release date: Mar. 1983
format: digital (14 x File, MP3) (1987 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]
producer: Stuart Moxham
label: Cherry Red Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "A Place in the Sun" (official video) - 3. "Falling Again" - 4. "Love to Know" (4 / 5) - 5. "A Different Light" - 7. "Second Sight" - 8. "Don't Come Back" - 10. "Fever" - 12. "Lazy Ways"
2nd and final studio album by Marine Girls is the follow-up to Beach Party (1981). After releasing the debut, percussionist Gina Hartman left the band reduced to a trio. The album is produced by Young Marble Giants and The Gist-founder Stuart Moxham, and in many ways it signals great potential but when it finally came out, Marine Girls was a disbanded act with Tracey Thorn pursuing a solo career, she had already released her solo debut A Distant Shore (Aug. 1982) and founded Everything but the Girl with Ben Watt in the Spring / Summer of '82 - Lazy Ways was recorded in September '82.
Six songs are credited Thorn, seven are by Jane Fox, and one song (track #10) is a cover. The minimalist style remains intact but it's no longer a lo-fi product. Instead, it's acoustic indie pop with elements of jazz pop, and the album marks considerable sound improvement to that of the debut. One month after the release, the album peaked at number #4 on the UK Indie Charts, and the album became a minor hit, although, the band had ceased to exist. Apparently, Kurt Cobain included the album on his list counting his 50 top-favourite albums of all time, and it's not a strange note, as this album is such a unique manifest of musical originality and crystal clear talent. Where Beach Party appears as disguised potential, a first draft, Lazy Ways is the true gem to know of.
The front cover is from a photo of Tracey Thorn by Ben Watt.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
