Amazon.com essential recording
Casting off their rep for digital iciness, the Eurythmics got
Be Yourself Tonight over on electric fire and the fluttering warmth of Annie Lennox's voice; the first two seconds of "There Must Be an Angel" are the prettiest seconds ever recorded. In fact, it's essentially a deep soul album in white-English-geek drag, from the Stax horns of "Would I Lie to You" to the guest shots by
Aretha Franklin and
Stevie Wonder to Lennox and
Elvis Costello doing their best Marvin-and-Tammi impression on "Adrian." But the style points wouldn't matter without great songs and this disc has some of the band's finest: the best feminist anthem ever written, rockers that dig their heels in deep, and love songs fueled by real longing and joy.
--Douglas Wolk