The Toy Box: Eurythmics

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Retro Spins: Eurythmics - We Too Are One

With little expectation, and even less desire to actually listen to it, I finally come to the last Eurythmics album for the decade. We Too Are One was a return for the duo back to a more rock oriented sound, and upon its release spawned multiple singles. It would also go on to reach number one in the UK.

So, with that said, I'm at least hopeful that there may be something here. Rather than beat around the bush, let's prevail forward.

I'm not going to lie, things started off a little questionable with the intro to the title track, We Too Are One, but then came the guitar, and the actual singing. It totally changed my mind. Things kept up with The King And Queen Of America, and at this point, the bar was set high. I had expectations that this might be the best Eurythmics album I'd ever heard.

Unfortunately, it was around track three or four that my attention was taken away from my listening session, and when I was able to return to it a day later, the moment had passed. The mood that was originally captured from the first two songs had passed, and from here on out, the remainder of We Too Are One never seemed to grab me again. Of the remaining tracks, Sylvia was really the only one which stood out to me. It certainly wasn't the grand finale I had hoped for.

After years of extensive touring a rift had grown between Lennox and Stewart, and the two decided to call it quits. However, they wouldn't do so by announcing it to the world. Instead, they just casually went their own ways. While Stewart would focus on writing and recording for soundtracks, Lennox would pursue a solo career.

Their biggest selling album to date would come in 1991, with the release of a greatest hits compilation, and this would be followed by a live album in 1993, which captured the period of 1983 to 1989. The two would reunite in the late 90's, and produce their final studio album, Peace, released in 1999. This was followed by a highly successful world tour, and since then, the two sporadically reunite to do one off events. Eurythmics were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2022, putting the final stamp on their storied history.

Because this was the final album from Eurythmics for ten years, it wasn't necessarily the big send off that would have been expected.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 4, 1989

Retro Spins: Eurythmics - Savage

After a quick detour yesterday, it's time to once again continue on with my trip through the 80's discography of Eurythmics. I pick up today with 1987's Savage.

The album is a departure from the previous two more mainstream sounding recordings, seeing Lennox and Stewart returning to a more experimental sound. However, this change came with a lack of hits. While it remained a commercial success, sales wise, it was relatively ignored among US radios.

The duo would also further embrace the MTV era by releasing an accompanying video which featured a music video for every song from the record. Conceived more so as a concept piece, the videos portrayed Lennox in multiple character roles, specifically one of a frustrated housewife turned vamp.

Playing through the first few tracks, I felt Savage sounded more so like unfinished demos. Mind you, not bad, but also not necessarily mind blowing. Nothing felt polished or complete.

Things picked up a bit with You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart, and the following tune, Shame. While neither is the best Eurythmics have offered to date, they at least made me a bit hopeful that there were some hidden gems. This, unfortunately, didn't end up being the case.

By the back half of Savage, I was pretty bored with its mediocrity. So much to the point that I considered just cutting my lose, and turning it off. Still, I stuck through it to the end. It wasn't a total bust. Put The Blame On Me turned out to be okay, but overall, it wasn't worth the time spent.

This doesn't excite me to finish their 80's discography, and candidly, makes me feel like I'm going to have to force myself to do so. That, as I'm sure you can understand, doesn't start 1989's We Too Are One on a very favorable note. Hopefully, the music speaks for itself, and becomes a worthwhile experience, but I'm skeptical for sure.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 3, 1984

Retro Spins: Eurythmics - Revenge

Eurythmics were at the peak of their popularity when they released 1986's Revenge. The album was a continued venture into a more full band rock style, which they established with 1985's Be Yourself Tonight. The latter would pave the way for Revenge to become the duo's best selling studio album.

Following its release, they departed for a massive world tour, which kicked off in June at The Roxy in Hollywood, California, and ended in December at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany. However, album sales and a successful world tour didn't translate to the charts. The single, Missionary Man, would peak at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100. Their second single, Thorn In My Side, would only be a minor hit, peaking at number sixty-eight.

The album kicks off with Missionary Man, but frankly, I've never been a big fan. It's one of those, "Yeah, I know it," songs, but frankly, it doesn't impress as much as their prior hits.

Though I didn't necessarily hear anything which I would call unfavorable to the ears, overall, it's definitely a downward turn follow up from their 1985 smash. With that said, I did thoroughly enjoy The Last Time. I'm going to go ahead and call that one my favorite.

