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Eurythmics.
"Well they came about by accident really," states Dave Stewart
in reference to I've Got A Life, and Was It Just Another
Love Affair?, two new songs released on the Eurythmics 'Ultimate
Collection', as well as appearing with a host of other rarities
amidst the 'Boxed' box set anthology featuring their eight studio
albums. "Annie [Lennox] was staying at my house with me and
my wife for a couple of weeks, and I'd just put in a new studio
which I share with Glen Ballard, which is all John Lennon-like
with a white piano and all," he explains, "and we just sat down
and before we knew it we had three or four new songs and we
then sent them to our manager who then said that they were great
and that we should do something with them. Before too long we
were dragging out loads of old tapes and photos and putting
them together for the box set."
What struck me the most about their latest material was much
how the duo had maintained that original 'eighties dance-pop
synthesiser sound that made them famous with such singles as
Love Is A Stranger, Who's That Girl?, Thorn
In My Side, Would I Lie To You?, and Missionary
Man. "You're right," acknowledges Stewart, "and in many
ways that was a tip of a hat to ourselves, but Annie and I also
both love that analogue synthesizer sound. We both love the
art of writing songs; where a lot of the bands in the 'eighties
were more interested in fame and spending money and not actually
concerned with the songs and having any future. Whereas Annie
and I would get in, write the songs, record them as quickly
as we could and not worry about our previous hits or whether
the next one will be a hit."
Having recently been entered into the UK Hall of Fame, I comment on the induction speech made by Sir Bob Geldof: "It goes without saying that Annie Lennox's voice is one of the great works of British art. We have simply never produced any female singer of her passion and range before. It is equally redundant to point out that Dave Stewart's virtuosity as a musician is of a higher order and one that turns him into one of the greatest guitar players. Combined, of course, they are devastating. Their great achievement as writers was to put substance, meaning and weight to the style over-dependency behind the majority of 'eighties bands. From this led the endless and innumerable classics from the Eurythmics hit factory, the 70 million album sales."
"Yeah, that was quite an amazing speech he pulled out of his pocket that day," Stewart chuckles, "and it really meant a lot to hear him say that. I first got involved with Bob just after he did Sport Aid, which came after Live Aid, we'd shared a house together and he'd be doing all that work from home, he's an amazing guy. I'm now involved with Nelson Mandella's 46664 project, which deals with the AIDS crisis in Africa, and quite often Bono and Bob and I will sit around until all hours discussing humanitarian issues."
Getting back to retrospective side of their music, I ask Stewart
what he thought of Marilyn Manson's darkly perverse take on
their flagship composition Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).
"I had no problem with that but Annie was horrified at first,"
he reveals. "I love the way that he can take anything and make
it his own. I then went to see him play and I spoke to him afterwards,
and have spoken to him many times since and do you what? He's
actually a nice guy and he's the most knowledgeable person I've
ever met when it comes to issues like Christianity, religion
and European culture."
Reading up on the band prior to this interview, I was amused to learn how their label, SonyBMG had made the papers after it was revealed they had paid street performers to learn a selection of songs to play to commuters on the London tube. "That's right," confirms Stewart, "and it's not an entirely new thing where record companies would pay buskers to get on trains and perform their artists' material to promote them. I guess its way to remind people that The Eurythmics are still around."
Somehow I think there's very little danger that record of the Eurythmics' music will ever disappear.
Steve Jones
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'Ultimate Collection' is out now through SonyBMG.
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