Eg & Alice, "24 years of hunger": Classic or DUD

Simone, I don't know them, but the group name + title intrigue, so could you tell us something about the record?

Hey, top shout! This record's 10 years old now but i still reach for it. It's classy urban pop, pretty slick - there's definitely a Steely Dan thing going on - but hasn't dated much. The best track IMO is New Year's Day (gets a ritual spin on Dec31st), Eg's moody baritone countering Alice (Temple's) cool, detatchment. 'Indian' was the track that got played, and 'Crosstown' is the other I'd single out. It still crops up in record store bargain bins (in the UK at least) and you could do a lot worse than take a flyer on Eg&Alice's only offering (tho' Eg had a solo effort, apparently quite similar sounding, out a couple of years back)

Stephen has already given the perfect definition: "urban pop". They are a male/female duo (consisting of Eg White and Alice Temple who by the way appeared on UNKLE's Psyence Fiction not a long time ago...). Steely Dan, Prefab Sprout are often cited as terms of comparison but if asked I would probably refer to The Blue Nile (by the way, "Hats" is also a tremendously good "urban pop" album). Whatelse can I say? buy it immediately (you can still find it at amazon.co.uk and it's cheaply-priced)

Yep, a fine album indeed and I listened to it a lot when it first came out. Agree that Indians, Crosstown and New Years Day are the standouts. It's a shame that they never followed it up although i suspect that any follow up would have been too bland and coffee table to be any good.

24 Years... works though because it was recorded in their kitchen so it has a certain quirkiness to the sound. Seem to remember they had to record it all during the day so as not to bother the neighbours.

Well worth checking out if only for Alice Temple's great vocals.

I have heard the Eg solo album and it was fairly undistinctive although it did include a cover of a Jellyfish song (I Wanna Stay Home) so that gives it brownie points in my book.