"Before Today" (Everything But The Girl)

Despite having a career that spanned almost two decades, the band Everything But The Girl--which consisted of husband-and-wife duo Tracey Thorn (vocals) and Ben Watt (guitar/vocals/keyboards/etc.)--wasn't exactly a household name in the US.  Their only big hit here was a remix of the track "Missing" from their 1994 album Amplified Heart.  (And I miss you / Like the deserts miss the rain...  Yeah, that song.)   
I bought that album after hearing it in its entirety at a now-defunct coffeehouse in Charleston, SC.  (Ah, Fulford-Egan Coffee House, we hardly knew ye).  The brief, 10-song disc--which, by the way, is more than just the un-remixed version of "Missing" and some filler--had an acoustic-meets-downtempo feel with intelligent, soulful songs.  It kind of felt like the vibe of the coffeehouse itself.  In fact, every time I listened to the album afterward, it reminded me of that vacation and the gigantic iced mocha the pink-haired British girl behind the counter whipped up for me while she gushed about how great she thought Thorn's voice was.
Anyway, when Everything But The Girl's follow up album Walking Wounded was released in 1996, I bought it without hearing a note on it.  I fully expected the same lo-fi approach as Amplified Heart, with acoustic guitar, piano, and drum samples/loops, here and there.  So I was kind of floored when I heard this masterpiece of skittering drum-and-bass and trip-hop rhythms topped with lush melodies and honest lyrics.  It seemed as ready for play at some chic urban lounge as it did for a pair of good headphones, sitting at home on your sofa.  Granted, it wasn't quite as envelope-pushing as Massive Attack or Tricky, but it was in the same borough (different Zip code, maybe).
My favorite song from the album/by the band is "Before Today," a Watt composition that has a complex, thumping bossa nova beat set against Thorn's velvety vocal. 
A little history that may shed some light on the song: in the early 90s, Watt was stricken with a mystery illness that brought him very close to death.  Ultimately, he was diagnosed with Churg-Strauss syndrome--a rare autoimmune disease that often begins with symptoms of asthma and then quickly evolves into the body attacking its own tissues.  It probably goes without saying, it was a trying time, both physically and emotionally, for Watt and Thorn as he spent months completely incapacitated and many more months recovering.
Watt's feelings of fear, isolation, and outright annoyance with his condition come through, loud and clear, in the lyrics of "Before Today."  It's basically a love letter to Thorn that says: I don't want sympathy, promises, inanimate stuff, or cheering up; I want your love.
Hearing her interpret his words in her smoldering alto just makes them that much more poignant.
One of the best, least sentimental love songs ever, I think.