One recrd at a time: 140. Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight

I bought this copy of the standard UK vinyl from a charity shop in Manchester in 2014. The record and sleeve are in very good condition and there is no way I can grumble having only paid a couple of pounds for it.

This is the first album where Eurythmics began to push the synths to one side and move in a different direction. Obviously, I've never been a fan of such  betrayal the move away from electronic music, but lots of groups seem have done it.

Depeche Mode and a-ha decided to move into rock music to enhance their credibility, but ultimately jettisoned what made them good in the first place.  Heaven 17 resorted to a blue eyed soul pastiche in a desperate (but ultimately futile) attempt to salvage their careers and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark flirted with 'Britpop' for one album before deciding to call it a day. 

The cynic in me thinks that Eurythmics move to a more rock orientated sound and roping in established artists such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and Aretha Franklin was merely a calculated effort to sell more records in America. If this was the aim, then the band succeeded as the album recorded sales of over 1 million in the USA

For an electronic music enthusiast, things don't get off to the most promising start with the guitars, drums and brass of the first track "Would I Lie To You?". I can't warm to "I Love You Like A Ball and Chain" and whilst "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" is undoubtedly a fantastic composition, it's execution is just too conventional for me. Conversely, "It's Alright Baby's Coming Back" is more 'electronic' than I remember, even if it is dragged down by the flaccid rhythm section of drums and bass guitar.

Synths still hold strong and dominate songs such as "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" and an Emulator II gets a good workout on "Conditioned Soul". So, whilst its true to say the sonic pallet has wandered into mainstream rock, the synths haven't been jettisoned completely. This is a hybrid album that served as a precursor for the horrors to come. 3/5

One record at a time: 139. Eurythmics - 1984 (For the love of Big Brother)

Prior to its release, there was a suggestion that this record would not be attributed to Eurythmics as the music had been commissioned for a feature film. As the film was produced by the Virgin Group, the soundtrack was released on Virgin Records outside of Eurythmics' exiting deal with RCA.

However, the resulting score was so despised by the director of the film that he used it begrudgingly and even went as far as creating a 'directors cut' using an orchestral score that excised Dave and Annie's contribution.

So should "1984 (For the love of Big Brother)" be considered oeuvre? Given the finished product carries the Eurythmics moniker and the fact that lead single "1984 (Sex Crime)" is featured on the band's official greatest hits compilation suggests Dave and Annie accept it as canon. To me this is Eurythmics' fourth album.

Whilst a large portion of the music is instrumental, it is imaginative and oozes a suitably malevolent atmosphere. Dave described it as: "The kind of record you put on when you're in a weird mood." Here I will be playing a copy of the original UK vinyl that I acquired from eBay in 2015 - but I'm not feeling any more weird than usual.

"I did it just the same" provides the perfect introduction with its funky bassline, Oberheim DMX drum sounds and Annie's amazing ad libs. "Sex Crime (1984)" is a bit of an anomaly because it is a fully formed pop song that doesn't really conform to the expected soundtrack mould. As a result of this discordance, the title track was cut from the film and was only featured in the trailer. Here I can have some sympathy with the director as I imagine it would be hard to incorporate an uptempo song into scenes dominated by bleak dystopian landscapes and unkempt protagonists.  

When I first heard the CD of this album, "For the love of Big Brother" was definitely my favourite song. Initially I thought the sitar must be a sample but it transpires that Dave took to using an electric sitar in 1984 so I assume he used it here. This track is somehow otherworldly and in a genre of its own making - it is a thing of dark brooding beauty.

"Winston's Diary" is a short ambient piece with some Yamaha DX7 harmonica noodling over the top and is fairly inconsequential. The next rack is the more substantial "Greetings From a Dead Man" which features Annie's much sampled backing vocals. Here Dave allows himself to use his guitar and some percussion to help frame the Sequential Circuits Six-Trak patches. "Julia" is a sparse ballad that sees Annie's vocal doubled on a vocoder with passages of punctuation from a piano. This is a nice song but was a very strange choice for a single and it proved to be unpopular with the record buying public. I may be wrong, but I think this song is the last time Annie played flute on an Eurythmics record.

The rhythmical "Doubleplusgood" makes from some welcome relief but Annie's faux English accent in the verses is a little disconcerting. Personally I find the repetitive samples at the end of the song very irritating - but this sort of nonsense seemed to happen regularly when artists first discovered samplers (see Yazoo "I Before E Except After C", Paul Hardcastle "19" etc.).

