' as "a slightly slick, kind of semi-jazzy, sophisticated record" and recalled that it "was a definite attempt to try and do something that had a character to it, but in retrospect when we were asked why we had taken that direction, we couldn't entirely say why".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/09091-everything-but-the-girl-interview |title=From Eden With Love: Everything But The Girl Interviewed |work=The Quietus |date=19 June 2012 |accessdate=22 March 2018 |last=Wade |first=Ian}}</ref>

==Background== Producer Tommy LiPuma had previously worked with artists like Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Randy Newman, and George Benson, and had contributed production to Aztec Camera's 1987 album ''Love''. He had expressed an interest in producing Everything but the Girl, and Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, feeling that they had lost their place within the UK music scene, contacted him and asked him if he wanted to hear some demos. He invited them to New York City, and then to Los Angeles, where they would eventually record ''The Language of Life''.

Tracey Thorn performed lead vocals on the album, and Ben Watt played guitar and piano, as well as doing some singing. Song arrangements were written by Larry Williams and Jerry Hey. The band LiPuma put together included Omar Hakim on drums, John Patitucci on bass and Larry Williams on keyboards. LiPuma produced, in Thorn's words, "a fully realised, immaculately performed and produced modern American soul-pop record".<ref>{{cite book |last=Thorn |first=Tracey |author-link=Tracey Thorn |title=Bedsit Disco Queen |publisher=Virago Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-8440-8868-3 |pages=213–19}}</ref>

The cover shot was by Nick Knight.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=The Language of Life |others=Everything but the Girl |year=1990 |publisher=Blanco y Negro Records |id=229246260-2}}</ref>

==Track listing== {{track listing | headline = ''The Language of Life'' (1990 release) | total_length = 41:25 | title1 = Driving | length1 = 3:57 | writer1 = Ben Watt | title2 = Get Back Together | length2 = 3:55 | writer2 = Watt | title3 = Meet Me in the Morning | length3 = 3:49 | writer3 = {{hlist|Watt|Tracey Thorn}} | title4 = Me and Bobby D | length4 = 4:09 | writer4 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title5 = The Language of Life | length5 = 4:01 | writer5 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title6 = Take Me | length6 = 4:08 | writer6 = {{hlist|Cecil Womack|Linda Womack}} | title7 = Imagining America | length7 = 4:58 | writer7 = Watt | title8 = Letting Love Go | length8 = 4:45 | writer8 = Watt | title9 = My Baby Don't Love Me | length9 = 3:40 | writer9 = Watt | title10 = The Road | length10 = 3:46 | writer10 = Watt }}

