Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Sweet Tunes Is This

One of the most abrupt turnarounds in music history (listen to their first album, it's like an entirely different band. Remember the difference between Radioheads 'Pablo Honey' and 'The Bends'? Well, if you do, you get the idea), Sweet Dreams is an astonishing piece of 80's pop history. I am suprised how little this album has aged or how it has avoided feeling dated. Sure, there are a few sounds and synths here and there that do bring you right there, but Annie sings with such gusto, and the vocals are so upfront. A lot of music from this era have the vocals drowning in production, not so here. The songs are meaty and catchy, the elctronica works, without taking away from the rest, making the record warm and edgy at the same time. There are of course lot of moments anyone aged 11 in 1983 will remember, specialy Love is a stranger and Sweet Dreams, but I never bought this album back then, so discovering all the rest was a real treat in January 2008.

Oh, and I really enjoyed the bonus tracks on this release. The 7'' b-sides are good, even fun, and remembering buying 12'' singles, it's always a treat hearing those remixes again or for the first time!

This album is duly recommended! January 21, 2008

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams

This was one of my favorites on "tape" back in the mid-80's when I bought it and still is. Now my tape is almost worn out, and I am so glad to see it on CD!!!!!!!!!!!! Most of the songs never got much air time, but their intracacy of melody and lyrics deserve to be listened to, even now. August 21, 2007

Synthpop Masterpiece

Eurythmics followed up the fragile and dream-like In the Garden with this album of pure pop genius. The early 1980s saw an explosion of synthesizer-driven sounds and there were other duos too, like OMD and Yazoo, but Eurythmics surpassed them all. This enhanced album contains 6 additional tracks and a booklet in a fold-out sleeve with historical notes and beautiful full color pics.

Sweet Dreams provided Eurythmics with the commercial breakthrough in its shimmering masterpieces such as Love Is A Stranger and the oneiric title track. The videos of these two songs are superb too. Not all the tracks are flowing pop songs though; there's also the ethereal I've Got An Angel and the enervated experimental Wrap It Up, plus the more soulful outings I Could Give You A Mirror and The Walk with its great trumpet solo.

Besides the aforementioned hits, my favorites include the atmospheric Jennifer and the elegant This Is The House with its Spanish spoken intro, its instrumental flourishes and its melancholy mood. It's true that not every single track on the original remains as memorable as the ones mentioned, but the album certainly deserves five stars for its melodic and lyrical beauty, especially with the added songs.

Of the bonus tracks, the best in my opinion are the lilting Home Is Where The Heart Is, the Hot Remix of Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), the Coldcut Remix of Love Is A Stranger and this awesome rendition of Lou Reed's Satellite of Love that in its vocal style reminds one somewhat of great atmospheric tracks like Belinda from the debut album. The classic Sweet Dreams album is now even better, revealing more of the greatness of this pioneering synth-pop band. July 30, 2007

Very spotty 2nd album, though still worth owning

To most fans in the U.S., they thought this was the first album by Eurythmics. With the brilliant 'In The Garden' album not released here until the early 90's, what else were they to think? 'Sweet Dreams', the song, became a massive hit due to endless rotation on the young MTV way back when. The song is a combination of the soulful wailings, which would eventually make Eurythmics bland and forgettable, and electronic New Wave, which was so prevalent at the time. While on their way to commercial stardom, Eurythmics still looked very much the art school oddballs, which makes this very much a transitional album. Because of that the album is a very spotty affair.

The album opens with the timeless "Love is a stranger". In the U.S. this was the follow up single to "Sweet Dreams", though did not make as much impact on the buying public, regardless of the fact that it was a far superior song. The dark, obsessive lyrics and heavy electronic beat gave the song a slightly Gothic feel. It's definitely the best song on the album, and with a mesmerizing video to boot!
"I've got an angel" is almost as high on my list as "Love is a stranger". Some crazy flute playing adding to Annie's haunting singing makes this another timeless classic.
"Wrap it up" is a real low point, not just for the album but for their career. Perhaps it was a carry over from their days as The Tourists, but it's only worsened by the addition of guest vocalist Green for the irritating Scritti Politti.
"I could give you a mirror" and "Somebody told me" are more high quality, slightly dark synthpop pieces that have been favorites since I first purchased the album back in 1983.
"The Walk" and "This city never sleeps" are both light and airy, pleasant enough background songs.
Another real low point is the tedious "This is the house". This was actually released as a single in the UK before stardom hit, and I can see why it went virtually unnoticed. I do not like it at all.

This new CD remaster comes with a very incomplete selection of bonus material, most from the time. "Home is where the heart is" was the B side of the 7" single "This is the house", and is a goofy little doodle that isn't bad, and even a bit fun. "Monkey monkey" is one of their forgettable, experimental instrumentals. "Baby's gone blue" was the B side of the "Sweet Dreams" 12" single, and sounds very much like an outtake from In The Garden. It's an odd little song about a dead girl, and the highlight of the bonus material.

An unfortunate absence from this reissue is the B side "Let's just close our eyes". It's an early version of "The Walk", though radically different and zombie-like.

Like the reissue of 'In The Garden', 'Sweet Dreams' comes with an excellent deluxe booklet with nice liner notes and many great period photos, though also lacks the lyrics that were printed with previous releases.