The (wholly justified) misery returns with "Ministry of Love" which trundles along with atmospheric bleeps, discordant stabs and some amazing vocals. The horror of "Room 101" is depicted by Dave's wailing guitar and some twinkling synths before a storming DMX beat kicks in and the door is slammed shut. 3/5

One record at a time: 138. Eurythmics - Touch Dance

I mentioned in another post that remix albums were all the rage in the mid eighties as extended versions became increasingly popular on the dance floor and with the record buying public. Eurythmics record company decided to wring some additional profit from the highly successful "Touch" album by releasing "Touch Dance" in 1984. As this was a commercial exercise, Dave and Annie were not too enamoured with it and this remains the only Eurythmics remix album issued. 

As a result of the band's displeasure, "Touch Dance" was hard to find on CD when I started buying Eurythmics releases in the late eighties. In fact, I had to settle for a cassette of "Touch Dance" for many years until I finally purchased a copy from eBay eight years ago.

Much like contemporary remix albums, this record features mixes that aren't a drastic departure from the album versions. In the early eighties the "extended" mix was favoured by DJs and more radical mixes that transformed the aesthetic were not as common as today.

"The First Cut" is remixed by François Kevorkian and adds a good two minutes to the playing time by grafting on a new introduction and a series of breaks. There is another New York style extended mix of "Cool Blue" by John "Jellybean" Benitez which, given the source material isn't my favourite, is mediocre. Benitez also tinkers with the fabulous "Paint a Rumour" by creating various edits, adding occasional effects and playing with the faders. However, as the original of this song is over seven minutes long, this mix couldn't really be described as an 'extended version'. For "Regrets" we revert to Kevorkian who manages to bring out more of the sinister side of the track and make it sound less one dimensional than the album version. 

In terms of source material, that's our lot. The remaining three tracks are instrumental mixes of "First Cut", "Cool Blue" and "Paint a Rumour". When I first saw the tracklisting on my cassette circa 1988 I assumed these last three mixes were merely those on the first side with the lead vocal muted. However, I was wrong. These instrumental versions are completely different and almost as good as the featured vocal mixes. As I have mentioned, I'm not too keen on "Cool Blue" but the other two songs stand up to this treatment and reveal new layers that you might not have heard in the original. 3/5

One record at a time: 137. Eurythmics - Touch

I bought this copy of "Touch" from a shop in Manchester around ten years ago. However, in 1985 this record belonged to Saeed Ashiq who lived in Victoria Park. I know this as not only did Saeed stamp the cover with his name, address and phone number, but he also signed and dated the inner sleeve. I'm not aware of Saeed having found fame and fortune yet, but when he does, my signed copy of "Touch" will be worth a few pounds. Until then I am left with a good condition record with a slightly defaced sleeve.

This album opens in fine style with the classic single "Here Comes The Rain Again". This is a controversial opinion, but I feel this song would be better without the orchestra or at least with it turned right down in the mix. You can tell this song was recoded with same synthesizers and drum computer as "Sweet Dreams" and I would have preferred it if the electronics had a little more room to breathe. But still, this is a great track. "Regrets" delivers some classic eighties slap bass and mute trumpet alongside the electronics, but I always find this song very repetitive and overly long. 

"Right By Your Side" employs some Voyetra-8 derived steel drums to add a calypso flavour and there is some annoying saxophone thrown in too. For me the instrumentation ruins what could have been a good track. "Cool Blue" is a bit lethargic and once again there is a bit too much acoustic brass employed for my taste. Another hit single "Who's That Girl?" closes side one with its perfect blend of pop melody and synth driven backing track.

Where some of the tracks on the first side have a tendency to sound frivolous and insubstantial, the real action is on the flip side. "The First Cut" drives along and possesses a raw edge that makes it sound more credible as 'serious' electronic music. "Aqua" was used as a b-side to "Who's That Girl?" is some territories and it was probably best left there as it is a bit dismal. "No Fear No Hate No Pain (No Broken Hearts)" banishes the doldrums as it builds into a crescendo with pizzicato strings, twinkling synths and Annie's voice all complimenting each other perfectly. Closing number "Paint a Rumour" is a funky and soulful track that finds Annie at her vocal peak. 4/5

Literary disppointments

I'm reading two books at the minute. Both are related to electronic music and both are pretty poor.

I imagined "Computer World" by Steve Tupai Francis to be a detailed discourse on the album of the same name by Kraftwerk. In reality this book is yet another biography of the band that rehashes the same old sources and tells the same tales.

In fairness, I think my opinion of this book suffers because I am reading it immediately after devouring Karl Bartos's memoir "The Sound of the Machine – My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond" which contains valuable insight and fascinating stories about the creation of the album. I can recommend the Bartos book without hesitation.

It's a similar position with the second book "The Human League and the Sheffield electro scene" which I am reading soon after finishing Martyn Ware's autobiography.

