Album Reviews |

Eurythmics



In The Garden 8 ( 1981 )
English Summer / Belinda / Take Me to Your Heart / She's Invisible Now / Your Time Will Come / Caveman Head / Never Gonna Cry Again / All the Young (People of Today) / Sing-Sing / Revenge

On the cover artwork, Annie Lennox looks really cool and David Bowie influenced. Dave Stewart has facial hair. So it would continue for them, I like to think. For 'In The Garden' though we're journeying back to the duo's pre-hit era. Look in the catalogues of a lot of the 80s megasellers and you'll find surprisingly edgy, energetic, new-wave albums that often have a lot going for them. 'In The Garden' in is just such a vein. No hits to speak of, that would come for Eurythmics later on, just really cool sounding synth music and occasionally, rather strange guitars, too. Album opener 'English Summer' has cool bass sounds, mellow synths and a dreamy, soft Lennox vocal quite at odds with her later 'belting it out' voice. She continues to use this mellow, dream-pop vocal style throughout much of the album. Ever heard 'Belinda', though? Well, you should. It sounds, how can I put this, indie/alternative? Eurythmics as indie band? Well, in 1981 they were indie, sort of. 'Belinda' is a great tune and the guitars remind me of something I can't quite put my finger on. Oh, what is it? I'm thinking of a punk act... nope, it escapes me. It sounds excellent though and this is my pick of the pops where 'In The Garden' is concerned. Influences? I'm guessing, but I hear snippets of Kraftwerk, Eno era Roxy Music all alongside the coldness of late seventies Bowie.

Is that German lyrics in 'Sing-Sing'? Whatever, the bass line is funky and early-eighties modern sounding, slightly dubby sounding and all without being annoying at all. You know, plenty of music fans would never dream of investigating the likes of 'In The Garden', perhaps put off by a later image of Eurythmics. That's where music listening services like Last.FM and Napster come in handy. Record Collector did a feature of Eurythmics a year or so ago and that's what pricked up my interest, they're good the folks at Record Collector. I'm rambling, I know - it's a heinous crime. 'Caveman Head' rounds out the highlights then, a stomping, energetic, nervy thing. All hands and arms tight and tense, suddenly being waved erratically and quite madly in front of you. Bad songs? Why, there are none. Well, the mood of the album can be a little suffocating at times, but otherwise i'm really quite impressed by 'In The Garden'. I like a Dave Stewart record, arghh!

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