Juke Box

EBTG was formed in the early 80s by middle Englanders Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. She sings, and he does all the stuff with the `synthesisers, beats and abstract sounds along with the occasional spells on acoustic guitar. Before getting together, both made minimalist solo albums on tiny budgets.

Watts early musical influences show why a post-punk melancholia informs most of the music on Walking Wounded.

His sensibilities were formed in the late 70s and early 80s when punk was already major label fodder. The alternative then consisted of bands like Scritti Politti, Factory and Postcard, most of whom shied away from the harsher sounds of the rock spectrum.

 

In a similar vein were bands like Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen. Watts father was a jazz musician while his brothers listened to Paul Simon. All that, combined with a talent for writing sad songs.

Cue to the early 90s. Watt had just recovered from a life-threatening illness. The bands new album Amplified Heart (1994) spawned the biggest hit single of their career. Missing charted high in the US, UK and No 1 across Europe. The track was in fact a house remix by Todd Terry.

The lyrics on Walking Wounded are competent, the music exceptional. The tracks are mostly downbeat they play like a soundtrack to tales of desolate lives in an industrial wasteland, Blade Runner country.

Walking Wounded has in its own way broken new ground, bridging the generation gap between New Wave and house with intelligence and taste. The unusual rhythms lend the songs an avant garde edge without being pretentious in the least. Walking Wounded is that rare thing a dance record that engages the listeners faculties with musical merit.

It was 1984s Private Dancer which helped Tina Turner achieve her rightful position as one of rocks greatest singers. That superlative collection of songs was studded with raucous renditions of standards as well as original work. But the track that stood out was Whats love got to do with it, by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle. The opening cut Do what you do on Turners latest album is also co-written by the duo and produced by Britten.

The track kicks off another tour de force from the rock diva, who at 56, is singing as powerfully as ever. Most of the album is produced by that old smoothie Trevor Horn (which may be why the music sounds at times like Seals). Gue-sts include Sting (On silent win-gs) and the Petshop Boys (Co-nfidential).

This album comes nearly six years after Turners last album Foreign Affair, though the interim has seen a compilation of hits that went along with the bio pic Whats love got to do with it. That long absence hasnt affected her ability to carry a tune. Wildest Dreams is ample proof that even today Tina Turner remains as sensual and enthralling as ever.