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When thinking about the substantial synth-new wave of the Eighties, a well-defined and universally shared stereotype immediately flashes into the international collective imagination, perhaps a bit naive and reductionist, yet easy to understand: it was a vibrant and chic world, made of luminous accessories, glitter,
extravagant hairstyles, "futuristic" clothing cuts, and linked to probable electro-computerized scenarios. On one side, there was an attempt to recover the sparkle of the first disco era of the '70s, while on the other, they gathered the peculiarities of the then widespread post-punk environment, a mix that - despite the heterogeneous origins - immediately seemed to be adopted as a trademark of the neo-mainstream "bionic" line.
Yet, among the playful pop antics of those times, there were musical entities flirting with the new futuristic scene without dressing like their colleagues. Bands modest in attire and rich in production, simple in style and avant-garde in sound. The duo Annie Lennox-Dave Stewart was one of them: the melancholic soul of the pseudo androgynous Lennox, meeting the unassuming Dave, birthed the myth of Eurythmics, one of the musical dishes that best "tastes" of the Eighties, of that unmistakable aroma that made the decade of temporary social frivolity at 360° so beloved (and also suffered).
It's pointless to narrate the entire history of the band, which rose with the almost unnoticed debut of In The Garden and exploded two years later with the quintessential eighties-revival anthem, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This). Touch, the album I present to you, is perhaps the studio work that best managed to resist the descent from the peak of the album and the eponymous single and suffered the least from the usual decline of productions following the great hit. Wrapped inside the most iconic cover of the early Lennox, the playful sadomasochistic diva - pre-evolution of the rock star in leather jacket of Be Yourself Tonight and Revenge and the ethereal soul muse of Medusa and Diva - Touch proposed the complete affirmation of the duo, the confirmation of their post-sweet dreams validity. Indeed, the album appears quite bold, focused, and determined, rooted in a more compact synthpop - new wave experimentation than the previous ones: the production turns out to be marked and spicy, the sounds rich and diversified, the atmosphere rarefied in a mischievous but refined electro-dark glow that will be further delved into in the misunderstood Savage of 1987.
The representative frame of the album closes in the three extracted singles, the most representative tracks: the famous Here Comes The Rain Again, one of the trademarks of Eurythmics, is a genuine jewel of midtempo synth-ambient of effervescent avant-garde introspection, the pseudo ballad Who's That Girl? introduces the better romantic Lennox of the still unknown solo vibrations, Right By Your Side is an odd and very frivolous standout track with evident funky-Latin inspirations.
But within Touch there's much more. Standing out among others are Paint a Rumour, a genuine example of genuine proto-techno-trance experimentation, Cool Blue and its dynamic nod to both disco and rock, No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts), a sort of more dark and enigmatic prelude to Here Comes The Rain Again, and Regrets, another exemplary minimalist electro-funk cabaret.
Approaching a decade as overly cheerful and carefree as the Eighties has nowadays become the quickest method to enrich clubs, with a slew of artists and pseudo-artists shamelessly drawing from that infinite cauldron of ideas, sounds, noises, and imagination. Miss Lennox and Mr. Stewart, although praised by the vintage-evergreen sector, have not yet become subjects of inflations, distortions, and tributes/plagiarism: one more reason to delve into a territory of sobriety and aesthetic rigor, but of much passion and creativity in front of the microphone and the synthesizer.
Eurythmics, Touch
Here Comes The Rain Again - Regrets - Right By Your Side - Cool Blue - Who's That Girl? - The First Cut - Aqua - No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts) - Paint A Rumour.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Here Comes the Rain Again (04:53)
Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory,
Falling on my head like a new emotion.
I want to walk in the open wind.
I want to talk like lovers do.
I want to dive into your ocean.
Is it raining with you?
Chorus-
So baby talk to me
Like lovers do.
Walk with me
Like lovers do.
Talk to me
Like lovers do.
Here comes the rain again-
Raining in my hand like a tragedy,
Tearing me apart like a new emotion.
I want to breathe in the open wind.
I want to kiss like lovers do.
I want to dive into your ocean.
Is it raining with you?
Chorus:
So baby talk to me
Like lovers do.
Walk with me
Like lovers do.
Talk to me
Like lovers do.
So baby talk to me
Like lovers do.
So baby talk to me
Like lovers do.
Walk with me
Like lovers do.
Talk to me
Like lovers do.
Talk to me.
Here comes the rain again-
Falling on my head like a memory,
Falling on my head like a new emotion.
Here it goes again.
Here it goes again.
I want to walk in the open wind.
I want to talk like lovers do.
I want to dive into your ocean.
It is really with you.
Here comes the rain again-
falling on my head like a memory,
falling on my head like e new emotion.
I want to walk in the open wind.
I want to talk like lovers do.
I want to dive into your ocean.
Is it raining with you?
Here comes the rain again-
Falling on my hand like a memory,
Falling on my hand like a new emotion.
02 Regrets (04:43)
I've got a delicate mind
I've got a dangerous nature
And my fist collides
With your furniture
I've got a delicate mind
I've got a dangerous nature
And my fist collides
With your furniture
I'm an electric wire
And I'm stuck inside your head
I'm a hungry Mohican
I've got a razor blade smile
So don't come near me
I've got a singular style
Fifteen senses
Are on my plate
All the things
You love to hate
I'm an electric wire
And I'm stuck inside your head
Where I go to no one knows
Find me where the cold wind blows
Regrets
Black is red and red is white
In this country I do what I like
Regrets
(That's right that's right..)
04 Cool Blue (04:48)
Blue - the colour suits you
Cool blue
How will you stay this way for ever?
Blue again
It's a lasting chill
To keep you cold as winter
How can I forget you?
I'm never gonna give you up
How can I forget you baby?
I'm never gonna give you up
Here it comes again
Here it comes again
Blue - the colour fools you
Cool blue
I'll never stay this way for ever
Blue again
(How could she fall for a boy like that)
05 Who's That Girl? (04:48)
Who's that girl?
The language of love
Slips from my lover's tongue
Cooler than ice cream
And warmer than the sun
Dumb hearts get broken
Just like china cups
The language of love
Has left me broken on the rocks
But there's just one thing
(Just one thing)
But there's just one thing
And I really wanna know
Who's that girl
Running around with you?
Tell me
Who's that girl
Running around with you?
The language of love
Has left me stony grey
Tongue tied and twisted
At the price I've had to pay
Your careless notions
Have silenced these emotions
Look at all the foolishness
Your lover's talk has done
07 Aqua (04:36)
Don't touch me
Don't talk to me about it
Don't touch me
Don't talk to me - ever again
I don't feel anything
All sensation is closed to me
I saw you put the needle in
(I can still see) everything
Take me to a quiet place
Throw me in the water
Watch the bubbles surface as
I'm slowly sinking under
09 Paint a Rumour (07:32)
Paint a rumour
(What's it gonna spread?)
Paint a rumour
(See the place go red)
I could tell you something
(Promise not to tell)
I could tell you something
(Promise not to sell)
It's a secret
I have heard a whisper
I have heard a whisper
(What did it say?)
I have heard a whisper
(Make it go away)
Don't beleive a word of it
(Promise not to tell)
Don't repeat a word of it
(Promise not to sell)
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