Another unique aspect I found enjoyable was the very present backing vocals of David A. Stewart. I don't recall in previous albums him contributing to any of the singing, and it work great. His deeper voice has a good contrast to Lennox's contralto range.

Revenge is definitely not my favorite from Eurythmics. It's fairly lackluster in terms of what it follows, but it's not a bad album. I don't know that I'm necessarily ready to dive into another from them just yet, so I may take a break, and venture into something else before coming back to their final 80's releases. I'll make that decision by tomorrow.

What I will say is that I'm glad I dove headlong in, and picked up all of their albums. So far, while they haven't been perfect, there has been something enjoyable to hear. I'm not mad at that.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 1, 1980

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 1, 1986

Retro Spins: Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight

Leap frogging over both 1983 albums from Eurythmics, because I've already posted a Retro Spin about them, we land at 1985's Be Yourself Tonight. Though it's not their biggest seller to date, it is considered to be their most critically successful, spawning four singles.

Be Yourself Tonight was a departure from previous new wave / synth pop, encompassing a wide range of instruments, and adopting a more rock style. It also featured appearances from the like of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello, and Michael Kamen.

There appears to be nothing negative that people have said about the album, so hopefully, that translates to my listening session.

Playing through it, I felt high energy from start to finish. I could definitely tell why Be Yourself Tonight was touted as the best from the due. While it has its hits, overall, it delivers a great listening session.

The sound styles are all over the place. While rock is definitely at the forefront, this is mixed with synth pop, ballads, and unique sounding guitarwork which takes me back to the more experimental psychedelic days of the 60's.

With that said, most of the hits are definitely the superior portion of the album. Would I Lie To You?, There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart), and Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves are all present. As is the minor hit, It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back). However, this latter tune, though a single which charted, was unknown to me. It's also not as good as some of the other non-single tunes.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well my journey through Eurythmics is going. Overall, it was enjoyable to play through, and leaves me intrigued to continue going through their remaining albums. Honestly though, I think this is one I need to circle back to at some point to see if there's anything else I wanted to add to my shuffle list (beyond three of the four singles). There were tracks that intrigued me, but didn't necessarily stay in my mind long enough.

Eurythmics would follow up in 1986 with Revenge. Sales wise, it would be their highest selling studio album, but not their highest selling album of all time. That honor would go to their 1991 Greatest Hits album. We'll pick up with Revenge tomorrow.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 31, 1981

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 31, 1987

Retro Spins: Eurythmics - In The Garden

My first foray into Eurythmics way back in 2018, which was my first year of starting Retro Spins. It was there that I played through their breakthrough album, 1983's Sweet Dream (Are Made Of This). At the time, it didn't blow me away.

In October of 2022, I finally got back around the to group, this time moving into their follow-up, Touch, also released in 1983. My review was short, and to the point. I dug the hits, and the rest was a hard pass. I ultimately finished the post by saying that I didn't see myself becoming a fan of Eurythmics.

This in and of itself was a problem because at that point, I had already obtained the majority of their 80's catalog. Mainly because of the hits which were sporadically spread across them all. As such, I still need to make my way through several albums. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, a decided before tackling this that I'd go ahead and pick up the only release from the 80's which I didn't have, their 1981 debit, In The Garden. It felt appropriate to go ahead and cross it off the list, and add it to the collection.

To get a full picture of Eurythmics foundation, one first need to go back to folk band, Longdancer, which featured Peet Coombes, and Dave Stewart. The two would move to London, where they would meet Annie Lennox, and in 1976 formed the band, The Catch. They would pick up members Eddie Chin, and Jim Toomey, while changing their name to The Tourists. As The Tourist, they released three albums, 1979's The Tourists, and Reality Check, and 1980's Luminous Basement. The band broke up shortly after a tour that year.

Stewart and Lennox had become a couple, and while staying in a hotel in Wagga Wagga, Australia, decided to work as the duo, Eurythmics, promising to remain the only two members, and only utilizing other players when needed. They also broke up as a couple shortly thereafter. Having already been signed to RCA as The Tourists, the two once again turned to them as Eurythmics, and were signed again. They would remain with the label for their entire studio discography, 1981 - 1999.

They released their debut, In The Garden, on October 16, 1981, relevant to me for being the day and month my brother was born. However, unlike my brother, the album didn't go far. It was met with critics and listeners not understanding its unique sound of psychedelia, punk and synth pop.

