Monday, February 22, 2010

#500 - Eurythmics Touch


Probably the most influential electro-pop act of the 80’s, Eurythmics knew how to put an album together. Starting with a driving beat, "Here Comes the Rain Again" is a perfect driving song for lonely late nights. Uplifting enough to keep you from aiming for a tree, but dark enough to keep you interested. There are very few complaints here. Occasionally the synth strings seem a little out of place, using melodies that feel like they’re actually from another song. Also, while Annie Lennox has a great voice, she was in a period of under-emoting. I keep finding myself wanting someone with a more powerful attack to sing this. Like Freddie Mercury or a 90’s era Lennox.

The next few songs are rather forgettable placeholders. The strange, borderline dub experimentation on "Regrets" is at times awkward, but not terribly offputting. "Right By Your Side" is a misguided attempt at calypso. The vocals are pleasing, but you really feel the lack of live drums and bass here. The rhythm section is so important to this style and to have a drum machine and synthbass sucks the life out of the song.

"Cool Blue" picks things up and moves back into more comfortable territory. The funk all over this dance number is perfectly suited and reminds me of early Thomas Dolby. I can’t listen to this without wanting to do blow in a disco bathroom while wearing a silk shirt. Annie then leads us into the fitting comedown track, "Who’s That Girl." If you want to hear a vocal tour de force that would shame any American Idol contestant, jump straight to this track. Octave jumps and mid lyric key changes make for quite a showcase. I wish the song had more of an ending, although the simple fadeout is probably more fitting of the overall theme. A general complaint of the whole album is the overuse of fadeouts.

We jump back into the uptempo dance world with "First Cut." Not a bad number, but not on anyone’s best-of list either. A nice bit of bass carries the song. Since most of the low end is held down by keyboards, the bass tone is very sharp and thin, which is perfect for the fills and solos throughout. The beat stays aggressive, but the mood gets dark on "Aqua." Anger at a loved one’s drug use is underscored by blasts of overdriven guitar, and the kick drum on 1 and 3 builds a sense of foreboding when added to the bassline. The middle eight is a pointless excursion into backwards guitar loops and sitar. The less said about that the better.

"No Fear No Hate No Pain (…no broken hearts)" is a sparse throwaway. It features some nice vocal work and is useful as a setup for a strong final track. I’m not sure that "Paint a Rumour" is that track though. It’s a great song, but not how I would choose to end the album. It’s very driving and keeps your attention, but at times sounds more like a remix than the actual song. I was expecting something a tad more on the epic side by the time I got to the end. This album is so well paced; it really feels like something big is going to happen. Instead we end with a very good number that just lacks the power I had hoped for.

All in all a very good album and one that anyone who appreciates the early 80’s heyday of synthesized pop needs in their collection. There’s just not enough top shelf tracks for me to consider this a worthy addition to the top 500. -The Fat Man


Holy synth-pop, Batman. My initial feeling toward this album, prior to giving it a spin (or in modern terms spinning my iPod wheel to the “E’s”), was less than enthusiastic. My familiarity with Annie Lennox and Eurythmics solely rested on “Sweet Dreams” and “Here Comes the Rain Again.” After listening to Touch, I feel these two tracks will suffice to fill my Eurythmics appetite.

While my buddy Mike concerns himself with time signatures and such, my only concern is the impossibility of regaining the time I lost while listening to the majority of these tracks. “Here Comes the Rain Again”…quality venture into synth-pop psychosis. Then, the listener is introduced to a beat that seems like something off a Prince album, but after a minute I became pleasantly appeased that it is not. Ms. Lennox, I can only give you props for the line, “I’m a hungry Mohican / I’ve got a razorblade smile.” That and your likeness to David Bowie on the album cover. Delicious. Next, we get “Right by Your Side;” a song that seems like it made a strong campaign to make the Cocktail Official Motion Picture Soundtrack only to end up on the cutting room floor, because it lacked the superior island feeling of “Kokomo.” That being said, anyone who says that Cocktail is a shitty movie can go straight to Vanilla Sky hell. My mom still remembers the days of me breaking glasses as I tried to flip them behind my back while listening to “Hippy Hippy Shake.” Then, “Cool Blue” starts playing and I had flashbacks of jets taking off from a carrier ship ala Top Gun. I don’t know if this has more to with the general sound of the 80’s or the fact that I’ve seen more Tom Cruise movies than should be allowed. Regardless, I have nothing bad to say about this song, but I have no wet dreams about it either. I know what you’re asking, “Did he just use the phrase ‘wet dream’ in the same train of thought as Tom Cruise and 80’s nostalgia?” To clarify, yes I did. Moving on.

“Who’s That Girl?” is groovy and sexy to the extent that I want to coin the term “groovexy” just for songs similarly smooth and synthesized. After this track, things became bleak. The remaining songs were not terrible, but left me in a synth-pop daze that was only interrupted when Lennox starts speaking in various voices ranging from the Wizard of Oz lollipop guild (“Cool Blue”) to Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (“Paint a Rumour”). I know this review is being harsher towards this album than I actually feel or ever intended it to be, but I was expecting fireworks and was dissatisfied with the number of duds. For me, “greatest and best of” lists should be made of albums that combine creative elements that are fresh and new with music and lyrics that are memorable. Eurythmics’ Touch only captures one of these elements. Leaving me to believe that, unless I give the album another chance other than the three listens I gave it over the span of a week, I will easily forget any Eurythmics’ songs beside the two aforementioned ones at the beginning of this review. It’s just a decent album; nothing more and nothing less. -D. Reed

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

And In the Beginning....

"Mitchell's the man, I'm the idiot you're the screw-up and we're all losers. Welcome to Music Town." - Empire Records

So,here it begins. One day, while in the shower, I decided I was going to go through a number of "Greatest" lists from the bottom to the top. It was only recently that I was disillusioned enough to believe anyone would care to hear my thoughts about these small feats. In particular, I decided to blog about Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. After I decided to follow through with such a folly, I realized that a blog detailing my opinions of Rolling Stone's comprehensive list would be just that....a blog detailing my opinions. Thus, I enlisted a friend of mine to take part in spewing forth his opinion on five-hundred musical works. Doing so not only helps to offer alternative perspectives of each album, but allows me to share this possible embarrassment with another individual. That being said, it should be known that, although Mike ("The Fat Man" in this duo) is a friend, our musical tastes have often been laughably and argumentatively different. If nothing else, this blog will offer a mirror of age-long conversations between friends over a few beers on long summer evenings. In reality, isn't that what Mike and I are doing here? Arguing our tastes and opinions? In any case, we encourage and would be happy to hear your thoughts on these albums or our critiques on
them.

-d.


The Beginning: #500 - Touch by Eurythmics

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time