One record at a time: 143. Eurythmics - We Too Are One

I received the CD of this album as a Christmas present in 1989 and I listened to it a lot; and I mean A LOT. Therefore I recognise that familiarity and rose tinted spectacles will cloud my judgement here.

Whilst this record represents a move back towards a 'band recording' the end result is much better than the last time Dave and Annie attempted such a thing. Unlike the horror show that is "Revenge", the compositions on this album are strong enough to withstand the antiquated rock production and the album is an unqualified success.

Things kick off with the title track which is a lively rock outing with more than enough keyboard overdubs to keep me interested. However, as a general comment, I would say that Annie doesn't need backing vocalists and they sound completely misplaced here. Next track "King and Queen of America" sounds like a calculated effort to appeal to the all important American market with its rasping brass arrangement and driving beat. Generally I'm not a fan of acoustic drums and they sound especially insipid on songs like this.

"(My My) Baby's Gonna Cry" ensures that the band's penchant for parenthesis continues and Dave even gets to sing. This song was released as a single in the USA and there is a nice remix that is more dance orientated. In my teenage years I was a little bit obsessed by "Don't Ask Me Why" and hearing it now, I understand why. This song and its execution are flawless. I still treasure my limited edition 12" bought all those years ago (for some reason I found CD singles really hard to come by in the late eighties and early nineties and I always ended up with the vinyl).

"Angel" is one of those haunting but strangely inspiring songs which sees Annie deliver an exquisite vocal. "Revival" made for an odd choice as a single as it didn't strike me as being especially catchy and it suffers from backing vocals that are too intrusive. "You Hurt Me (and I hate You)"  is a nice song that delivers a stinging retort most of us have wanted to deliver from time to time. "Sylvia" is a vivid tale that was strong enough to make me wince a little when it played in my headphones on the walk to school all those years ago. Unfortunately "How Long?" is a little like album filler and doesn't quite cut the mustard for me. 

The pinnacle of the album comes with the final song "When the Day Goes Down" which is nothing short of a masterpiece; I can't tell you how many times I have fast forwarded a cassette to get to this song. The atmospheric introduction gradually builds into a soaring anthem that I find strangely affecting. "All the people of this lonely world, have a piece of pain inside." 4/5

One record at a time: 142. Eurythmics - Savage

When I bought Dave Stewart's autobiography a couple of years ago, the section I was most keen to read was about the creation of my favourite Eurythmics album "Savage". After the car crash that was "Revenge", Dave and Annie decided to return to a more experimental electronic sound. Dave's book confirms that this change in direction was a conscious decision following the realisation they had become too much of a Rock 'n Roll band.

I first bought this album on CD in 1989 from Britannia Music Club and here I will be playing a copy of the original vinyl which I bought in 2014 (when I seem to have been buying all of the Eurythmics back catalogue). I also own a remastered 180g vinyl from 2018, but the least said about that pressing the better. Somewhere in the loft I also own a copy of the video album which I watched endlessly in my youth.  

The experimental nature of this album is perfectly illustrated by the opening track "Beethoven (I Love to Listen)" which features a thundering Synclavier backing track and Annie's spoken vocals. The second track "I've Got a Lover (Back In Japan)" sees Annie channel her inner Aretha Franklin (as well as highlighting the bands love of parenthesis). The juxtaposition of the twee delivery and disconcerting subject matter on "Do You Want To Break Up?" make for a great song. "You Have Placed a Chill in my Heart" sounds like a hit record and "I Need a Man" is the kind of radio friendly track record companies would have been desperate for. 

The synth funk of "Put the Blame on Me" provides perfect contrast to some of the darker songs such as the title track and "I Need You". The single "Shame" has always been one of my favourites and it remains drastically underrated in my opinion. "Wide Eyed Girl" is probably my least favourite track but it still remains head and shoulders above anything on "Revenge".

Some might see the largely instrumental track "Heaven" as filler, but to me this is one of the best tracks on the album. Dave wrote most of the music for this album on his own, and it is my guess that when it came time for Annie to make her contribution the track couldn't be moulded into a conventional song structure. As a consequence we end up with a fantastic slice of pre-house dance music. A perfect album deserves a perfect ending and "Brand New Day" does not disappoint. Things begin with Annie singing acapella before layers of vocal harmony give way to Dave's dreamlike Synclavier arrangement. Perfect. 5/5

One record at a time: 141. Eurythmics - Revenge

I'll be upfront and say I've never liked this album. My summary of it would be: a dreadful eighties rock/pop crossover with near constant saxophone solos, endless harmonica riffs and sloppy drumming. This is a traditional rock and roll 'band in room' recording and was clearly designed to be easily replicated on the road (I think Dave even says as much in his autobiography). Electronic music this is not...

"Missionary Man" has some synth elements but they are overwhelmed in the primordial rock soup of the backing track. "Thorn In My Side" is a great song but a bit of Mellotron is the only nod to electronic music. The dreadful "When Tomorrow Comes" merely serves to remind us that we have moved a million miles from "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)". Things improve slightly with the next track "The Last Time" as it features a squelchy synth line and some DX7 tubular bells alongside the primitive acoustic drums and obligatory harmonica. "The Miracle of Love" is a ballad that just makes me want to throw the record out of the window: it's just dull twaddle.

The upbeat "Let's Go!" opens side two but the sonic ingredients remain depressingly familiar and as a consequence, the end result is indistinguishable from the rest of the dross on here. "Take Your Pain Away" is excruciating to listen to and whilst "A Little Of You" is slight more palatable, it remains tedious with only a little orchestra thrown in for variety. I can't bring myself to listen to "In This Town" but I don't remember it offering any improvement on what has gone before. Only the closing track "I Remember You" has any interest as it has an enchanting melody and the harmonica has finally been ditched. Unfortunately, as the last track on the vinyl, this song suffers from terrible distortion on my copy and thus the only decent track is ruined. Quite fitting. 1/5

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