Eutaxic Eurythmics
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COMPACT DISCS EUTAXIC EURYTHMICS Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This): Eurythmics RCA PCD1-4681. This is an extraordinary pop album in both technical and musical terms, and it is a treasurable CD. The Eurythmics, vocalist Annie Lennox and synthesizer whiz David Stewart, together write and create hypnotic technopop songs of startlingintensity.These songs are complex sound paintings in which Len- nox's unique voice travels from fore- to background withinshiftingvistasof synthesizers,acousticinstruments, and special effects that include the sounds of subways and seasides. The original LP was beautifully pro- duced and engineered by Stewart, Adam Williams, and R. Crash. How- ever, the CD version is better still.In comparative A -B listening, the CD re- cording presents a wider dynamic range, eliminating a slight sense of compression foundinthe original. This, coupled with the total lack of sur- face noise, allows even the faintest ping of a chime to maintain its charac-acoustic piano work. This mass ofgae -inflected "Alyson"), some poign- ter among crashing banks of synthe-soundissuddenly, electronically,ant lyrics ("Me & Johnny"), and even sizers and percussion. sucked into silence,leaving only aone cut with both moving and unusual Sweet Dreams contains 10 exam-skeleton of vocals, drum, and one ma- subject matter plus unique all -acoustic ples and 40 minutes of sophisticated,racas -like percussion instrument to de-stringinstrumentation("LikeFather, inventive music -making and recording.liver the next "Step away" chorus. It is Like Son"). There are some sonically Reverberation and double -tracking areterrifically effective. intriguing special effects included as used not only to enrich Lennox's voice, The CD's crystallinereproductionwell, and the overall production is quite but to add riveting contrapuntal vocalpermits each instrument to comegood. Still, this CD doesn't qualify as a passages as well. A trulyeffectivethrough with real definition, no matterprime choice for your collection. technique Stewart uses often, but nothow faint or how deeply buried in the Acting as his own -producer, along to excess, is to build layer upon layermix itis. There is a palpable feeling ofwithBillDrescher,Springfield has of instrumentation, deftly blendingdepth, a real spatial presence, and anweakened some fine arrangements by these layers into a complex whole, andinvigorating sense of movement from presenting chunks of each selection in then whisking the whole into oblivion. channel to channel and from fore- toa single aural plane. He repeatedly "The Walk," an ominous rhythmicbackground. opts for a rock -symphonic blend of number suggesting alienation and The Eurythmics are a savvy, talent-massed instruments that provides no failed love, is less well-known than thised, thoroughly modern duo. They usesense of depth. Although his vocals album's two hits, "Love Is a Stranger"the full gamut of electronic wizardry tohave moments in the foreground, they and the title song, but itis a clearerreshape basic pop forms. They rarelyare often pulled back into the mass of example of this particular technique. repeat themselves without an interest-sound. When this occurs, these The sound of a rising wind opens thising variation on their basic theme. Thismassed vocals and instrumentals are cut and is swiftly overlayed with syn-CD is endlessly entertaining, a sonicconcentrated in the phantom center thesized bass, percussion, chime ac-delight, and a must for your collection. channel, further limiting any sense of cents, and swelling keyboard -synthe- Paulette Weissspaciousness. sized strings. Lennox's sinuous voice When instruments are permitted to slides snakelike over the instrumentals. make their presence felt in Living in Oz: Rick Springfield cleanly A vocal backdrop is added, a weave of space, as in the beautiful guitar and RCA PCD1-4660. male voices and Lennox double - chimes figure in the title song, in seg- tracked. By thefirstrefrainof the Rick Springfield's third RCA offering,ments of "Me & Johnny" where the chorus "Step away-walk away," the Living inOz,is yeoman commercialguitar is firmly located in the left chan- golden voice of a muted trumpet cuts rock. Not that it isn't pleasant; there arenel, and in the startling, often innova- into the whole, followed by some subtlesome attractive rock tunes (the reg-tive introductory passages of almost 72 AUDIO/APRIL 1984.