{{track listing | headline = ''The Language of Life'' (2013 Edsel reissue - CD1) | title1 = Driving | length1 = 3:57 | writer1 = Watt | title2 = Get Back Together | length2 = 3:55 | writer2 = Watt | title3 = Meet Me in the Morning | length3 = 3:49 | writer3 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title4 = Me and Bobby D | length4 = 4:09 | writer4 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title5 = The Language of Life | length5 = 4:01 | writer5 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title6 = Take Me | length6 = 4:08 | writer6 = {{hlist|C. Womack|L. Womack}} | title7 = Imagining America | length7 = 4:58 | writer7 = Watt | title8 = Letting Love Go | length8 = 4:45 | writer8 = Watt | title9 = My Baby Don't Love Me | length9 = 3:40 | writer9 = Watt | title10 = The Road | length10 = 3:46 | writer10 = Watt | title11 = Driving | note11 = Masters at Work Racing Mix | length11 = 5:42 | writer11 = Watt | title12 = Driving | note12 = Underdog Vocal Remix | length12 = 3:15 | writer12 = Watt | title13 = Take Me | note13 = Clifton Mix | length13 = 5:05 | writer13 = {{hlist|C. Womack|L. Womack}} | title14 = Take Me | note14 = Clifton Mix instrumental | length14 = 4:47 | writer14 = {{hlist|C. Womack|L. Womack}} | title15 = Take Me | note15 = Lee Hamblin Remix | length15 = 6:21 | writer15 = {{hlist|C. Womack|L. Womack}} | title16 = Take Me | note16 = Lee Hamblin Love Mix | length16 = 4:41 | writer16 = {{hlist|C. Womack|L. Womack}} }} {{track listing | headline = ''The Language of Life'' (2013 Edsel reissue - CD2) | total_length = 1:30:13 | title1 = Downtown Train | length1 = 3:08 | writer1 = Tom Waits | title2 = Driving | note2 = acoustic | length2 = 2:27 | writer2 = Watt | title3 = Imagining America | note3 = home demo | length3 = 4:12 | writer3 = Watt | title4 = Driving | note4 = home demo | length4 = 3:38 | writer4 = Watt | title5 = The Road | note5 = New York live demo | length5 = 3:48 | writer5 = Watt | title6 = Meet Me in the Morning | note6 = New York live demo | length6 = 3:41 | writer6 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title7 = Will the Roof Fall In? | note7 = home demo | length7 = 4:46 | writer7 = Watt | title8 = Meet Me in the Morning | note8 = live | length8 = 3:59 | writer8 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title9 = The Road | note9 = live | length9 = 4:09 | writer9 = Watt | title10 = Driving | note10 = live | length10 = 4:26 | writer10 = Watt | title11 = Me and Bobby D | note11 = live | length11 = 4:44 | writer11 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title12 = Imagining America | note12 = live | length12 = 6:12 | writer12 = Watt | title13 = The Language of Life | note13 = live | length13 = 5:40 | writer13 = {{hlist|Watt|Thorn}} | title14 = Letting Love Go | note14 = Michael Brecker final solo and alternatives | length14 = 1:46 | writer14 = Watt | title15 = Driving | note15 = Michael Brecker final main solo and alternatives, rough mixes | length15 = 1:58 | writer15 = Watt | title16 = Driving | note16 = Michael Brecker final outro solo and alternative, rough mixes | length16 = 2:33 | writer16 = Watt | title17 = The Road | note17 = Stan Getz alternate whole take, rough mixes | length17 = 3:51 | writer17 = Watt }}

==Personnel== ;Everything but the Girl *Tracey Thorn – vocals *Ben Watt – guitar, piano, vocals ;Additional musicians *John Patitucci – bass *Jerry Hey – flugelhorn (tracks 3, 10), horn arrangements *Larry Williams – piano, synthesisers *Kirk Whalum – tenor saxophone (tracks 4, 6, 7) *Russell Ferrante – piano (tracks 3, 6) *Lenny Castro – percussion *Michael Landau – guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6–9) *Omar Hakim – drums *Vinnie Colaiuta – drums (track 7) *Stan Getz – tenor saxophone (track 10) *Joe Sample – piano (track 5) *Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 8) *Marc Russo – alto saxophone ;Technical *Al Schmitt – engineering *Bill Schnee – mixing *Nick Knight – photography

Additionally, Rod Temperton, James McMillan, Geoff Travis, Damon Butcher, Steve Pearce, Cecil and Linda Womack and Archie Williams are thanked in the liner notes.

==Charts== {|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! Chart (1990) ! Peak<br />position |- !scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>{{cite book |title=Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 |last=Ryan |first=Gavin |publisher=Moonlight Publishing |edition=PDF |year=2011 |pages=97–98}}</ref> | 90 |- {{Album chart|Netherlands|61|artist=Everything but the Girl|album=The Language of Life|access-date=25 March 2018|rowheader=true}} |- {{Album chart|New Zealand|19|artist=Everything but the Girl|album=The Language of Life|access-date=25 March 2018|rowheader=true}} |- {{Album chart|UK2|10|date=19900211|access-date=25 March 2018|rowheader=true}} |- {{Album chart|Billboard200|77|artist=Everything but the Girl|access-date=25 March 2018|rowheader=true}} |}

==Certifications== {{Certification Table Top}} {{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|award=Gold|type=album|certyear=1992|certmonth=3|id=7065-1086-2|artist=Everything but the Girl|title=The Language of Life|access-date=5 August 2023}} {{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

==References== <references/>

{{Everything But The Girl}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Language Of Life}} Category:Everything but the Girl albums Category:1990 albums Category:Albums produced by Tommy LiPuma Category:Atlantic Records albums