At the end of this month, Revenge, the 6th studio album from Eurythmics reaches it’s 25th Anniversary. Eurythmics had previously shifted into a “soul/rock” sound on “Be Yourself Tonight” which was received critically & commercially well. The experiment of that record gave the Eurythmics more musical credibility, so the question was could they follow the same success?
While some may’ve thought “Revenge” to be a lukewarm successor to “Be Yourself Tonight”, it more than lives up to the previous bar set by that album, almost moving it higher.
“Revenge” moves specifcally into a more rock, or 1980’s bar rock with synth flourishes, soul leanings, & immaculate pop melodies. Annie delivers some of her most searing vocals & Dave arrangements sparkle with creativity & spontaneity.
The record seems to balance lyrically the promise of love, yet the paranoia of the failure of love. This is seen in tracks such as the mentioned “The Last Time”, more specifically the soul seether “Thorn In My Side” & bittersweet tang of “A Little of You”. “Be Yourself Tonight” definitely had more of a romantic feel, which still spilled over here, but you see the side of romance gone bad here. The paranoia of love here would totally become bitter & take shape on the follow-up “Savage”.
Over the next 30 days, we will be dedicating our entire site and our regular features to Revenge, although it seems Sony don’t want to celebrate this amazing achievement, we certainly will be. We’ve got some great features for you, so stay tuned!
Towards the end of June we want to feature your own thoughts and memories of Revenge, the tour, collecting the records, the posters and more, so please feel free to contribute by emailing me at steve@eurythmics-ultimate.com.
In the mean time, sit back and enjoy the first posting, a promo photo that is being shown for the very first time.