Eden is the debut studio album by the British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 4 June 1984, by Blanco y Negro Records. The album contains the single "Each and Every One", which peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. The cover design was by lead singer Tracey Thorn's former colleague in Marine Girls, Jane Fox.
Eden was the first professional recording by Everything but the Girl with a bigger company and a proper producer, Robin Millar, who was simultaneously producing Sade's Diamond Life. Though it was finished in the autumn of 1983, it wasn't released until June 1984, due to contractual obligations between the group and Cherry Red Records.
By the time Eden was finally released, the group felt it didn't represent their current sound and interests and did very little promotion for it. "Each and Every One", the only single, became a UK Top 40 single that surpassed the group's expectations and previous efforts.
In the time between recording and releasing Eden, Thorn and Watt opened themselves to new influences, mostly The Smiths, with whom they became close. "Never Could Have Been Worse" (the b-side to "Each and Every One") showed this influence in sound and lyrics. This was part of the band's following two singles.
"Mine" was released only four weeks after Eden, and marked a departure from the album's themes and sound, with Thorn singing about a single mother and gender politics involved in surnames. It reached No. 58 in the UK Singles Chart. "Native Land", which featured Smiths Johnny Marr on harmonica, only reached to No. 73. Although these weren't included in Eden, they did make the USA-only album Everything but the Girl.
Eden was met with critical acclaim and NME ranked it number 20 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1984.
In May 1984, the album and the single "Each and Every One" were reviewed by three panellists on the BBC2 programme, 8 Days a Week. George Michael stated that he liked the single and loved Tracey Thorn's "beautiful voice", and added that "Plain Sailing" was his favourite track of hers. Morrissey stated that he did not like the single, but that he liked "at least half of the album". He added that he thought "Another Bridge" from the album "is really quite spectacular". Tony Blackburn stated that he liked the bossa nova rhythm of the single, which he described as "an old sound come back again".
By 2012, Eden had sold around 500,000 copies. Eden was reissued in 2012 as a remastered two-disc deluxe set by Edsel Records.
Everything but the Girl
Additional musicians
Technical