As I played through it, the song Belinda is where I started hearing those ghostly resonating notes that Lennox would make part of her sound in later songs, and it was with Take Me To Your Heart that I finally conceded that what I was hearing so far was actually pretty good.

She's Invisible Now gave me a bit of that synth pop sound that would become a mainstay for the duo. Meanwhile, Caveman Head took me back to what I felt, presumably, was the remnants of the punk band The Tourists. Despite being in French, Sing-Sing was also an intriguing tune.

Essentially, it became ironic at what critics and listeners panned In The Garden for because that's ultimately what ended up appealing to me. It's unique, different, and was a pretty solid debut, as far as I'm concerned. I liked the heavy bass, and mixture of guitar sounds, and it's kind of disappointing in retrospect that Eurythmics would lean so heavily into synthesizers and drum machines for future albums.

As noted above, Eurythmics broke through with their 1983 released Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), and from there, somewhat dominated the 80's with their catchy stylistic music. I always found it particularly interesting how their biggest hits were those which had rinse and repeat lyrics from start to finish, such as the title track to Sweet Dreams, and Here Comes The Rain Again. They always felt (to me) like a minimal effort artist as a result.

After releasing their second and third albums, the duo would set to work on the soundtrack to the film, 1984, released the same year as its namesake. However, Stewart and Lennox would later come to find out that their involvement was against the wishes of the film's writer / director, Michael Radford. He would go on to say that their music was forced upon him by the studio. Meanwhile, Eurythmics would say that they were misled by the producers, and ultimately wouldn't have provided any music if they knew their contribution wasn't wanted by the filmmaker.

We'll pause here, and pick up tomorrow with their 1985 album, Be Yourself Tonight.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 30, 1982

Retro Spins: Eurythmics - Touch

I've personally never found the Eurythmics to be a band of talent. Their most popular songs of all times are those which simply repeat the same three to five lines over and over and even then, they're not all that creative. However, what the talent lacked in lyrical mastery, they covered in their understanding and imbracement of synthesizers. I think it was this that put them on the map in the 80's. They didn't have the words, but they had the sound.

Touch, the group's 1983 entry, features the Top Forty hit, Here Comes The Rain Again, but in terms of anything else, I didn't find any quality here worth raving about. Again, the Eurythmics capture the sound of the 80's, but they simply fail to hook with catchy lyrics.

Who's That Girl was the only other track which caught my attention. Mainly because of the notes Lennox was hitting. They felt deep and haunting.

However, at the end of the day, I just don't think I'm destined to be a fan. Touch was definitely a hard pass for me.

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Retro Spins: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
1983

I respect and appreciate what the 1983 Eurythmics album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) is attempting to do. Its paving the way (among other artists of the era) for the synthpop new wave style which was quickly approaching in the early 80's.

The album was not only a commercial success for the band, but also their break through album they desperately needed. The title track hit hard in 1983, debuting on the charts in May and vaulted all the way to the number one spot (after remaining in number 2 for four consecutive weeks) in September of that same year.

As the track began its decent down the charts, it was joined by Love is A Stranger which debuted at number 81 (also in September). Unfortunately this would only go to number 29 before dropping back down and eventually off the charts.

Though this would be the last chart topper from the album, the Eurythmics were just getting started. Their follow up album Touch, also released in 1983 (November), began hitting the charts by early 1984.

Lennox herself was praised for her stage performances and music videos which showcased the singer assuming both a male and female persona. My personal favorite is the 1984 Grammy performance of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). In fact, this particular award show is memorable for a lot of reasons and I highly recommend you watch the entire show (or at least the music guests). It's fantastic!

I digress though. Let's get back to the album at hand.

No, I wouldn't say there are any hits on this album beyond the title track. However, it's not bad as a whole. The album flows well from track to track and as I said above, I appreciate what it was doing for the new wave synthpop era.

There are decent songs to be found on this album and I did add a few to my itunes 80's mix. However, with that said, I didn't add these tracks to my Ipod itself because I can't honestly see myself actively wanting to hear them. These songs included; Jennifer, This is the House and Somebody Told Me.

Overall it's not a bad album. It's just not one with many songs with high replay value for me personally. But, that's just my opinion, and like all my Retro Spin posts, I would never expect anyone to take my word on any album. Listen to them for yourself and make your own decision.

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