Eurythmics-Dreams......worth another look....

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The riff that starts this is just punishing, and the swirling dark vocal does the rest really. But surely this is the closest ancestor to Felix and the rest of the City Rockers/American Deejay Gigolo crew.

It might as well be Miss Kittin if she could sing. So "Dreams" classic or dud? And is it fair to name it as a MAJOR MAJOR influence, despite the fact that it may not have been the first song of its' type. I'm just waiting for DJs to start playing it again. This would be in my fifteen perfect songs.

― Ronan, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm going for dud, if only because it irritates me that Annie Lennox sings "thees" rather than "this". Who was it who did a jungle version years ago? Little or Liddel How or Howe or some such? Did Shut Up And Dance sample it?

― Martin Skidmore, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I always assumed it was "these".

Ronan is right of course, but if there's a problem with "Sweet Dreams" it's exactly its own ubiquitousness. As as the archetype for cold eighties pop it's a bit unproblematic. The groove is marvelous though.

Can people believe that Faith Evans has done the *exact* same "Sweet Dreams" trick as Pink on her remix of "You Gets No Love"? It's a bit shameless, and it doesn't work half as well.

― Tim, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Is it "Sweet Dreams"? I wasn't sure, my downloaded version says "Dreams".

I still haven't heard the Pink b-side yet, really must get around to it.

― Ronan, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Marilyn Manson version destroys the Eurythmics version. The video is cool as well, featuring much evil grimacing and pig riding.

― adam, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Some of them want to abuse you/Some of them want to be abused" does work really well as a death metal.

The Eurythmics video is pretty good too - it has that harsh, unsubtle (crass even) look and link with the sonics that only videos from that period have.

― Graham, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Why would Faith Evans want to fuck with a single bar of the original backing for "You Gets No Love"??????

On the question, classic of course. Proto-bondage for Madonna to lift from.

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I know, that cello riff is, like, the best thing about it. Certainly not her rapping.

Okay, Eurythmics, um, yeah.

― Tim, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It is indeed a great song, but for my money give me "Love Is A Stranger" from the same album.

― electric sound of jim, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Or even better, Monkey Monkey, the B-Side of Love Is A Stranger.

I played it out one night and had a heap of people ask who the hell it was..........

― Baxter Wingnut, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

esoj is OTM here.
Ronan - being ultrapedantic, the title is "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)". Eurythmics' best LPs all recorded on 8-track, which helps give them a certain rawness. Only thing stopping Sweet Dreams being mistaken for 21st century electro[pop] = the harmony vocals? Also, there's a seven-minute "Nightmare Mix" by Dave Angel from around 1990, which might be worth your digging up as well.

― Jeff W, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tim I also like

1) the phonograph-stylee crackles and pops that blanket entire song with sparkly noise
2) the spare and lonely conga hits
3) the impossibly extreme EQ space created by the difference between all of the above and the bass/cello
4) further blanketation achieved with "magic egg" type percussion which hits EVERY eighth note in the song except for like half a bar in the middle, where for one split second you wonder what happened to your world... a rare instance of dramatic treble dropout
5) how sneaky the rhythm of the chorus is
6) i think there's a version with Li'l Kim that clears up the rapping problem somewhat

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I put off saying this because i couldn't be bothered thinking it out; I still haven't but if I don't say it now I never will: Annie Lennox has a very fine voice but in most cases I hate her as a vocalist. So studied, so controlled, so cold... the early stuff was ok because cold was part of the Eurythmic's schtick, but later she seemed to really have asperations towards being a real human being, er I mean singer. The first tip-off was a duet with Aretha Franklin... I mean really. Lennox can certainly hold her own technically, but while this could have worked if it exploited the tension between their styles, instead it seems Lennox really thinks she has soul. It's painful. Synthpop worked for her because she was a robot.

― Sean, Sunday, 14 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'll go on; the times when she seems most emotional I find myself appreciating the performance, i.e. thinking "yes she sounds hurt, yes she sounds lusty", whatever, instead of just being moved by the emotion. I realize this effect is a value into itself,but she always ruined it for me by not seeming to realize this was her chief virtue. Except for stuff like "Sweet Dreams" of course, which is what this thread's about.

I haven't given Annie Lennox this much thought in years, if ever.

― Sean, Sunday, 14 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

twenty-three years pass...

I like the jagged synths and overall raw quality - needs whip sounds

― Minty Gum (Latham Green), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 14:48 (six months ago)

I love the album, the bit hit not so much.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 14:50 (six months ago)

monkey monkey is such a vibe

― mig (guess that dreams always end), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 14:55 (six months ago)

Right with you Alfred, I heard this album over and over when I was 5 years old and Green Gartside's fuzzy-voiced acrobatics are tattooed on me forever. "Love Is A Stranger" is my favourite song largely because I've never not known every word of it

― mixed martial farts (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 16:59 (six months ago)

Ooh, this is such a good late October album.

― the way out of (Eazy), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 17:07 (six months ago)

I stayed away from this album for decades b/c I was lukewarm on the title hit, but WHOA when I finally bought a remastered copy in '90. "The Walk," "I Could Give You a Mirror," "Wrap It Up" -- those creaky synths benefited from the duo's melodic powers. And Annie Lennox is on fire.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 October 2025 19:25 (six months ago)

It took me a long while to enjoy "Wrap It Up," since The Fabulous Thunderbirds had their version in heavy rotation before I owned this cassette. But, yeah, "The Walk" and "This City Never Sleeps" are such perfect side-closers.

― the way out of (Eazy), Wednesday, 29 October 2025 16:19 (six months ago)

Love Is A Stranger is so absolutely perfect

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 17:25 (six months ago)

"This City Never Sleeps" is tailor-made dream music for me--reverberant night pulse, beautiful distant vocals and ambient sound fx.

― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 17:47 (six months ago)

It’s so good.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 19:09 (six months ago)

Listening now. I love how it just never needs to end, and that is a-ok

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 19:09 (six months ago)

It's a better album than the bigger U.S. hit Touch, which to me consists of lesser versions of the same songs.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2025 19:43 (six months ago)

One of the first albums I fell hard for - the chill atmosphere and hermetic mystery are an unbeatable combo. I nearly died when I interviewed Dean Garcia of Curve in the 90s and he told me he played bass on this album, “This Is the House” was Adrian Belew levels of complexity.

― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 29 October 2025 19:46 (six months ago)

Dave Stewart sure liked Curve.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2025 19:54 (six months ago)

Didn't he kind of put them together? I thought he was involved with the State of Play thing with Toni Halliday and Garcia.

― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 29 October 2025 20:27 (six months ago)

“love is a stranger” has a really unique ambience, agree that Dave’s kinda rawer production really give it character.

― brimstead, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 22:25 (six months ago)

The surprise was learning how Lennox actually plays most of Eurythmics' synths.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2025 22:26 (six months ago)

wild, a lot of doppelgänger to me does sound like if the Eurythmics got into MBV/JAMC or something

― brimstead, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 22:27 (six months ago)

xposts

― brimstead, Wednesday, 29 October 2025 22:27 (six months ago)

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