The Good: Moments of voice, Some decent songs that lend themselves well to a live performance
The Bad: Seems somewhat pointless, A number of songs don't click in this incarnation.
The Basics: In a close call, despite the amount of music, the live reinterpretations of Eurythmics songs just do not pop enough to recommend this album.
It seems like just yesterday that I reviewed Eurythmics Greatest Hits (reviewed here!). Come to think of it, it was just yesterday! The Eurythmics put out a Greatest Hits album and then, shortly thereafter, a live album which included all but three of the songs from Greatest Hits ("When Tomorrow Comes," "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves," and "The King And Queen Of America," for those who were curious). Over the two-disc live album, there are nine songs that did not appear on the Greatest Hits album and herein we enter the real crapshoot.
Live 1983 – 1989 presents reintepretations of eleven Eurythmics songs that might well be best known from their highly-produced and polished studio tracks and an additional nine songs that virtually anyone who has never heard anything by Eurythmics outside what is on the radio. For those who are only familiar with Eurythmics from the radio, like me, these other nine songs differ in quality and composition enough to intrigue and make one wonder what the produced version sounds like on some of them. Actually, the reason I'm calling this a crapshoot is this: a number of the popular tracks, like "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" and even more notably "Here Comes The Rain Again" sound greatly diminished in the live version. This is not just because they are unfamiliar; the repetitive aspects of some of the songs seem exaggerated by the live versions. Conversely, some of the tracks that are new-to-me (or were before the eight listens to this two-disc set!) sound amazing as live tracks, most notably "The Last Time."
With two discs, twenty-two tracks and a running time totaling 106:27, Eurythmics Live 1983 – 1989 is very much the talent and vision of the Eurythmics, who are the duet of Annie Lennox and David Stewart. All of the songs are written by Lennox and Stewart and Stewart produced or co-produced every track on the album. Given that the writing and producing came from the band and Lennox provides primary vocals on each track, it seems reasonable to consider the album as the artistic vision of Eurythmics.
That means that the trademark repetitive quality to some of the lyrics is very much the responsibility of Eurythmics. For some reason, unbacked by intense, melodic synthesizers and clear harmonies, many of Eurythmics tracks sound strangely dismal and overbearingly repetitive. "Sex Crime (1984)" stands out as an especially dreary track in that it repeats the title an unbearable number of times. To some extent, Live 1983 – 1989 illustrates the band relied a lot on polish and production through its absence. Some of the songs end up a toss up, a wash in the reinterpretation. For example, "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" is as good unproduced as it was in its polished version, but it was never one of the seminal Eurythmics tracks.
For a band written off so frequently as being a simple pop duo, Lennox and Stewart have a wonderful sense of storytelling to write from. Many of the tracks are preoccupied with relationships with emphasis on their complexity, wisely articulating some of the consequences of avoiding abusive relationships with songs like "The Last Time." As well, they sing of unity ("We Two Are One") and commentary on the use of religion in society ("Missionary Man") and even venture into a folk-like song about a location ("This City Never Sleeps"). The result is a live album that has an intriguing thematic blend of the deeply personal and the social and the group makes it work for the most part.
Lyrically, the duo has a lot going for them. Consider that Eurythmics presents such poetic visions as "The language of love slips from my lover's tongue / Cooler than ice cream and warmer than the sun / Dumb words get broken just like a China cup / The language of love leaves me broken and on the run . . ." ("Who's That Girl?"), in this incarnation backed by a simple set of guitars and keyboards with pretty kicking percussion. The thing about Eurythmics is that most of their tracks seem to have a wonderful sense of poetry to them before they degenerate into a one or two line repetitive cycle.
There are few exceptions to this on Live 1983 – 1989, which suggests that largely people enjoy the repetition of the lines. The most notable exception might well be "Thorn In My Side," which makes a decent, poetic, emotional exploration with lines like "Thorn in my side. / You know that's all you ever were. / A bundle of lies. / You know that's all that it was worth. / I should have known better / But I trusted you at first. / I should have known better / But I got what I deserved. . ."
But even better is "The Last Time," which I have only heard live and I fell completely in love with on this album. On that track, Lennox and Stewart take something of a singsong rhyme and make it into a deeply meaningful track that has a powerful message of liberation from pain. When they sing, "There's a garden full of roses, / There's a necklace full of pearls. / You have come to take the roses / To give to other girls. / Well - I am just a pretty thing / You wanted for a day. / There is nothing left between us / There is nothing left to say. . ." ("The Last Time"), I still get wrenched until the triumphant declaration that "[this is the] Last time you're gonna let me down. / Last time you're gonna / Fool around with me. . ." ("The Last Time"). It takes a lot to get me to sing along with anything and here I find myself every time that track spins shouting along with that wonderful refrain. It is lyrically strong and presented beautifully in a melodic and surprisingly hypnotic way given how underproduced the album is.
But, largely, the tracks are repetitive lyrically with title lines like "Would I Lie To You?" and "Missionary Man" being repeated twenty or more times in the song. This makes the album suffer some upon multiple listens. The advantage this two disc set has it it's longer than the Greatest Hits, so it takes some time to get back around to the same old repetitive lines.
Despite the lyrical repetition, primary vocalist Annie Lennox makes it work for the most part. Lennox is underproduced with her vocals on some of the trademark songs, like "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)," "Here Comes The Rain Again," and "Missionary Man." Unfortunately, on this album the vocals are more within the safe, husky range of Lennox's repertoire. "Who's That Girl?" does not go nearly as high as it does on the studio track and new tracks like "Let's Go" have a monotonous sound that acts something like filler to the album between what is familiar and what new works are truly incredible. There is nothing here that is haunting, creepy or compelling. The live versions lack the unique flavor that made Eurythmics different from everyone else.
As well, the only thing that seems to be truly produced on Live 1983 – 1989 is the sound of the crowds. Throughout various songs, like in the middle of "Missionary Man" there are noticeable noises coming from the (supposed) legions of fans at the performance. I loathe that so many live albums insist on proving they are live by piping in as much noise from the crowd as possible. We'd believe it in this case if for no other reason than all of the songs sound dramatically different from their studio versions!
Lennox has a voice that is usually smoky and forceful but has the ability to be soft and seductive and melodically wrenching. Lennox has an obvious platform to start her solo career (which she did) based on some of the earliest material on this album. Unfortunately, most of these vocals stay in the smoky range without venturing into anything impressive. At least she sings clearly.
Musically, Live 1983 – 1989 does reveal a somewhat limited sensibility. While the group clearly has more songs than just "Sweet Dreams" and songs from that album, throughout the album there is little sense of musical growth. The band creates memorable pop-rock riffs, usually using pounding electric guitars and pounding drums on the live album. There is not much other than that here as far as their sound. Most of the songs have a beat that can easily be danced to and would inspire a listener to move to it. But they don't pop the way the produced ones do.
Ultimately, it's just enough to keep it from being worth the buy. I think everyone should listen to "The Last Time;" I'm actually looking forward to hearing it without the crowd noises, but it's not worth buying the album for. It's good, but not good enough.
The best tracks are (Disc 1) "Would I Lie To You?" and "The Last Time" (Disc 2), the low points are the dippy poppy "Right By Your Side" (Disc 1) and the bland "Let's Go" (Disc 2) (though "I Need A Man" still doesn't do anything for me!).
For other live albums, check out my reviews of:
Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert Recording
Joan Baez - Rare, Live, And Classic
Dar Williams - Out There Live
5/10
For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment