APRIL
18, 2021 ROCKWiRED REWiND: EURYTHMiCS -
REVENGE (1986)
n June of 1986 I was enrolled in summer school and licking my wounds after my first full academic year of Catholic school. My fifth grade year marked a drastic change in scenery with stark concrete school grounds surrounded by a twenty foot high chain link fence. In retrospect you would think the school was designed by the architect who designed the Attica Correctional Facility. I also had to wear a uniform – a first for me. It consisted of a light blue dress shirt and navy blue slacks and matching tie. Mine was a clip on. No tennis shoes here. Just loafers and black socks. My class attended a mass every Tuesday morning performed by a drunken Monsignor. Yes, St. Michael's Elementary School was a madhouse out of KEN KESEY's imagination with a monstrous nun, the principal, ringing a bell to signal the change in classes. The teachers. Dear God! The teachers. You never met an unhappier set of hens hellbent on making matters of reading, writing and arithmetic a strained and unpleasant affair. And let's not forget the Catholicism itself. Learning about a religion that wasn't mine was especially daunting. Terms like “original sin,” “chastity,” and “fidelity,” meant absolutely nothing to a touch and go Episcopal like myself. Even if I was only ten going on eleven. Needless to say, the grim surroundings and indifference led to poor academic performance. And I don't have time to bring up the bullying that often went unchecked and I'm just taking about the teachers. Through film and television up to that point, all I knew about Catholic school was that it was for bad kids and the girls were easy. This was the mid eighties after all. It should've been one hell of a ride, but I was wearing a stupid school uniform and taking shit from a bunch middle aged scolds and a nun who bore a striking resemblance to GEORGE C. SCOTT. This “quality education” left much to be desired. In the midst of it all I knew summer school was in the cards. Yes, the summer of '86 was going to be a reflective one and I didn't even know what reflective meant. As my summer was being devoured by the summer school sessions that were “strongly recommended” by my heinous educators, I remember catching an episode of FRIDAY NIGHT VIDEOS which was going to feature a brand new music video from EURYTHMICS, that exotic pop duo from the U.K. featuring that mysterious Scottish beauty with the shorn hair and striking blue eyes and that scruffy fellow in the background. Even by 1986 EURYTHMICS was a curious odd couple that was still heavily identified by their 1983 breakthrough hit, the glorious synth driven bop SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS), even though ANNIE LENNOX and DAVID STEWART had issued a series of hits on both sides of the Atlantic. Outside of SWEET DREAMS, they kept their finger on the thumping pulse of synth pop with singles like LOVE IS A STRANGER and upped the ante with orchestral backing on the Wagnerian HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN. They even loosened things up with the calypso madness of RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE and it was all served up stylishly and teasingly with LENNOX's trademark gender fuckery. A couple of years later EURYTHMICS came back with the rock and STAX fracas of WOULD I LIE TO YOU. LENNOX would then chirp like a cherub on the oh-so-sweet THERE MUST BE AN ANGEL (PLAYING WITH MY HEART) and then shared the mic with the QUEEN OF SOUL herself on the suffragist anthem SISTERS ARE DOIN' IT FOR THEMSELVES. In a relatively short span of time the BORIS AND NATASHA of pop music managed to keep it fresh. I was eleven years old at the time, yet I had a sizable collection of EURYTHMICS' albums. My vinyl copies of the albums SWEET DREAMS and BE YOURSELF TONIGHT had worn out their pressings and my cassette copy of TOUCH could be found somewhere in my box of cassettes at the time. I waited anxiously to see what the duo had to offer with their new music video. In the first few bars of MISSIONARY MAN, the first single from DAVE and ANNIE's 1986 album REVENGE, it was clear that the duo was staying put with the soul rock approach they had adopted on their 1985 album BE YOURSELF TONIGHT. The song gets started with some bluesy harmonica riffs provided by JIMMY Z. ZAVALA that create a foreboding mood until LENNOX's lean mean contralto gets things going with her opening line “I was born an original sinner!” Almost immediately the song felt like every religion class I took in the academic year prior was being spun on its head. I could