The remastering of the CD is pretty good. Like with 'In The Garden' there are occasional, minor stereo fluctuations possibly due to the age of the tapes. Though I had read that all of the original master tapes had been located at various BMG locations around the world, the song "Monkey monkey" is clearly taken from a dirty record. There was not even an attempt to mask the fact, but since I don't care for the song I'll just skip it anyway.

'Sweet Dreams' is a very spotty album after the masterpiece of In The Garden. The transition that started on this album would continue on the next album, 'Touch'. August 27, 2006

Makes a stone-age CD sound brand new all over again!

The Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart duo the Eurythmics had miniscule commercial success with their 1981 debut album entitled "In The Garden". However their sophomore release entitled "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was the album that thrusted them into international success with the famous classic "Sweet Dreams are Made of This". Although not the first album I've owned by them (Savage was the first CD I bought), it stands out in my opinion because of it's bizarre character throughout the album. The original version of "Sweet Dreams" as well as it's virtual twin album "Touch" suffered tremendously from the really poor volume quality details. Both of these albums were recorded on low-tech equipment and "Sweet Dreams" was recorded from September to November of 1982 and released in January of 1983. The 2005 deluxe edition though I feel really improves the sound quality in a way that I never would've thought possible. While the album was definitely showing it's age, the improved remastering makes it almost like as if a towel was lifted off the stereo speakers and makes a Stone Age sounding record sound brand new all over again!

No one can forget the experimental nature of its title track with it's famous video with Annie Lennox her gender-bending fashion style. The song itself too is awesome with it's incredible keyboard arrangements, innovative pre-techno drum beat as well as it's dramatic, dark melody. But other songs that stand out are the opening track "Love Is A Stranger", the menacing nature of "I Could Give You An Angel" and the R&B/ New Wave hybrid song that is "This Is The House" which combines the best of 1970s funk guitars with the electronic 80s New Wave sounds to create a real classic. For all the glory of the title track, it pales in comparison to what I consider the most transcendent track on here that closed out the older edition of this album entitled "This City Never Sleeps". As the previous songs in general have a more or less sunny afternoon but austere industrial atmosphere, this song has a much mellower and much darker but more pleasant evening dark mood compared to the rest of this album. The song begins with the sound of underground subway trains and becomes a very eerie, late night urban song with an ambient sound and incredible vocals by Annie. The strange melody of the song as well as the distant light guitar riffs that build in the background and increase into the foreground in sound is just amazing. The combination of this and the subway train track sound effects give the song among the best urban atmospheres of many early 1980s songs. At more than six minutes in length, "This City Never Sleeps" allows for a great amount of enjoyment that would not be possible had it been half as long. Out of all the tracks on this album, TCNS is without a doubt the best song on here, both on the old and remastered editions. As I listen to it, I am just impressed at how well it's held up over the years since it was recorded! Especially by 1983 standards, "This City Never Sleeps" is a year ahead of it's time and even ahead of songs that they did in the years the followed. Even songs that I did not mention are great as well.

The bonus tracks are mostly decent and actually add some flavor to the remastered edition that makes it much more adventurous than the old version was. Although most of them certainly are odd electronic New Wave noodlings that were odd enough to just stay in the b-side category, the six bonus tracks though are still a lot of fun to listen to even if their quality is variable. "Home Is Where The Heart" is one of the strangest songs I've ever heard from this duo. Monkey Monkey" and "Baby's Gone Blue" are decent experimental tracks but don't rank up to the rest but are still enjoyable to a degree. Included are two remixes done in 1991, one of is "Sweet Dreams" as well as "Love is a Stranger" both of which I feel do a wonderful job of giving them a whole different character. The Hot Remix of "Sweet Dreams" is darker, much heavier in mood and has a much heavier techno-drum beat, new keyboard parts as well as some haunting voice keyboard ambience to give the song a much stormier, more intense feel almost totally different from the original version. The Coldcut Remix of "Love Is A Stranger" is over 7 minutes long and has a much more of a sound that blends old school hip-hop and electronica keyboards to build the melody. Some of the `slushy' electronic sound effects as well as the amplified voice effects give the song a spookier sound but still a very flamboyant and sophisticated style to the point that had it not been for Annie's lyrics being song, would've sounded almost like a totally different song altogether. Some have criticized the inclusion of these two songs but I have to digress. I have to say that both "Sweet Dreams" and "Love is a Stranger" were redone incredibly well.The final track called "Satellite of Love" was previously unreleased until now and is now available for future generations to enjoy. The song sounds extremely dated, even by 1983 standards but is still enjoyable especially in the second half of the track. It closes this expanded edition of "Sweet Dreams".

I've always had an incredible admiration of Annie's lyric songwriting as well as her icy strength throughout her music career both with her partner Dave Steward as the Eurythmics and as a solo artist from "Diva" onwards. The remastered edition of "Sweet Dreams" is highly recommended even if you've had the original version for many years. It's that great! I never could've imagined the day that their wonderful albums would all get the treatment they deserved and "Sweet Dreams" in my opinion benefited the most from this! Highly recommended even if you already have the older edition.
March 9, 2006

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