***1/2 Everything But the Girl

TEMPERAMENTAL

(Atlantic)

There's a whole lot of Sade in this latest CD from Tracy Thorn and Ben Watt, the British duo who as Everything But the Girl scored a rare house-music pop-crossover hit with "Missing" a few years back. And why not? From "Blame," which is redolent of "No Other Love," and the soulful reminiscence song "Hatfield 1980" ("suburbia, 1 a.m., you're going home again . . . this is the place I live, where is everyone," they muse) to "Downhill Racer," the aptly titled "Lullaby of Clubland," and a probably definitive "The Future of Future," the two do basic Sade with scarcely any update other than the house beat -- ticklish and fierce -- that underlies nearly every song. And Sade style is not all there is to EBTG's new music. The urbane insecurities of the Pet Shop Boys, mirrored in "Hatfield 1980," become the main theme of "Low Tide of the Night" as vocalist Thorn tenderly asks insecurity's most telling questions: "Who shall I be tonight? Who's gonna see tonight?" Lovers of classic, garage-style house music should not miss this CD.

-- Michael Freedberg