Customer Reviews

Be Yourself Tonight

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I think this album is what definitely put Eurythmics in the history books. Their 2 previous albums, Sweet Dreams and Touch, brought them into '80s new wave. But as New Wave began to die down in 1985, instead of fading away like other numerous one-hit wonders of the decade, Lennox and Stewart came back strong. They proved to the music world that they were more than capable of just synthsizers and repititious lyrics. This album went platinum and spawned off 3 Top 40 hits, "Would I Lie To You?", which peaked at #5, becoming the duo's 3rd Top 10 hit in 3 years, "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)", and the I-Am-Woman-Hear-Me-Roar anthem, "Sisters Are Doin' It (For Themselves), a powerful duet with the soul-diva herself, Aretha Franklin. Eurythmics weren't afraid at all to try new sounds, and it showed in Stewart's hard-rock guitar wizardy, and Lennox's engaging voice and video theatrics. An album definitely worth buying if you're doing an '80s revival collection.

...lies Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox's fifth studio release, 1985's Be Yourself Tonight. Somewhere between the sobriety of the synthesizers in Sweet Dreams, Touch and the 1984 soundtrack and the mechanic rock and roll of Revenge is this collection of sometimes breezy, always soulful and 100% all-natural rock-n-roll.

There is no other Eurythmics album that is as outgoing as Be Yourself Tonight, no album with nearly the verve or the audacity. There are no apologies for the mix of synths and guitars here or for the mix of guitars and choirs, and that lack of restriction makes this album all the more worth having.

Hardly the least among the audacious elements is Lennox holding her own vocally in the face of The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in "Sisters Are Doing it for Themselves." Lennox won critical accolades for her divinely-inspired singing of "There Must be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)," which features Stevie Wonder in two brilliantly spontaneous harmonica solos. And people remember and still sing along with the angry woman-getting-out-of-her-kitchen-and-dumping-her-man's-ass hit "Would I Lie to You?," featuring a delicious horn section.

There are songs here to fit any mood, it seems, and yet they somehow all come out with a touch of soul that Lennox and Stewart have not exuded before now. "I Love You Like a Ball and Chain" has understated sexual candor. "Conditioned Soul" runs the emotinoal gambit from lilly-white lovely to intensely frightened. "Adrian" features a beautiful duet between Lennox and Elvis Costello. "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)" mixes Caribbean rhythm and lush poetry: I will be your storm at seas, indeed.

One of my personal favorites is the original B-side to "Would I Lie to You," "Here Comes That Sinking Feeling," a song with the perfect mix of somber mood, undercurrent guitar licks and horns to keep you dancing. Like what Lennox sings about disappointment, this song leaves a smile before it goes.

This album spawned some memorable singles and came at a time when rock was in the middle of a pop-inspired period: just hard enough to claim that Bryan Adams was a rock star but just soft enough for you to appreciate the balladry of Phil Collins and Sting. Be Yourself Tonight at the time was -- and nowadays still is -- a breath of fresh, creative air.

"Be Yourself Tonight" is the album that made Eurythmics graduate from cooly stylized New Wavers to a major rock 'n' roll force.

From the opening guitar licks of "Would I Lie To You," there is a directness to the music that wasn't there before. Although Eurythmics hadn't completely abandoned their previous use of electronics in their music (that wouldn't happen until 1986, when they released the "Revenge" album), here on "Be Yourself Tonight" they integrated keyboards with guitars, horns, drums (instead of a drum machine or the synthesized beats of "Sweet Dreams"). The songs fuse pop, soul, gospel, and classic rock. Overall, "Be Yourself Tonight" has an energy that Dave and Annie hadn't had since their days in their previous band, The Tourists, in the late 1970's.

And Annie Lennox's voice... wow! Her singing was always soulful, but here on "Be Yourself Tonight," Lennox sings with a new warmth. She sizzles on "Would I Lie To You," and she performs a vocal powerhouse duet with none other than Aretha Franklin on "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves." She also shows a softer side for the first time here, especially on the lilting "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)" and alternates between hard rocker and beautiful balladeer within the verses and choruses of "Better To Have Lost In Love," the album's closing number.

The only thing missing from this album is "Grown Up Girls." This song was the B-side to the second single from this album: "There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart" (a collaboration with Annie's idol, Stevie Wonder). "Grown Up Girls" is Eurythmics' fiercest foray into disco (yes, disco). Annie's vocals are vocoded, and she alternates between singing in French and English. And the song never relents from its Hi-NRg beats-per-minute frenzy. With the predominance of house music in the 90's, and the advent of electronica, "Grown Up Girls" could still pack a dancefloor today. And considering how "Be Yourself Tonight" is such a timeless collection of all musical genres that Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox recorded, "Grown Up Girls" would have rounded out this album very nicely. (After all, "Be Yourself Tonight" only has 9 tracks... not uncommon for 80's albums, but short by today's standards.)

