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OCTOBER 7,
2018 ![]() ![]() ![]() THE
ARTiCLE WiLL CONTiNUE
FOLLOWiNG THE ADVERTiSEMENT BELOW ![]() Set in a stark boardroom with gold albums on the wall, the camera zooms in on the lead singer ANNIE LENNOX - a stunning figure sporting a men's business suit and a striking orange buzz cut - a look uncommon in the age of BONNIE TYLER and PAT BENATAR. As shocking as her look is, it is those eyes draw us in to this curious milieu. Behind her is a screen projection displaying the progress of the human race, from crowds walking the streets to footage of a rocket being launched into space, as this chairwoman of the board menacingly taps and strokes her baton into the palm of her gloved hand, as if she were dominatrix with a whip. We can't be too sure with those eyes. Keep in mind, I was nine years old and I didn't know what a dominatrix was, but I knew allure when I saw it. Seated at the table is a bearded fellow with bird's nest hair typing something into what looks a like a laptop that isn't an OSBORNE. Throughout the video there are nods to zen spirituality and futurism. The scene changes from a boardroom to an open field littered with cows possibly symbolizing uncharted territory. In one frame, ANNIE and her bearded compadre DAVID STEWART are cello players with ANNIE dressed in a long red dress, black eye mask and a long black wig. STEWART is also masked, but we don't take much notice of him. The duo re-emerge again in their business suits but this time out on the open field. LENNOX stands at a table pounding her gloved fist and gloriously wailing alongside the songs outro. It all ends with LENNOX in bed opening her eyes, and placing her hand on a book rested on her bed side table titled SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS. What the hell was this? This wasn't pop of the boy meets girl variety. The video didn't have anybody turning into a werewolf or calling a truce between rival gangs and getting them to dance it out. This was something otherworldly. Who was EURYTHMICS? Where the hell did these two come from? It seemed like they emerged from nowhere. *** ![]() ![]() ![]() THE
ARTiCLE WiLL CONTiNUE
FOLLOWiNG THE ADVERTiSEMENT BELOW ![]() The video opens with a limousine pulling up to a house in what is probably a posh neigborhood in London and flashes to a fur-coated figure exiting the front door of the house and into the backseat of the car. The camera gets a closeup of the mysterious passenger. It is ANNIE LENNOX, in a curly blonde wig and a fur coat, casting that trademark seductive glare of her's. She is a high-priced prostitute on her way to a client. DAVE STEWART is the mysterious driver taking occasional glimpses at his precious cargo. At the song's haunting chorus "And I want you / and I want you...", LENNOX rips off her her blonde wig, showing a slicked back crop of orange hair. The passenger arrives to her destination. As she enters the lobby and gets on intercom, the scene cuts to another figure - LENNOX as a dominatrix with long black hair and a PVC minidress. Her surroundings are clinical and ominous. Two videos in, LENNOX proves herself to be a natural actress in this burgeoning music video medium and exhibits true chameleon power in the tradition of DAVID BOWIE. The scene concludes with the dominatrix also removing her wig and falling to the floor which is littered with phoot clippings of celebrities such as MARILYN MONROE and ELVIS - symbolizing objectification. The final figure to emerge is a pimp of unspecified gender. LENNOX dashes into the limousine wearing a business suit with her short orange hair slicked back with no make up. Even without her eyes done up, the woman's gaze is still powerful. When the pimp reaches it's destination, it steps out of the car sporting aviator sunglasses and moves in a puppet-like fashion. The video ends with a close up of this mysterious figure's face and the reflection of the film crew is visible on the lenses of it's sunglasses. As an nine year old child, my only experience with long play albums had been MICHAEL JACKSON's THRILLER, PAT BENATAR's CRIMES OF PASSION, THE BEST OF BLONDIE and the soundtracks to FAME and THE WIZ. Soon, the album SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS would grace my then-meager record collection. On a family trip to the mall, I wandered off to SAM GOODY and came across the new EURYTHMICS album. It was such a different looking album sleeve for it's time. There is a lot of clean space, using deep, institutional gray with a bold white stripe going down the middle. In gold coronet script are the letters D and A and beneath is a photo of ANNIE LENNOX nude with her back turned wearing a black eye mask and holding a red, heart-shaped chocolate box in her gloved hand. It's an intriguing image that could either raise an eyebrow or ruffle feathers. I still remember my mother being taken aback by the cover and wondering why I would want this album. This wasn't MICHAEL JACKSON in a dazzling