There's nothing new in the book's examination of the songs and things feel rote compared to Ware's analysis. The author repeatedly refers to Sheffield as a "small city" and seems to regard the subject matter with mild disdain. This book feels like a commission rather than a labour of love. When I read about the influence of "Eileen Derbyshire" who worked for the "Doctor Who Sound Workshop" (p41) the credibility of the author evaporated completely.

Whilst it may make sense to the author to include an examination of Heaven 17 material until the release of "How Men Are", his decision to stop at this point feels arbitrary. The assertion that The Human League and Heaven 17 became "too divergent" at this point doesn't make sense. Both bands were set on very different courses from the moment Phil and Virgin Records fired Martyn and made an all out assault on the charts. I also think the approach of this book is quite disrespectful to Heaven 17 who merit a book of their own rather than being rolled up as an adjunct.

Front Line Assembled

About 4 years ago I posted about my quest to acquire all of Front Line Assembly's back catalogue on CD. I continued to buy CDs from Discogs and eBay until only one CD single eluded me. For about 2 years I have searched for a copy of  "No Limit" but as this CD is 33 years old, it can be difficult to come by at a reasonable price. Having finally won an auction last week, my collection is now complete.

The music in this CD mixes samples of speech and effects from films with driving Yamaha DX7 basslines and Bill's indiscernible lyrics. The mixes are far too long and the sample of a man repeatedly screaming for the final 5 minutes of "Lethal Compound" is a very real test of your resolve. However, if you're in the mood for some late eighties industrial music "No Limit" fits the bill.

One aspect of record collecting that I find rewarding is when I get to delete an eBay saved search or remove something from my Discogs wantlist. So I'm quite content tonight. This is both because I finally own the CD but also because I can stick two fingers up to the guy who has been repeatedly listing this CD at inflated prices on eBay for about 3 years. Sometimes you just need to stick it out to stick it to the scalpers.

One record at a time: 136. Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

My first exposure to Eurythmics was in 1983 when the video for "Sweet Dreams (are made of this)" played on Saturday morning children's television. I was entranced by the stunning visuals and thought the music was amazing.

As I grew older and my musical tastes matured, I continued to keep a watching brief on Eurythmics. I seem to think I bought "Savage" on CD as my first foray into their back catalogue and by the time "We Too Are One" came out I was a confirmed fan. So essentially, I always liked Eurythmics, but only started buying their records as the group began to disintegrate.

In some ways "Sweet Dreams (are made of this)" is both a beginning for Eurythmics and their zenith. With this album Dave and Annie finally found commercial success, but in terms of electronic music, nothing else in their back catalogue came close to matching this. Yes, "Touch" is impressive and "Savage" partially revived the electronic sound; but no other album is as consistent in its genius as "Sweet Dreams". Here I will be playing a standard, common or garden original pressing of the album that I acquired from eBay in 2014.

The album begins with "Love is a Stranger" which is a great song but a curious choice for a single (don't let the peak chart position of this song fool you, it was initially released before the album and did nothing; it only became a hit after the album was released). Having said that, the first two singles from the album "The Walk" and "This Is The House" are even more bizarre selections. Whilst all three of these songs are masterful in their production, they aren't the immediate, radio friendly ear worms that would have garnered commercial success. At the time Dave and Annie were making music at home using an eight track and a small selection of synthesizers. There was no master plan or co-ordinated effort, they were just releasing material as they created it. Things only took off when Dave threw a bass line into the sequencer and Annie overdubbed a synth riff and began singing the line "Sweet dreams are made of this". 

The second track "I've Got an Angel" features Annie's flute and some gritty synth bass that provides the perfect counterpoint to the polished vocal. I must confess, I didn't realise the next track "Wrap it up" was a cover version until I wrote this article. This track features the inimitable Green Gartside singing a duet with Annie to great effect. For some reason I have always liked the abstract, and vaguely sinister "Jennifer". This song is almost the equivalent of in impressionist painting with lyrics that are vague enough to allow the listener to interpret them and create their own story. 

The album closes with two mid-tempo tracks in the form of "Somebody Told Me" and "This City Never Sleeps". The former song is a tense affair which relies upon the juxtaposition between a laconic Juno-60 bassline and Dave's bluesy slide guitar. The oppressive atmosphere of  "This City Never Sleeps" is somehow disturbing and soporific in equal measure. Both songs seem to wind the album down and make a perfect ending.

A short time after the final track has come to an end, you can just about make out the sound of underground trains and there is even a "secret message". As I only owned the album on CD in the early nineties, I had no way of playing this reversed message and it wasn't until I recorded a WAV file into my PC and reversed it in 1995 that I finally heard Dave saying: "I enjoyed making that record. Very good.". And he's right, it is a very good record. 5/5