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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive Eurythmics album, October 27, 1999
Savage is the definitive Eurythmics album and one of the high points of the 80's for this reviewer. Coming on the heels of two rather conventional rock-and-soul albums, Savage marked a return to the duo's experimental synth origins, taking the musical form that they commanded so effortlessly to new heights of creativity. Yet the bleak (some would say oblique) and dark subject matter had the effect of alienating mainstream listeners, even though the songs were the best they ever crafted. The album veers between bitter introspection over a failed relationship and angry ranting that is sometimes generalized to all men (such as on the ironically titled I Need A Man). A couple of tracks border on hysteria, like Beethoven and Do You Want to Break Up, which sound like nervous breakdowns in progress. The inaccessibility of the style and subject matter meant that only the truest of Eurythmics fans would remain devoted to this album.Ask fans why they like this album and you'll get a bunch of responses: It's deep, hypnotic electronic grooves (as on the gorgeous, minimalist Heaven); the stunning "wall of sound" feel of the songs (notably Shame, their finest single ever); the angry, searing lyrics; and especially the subtly subversive and utterly compelling music videos, like I Need A Man, in which Annie Lennox, grotesquely tarted up, seems to parody a transvestite, self-consciously lip synching to her own song like in a drag show. (Think about it: she's playing a man playing a woman!) Incidentally, the most compelling photographs of the icily beautiful Lennox come from this era - her tranny phase. A number of photos from the Savage sessions were published in Alistair Thain's collected works - a coffee table photography book with Lennox on the cover that is sadly out of print (I could kick myself for not shelling out the $70 for it when I saw it in L.A. years ago). The book includes interesting commentary about the photo sessions. Thain reveals that he himself is the photographer lurking in the shadows of Sophie Muller's melancholy video for Savage, while Muller's cam was intended to be a voyeuristic participant of the session. For this reviewer, though, it will always be one thing that draws me again and again to this album: That Voice. Lennox's glorious alto in the 90's is sounding more worn (yet somehow richer), but back in 1987 it was in peak form, capable of dizzying highs and elegant vocal pirouettes, R&B belting and straight folk singing. Like Eurythmics' music, her voice defies categorization and typecasting. A profound paradox of Savage is that Lennox delivers one of her most soulful performances in one of the finest synth-rock albums ever made (listen, for instance, to You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart and tell me that is not the sound of a soul singer). Her voice is compelling even when she is not singing (like during the bridge of the gorgeous half-sung, half-spoken Heaven, in which every line is incomplete as if the singer was trailing off into a oblivion of ecstasy only she can feel). But enough rhapsodizing. Get this album for yourself.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Harrowingly beautiful, June 27, 2003
Years before Annie Lennox became a solo superstar, she and Dave Stewart released this dark and beautiful album from the leftfield. Savage was pretty much ignored in the US but over the years, it came to be regarded by many Eurythmics fans as the duo's best album, and Dave Stewart himself declared it to be his all-time favorite Eurythmics project. Yet Savage is an album that is hard to embrace on its surface. Coldly electronic for the most part and emotionally bipolar, Annie Lennox was clearly keeping her audience at arm's length even as she bared her soul through some of the most harrowing lyrics she ever wrote. If the music was distancing, Lennox's persona was even more so. Playing her sexual politics to a hilt behind a persona that blurred gender lines more aggressively than ever, Annie Lennox seemed not to care what the fans or critics thought. When the video for I Need A Man played on MTV, a collective "huh?" could be heard as few recognized the blonde vamp with pouting cleavage in the video to be her. The most subversive moment in the video came when, for just a moment, the wig was knocked slightly askew and you were made to wonder whether she was vamping it or playing a drag queen. "Is it my turn? You want me to sing now? OK..." Little did you know she was inviting you into a private drag show. Musically, Savage is equally bold and aggressive, the greatest showcase of the fire-and-ice creative tension of Eurythmics' two members. Mostly electronica, the album will surprise you by cutting into hard rock or neo-disco, then abruptly stripping down to guitar and voice. Admittedly all of this is too bewildering, bipolar and eclectic for most people to appreciate. But if you're willing to take risks and plumb the depths with Dave and Annie, you'll be richly rewarded.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eurythmics Finest Hour, October 29, 2000
This CD has a fairly unique legacy. It is probably the CD that most Eurythmics fans would say is their favourite yet it was the least successful (with the exception of "In the Garden") the band were to release.The CD was released after Dave & Annie rocked the world with the "Revenge" CD. That CD was full of guitar and horn driven rock numbers and ballads. Exciting but not ground breaking. Most people were probably expecting more of the same. Instead they got "Savage" which could not have been more different. This CD was electronic and original. Dave has stated that the album in some ways was Annie's first solo project as she worked through a great many issues in the lyrics. The videos to focused mainly on Annie with Dave rarely appearing. Despite rave reviews for the music and the videos the CD did poorly. One single "Shame" actually failed to enter the British top 40. As if shocked by the poor performance of the CD Dave and Annie began to perform some of the tracks acoustically which I felt did them no justice at all. In the end "Beethoven", "Shame", "I Need a Man" (Great performance & stunning video) and "You have Placed a Chill in my Heart" were all released as singles. Dave and Annie tried to return to the succesful formula of "Revenge" with the "We TOO are One" follow up to "Savage". ALthough this was more succesful "Savage" remains Dave & Annie's finest hour. Original and ground breaking. Do yourselves a favour and have a listen.
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