We Pooed At Once

Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10

After hearing that debacle experiment Savage, I am almost surprised that the Eurythmics have managed to make such a bounce-back with We Too Are One. It seems like most artists fall into severe bouts of depression after such a dismal failure especially when they were trying to be artistically different. Note what happened to Tim Buckley after he released Starsailor! Although that album wasn't a dismal failure, artistically. Savage was probably the worst mess you could think of... Considering how tasteful these guys generally are, that was amost unimaginable.

But anyway, that's behind them now. They're back to making tasteful pop music that appeals to the masses. Although they're hardly back to the same old levels that they achieved with their earlier pop successes! This is just a solid album that, unfortunately, ended up being their final album until the 1999 reunion. Well, this album definitely has its fair share of gems. Notably, I wouldn't want to replace "You Hurt Me (And I Hate You)" with anything on the planet. That's a real masterpiece.

Also, it's hard to argue with such a nicely written pop song "The King and Queen of America" --- the production is quite complex and doesn't even manage to go overboard. How many of their contemporaries can claim to pull that off?

Unfortunately, there is a good deal of mediocre material on here. "Revival" is probably the only really *bad* song on here and even then it's OK. It tries a little too hard to be Michael Jackson when this band should have been spending their entire concentration on being the Eurythmics. They just couldn't write a catchy groove there. "Sylvia" is an interesting mess. That's probably the only song on here that has less-than-average instrumentation standards. It's also rather feeble as a songwriting attempt I hate to say. Otherwise, everything is pretty decent.

This album is overproduced as heck, but if they're able to pull it off this well, there's hardly any room to complain about it. The instrumentation is more interesting than the melodies 80 percent of the time --- I hate to say that most albums from this era weren't able to claim that.

All in all, this is weaker compared to their greats such as In the Garden and Sweet Dreams, but it's definitely better than Savage! Well, that's worth something at least!

Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 (This is one of their weaker efforts. It's a big improvement over Savage, but there's no reason to get excited over this follow-up.)

Average Song Score: 8.2 (This isn't their finest collection of songs, although there are a few greats scattered here and there. None of this got much radio play, but who cares?)

Album Tilt: 7.5 (The overall experience is on the boring side. There's a few mediocre tracks you have to sit politely through to get to the better ones.)

Artist Rating: 8.0 (Not a feat, but they're doing mainstream '80s music and being tasteful about it. That's all I ask.)

Track Reviews

We Too Are One 8.5/10

This track begins with a strange instrument that sounds like a morph between a trumpet and Annie Lennox's voice. I'm not sure what they did to produce that unusual sound. At any rate, this is an entirely decent album opener. The melody is catchy and the instrumental is solid --- it panders to the trends, but it's not annoying. That's all you can ask for!

The King and Queen of America 9.5/10

The instrumentation proves these guys had a lot of taste. It's difficult to explain. It's clearly overproduced 1989 pop music, but it's actually enjoyable and fun --- compare it to stuff like Mariah Carey from the era and you can't help but appreciate it. Anyway, this is another catchy song. The melody is catchy though not particularly memorable. It's full of good spirits, and it'll probably lift yours as you're listening to it.

Baby's Gonna Cry (My, My) 7.5/10

It's OK though it's not so easy to get caught up in. I guess the melody is the culprit, although it's technical quality probably isn't that different from the previous two. The instrumentation continues to be overproduced, but I actually like it. It's all balanced really well --- and they even deliver a lot of guitars with this pop tune. This isn't bad.

Don't Ask Me Why 9/10

OK, this sounds a lot like the previous three tracks (there's not a lot of diversity here unfortunately). But I'm enjoying it. So who cares? The overproduction is glorious again --- they know exactly how to layer on the sounds to produce a great atmosphere. There's some nice chord changes here and there, and I like the melody. Madonna really should have signed up for lessons from these guys if she had an ounce of humility.

Angel 8/10

Oh finally a ballad! Here is a pretty little song with about eight layers of thick production. Yes, they go a little bit too far with their dated instrumentation techniques here, but it's still fairly constructive. If this song was the only thing you had to judge 1989 by, you probably wouldn't think it was too bad. Anyway, the melody is fine although the chorus is the only thing worth mentioning. The whole experience is entertaining, but it does grow rather stale by the end.

Revival 6.5/10

This seems to be an attempt at recreating Michael Jackson's funk-pop '80s music. Hm. The groove definitely should have been catchier! The groove is stale, which makes this all seem very difficult to enjoy. Hm. They should have just stuck with their usual stuff...

You Hurt Me (And I Hate You) 10/10

Ah, I'm glad they followed my advice! This track is positively glorious --- especially in comparison. It doesn't start that well although that dramatic opening is certainly interesting. What follows is an interesting update of disco music. Of course, Annie Lennox is (pretty much) the greatest female singer of all time, so she's perfect here. The melody is catchy and it soars --- their instrumentation is complex and glorious. Wow!!!!! Let's give the Eurythmics a big cookie. It seems like overproduction normally sucks, but they knew exactly what they were doing.

Sylvia 7/10

This might be a bad song. I'm not sure! Well, it's definitely weaker than the previous track --- that's all I know at this point! This isn't too enjoyable or memorable. The instrumentation consists of brooding, pounding synth strings. They were possibly trying to write an "Eleanor Rigby" of the '80s, but it didn't really work. The harmonies are pretty good, but for some reason that didn't translate into a catchy melody. Hhhmm.

How Long? 8/10

They follow that up with a more mainstream pop rocker. I like the bass-line although that's about the limit of its appeal! (Ah, what a shame that.) The song is fun for about the first 30 seconds, and then the enjoyment factor drops off considerably after that point. Oh well, it's still fine. The overproduction worked well enough.

When the Day Goes Down 8/10

This is an OK ballad, but it's difficult to get into. It might grow on you anyway. The melody is fine but not extremely memorable. The instrumentation is overboard-city again, but I still think they know what they're doing. This is all a little bit tedious! At the same time, they seem to do something to keep me engaged --- at least a little bit.

BONUS TRACKS

"Precious" is alright --- the groove seems rather awkward. There doesn't seem to be much to the melody. At least they had the sense to keep this away from the album.... meh.....

"See No Evil" has a certain likability although it also has an awkward groove. I'm not sure what these bonus tracks were meant for --- maybe they were planning another album. Well, they definitely lost something --- whatever it was.

And now it's just other versions of "The King and Queen of America" and "Angel" ... the enthusiasts will care! I'm not really one, so I guess I don't care.

"Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" is a neat ballad --- there's no reason that one couldn't have made it on the album. It has a nice mood, and the melody definitely suits Lennox's vocals. Yea... that one's nice.

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