Eurythmics - Savage

I inherited a Eurythmics catalog (5 records from Sweet Dreams to Savage) off a friend of mine about 10 years or so ago. She gave me a box of her sister’s old records. There were some other cool records in there, but 5 Eurythmics albums was a major score! I’d always liked them and most of the songs I heard on the radio and video channels. Sweet Dream turned out to be a classic, as expected. The 3 middle albums (Touch, Be Yourself Tonight, Revenge) had some good songs, but were each a little uneven. But Savage was amazing! I had heard it at a friends place when it first came out and liked it. But basically forgot about it until I got the box of records.

Then I put it on again and it was even better than I remembered. When it was first released it was noted as having a much more experimental sound, even for the Eurythmics. Dave Stewart himself said it saw the band, “turn sharp left”. But it sounds great now and the electronic elements show they were way ahead of their time, much like on the “Sweet Dreams” record. It’s aged very well and still sounds great today. The songs are fantastic and I’ve always liked the conceptual element of it. Annie takes the role of the neurotic, mousey housewife who morphs into the extroverted blonde vamp. Plenty of metaphors abound, but for the most part I get a feeling it follows the path to freedom for anyone stuck in a redundant, monotonous situation.

Instead of embarking on another massive worldwide tour, Annie and Dave decided to make a video album. As great as the record is, the video is superb. The order of the songs is actually moved around a little and it works much better for the concept. Some of the videos are pretty simple, others a little more elaborate. But it’s very cool and Annie is in her element bouncing from character to character.

Either way though, listening or watching, Savage is just a great album, with great songs and production. And “Brand New Day” is possibly one of the best album closing songs ever. It’s the end of the journey and the promise of a new beginning with a simply phenomenal performance from Annie. They also bring things full circle in the video, a dance troup of school girls perform ‘Eurythmics’ to the song, which is a music education type of dance from which the band originally took their name.

Here’s the song list for the video and if you’d like to check it out for yourself, I found a link to download click here

Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)

I Need A Man

Heaven

Shame

Wide Eyed Girl

Do You Want To Break Up?

I Got A Lover (Back In Japan)

Put The Blame On Me

Savage

You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart

I Need You

Brand New Day