Tracey Thorn - Plain Sailing

Of all the sad falls from grace in pop music, surely one of the saddest is the way that Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt went from indiepop royalty to makers of music that Celine Dion and Michael Bolton fans wouldn't turn up their noses at. Although arguably the signs were there from the earliest EBTG recordings ("Each and Every One" does have something of an Adult Contemporary feel, in retrospect).

But let's ignore that and remember them as they were in the very early years. Ben and Tracey solo, and the Marine Girls, made some of the finest, most precious (and I don't mean that in the derogatory sense) pop music that anyone was making in the early 80s - and that's no small compliment, given that much of the best indiepop music ever was made in the early 80s. Tracey's beautiful voice was, of course, the main attraction; add those ringing guitar chords, minimalist production and clever couplets and you've got nothing short of utter, divine pop perfection.

Here's the ultimate example. I really have no words for how much I love this song.