Perfect perfect perfect

Smoke & Mirrors & The Book Of Love-Tracey Thorn

I have always loved Tracey Thorn's voice. To me, her voice is very understated...it has a hint of sadness and melancholy and manages to convey more emotion in one song that Mariah has mustered in a career. Her lyrics, both solo and with Everything But The Girl, tend towards the somewhat ambiguous. Case in point: "Missing". I think alot of people think of that song as a love song, and it is...sort of. But on the refrain "...and i miss you, like the deserts miss the rain"--to me, this is a double-edged metaphor. I get this image of her being out late at night walking, trying to figure out how much she needs this person in her life. Or how much of this person she wants in her life. I mean, on one hand, its hyper romantic, what is more satiating to a desert than rain. However (and a big however), deserts do just fine without rain for months at a time. They survive. Maybe she didn't intend that to be the interpretation...but to me, it adds yet another layer to the song. Maybe I want this person in my life, but in small doses.

Tracey, like Dusty Springfield or Astrud Gilberto (two singers she reminds me of), is one of those voices that you want to hear cover stuff--acoustic, standards. And that rarely happens...but when it does (Tougher Than The Rest on the Everything But The Girl record "Acoustic" is a must hear...she takes a decent Bruce Springsteen song and sings it like a standard). And, honestly, if i had to pick a songwriter for her to cover, I would have many choices. But i know one of them would be Stephen Merritt and the Magnetic Fields.

So imagine my joy when i discovered not one but two Magnetic Fields covers on the flipside to "Raise The Roof"--"Smoke & Mirrors" and "The Book Of Love". And they are everything you'd hope they would be...even the instrumentation is similar to the original records, low-key, droll electro. Frankly, she has a perfect voice for Merritt's droll musings--this should happen again.

Smoke & Mirrors is a beautiful and reflective song..."smoke & mirrors, special effects, a little fear, a little sex, that's all that is, behind the tears."...but it is Book Of Love that really stands out. I mean, if you haven't heard the original (and why would you NOT own 69 Love Songs). When she sings the refrain "I love it when you read to me, you can read me anything" it illustrates that sometimes the simplest way of saying something is the best way. And the lyrics...."the book of love has music in it, some of it is transcendental, some of it is just really dumb." And when you hear Tracey singing these songs, those lyrics make total and complete sense.