Over the course of their career, Eurythmics would move from rock to pop, and from acoustic to electric, and back again. While most of their albums contained either/or, the "Be Yourself Tonight" album has it all. This album represents the definitive Eurythmics sound, and the songwriting and production values sound as fresh and inspired in the new millenium as they did at the time of this album's original release in the mid-80's. TREAT YOURSELF TONIGHT and buy this CD!

If Annie lennox singing "There must be an Angel" doesn't make your heart burst & your spirit soar, you are a sad, sad, cold-hearted person! Add some passion to your life - buy this CD and play it frequently!

Over the course of three albums, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart had carved a mighty impressive block of work. But for most, despite the great singles, Eurythmics were hampered by the limitations of a "new wave" sound. So when the MTV World Premiere (remember those?) debut of the video "Would I Lie To You" came on, what a shock to see Annie come out in a leather jacket as Dave coyly whispered in her ear..."just be yourself tonight"...and Annie wailed into Dave's ripping guitar chord with gale force soul.

All of a sudden, everything changed. Eurythmics had crossed the bridge from being a very interesting band to a great band. "Be Yourself Tonight" was their most ambitious album to that date; proving that the duo had more up their sleeves than previously thought. Hints of soul that dotted "Touch" and "Sweet Dreams" burst through on "There Must Be An Angel" (featuring not only Stevie Wonder on harmonica, but most of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers) in a manner that only Culture Club had even come close to. But there was no way Boy George would have ever kept up with Aretha Franklin the way that the empowerment anthem "Sisters are Doing It For Themselves" had Annie cavorting with the Queen herself. Yet at the same time, the lovely "Adrian" found Annie making a soulman out of Elvis Costello.

Even without the star power of the guests, "Be Yourself Tonight" shown bright on its own. Other, lesser heard songs like "Baby's Coming Back" and "Conditioned Soul" found Dave and Annie working the ideas found on the original albums with the addition of organic horns amidst the swirling synths. To bring the album to a rousing close, there was "Better To Have Lost In Love" which was the most human song that Lennox/Stewart had written.

If it isn't obvious that this is my favorite Eurythmics album, let me state it for the record now. One or two of the other albums may have sold better or been a shade more popular, but "Be Yourself Tonight" was the album that still holds a place in my CD collection. To me, it was the pivotal moment when Dave and Annie broke their icey veneer and really did "become themselves."

Whoah! This album kicks up a storm! I think it was intended as the band's excursion into R&B and Soul, but it's much more than that in its stylistic variety, many moods and moving songs. It starts revealing its pleasures with the uptempo Would I Lie To You, followed by the delicate pop of There Must Be An Angel, and reaches a climax on the duet with Aretha Franklin, a brilliant tour de force. Conditioned Soul is another gem with beautiful intricate and dramatic guitar infusions and Lennox at her vocal best on some of their most poetic lyrics. Not as resigned as Savage, Be Yourself Tonight still has an undertone of sorrow, as in the tender Adrian. A great slice of 80's R&B follows in the form of It's Alright, followed by the most sorrowful of all, the entrancing Here Comes That Sinking Feeling with its doubled-up vocals (one set sounding like it's spoken over the telephone) which gives it an eerie feel. It concludes with the bittersweet Better To Have Lost In Love, a haunting finale that is a rousing affirmation of hope. Some of Eurythmics most literate and profound work is found here, but it's serious stuff and not always as accessible as their other masterpieces like Sweet Dreams or Revenge. Then again, it's nowhere near as difficult as In The Garden or as bleak as Savage. Be Yourself Tonight is an album of real soul.

This was one of the best albums of 1985 and it is the Eurythmics best. It was a landmark album for them. The Eurythmics went from a very good new wave band to a major force in music.

All of the songs are excellent and inventive. The use of guest singers Aretha Franklin and Elvis Costello adds depth to the songs. Although the Eurythmics were toying with mixing soul and new wave and electronica on earlier albums, the blend really comes out here.

This was the Eurythmics' peak. The follow up to this album (Revenge) was disappointing, but a bigger seller. The Eurythmics broke up a couple of albums later only to reform in the late 90's. They continue to make great songs and music, but none of their CD's have been as consistent as this one.

GREAT ryhtmn and soul!! Can't make my feet be still when I listen to it!!

Excellent selection of rocking riffs and flowing melodies. A lot of singles came from this robust album... "I Love you Like A Ball and Chain," "Would I Lie to You?", "There Must Be An Angel (Playing with my Heart)," and others. The icing on the cake is the duet with Aretha Franklin on "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves." Melodic tunes such as "Better to Have Lost in Love (Than Never To Have Loved At All)" and "Adrian" really tie this package together. If you like the Eurythmics and you're not familiar w/ this album, you owe it to yourself to pick up a CD.

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