A January 1995 episode of Top Of The Pops came up on the repeats on BBC4 recently including this performance of Protection, Tracey Thorn and Massive Attack in imperious form. Protection is one of the 90s best songs, a genuine jaw dropper on first and subsequent listens and a song its impossible to turn off once it starts. Tracey's voice is perfect for the song, her singing a perfect blend of strength and hurt and her lyrics, switching the gender around mid- song, spin the song around. Protection, the album, came out in September1994. Following up Blue Lines was never going to be easy but Protection mainly manages it with the title track and others- Karmacoma, Sly, Better Things, Three and Spying Glass, some of their best songs. The cover of Light My Fire less so maybe. But Protection is the towering achievement, a song that even mid- 90s Top Of The Pops can't ruin.
Tracey's songs and recordings outside Everything But The Girl, both solo and with other people, are many and various. I thought, having listened to Protection a few times and then heading to the Andrew Weatherall remix of Tracey's Sister from 2018, that a Tracey Thorn solo/ collaboration mix might work. And it does.
Protection came out in 1995, one of the singles/ songs of the 90s. The 12" came with this Brian Eno remix, a ten minute ambient affair. It had already been the lead song on the album Protection, released in 1994 and an obvious choice for a single.
Raise The Roof was a 2007 Tracey Thorn single, and on her solo album Out Of The Woods. Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, Richard Norris and Erol Alkan's psyche outfit, twist it into new shapes and spaces.
Sister was the lead single from Tracey's 2018 album Record, a song with Corinne Bailey Rae and Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa on board. Tracey sings the line 'And I fight like a girl' and makes it sound like the toughest, most menacing line she's ever sung. Andrew Weatherall 's remix (and the dub version too) are ten minutes of late period Weatherall brilliance, chuggy, dubby remix splendour.
Moving Dub is from No Protection, the Mad Professor dub version of Massive Attack's Protection. Moving Dub, with Tracey on vocals, is Better Things sent through the dub blender.
Night Time is a cover of a song by The Xx, released as a standalone solo EP in 2011. It has husband Ben Watt on guitar. The Xx asked Tracey to cover it for a compilation of covers of their songs by their favourite artists they were planning. It never happened except for Tracey's cover. Drums, programming and production were courtesy of Ewan Pearson.
It seems incredible that The xx's debut album is now twelve years old. It was one of those albums that grew in stature, slowly but steadily, and then in the 2010s everyone seemed to be trying to copy their sound. They definitely found a new angle on things, sleek indie songs with electronica's beats and space, nods to hip hop and the influence of some of the post- punk groups- Young Marble Giants and Cocteau Twins are both in there somewhere. Portishead too. The sparse, minimal arrangements, the sharp, clearly defined space that surrounds everything, Jamie Xx's laptop foundations and the foreground basslines with the spindly guitar lines that dance around plus Romy and Oliver's duetted vocals, all came together to make something that was fresh and new and for a sound that was so digital was very intimate and personal too. This song was a single and a perfect snapshot of what made them so good.
As a bonus, this is a Four Tet remix of another song from their debut album, VCR, a showcase for Kieran's skittery beats and topline melodies, a gorgeous eight minute re- working, that makes them sound like him and him like them.
Last year Romy put out a solo single, a throbbing, electric ode to 80s synthesisers and summer holiday Europop, a button pushing euphoric blast of future nostalgia. Stick this on and make that lockdown disappear for a few minutes.
I've got more and more out of The Xx as time has gone on. At first I thought they were impressive but easier to admire than to love. That's changed over the years since their debut and its follow up, even more so after Jamie Xx's solo album from last year. News came out on Friday that their third album will be released in January and in advance of it comes a single called On Hold.
The opening section with Romy and Oliver trading lines starts out sounding like an 80s power ballad but stick with it. The synth stabs coming in forty seconds and then the repetitive vocal sample (Hall and Oates) at fifty seconds take it elsewhere, into higher places.
While I'm in the Xx zone this Jamie Xx edit of Sunset off second album Coexist is a wonderful bass and kick drum led thing of beauty. The repeated guitar line building up to Romy's vocal drop is magnificent use of tension and release and the end section is pretty amazing too.
Listening to Jamie Xx's solo album has sent me back to various related odds and sods, mainly remixes of The Xx. This one by Greg Wilson particularly but also a couple of John Talabot ones. I resisted the temptation to type the legendary Greg Wilson which by now appears to have become his forename, deservedly so. This remix pushes Romy's vocal upfront, keeps the guitar line and adds a skippy house beat, perfect for that moment when the sun is just dipping down and you've got a glass of something cold. Reminds me of 1990s Everything But The Girl, a connection I hadn't made until now.
My first few listens of the Jamie Xx solo album have been very enjoyable- it's got the tunes, it's well paced, full of thumping and/or interesting drums and percussion, and moments of bittersweet euphoria. The sleeve's lovely too. There's a garage/dubstep influence on the some of the songs which keep it from being too tasteful and give it a rougher edge. The Rest Is Noise already sounds like being the song you're going to hear out of open windows and on TV festival coverage. Another highlight is Loud Places, sung by bandmate Romy. This recent live performance from French TV has Romy singing and guitaring, a lively percussionist, a choir and Stella from Warpaint on drums.
There's been a lot of internet used up today with opinions about Spike Island, from naysayers and fans alike. I just read a review of the forthcoming Jamie xx solo album, In Colour, and then scurried off to listen to something off it. Listening to Gosh Jamie has taken that line from She Bangs The Drums and run with it- 'the past is your's the future's mine'. It's exhilarating, inventive and absorbing stuff. The staccato rhythm (sounding like the blood pumping through your head when you're exercising and at full pelt), the build up and then the drama of the last two minutes is something else.
Wherever it was that I read the review said that Jamie's album is about memories of UK rave and dance music (or something along those lines). That dance music is always about creating something new from the recent past. That this album is in colour compared to the black and white palette of The Xx. I'm up for all of that. Now I'm off to listen to Gosh again.
Something long and slow and laid back for Sunday morning, a remix of The Xx by John Talabot (he's from Barcelona), sampling The Streets and released back in 2012. Listening to this won't get you up and about and doing anything strenuous (getting out on the bike, clearing the shed out, tidying the garden...) but you will feel very relaxed while it's playing.
The xx release their second album, Coexist, today. Somehow I find them an easier band to admire than to love. Their first album was impressive but I never really got into it like I should have. The sound they create, the dubsteppy stuff, the sparse guitars and bass, the space, the twin vocals, are all done very well. This is a bonus track called Reconsider. Which I'm going to try to do.
The xx's album revealed it's charms slowly for me, and I've got to say I now think it's pretty good. This remix by Four Tet however is stunning- as someone commented somewhere, it makes you think everyone should have a Four Tet remix.
