Lunch (Are Made of Roast Beef)

Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10

THE EURYTHMICCCCCSSSSSSSS!!!!! (…Um… was doing poses like what ANnie Lennox is doing on the cover considered cool in the '80s? … I wouldn’t really know ‘cos I was about one year old and my parents didn’t let me watch Annie Lennox music videos on MTV … But … um … I guess that’s kind of cool … I like the mask ………)

The Eurythmics continue down the path they established when they cut their monumental Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Streams) (I thought of a better rhyme), except they attempt to expand their sound. … Yeah … they expand it in certain ways that you’d neither expect nor (honestly) want from a band that made such synth-pop awesomeness as Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Beams). “The First Cut” and “Regrets” are totally groove-ridden as opposed to melody-ridden. “Aqua” has an extremely calm groove. “Paint a Rumour” is a very lengthy song with a lot of computer noises and not a lot of Annie Lennox (boo!). And, the most striking song on here as far as diversity goes, is their all-out tropical/80s pop “Right By Your Side.”

That being said, all those mentioned songs are quite good (no song scored less than a 7.5, which is pretty amazing for an 80s pop band, but … DUDES THIS IS THE EURYTHMICS!!! THEY RULE!!!!!!!!!!!)

That aforementioned tropical ditty is strikingly good. By far the most of the time, I ***HATE*** it when pop bands take on a tropical vibe and adapt it to the pop music of the day. But, the Eurythmics totally go against this stereotype of mine and made it into one of the best songs on the album! They use *steel drums* (albeit they might be fake … I don’t know … who cares?), but I love the sound of ‘em. Most importantly is they don’t make the groove utterly cheesy that plagued songs from early ABBA albums. They make it sound as cool, non-corny, and even sincere. Besides which, the melody on that one is fantastic.

Of course they have the hits on here! “Here Comes the Rain Again” is probably the most well-known one. It also has “Who’s That Girl?” … Both of those songs are fabulous, but neither of them (in my opinion) are quite as nice as the strengths of their previous albums!

But this is still a pretty fantastic album … especially when you consider that this is, in most senses, a commercial pop band. It’s quite clear that they care about the art of their music … There’s no filler in here! (Well, you could argue that the 7.5-minute running length of “Paint a Rumour” is filler-ish, but … I think there’s a lot of neat gizmo-technical wizardry stuff in there to dismiss it at all.)

Anyway, nice follow-up. They’ve might have lost some of that real slickness they had established so firmly with Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Screams) that it might have been nice to have (hence the slightly lower rating), but the material is strong … so … um … So what?

Average Song Score: 8.4 out of 10 (A weaker follow-up … not quite as cool. Although I’m hesitant to say this is a clone of their previous album. It sure *sounds* different, anyway.)

Average Song Score: 8.6 (The songs are all pretty solid … there’s not an actual *bad* song on here. Then again, this is the band’s weakest set of songs to date, so …)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (Solid throughout … and there’s some diversity … But the diversity sounds more random than anything else.)

Artist Rating: 8.0 (I’m being harsh, but … seriously … What happened to the sheer awesomeness of their last album? There’s simply not enough awesomeness here!! COME ON!!!)

Track Reviews

Here Comes the Rain Again 9.5/10

A hit! … And it’s a good one, too (granted, it’s not their *best*). They not only have the whole synth-pop thing going (with that slick’n’cool synth-bass line) but they had the awesomeness to put some nice fakey violin in here, too. Not only that, but the melody is catchy. What else do you need? … I mean, I wish that Annie Lennox didn’t look so scary on the album cover, but … at least she doesn’t have Arnold Schwarzenegger muscles.

Regrets 8/10

This song is kind of neat and cool in a rather understated way. The groove is totally 80s pop, but it’s unusual enough to be interesting. That being said, the melody isn’t exactly instantly memorable. Or maybe that’s only because melody isn’t actually the point of this song … it’s the weird groove. Anyway, I’m sort of borderline about this. It’s only kinda entertaining.

Right By Your Side 9/10

…Well, you definitely can’t say that the Eurythmics’ only goal in their career was to make radio hits. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even try things like this song (and their previous one for that matter). This one features a very Caribbean feel with some nicely-programmed steel drum synths. I enjoy the melody and Annie’s certainly having fun singing this one. Songs like this can easily be misfired if the artists aren’t fully sure what they want to do (see ABBA’s early albums for instance), but it actually works well here because the Eurythmics really put some genuine effort in it.

Cool Blue 8.5/10

Definitely fashioned more as an 80s radio pop hit. It can’t hold much of a candle to the pop classics of their previous album, but this is a fine effort, anyway. A snappy synth-pop song with some interesting synthesizer sounds in it. The melody is catchy and the song is danceable … awesome. It doesn’t manage to pump the adrenaline through my veins, but … it’s still okay.

Who’s That Girl 9/10

…Nothing to do with Madonna … thank freaking goodness … Starts out with a sequence in a minor chord (which, it seems, is quite rare for an 80s pop song) … And then it escalates into a very catchy 80s pop song that (I think) was popular on the radio. It’s a good song, anyway. Very classic 80s.

The First Cut 8/10

A bit too usual this time … It relies too much on a groove (which isn’t particularly interesting) and there really isn’t a melody. It’s all listenable, but … dudes, seriously. 80s pop needs a melody! That’s the whole point! (And, by the way, there aren’t loud drums in this … dudes …)

Aqua 8.5/10

BARBIE GURLLLLLLLL!!!! … Or not … Actually this song is totally non-Aqua in the sense that it doesn’t suck. It has a mighty calm little groove … and it’s a pretty good one. Sort of reserved, but it still has Annie Lennox’s singing on it. How can it go wrong?

No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts) 8.5/10

…Again, this is a good song, but it ain’t no great thing. It’s more than 5 minutes long, which automatically works against it, but it does have this slightly freaky slow part in the middle! This synth-pop song is a bit more tuneful than some of the previous ones and I like the groove. Nothing wrong with it, but I’m not excited!

Paint a Rumour 8.5/10

MORE THAN 7.5 MINUTES LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! … Well, this song could be a lot worse. Actually, this is a pretty good song … 7.5 minutes worth of a mesmerizing Kraftwerk-esque groove with a bunch of silly computer-noise sound effects going off all over the place. That also means that there’s not enough Annie on it, but … oh well …

Paint a rumour about the Eurythmics by sending me a freaking letter or something here.