white suit. After the kind of pleading that only a nine year old can get away with, she half-heartedly bought the album for me. When we got home, I peeled off the cellophane, placed the vinyl disk on my STAR WARS-themed record player (take that hipsters!) and let the music play as I checked out the sleeve notes inside, filled with some rather sparse lyrics and stills from the LOVE IS A STRANGER music video. That first listen was truly alienating and isolating - and this was before I knew what any of those words truly meant. An album like THRILLER was something the whole family could get behind. With SWEET DREAMS, I was on my own. The subject matter may have been over my head, but it was the synth driven sound and the rhythm that had me captivated. This was also the time where breakdancing and doing the robot was popular and this collection songs offered me the chance to bust those kind of moves. I'm not ashamed. As I grew older, the album's themes of heartbreak, longing, isolation and determination had some resonance for me. There was nothing disposable about this brand of pop. Who can say that these days? I'VE GOT AN ANGEL The album kicks off with the electropop glory of LOVE IS A STRANGER but I'VE GOT AN ANGEL is the first song that we hear from the duo outside of the confines of a pop radio hit. This second track boasts an intoxicating synthetic jungle rhythm complete with flute riffs, eerie pan organ chords and the ever present synth bass. A paean to the power of creativity and inspiration - the track sets us up for the musical journey to come. Especially at the post-disco number's ending tribal chant "Time is time is time to kill!" WRAP IT UP Following the release of this album, EURYTHMICS would gain a reputation as being a self-contained unit when it came to songwriting and production. Years later, LENNOX would become celebrated for her interpretations of songs by other artists, but with WRAP IT UP, EURYTHMICS take the SAM AND DAVE soul stomper and fire it up electronically. GREEN GARTSIDE of the U.K. pop band SCRITTI POLITTI does the guest vocals here. We've seen gender being bent in the duo's videos thus far and now we hear it in the music. GARTSIDE sings in a sweet, almost effeminate, high tenor in contrast to LENNOX's brassy, soulful alto. Vocally, the results are electrifying but it is the train-like rhythm created by the synthetic drums and bass that get this show on the road. I COULD GIVE YOU A MiRROR If WRAP IT UP chugged like a freight train, I COULD GIVE YOU A MIRROR starts out like that very same train making a pit stop at a station. Slowly it gets moving again, until it re-establishes it's rhythm and before you know it the party gets started again, but this time there is nothing to celebrate. In this stomping number, LENNOX calls out a lover who has proven himself to be inaffectionate with the verse "How can you be so cold / with my arms to hold you?" This one-sided relationship gets put under the microscope with the chorus "I could give you a mirror/ To show you disappointment / I could give you / A history / Could you ever listen in to me?" The pop psychology of sexual politics never sounded so catchy! THE WALK So far on this album, we have heard this duo use their CASIO keybards to create a sound that is futuristic and cutting edge for the time. For THE WALK, we get something different - an homage to the MOTOWN sound. The bluesy minor progression is powered by a synth bass, the plinking of a piano and the most strident drum beat this side of MARVIN GAYE's HOW SWEET IT IS. LENNOX purs the lyrics which illustrate the life of a prostitute in chilling fragments. For the chorus, LENNOX asserts herself as she growls "Step away / Walk away / All I want it the real thing!" Joining her at the chorus' end are a group of male voices chiming in with "I just forget myself" That very refrain becomes the outro for the song as well, accompanied by LENNOX's soulful ad libbing and DICK CUTHELL's ace trumpet playing. THE
ARTiCLE WiLL CONTiNUE
FOLLOWiNG THE ADVERTiSEMENT BELOW ![]() JENNIFER Up until now, the album has moved like a powerful locomotive and here we get the closest thing SWEET DREAMS has to a ballad. JENNIFER is a tone piece with echo-y synth chords, a pulsing synth drum and LENNOX breathing the lyrics that tell of a suicide by drowning. Thanks to it's sparse lyrics, the subject matter doesn't become melodramatic - just chilling. When DAVE STEWART comes in with his slide gutiar, the glorious number blasts off into orbit. THIS IS THE HOUSE EURYTHMICS are back to their playful selves again. THIS IS THE HOUSE gets started with a bubbly synth noise and a bass being strummed for once followed by a young woman's voice reciting the lyrics of the song in Spanish. With the clap of a synth drum pad, the song kicks into fifth gear with some joyful sounding horns and some slamming bass and guitr riffs. It may sound like fun and games, but LENNOX curiously recites the lyrics which sound like a police procedural collecting evidence of