CD OF THE WEEK (June 1999) :

EDEN "SEAFOOD"
(EMI Belgium 1999, 07243 520781 27)

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 !

More about this band :

- An interview with Eden about this record.
- the Eden-biography in the Belgian Pop & Rock Archives
- The official website of the group is located at http://www.listen.to/eden
- Bookings : Klepto agency, Wollemarkt 30, 2800 Mechelen, tel +32/(0)15/27.24.56

Where to buy this CD ?

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).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	---	50	---	Frontstage
Azur	---	0	---
HVH-Megastore	---	54	---
Proxis	657	95	753 BEF	Proxis

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.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Other recent CD's
Do you want to have your record reviewed on this site? It's easy ! Click here for contact information.