It may have been the logical extension of
Everything But the Girl's ersatz cool jazz approach to finally go all the way by hiring veteran producer
Tommy LiPuma and a studio full of fusion stars like
Joe Sample (
the Crusaders),
Russell Ferrante (
the Yellowjackets),
Michael Brecker, and, finally,
Stan Getz, whose early-'60s albums of Brazilian jazz are a main touchstone for the group. With such firepower,
The Language of Life, at least musically, may be the album that
Ben Watt and
Tracey Thorn have been trying to make from the beginning. But it falls down in its songwriting, largely because of the near-disappearance of
Thorn and her edgy lyrics;
Watt takes over for a series of so-so love songs. And the bottom of the barrel is hit with a cover of
Womack & Womack's "Take Me," intended as an erotic come-on and sounding more like a lullaby. ~ William Ruhlmann