a murder. It doesn't sound like a good time but one could imagine a well crafted EURYTHMICS video to this thumping track. SOMEBODY TOLD ME As synth heavy as this album is, one can't expect a team like DAVE and ANNIE to shed their rock roots entirely. SOMEBODY TOLD ME is a rock n roll anthem on betrayal that starts with an insistent, marching drumbeat and a whooping synth riff that illustrates the paranoia in the lyrics to come. Our heroine has heard from a third party of some unspoken dirty deed by her lover. Even though it's hearsay, LENNOX lashes out the supposed unfaithful buck and no longer wants to see his "pretty face again". After a break down consisting of "Oh well" being repeated, DAVE STEWARTS electric guitar comes in and rocks the house down. THIS CITY NEVER SLEEPS The album has succeeded at keeping the listener on their feet. Who could blame them for bringing this glorious album to a close with a bluesy slow burn? With a pulsing synth bass behind her, LENNOX sings of the isolation of big city life where the underground transit is way to noisy, you know none of your neighbors names and the walls of your shitty flat feel like they are caving in on you. Sure, it all comes with the territory of trying to get by in the city, but LENNOX has the right to howl the blues. Hell, she's even got DAVE giving her some back up on his trusty slide guitar. ***
![]() Critics at the time were pleased with what they heard as well. ROBERT CHRISTGAU of THE VILLAGE VOICE stated: "In theory, synth duos have always been okey-doke with me, especially when the resulting pop is as starkly hooky as what Dave Stewart comes up with here. And you might say Annie Lennox has a bono vox. But like so many with comparable gifts, both these people are fools, and pretentious fools at that. Remember, folks--when they tell you everybody's out to use or get used, make certain you go along for the ride you paid for." ROLLING STONE's DAVID FRICKE was a little less cryptic in his praise. "Even when they resort to the obvious — which they do with the snappy, disco-style syncopation and shrill, girl-group-style chorus of “Love Is a Stranger” — Eurythmics always apply their electronics with nervy pop flair. At a time when most synth boogie is just New Wave party Muzak, Sweet Dreams is quite an adventure." The song SWEET DREAMS has gone on to attain it's rightful place in the pantheon of pop culture but sadly, the album that it came from often gets overlooked. This past year, the entire EURYTHMICS catalog has been re-released on vinyl and it was welcome news for a fan like me. Is it enough to prove to people that the partnership was more than a hit making machine for a finite period of time or that they were equally as proficient in crafting first rate pop albums? Who knows? In my ears, SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS is as essential listening as any classic pop album gets. ***
![]() ![]() The music video gives LENNOX - the pop chameleon - a chance to do her thing. This time, she is a night club singer with long blonde hair, a slinky cocktail dress and long black gloves. As she performs for the patrons, her ex lover DAVE enters the club with a parade of lovelies, which sends the chanteuse into a rage, and why wouldn't it? Some of these beauties include the girls from BANANARAMA, KIKI DEE and a girl or two from BUCKS FIZZ. Sitting in the corner of the club is a fellow in a black suit, a five o'clock shadow and an ELVIS-like pompadour. Upon closer inspection, we can see that it's LENNOX done up as a dude. At the video's conclusion, DAVE's lovely ladies bail on him, leaving him all alone at a table with Polaroid snap shots to stew over. LENNOX - both night club singer and chap at the club - get together for a smooch. Take that Moral Majority! ![]() ***
![]() ![]() REGRETS The album kicks of with the epic, stringed grandeur of HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN and we will get to that fantabulous pop moment later in the article. In contrast to the album's Wagnerian opener, REGRETS is a punchy, playful burst of electropop cha-cha. Filled with thumping bass lines, percolating percussion and sci-fi sound effects straight out of FORBIDDEN PLANET, LENNOX seductively growls the lyrics which build her up as a robotic beauty with a "razor blade smile" bent on free will and destruction. The woman in these lyrics is a far cry from the humanitarian we've come to know today. As was the case with THE WALK from the previous album, DICK CUTHELL's mesmerizing trumpet playing is a delight. COOL BLUE If we've learned anything about ANNIE LENNOX up to this point, it is that breaking up for her is very hard to do. Especially if the bloke is as cold as ice. COOL BLUE says it all for just about every cold, distant lover out there and it is done with a teasing synth shaker, a looping bass and some horns. At the song's chorus, LENNOX wails "How can I forget you baby? / I'm never gonna give you up!" Sounds like a woman who is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. THE FIRST CUT With a slapping rhythm section and DAVE STEWART's STONES-y guitar riffs, THE FIRST CUT finds it's irresistable groove immediately, punctuated by LENNOX's "hahs" and a playful keyboard progression. Here, heartbreak becomes a full-on contact sport as the jumping track finds itself at odds with the tale of a woman on the verge of self destruction. Even the articulation of the word "cut" sounds menacing. THE
