In the early 80's I had a home-recorded cassette version of a song called 'Jennifer' that I loved. Played it to death. Never really bothered to find out who sang it. It never occurred to me it could be The Eurythmics.
"Jennifer with your orange hair
Jennifer with your green eyes
Jennifer in your dress of deepest purple
Jennifer, where are you tonight?
Underneath the water
Underneath the water
Underneath the water"
That's it - that's pretty much the whole song, but it's ethereal, enigmatic, surreal, hypnotic. Well, it is to me. If I'd bothered to look I would have seen that on the album cover and on the video clip for 'Sweet Dreams' Annie Lennox had orange hair !!
In 1986 I took a contract to work in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Entertainment was scarce, at the time there was no radio, an unreliable one channel satellite TV signal from Australia and a bunch of knock-off, bootlegged dodgy cassettes. Then, one day, I came across this tape shown in the photo. A genuine, commercial licensed version of a real album - and not only that, it had 'Jennifer' on it !! It was quite a while later when I managed to pick up an old copy on vinyl and not long after that, their 'Greatest Hits' arrived on CD and that opened up almost 9 years worth of good stuff.
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart had been working together before they became The Eurythmics. In 1976 they were part of a punk band called The Catch and later they had a couple of songs on the charts as part of a 4-piece group called The Tourists. In 1979 The Tourists did a cover of Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You' that made it to #4 in the UK.
This is the second Eurythmics album, their first, 'In The Garden' sank into oblivion but with the release of this one in 1983, two things happened. The Eurythmics became a worldwide phenomenon and people who previously didn't know began to hear the word 'androgyny'. Annie Lennox's distinctive look in the music video for 'Sweet Dreams' combining cropped hair and men's clothing seemed to be the polar opposite to seeing Boy George in full performance mode.
The first song on the album, 'Love is a Stranger', although initially nowhere near as popular as the title track, has been re-released twice and now ranks as one of their well-known staples. The album as a whole is still very early electronic pop, new wave and bits of R&B sneaking in. It was a promise of things to come, particularly the power and range of Annie's voice. If I could break ranks from the Vinyl world, I'd certainly recommend getting either 'Greatest Hits' or the later 'Ultimate Collection' on CD. All the singles released between '83 and '90 are worth collecting. I still get chills when I hear the opening of 'There Must Be An Angel (playing with my heart)'. Don't stop there, do yourself a favour and get Annie's solo album 'Medusa' - the hits just keep on coming.
I have to mention a Dave Stewart instrumental composition he did in 1989 for the Dutch movie 'De Kassière'. He brought in saxophonist Candy Dulfer and together they released 'Lily Was Here'. Prior to that, Candy hadn't released anything, but the success of the single led to her album 'Saxuality' the following year. If you're into smooth jazz, search it out.
The Tourists 1979 I Only Want To Be With You
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