even imagine my religion teacher going into a conniption fit at the less than pious proceedings. DUSTY SPRINGFIELD crooned of some innocent hand holding that goes to the next level on her 1966 classic SON OF A PREACHER MAN. LENNOX takes that same theme and gives it a little kick. Like the preacher's son in SPRINGFIELD's blue eyed soul classic, LENNOX's MISSIONARY MAN is a fresh one if the line “get down upon your knees!” can be taken beyond mere religious exercise. The double entendre predates MADONNA's LIKE A PRAYER by three years. The single also showcases some rather stimulating input from a top notch band that was put together exclusively for the REVENGE album. Ace drummer CLEM BURKE of BLONDIE lays down the track's bluesy stomp like a pro while bassist CHUCHO MERCHAN's riffs add some extra menace to the rhythm section. Keyboardist PATRICK SEYMOUR gives the earthy number a bit of a sci-fi scope which has always worked well with EURYTHMICS while back up singer JONIECE JAMISON gives LENNOX's clear cut melody lines a run for their money with her gospel honed ad libs. STEWART is on guitar but MISSIONARY MAN is not much of a guitar number. He truly sounds relegated to the back ground here but when you have electrifying performances from the likes of BURKE, JAMESON and ZAVALA, how the hell can one compete? THE
MUSiC ViDEO
FOR MiSSiONARY
MAN!!! And what is a EURYTHMICS single without a mind blowing music video? EURYTHMICS' latest spectacle opens with the camera panning through an ominous looking laboratory filled with beakers and pipettes filled with caustic looking chemicals. Adding to the menace is a king coral snake slithering between the beakers and DAVE STEWART himself, sporting long curly blonde locks, the ever present sunglasses, a white shirt and a long black leather coat, overseeing the chemical reactions taking place in the laboratory. The curious chemical mixture he's working on becomes revealed as it is poured into a container and begins to form the alabaster visage of ANNIE LENNOX. Her red lips begin issuing the song's opening verse. With CLEM BURKE's signature drum kick and JONIECE JAMISON's grunt, the band takes over and the camera pans around their performance. All are sporting the long black leather coats and white shirts sported by STEWART. This would be the look for the duo and their band for other music videos as well as the world tour to follow. The movements seem a bit jerky and work well with the grunting rhythm of the song thanks to some stop motion photography. The technique really pays off when we see LENNOX in her platinum pompadour and black leather cat suit robotically stalking the hallways of a mysterious mansion and going on about what her momma told her to do in order to be true to herself which included staying away from the titular missionary man. Not since the SWEET DREAMS video have we seen LENNOX get lost in the role of a captivating android gleefully chewing up the scenery. Even the band for hire hams it up and the results are an eighties music video classic. Directed by WILLY SMAX, the video would go on to earn several nominations from the MTV MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS while the song itself would win an GRAMMY for BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCAL. MISSIONARY MAN went on to become EURYTHMICS' last top twenty hit Stateside and the blues romp found its way onto a bunch of mixtapes I had thrown together. However, when their album REVENGE was released at the end of June of 1986, I didn't go out and buy a copy. I blame this on mere distraction. You see, MADONNA released her 1986 album TRUE BLUE the same day EURYTHMICS released REVENGE and as one can imagine, MADONNA made the bigger sensation. I had always liked MADONNA up that point but this time she was different. She dyed her hair platinum blonde and cropped it short and the media went crazy about her being the new MARILYN MONROE. I couldn't help but find similarities between the MATERIAL GIRL's new look and the peroxided rock chick persona that LENNOX had cultivated for two albums now. TRUE BLUE was the first MADONNA album I ever got my hands on and the pop smarts of the girl from Michigan resonated for me. Maybe if the folks at RCA had pushed the other singles from REVENGE in the States, perhaps I would've added the album to my humble collection sooner. While
REVENGE achieved
gold status in
the U.S., it was
in Europe where
EURYTHMICS would
continue their
winning streak
with platinum
sales and a
highly
successful world
tour where the
former techno
pop duo became
bona fide
stadium rockers.
I wouldn't get
my hands on
REVENGE until
1991 after a
then defunct
EURYTHMICS
released their
GREATEST HITS
compilation in
which the
singles from
REVENGE were
largely
represented
which I thought
was strange
given that
MISSIONARY MAN
was the lone
single in the
United States. ***
WHEN
TOMORROW COMES THORN
iN MY SIDE
THE
LAST TiME A
MIRACLE OF
LOVE
***
love it when a band I love succeeds! I just wish REVENGE succeeded a little better in the in U.S. However, us Yankees weren't denied the enormous presence of the dynamic duo as they played every major city in the United States when kicking off their REVENGE TOUR. In fact, EURYTHMICS played Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland on September 3, 1986, but unfortunately me and my family were out of town that week. I was too young to care what critics thought of EURYTHMICS' latest opus but in researching critical response for this article I was surprised to read how positive some of the notices were. ROBERT HILLBURN of THE LOS ANGELES TIMES offered the following: “The highlights here - especially the four tracks after MISSIONARY MAN on Side 1 - serve up a gloriously positive answer. Music this good is no accident. ANNIE LENNOX sings with such passion and control that she rivals CHRISSIE HYNDE as rock's most evocative female vocalist; DAVID STEWART has emerged as one of the most tasteful guitarist-producers since ROBBIE ROBERTSON, and LENNOX/STEWART demonstrate in songs like THORN IN MY SIDE and WHEN TOMORROW COMES that they can write about the ups and downs of the romantic cycle with conviction and force. A year-end Top 10 album contender.” One of my favorite critics, ROBERT CHRISTGAU of THE VILLAGE VOICE, gave his own punchy assessment of the album. I think it's positive. “ANNIE LENNOX's rich, lustrous range and diction threaten to overwhelm these stripped-down arrangements, bringing such odious ANNIES as HASLAM and WILSON to mind. But while you'd never call her enthusiasm natural, it's not forced or foolish either - this is rock and roll as sheer performance, its basics paraded with pride and a glint of humor. If only it was all side-openers like MISSIONARY MAN recommended to PAT ROBERTSON, and the V-8 Airmobile LET'S GO.” ROLLING STONE however picked up on the lack of je ne sais quoi and turned in a review such as this: “That tension, a face-off between history and science fiction, is what's missing from the rest of this album. This time EURYTHMICS are relying on formulas rather than twisting them slightly out of shape. EURYTHMICS haven't lost their innovative tendencies; they've tied them in neat little packages and made them safe by labeling them. For a group that once managed to subvert new pop formats and still be popular, what kind of revenge is that?” EURYTHMICS's
rock n roll fantasy
wasn't to everyone's
liking but who
cared? DAVE and
ANNIE were on top of
the world. For
anyone who was
longing for the duo
to re-embrace their
electronic sound,
they would get their
wish in 1987 when
EURYTHMICS released
their concept album
SAVAGE. DAVE
and ANNIE would go
on to end the decade
and their run as
EURYTHMICS with the
poppier album WE TOO
ARE ONE in 1989
leading to LENNOX's
to-be-expected solo
career and STEWARTS
continued handiwork
behind the recording
console. There were
a couple of reunions
since then but
nothing really stuck
and that's too bad.
Sure, that big
ambitious artistic
payoff can't be
found on an album
like REVENGE, but a
good time never
serves up any of
those things. To
this day I still
shelve this album
somewhere between
DAVID BOWIE's LET'S
DANCE and TINA
TURNER's BREAK EVERY
RULE. Don't judge
me. CONTACT
BRiAN LUSH
AT: djlush@rockwired.com
|