ARTiCLE WiLL CONTiNUE
FOLLOWiNG THE ADVERTiSEMENT BELOW ![]() AQUA A bubbling bass riff accompanied by some chirping synth effects and the strumming of an acoustic guitar mark the beginning of AQUA - a return to the water motif that we first heard on JENNIFER from the previous album. Instead of suicide, the subject is sensory deprivation and the need to be cut off from the world. Making the track more unnerving is the primitive tribal chanting of the background vocals. At the time, there were inevitable comparisons between ANNIE LENNOX and GRACE JONES. This track would not be out of place on JONES' WARM LEATHERETTE. NO FEAR NO HATE NO PAIN NO BROKEN HEARTS At this point in her career, we could always expect ANNIE LENNOX to instill disconcertment verging on fear in the listener. Dissecting a relationship that isn't working out or the condition of one's humanity is serious business and nowhere is it taken more seriously than on the penultimate track NO FEAR... where the band makes use of MICHAEL KAMEN's orchestral touch for the second time on this album. The song opens with the tingling bass and the thunderclap of a synth drum. Slowly but surely, KAMEN's strings become more audible alongside LENNOX's vocal ad libbing before she authoritatively blasts the lyrics. NO FEAR...expands on the theme of isolation established in AQUA and takes it up a terrifying notch. PAINT A RUMOUR The balance between the kinetic energy of a live band and all the studio magic that can be achieved through synthesizers has been achieved on TOUCH, so why not close out with a robotic sounding dance number with DEAN GARCIA's bass and DICK CUTHELL's trumpet adding the human touch? LENNOX's vocals are there but they seem to be part of the framework as opposed to being the spectacle. In the age of break dancing, why didn't this seven minute track ever become something that kids could do "the robot" to? I wonder if MISSY ELLIOT could give this track a ressurgence? ***
![]() Critics took notice of DAVE and ANNIE upping the ante. CHRIS CONNELLY of ROLLING STONE noted: "Touch emerges as an uncannily thoughtful album that’s direct without being simple-minded, avant-garde without being inaccessible. In its finest moments — “Who’s That Girl?,” for example — Touch seems to offer a synthesis of Beatlesque popcraft and the unsparing intelligence of the young Joni Mitchell. In a musical field awash with deep-pocketed clotheshorses and hoary soul revivalists, Eurythmics are creating something unmistakably new." Showing off some his trademark gruffness, ROBERT CHRISTGAU of THE VILLAGE VOICE was a little more cautious. "Physical gifts and technical accomplishments tempt a singer to overdramatize--Annie Lennox makes altogether too big a deal of punching the sofa. But even if she isn't, well, "cooler than ice cream" (really), I'm glad she's normal enough to want to be. If it's high-grade schlock you seek, this'll do as well as early Quarterflash. And Lennox has better hair." With CHRISTGAU, I must concur. LENNOX did have better hair than the chick from QUARTERFLASH. ![]() I've gone beyond the year 1983. HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN was released as a single in January of 1984 and in terms of singles, EURYTHMICS saved the best for last. Falling back on the minor progression that has served them well in single releases, the song opens with the sonic marriage of a desparate sound synthesizer beat with pizzicato strings and orchestral backing. LENNOX's icy croom tells the tale of a woman who is well aware of all the bad that love can do to someone yet still welcomes the company of someone to walk and talk with. She sees a new love on the horizon and welcomes both the good and the bad that will come along with it. The orchestral movements add grandeur to the proceedings but the "shoo-wops" throughout the chorus remind you that this is indeed a pop song. An epic pop song to last the ages! Why it never made it all the way to number one in the charts is beyond me. Equally as iconic as the song was the music video shot on the Orkney Islands where the lovelorn LENNOX is a followed by DAVID STEWART wielding a video camera. ![]() p.s. We would be remiss if we didn't mention the duo's performance at the 1984 GRAMMY's when LENNOX dressed up as the chap from the WHO'S THAT GIRL video and everyone thought she was paying tribute to ELVIS in the weirdest way possible. I hear she slugged the sound man afterwards for the canned applause. ![]() ![]() ![]() CONTACT BRiAN LUSH AT:
djlush@rockwired.com
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