Tongues And Tails is Sophie B. Hawkins' debut studio album that was released on April 21, 1992 by Columbia Records.
Tracklisting[]
- Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover 5:24
- California Here I Come 4:39
- Mysteries We Understand 4:40
- Saviour Child 4:46
- Carry Me 4:36
- I Want You 5:20
- Before I Walk On Fire 4:59
- We Are One Body 4:49
- Listen 3:32
- Live And Let Love 4:13
- Don't Stop Swaying 5:32
Chart Performance[]
"Tongues And Tails" peaked at #51 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.
Critical Reception[]
Allmusic wrote that "Hawkins stitches together bits of jazz, folk, tribal, rock, and atmospheric new age noodling while efficiently camouflaging the seams. Somehow, it all works with repeated listens. The common thread is her distinctive, streetwise but unjaded voice."
Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B"-plus, writing: "You could classify her style as singer-songwriter rock crossed with dance music, but that wouldn’t prepare you for the tricky percussion figures worked into the mix. The arrangements are lush without being overly groomed, and the synthesizers — burnished to a luster rather than lacquered, never going for the cheap thrill — know their place."
Rolling Stone gave the album a four-in-a-half star rating, writing: "Musically, the album is equally diverse – roving from rock & roll to synth pop and moody, percussion-laden tracks. What ties it all together is sex – like Prince, except not as daffy, like Seal, only not as cosmic. Sex without boundaries, sex inextricable from emotion, sex that's sensuous and sex as spirituality. But never sex as currency, even as she preens and embraces herself on the cover of this searching, seductive debut."