1.
Star
2. Seafood
3. Speed
4. Goodbye
5. I'll keep you warm
6. Oceanchild
7. Party girl
8. Dinosaur
9. Scooter
10. Butterfly
11. Hero
12. Walking
All music written by Eden except track 7 by Mudgirl. Produced
by Paul Despiegelaere
Musicians :
- Philip Madou (drums)
- Lieven Van Hyfte (bass)
- Mario Rombaut (guitar)
- Tijl DeKeyser (guitar)
- Roos Van Acker (vocals)
- Sofie Buyck (vocals)
Guests :
- Marty Townsend
- Jeroen Ravesloot
- Pascal Michaux
- Sylvia Scheyen
- Philippe De Chaffoy
- Paul Despiegelaere
- G.
Recorded at Jet Studio, the BSB, The Soap Factory
Artwork : Daan Stuyven / Brood & Spelen.
Photo's : Ph. Matthijs.
My opinion
All in all, you probably know the best track of the album already : it's the
single "Star",
a song that caused some stir with the vampire video, but that also has enough
qualities and surprising angles to keep on amusing. Notheworthy are also "Seafood"
(with a lead role for a pumping saxophone), "Party Girl" (a nice cover
of Mudgirl), "Scooter"
and "Walking".
In the lyrics, the ladies grasp unashamedly below the belly of the listeners :
"I've got something salty for you, it's seafood, you'll be eating this,
aha" (from Seafood), "Isn't everybody a bit bi ?" (from
Goodbye),
"I prefer to walk around naked" (from Scooter), "I wanna
take you once, take you twice, get on get off get on get off, don't leave me unplugged"
(from Butterfly) ... Subtility is something else. But we had much more trouble
keeping our cool when we heard Sofie proposing to "keep us warm at night"
in "I'll keep you warm".
On the musical side of things, the group continues to operate in the girl-rock
circle, but within that there's a reasonable amount of style variety : it ranges
from Indigo Girls ("I'll Keep You Warm") to Go-Go's-ish girl-punk ("Party
Girl").
The Bangles, Veruca Salt, Shirley Manson and even our own K's Choice are never
far away. The four men in the background operate very much in the shadow of the
two girls in the front and the songs have been written completely towards the
two show-stealing ladies. In the verses they take turns, in the choruses they
do it together, with Sofie (the brown-haired one) reminding me of Susanna Hoffs
and Roos (the blond one, also "the one from TMF") with a warmer voice.
Naturally this is handsomely packed disposable pop, but still the kind that begs
really nice to be consumed first and be cherished by a puberastic soul for a few
years. In the quite impressive credentials that 1999 is showing as a year in belgian
rock, Eden is not out of line.
And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about
this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !
This album in the press:
- Dirk Steenhaut in Metro (De Morgen) : "Ten years after The Primitives
and Darling Buds the tradition of slick girlpop is getting a new treatment again."
- Tim Coene in Shuffle
: "Eden deserves a bigger attention from the popcrows and a steady place
in the heavily beating boys- and girls-hearts. Except for Oceanchild – a toddler
that's swimming about aimlessly before drowning from exhaustion - resistance is
useless, 'cause Eden French-kisses your mind before you know it."
- Surf-inn
: "Don't expect any classics-in-the-making on 'Seafood'. Eden appears
to be more a singlegroup that is baking nice bread with 'My Boat' and 'Star',
and fills the rest of their albums with lighthearted poptunes. Swallow if you
want to."
- BVD in Het Nieuwsblad, 29/5/99 : "Seafood contains enough quality to
justify a breakthrough. The biggest asset is the heavenly co-singing of Roos van
Acker and Sofie Buyck, who - even though Opium might have given you another idea
- proove that beautiful ladies cán sing." (7/10)
Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell
me about it !
You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on June
21, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).
The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't
take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more
than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those
for customers in Belgium.
Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop
with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations
: let me know.
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