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Rating:
The beauty of the eighties is that they are clear, the distinction between good and bad is sharp. On one side, there are the good (qualitatively good because they might actually be really bad) like Depeche Mode, the Smiths, Joy Division and all those nice folks there, and on the other side there are the bad (qualitatively bad because they surely have rampant sentimentalism among their values, as is typical for most crappy musicians) like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, and all those unpleasant folks there. The doubt arises when considering a group like the Eurythmics: where to place this atypical duo reworking pop and electronic with Kraftwerkian memory while winking at the charts? If I had to decide based on image and hairstyles, I would have no doubt about placing them among the most obnoxious bad guys of all the '80s, but the value of the songs on this album is almost always high and stimulating, tempting me to classify them among the good ones, perhaps with an asterisk to remind us of their certain style lapses.
The coordinates of Sweet Dreams are clear from the start: Love Is A Stranger is an electronic funk among the best of those years, but the best is yet to come. I've Got An Angel is proto-techno enriched by the phrases of the pan flute and the extraordinary voice of Annie Lennox. The rhythm picks up again with Wrap It Up and I Could Give You but one of the masterpieces of the album is The Walk, an elegiac Annie Lennox inserts herself on a Kraftwerk-style bass riff, then between vocal call and response, a wonderful trumpet accompanies the chorus. Together with the subsequent Sweet Dreams and Jennifer, it composes the most beautiful manifesto/triptych the new-romantic movement could have.
The rest of the album continues to flow on the now-known coordinates: icy voice, treated bass and obsessive/danceable synths. Two tracks still stand out: This Is The House, which, although starting very kitschy (and partially remaining so), saves itself thanks to a bass that would make Prince pale, and the concluding track, which seems like sultry electro but reveals itself as a small ambient gem.
In short, when all is said and done, the Eurythmics are among the good ones, maybe not yet in Paradise because surely they must atone for a few years in Purgatory for their horrid look (and for the hideous reunion of Peace), but soon they will definitively pass among the blessed.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Love Is a Stranger (03:43)
Love is a stranger
In an open car
To tempt you in
And drive you far away (2x)
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you so
It's an obsession (2x)
Love is a danger
Of a different kind
To take you away
And leave you far behind
And love love love
Is a dangerous drug
You have to receive it
And you still can't
Get enough of the stuff
It's savage and it's cruel
And it shines like destruction
Comes in like the flood
And it seems like religion
It's noble and it's brutal
It distorts and deranges
And it wrenches you up
And you're left like a zombie
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you so
It's an obsession
It's guilt edged
Glamorous and sleek by design
You know it's jealous by nature
False and unkind
It's hard and restrained
And it's totally cool
It touches and it teases
As you stumble in the debris
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you so
It's an obsession (4x)
03 Wrap It Up (03:34)
I've been watching you for days now baby
I just love your sexy ways now baby
You now my love will never stop now baby
Just put your loving in my box baby
Wrap it up - I'll take it
No more will I shop around baby
You know I've got the best thing in town now baby
I've seen all I wanna see baby
What your loving means to me now baby
Wrap it up - I'll take it
I'm gonna treat you like the queen you are
Give you sweet things from my candy jar
You've got treats you ain't ever used
Give it give it to me
It won't get abused
04 I Could Give You (a Mirror) (03:50)
I Could Give You (A Mirror)
How can you be so cold
With my arms to hold you?
How can you be so cold
With my arms to enfold you?
I could give you - A mirror
To show you - Dissappointments
I could give you - A history
Could you ever listen in to me?
How can you be so cold
When there's a fire burning?
How can you be so cold
When all the ice is melting?
I could give you - A mirror
To show you - Dissappointments
I could give you - A history
Could you ever listen in to me?
05 The Walk (04:42)
I could be contended
I don't need to suffer
You're beautiful
Good to talk to
You make an impression
To take my attention
And when you touch my skin
I smell disaster
Step away - walk away
All I want is the real thing
(nothing but the real thing)
Walking on pavements
We collect in bars
Asleep in the houses
So alone -
Looking inside herself
She breaks the glass
Turns her head backwards
She's fallen down again
06 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (03:37)
[Chorus]
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's lookin' for somethin'.
[Verse 1]
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
(hold your head up)
(keep your head up)
Movin' on.
(hold your head up )
Movin' on.
(keep your head up)
Movin' on.
(hold your head up)
Movin' on.
(keep your head up)
Movin' on.
(hold your head up)
Movin' on.
(keep your head up)
Some of them want to use you..
Some of them want to get used by you..
Some of them want to abuse you..
Some of them want to be abused..
(hold your head up)
(keep your head up)
Movin' on.
(hold your head up)
Movin' on.
(keep your head up)
Movin' on.
(hold your head up)
Movin' on.
(keep your head up)
Movin' on.
(hold your head up)
Movin' on.
(keep your head up)
[Chorus]x4
07 Jennifer (05:09)
Jennifer with your orange hair
Jennifer with your green eyes
Jennifer in your dress of deepest purple
Jennifer - Where are you tonight?
Jennifer - Where are you tonight?
08 This Is the House (05:01)
This is the house
This is the hill
This is the story - it's a little thing
A lock of hair
An invisible smoke trail
Nothing there but the dust and the rust
Oh oh oh everything changes
This is your picture (it's in black and white)
This is the family having a party
There's a crack in the ceiling
And there's an open door
Nothing there but the dust and the rust
Oh oh oh everything changes
09 Somebody Told Me (03:29)
Somebody told me
Somebody told me
Somebody told me
Something about you
I didn't believe it
I couldn't believe it
I'm still reeling
'cause I just can't take the blow
Well there's laughter and love
And there's a lot of pain
I never wanna see your
Pretty face again
Full of forgiveness
You're just twisted
I'm a silly little saint
With a halo of smiles
But it makes no difference
10 This City Never Sleeps (06:40)
You can hear the sound
Of the underground trains
You know it feels like distant thunder
You know there's so many people
Living in this house
And don't even know their names
I guess it's just a feeling - in the city
Walls so thin I can almost
Hear them breathing
And if I listen in
I feel my own heart beating
I guess it's just a feeling - in the city
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