Sweet Dreams

In the Garden released October 16, 1981, was the debut studio album by the new wave duo Eurythmics.  The album, produced by Conny Plank, at his studio in Cologne, with numerous guest musicians, had a mixed psychedelic, krautrock and electropop influence.  Plank had previously worked with the duo whilst they were in their previous band The Tourists.  Two singles were released from the album in the UK, Never Gonna Cry Again and Belinda.  Despite positive reviews, neither the album nor the singles achieved much commercial success. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), released January 4, 1983, was a commercial breakthrough for the Eurythmics.  The successful title track featured a dark and powerful sequenced synth bass line and a dramatic video that introduced the now orange crew-cut Annie Lennox to audiences.  The song reached no.2 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming one of the year's biggest sellers, and later topped the US charts.  The band's fortunes changed immensely from this moment on, and Annie quickly became a pop icon, gracing the covers of numerous magazines including Rolling Stone.  Love Is a Stranger, was also released and became another chart success.  The video for the song saw Annie in many different character guises, a concept she would employ in various subsequent videos. Sweet Dreams saw the duo move away from the psychedelic, guitar-tinged band-oriented sound of their 1981 debut album In the Garden, instead focusing on raw analogue synthesizers and drum machines (particularly the Movement Systems Drum Computer, which featured a graphic visual display of the drum patterns).  Whilst the synthpop genre had grown in popularity in the preceding years, it was often associated with all male groups and somewhat clinical, emotionless music.  Eurythmics, particularly with Annie's vocal stylings, brought a soul music twist to the electronic sound, which proved popular with broader audiences.

Touch, released November 14, 1983 continued their success throughout 1984, spawning the hits Who's That Girl?, Right by Your Side and Here Comes the Rain Again.  The MTV video depicted Annie as both a blonde chanteuse and as a gender-bending Elvis Presley clone.  During the course of 1984, Annie's theatrical gender-bending was becoming increasingly notorious, which helped their record sales.  At the end of the year, they released the soundtrack for the film adaptation of George Orwell's novel 1984, with the top ten single, Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four). Be Yourself Tonight, released April 28, 1985, boasted a tougher, R&B-influenced sound and featured a duet with Aretha Franklin, Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves.  The duet became one of three hit singles from the album, in addition to Would I Lie to You? and There Must Be an Angel (playing with my heart).  The release of the album also coincided with a new look for Annie, who ditched the androgynous look of the previous albums and became, in biographer Lucy O'Brien's words, a bleach-blonde rock 'n' roller. Revenge, released June 30, 1986, continued further into the R&B/soul direction as the duo embraced a more traditional, commercial rock band style.  The album including several hit singles including, Missionary Man and Thorn in my Side was a commercial success.  Its release was followed by an extensive world tour with a live concert video from the Australian leg of the tour was released.

Savage, released November 9, 1987, was a fairly radical change within the group's sound, being based mainly around programmed samples and drum loops.  More of a Lennox album than Revenge that was more Stewart sounding.  Lyrically the songs showed an even darker, more obsessive side to Annie's writing.  A video album was also made, directed by Sophie Muller, with a video for each song.  This playlist features the brazen, sexually charged rocker I Need a Man and You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart.  Although the album was not as commercially successful as their previous two albums, both Lennox and Stewart stated that Savage is their personal favourite album out of the entire Eurythmics' discography. We Too Are One, released September 11, 1989, entered the UK album chart at no.1 (their second no.1 album after Touch) and gave the duo four UK Top 30 hit singles.  The album was a return to the rock/pop sound of their mid-80s albums and was certified Double Platinum in the UK, but was less successful in the U.S. with the single Don't Ask Me Why just grazing the Billboard Top 40.  their singles from the album included Revival, The King and Queen of America and Angel.  Following a world tour, a rift developed between the duo and the Eurythmics disbanded, although no official notice was given. In the late 1990s, Eurythmics reunited and recorded a new album, Peace, which was released on October 18, 1999.  The single I Saved the World Today reached number 11 in the UK singles charts, and a remix of 17 Again gave the duo their first chart-topper on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.  The band also embarked on a world tour, dubbed the Peacetour to support the album.  The tour started on 18 September 1999 at Cologne's Kölnarena and ended on 6 December 1999 at the London Docklands Arena (which was filmed and released on video and DVD).  All proceeds from the tour went to Greenpeace and Amnesty International.

In a September 2012 interview with Reuters, Stewart was quizzed on whether a new Eurythmics album is in the works, to which he replied: We're not talking about one right now, but never say never, but he is considering a musical centred around the music of Eurythmics. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart performed as a duo for The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles.  The event was taped at the Los Angeles Convention Center on January 27, 2014, the day after the Grammy Awards.  They performed The Beatles song The Fool on the Hill.

I Saved The World Today Monday finds you like a bomb That's been left ticking there too long You're bleeding Some days there's nothing left to learn From the point of no return You're leaving Hey Hey I saved the world today Everybody's happy now The bad thing's gone away And everybody's happy now The good thing's here to stay Please let it stay There's a million mouths to feed And I've got everything I need I'm breathing And there's a hurting thing inside But I've got everything to hide I'm grieving Hey Hey I saved the world today Everybody's happy now The bad thing's gone away And everybody's happy now The good thing's here to stay Please let it stay Let it stay Let it stay Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo the good thing

Wanderin' Spirit
August, 2014
"Sweet Dreams"

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