Tourists - Greatest Hits [Import]

Tourists | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 17, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: MSI:BMG/CAMDEN
• ASIN: B00000JOOJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,851 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Blind Among the Flowers

2. I Only Want to Be With You

3. Useless Duration of Time

4. Ain't No Room

5. Save Me

6. Fools Paradise

7. So Good to Be Back Home Again

8. It Doesn't Have to Be This Way

9. Loneliest Man in the World

10. In the Morning (When the Madness Has Faded)

11. All Life's Tragidies

12. Everywhere You Look

13. Deadly Kiss

14. Don't Say I Told You So

15. From the Middle Room

16. Nothing I Do

17. One Step Nearer the Edge

18. Angels and Demons

19. So You Want to Go Away Now

20. Strange Sky

Editorial Reviews

CD debut for 20 track collection of pre-Eurythmics gems.Includes the hit singles 'I Only Want To Be With You', 'SoGood To Be Back Home', 'Blind Amoung The Flowers' and 'TheLoneliest Man In The World'. 1997 Camden release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound and poetic pop music, July 11, 2000

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tourists - Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

This appealing collection contains twenty tuneful songs from a band that deserved to have had greater success. Oh well, at least their demise gave us Eurythmics! There is depth, poetics & magic in their compositions and arrangements. Every track is special in its own way, from the sublime neo-psychedelic Blind Among The Flowers and the melancholic Loneliest Man In The World (from their first album) to the fast-paced I Only Want To Be With You and So Good To Be Back Home Again to the eerie excursion In The Morning When The Madness Has Faded which ends in a chilling howl (from the 2nd album Reality Effect).

There's more psychedelia in Angels & Demons, the pop is perfect on the aforementioned cover I Only Wanna Be With You and So You Want To Go Away Now (from the 3rd album Luminous Basement) whilst dub & reggae influences surface on Aint No Room. On certain tracks they have an almost Byrds-like sound with chiming, jangling guitars and soaring vocal harmonies. Although I like every single song, the following also deserve special mention: All Life's Tragedies, Don't Say I Told You So, Everywhere You Look & It Doesn't Have Be This Way.

There is one omission, Walls & Foundations, which makes their Luminous Basement album essential still; being a magnificent work, it is well worth seeking out for fans of Lennox & Stewart. They went on to release the highly experimental first Eurythmics album In the Garden which reflects the same sadness expressed here; a track like She's Invisible Now in a way mirrors The Loneliest Man In The World. The debut was followed by the more accessible Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) that spawned the massive hits Love Is A Stranger and Sweet Dreams. Devoted fans of Eurythmics really ought to investigate the music of The Tourists.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Representation of the Tourists anthology, February 6, 2001

By 

"littleghost" (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tourists - Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

As far as greatest hits albums go, this is a very good one. We get several fun pictures of young, fearless Annie Lennox; great liner notes; and 20 songs!

As a longtime fan of Annie Lennox, Eurythmics, and The Tourists... I have to say that I don't know why the other reviewers here commented that this album is "mostly cover versions." The one and only cover version here is a (very well done) remake of the Dusty Springfield classic "I Only Want To Be With You." Pete Coombs wrote almost all of The Tourists' songs. Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox co-wrote a few, but The Tourists was really Coombs's band. (This is what lead to the band's eventual breakup: Annie and Dave felt that they were acting as mouthpieces for songs they hadn't written, and they were ready to pursue their own songwriting ventures, thereby giving birth to Eurythmics).

For fans of Annie Lennox and Eurythmics, here's what you can expect from The Tourists: Annie only gets some of the lead vocals. Most songs are duets with Pete Coombs, and they are not the kind of duets where the male and female lead take turns; instead, they sing together and sometimes sing over each other. And the guitar-driven sound of the music is somewhat like Eurythmics's psychedelic first album "In The Garden" with the energy of their rock album "Be Yourself Tonight."

Standout songs here include "All Life's Tragedies" (Annie gets the lead vocal on this one, and she sounds AMAZING, especially on the chours); "I Only Want To Be With You," "So Good To Be Back Home Again," (the Tourists' only other Top Ten hit, featuring Annie's trademark go-go dance style keyboard playing that was a fun motif throughout Tourists albums) and "From The Middle Room," which is the only song composed by Lennox and Stewart without Coombs. This last one sounds like pure Eurythmics, with Annie's traditionally sparse keyboard work. Also interesting is another ballad, "Strange Sky," where Annie once again gets the lead vocals to herself. This song builds to a crescendo with Annie's spirited wail sounding uncannily like Grace Slick... something the still-brilliant singer is too tame to do these days.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little collection, May 31, 2002

By 

P. Dunlop "pdxtomct" (PORTLAND, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tourists - Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

The Tourists only released a few albums, the best of which was arguably Reality Effect in 1979. This collection combines the highlights of Reality Effect with some of the band's other best moments. The result is a surprisingly tight collection of quality songs that are representative of what this band was all about. Some of the songs hint at what was to come when Annie and Dave formed the Eurythmics. It's quite obvious the Tourists were heavily influenced by the Byrds, the Beatles and the Kinks, among others. Highly recommended.