Eurythmics Album: “In The Garden (Deluxe Edition) [Digipak] [Remaster”

This experimental, "avant garde" album gave no indication of the Eurythmics' subsequent melodic pop direction and megastardom. It fits in more with the work of late 70s experimentalists like Brian Eno, Holger Czukay and the like. Sometimes it even sounds like the later Cocteau Twins or "world music." It's a very atmospheric work and does contain at least two classics: the intricate Belinda with its cascading guitar textures, mournful drone and oriental backing vocal building up to a scorching climax is quite impressive, as is She's Invisible Now, a sorrowful song with a haunting countdown effect. English Summer is replete with crickets & stuff, whilst Your Time Will Come also has a catchy melody. So, not recommended for Eurythmics fans. People who like Dead Can Dance, the above-mentioned German artists, Brian Eno's "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts," Deep Forest etc. will certainly enjoy it.

This is the Eurythmics' first album, the one before "Sweet Dreams." I am surprised that it was re-released because it's been available to fans willing to search for years. I bought the LP and CD at least a decade ago without having to go to Europe to do it. Anyway, this album is sweet and sing-songy. This is way before the group began dabbling in abstract sounds and androgynous imagery. The album is far more influenced by the pair's days in a British group called The Tourists. It is also heavily Blondie-influenced as well. I hope the re-release will lead to the release of the video they made for "I'm Never Gonna Cry Again" which was banned from British airwaves due to some silly music union rules from two decades ago. On "Sing Sing", Annie sings in French, an occurrence which is quite rare for the group. The last song "Revenge" was the influence for the name of the group's sixth studio album. People who became fans of Annie during her "Diva" album days may be disappointed. Still, all hardcore Eurythmics fans should own this record.

Like a good book series, this album makes more sense put into perspective. Way, way back, Dave and Annie were making music in a group called The Catch. They produced a few good hits, and then moved into a group called The Tourists. Sadly, The Tourists are mostly known today (if at all) as the band that covered Dusty Springfield's hit "I Only Want to be With You". Using one of the same producers they worked with in the Tourists, Dave and Annie went off on their own and created Eurythmics (no "The" before Eurythmics please!). In The Garden was their first effort. Later albums are what most of us think about when we think of Eurythmics. Listeners that enjoy the early songs such as Sweet Dreams, This City Never Sleeps, and Jennifer may enjoy In The Garden since it uses many of the same simple yet sophisticated lyric structures noteworthy in later releases. Standouts on this album include English Summer, Belinda, She's Invisible Now, and Never Gonna Cry Again. I hesitate to call this a must have for the casual listener. However, if you own most of their later works and appreciate the evolution from one release to the next, you'll enjoy placing this CD in the slot after The Tourists and before what is wrongly called Eurythmics' debut album, Sweet Dreams.

The Eurythmics' first album is a perfectly overlooked piece of music. Recorded in Cologne and co-produced by Conny Plank, this record features some guests stars, coming from German krautrockers Can, proto-industrial rockers D.A.F., and Blondie. Due to these circumstances, the music has this electronic and mechanical feel so typical for German bands like Can, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream. Annie's singing is completely different to subsequent albums, girlish, ethereal, and distant. Although it's quite a step from EU's well-known mainstream sound, this album contains four very good songs. "Belinda" with its well-flowing guitar rock is one of their best tracks ever. Among the more pop-oriented pieces, "English summer" and "Revenge" stand out. The band's first single, "Never gonna cry again" comes up in a style reminiscent of Yazoo. Besides these four enjoyable tracks, there's a serious lack of good melodies and songs. While "In the garden" is not a good purchase for casual fans, it is worthwhile for hardcore fans who want to dig a bit deeper into Dave's and Annie's history. On the whole, this album still is more interesting and rewarding than EU's later-era work.

If there is one constant feeling on this baffling 1981 debut album, it is of melodious gloom and cool, refreshing, melancholic, English rain, but not in the bad way. "English Summer", the opening track on the album sets a haunting mood for the rest of the album. Large and exquisite bass lines, ravishing, whispering ghost-like, angelic voices (alto and tenor alike), clarity of drums and French horns, a little bit of sampling (how avant-garde is that?- way ahead of its time). Annie Lennox's voice is at one of its purest and still untamed moments, nevertheless a lot more timid and hushed than the Tourists' days. It's as if it were a new beginning (and in a way, it was) and Annie would like for us to discover her true voice, but not just yet, maybe on the next album!

"Belinda's" guitar riffs introduce Dave Stewart into the album (without concentrating on his being only a producer/co-producer of the album) while Annie smoothly sings across this heartbreaking track. "Take Me To Your Heart" is one of the weaker tracks of the album as it feels a little inexpressive. The verses, chorus and bridge sound as if they were too shy to travel outside the octave. "She's Invisible Now" brings something new like the pre-robotic "Sweet Dreams (are made of this)" voice and production.

"Your Time Will Come" is an upbeat (post punk pre-new wave) race towards time. It's got the slow and unknowing, veiled intro and the chorus races to a culminating point of multiple voices before breaking into a horror film-like ghostly voice. The song is an opener for the upcoming punk-moody "Caveman Head" which loses its credibility because of its very soft sung lyrics. There is no violence or anarchy in this song but it does bring two different styles (musically and lyrically) into the works, an element of punk and the other, a scorching love song.

Why "Never Gonna Cry Again" made it as the first single of the album will always elude me. Albeit a song of broken-heartedness (which opens the atmosphere to the entire Eurythmics CAREER) it is not the hardest hitting or saddest love song ever written. The gloomy and masterful "All The Young (People Of Today)" is a well-crafted moralistic song (lyrics suggest this is a man's world and women should be able to find their place in it- the pre- Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves song) of psychedelic verses versus beautiful and soft, heavenly choruses melting back into a normality before breaking out into psychedelic proportions again and hypnotizing the listener with the same notes playing on the keyboard. A chaotic ending representing the world in itself closes the track. This song includes goose bumps, but only for the avid Eurythmics' fan.

"Sing-Sing" is a cute attempt at explaining how animals get butchered to feed humankind, sung in French. Without the lyrics, this song is simple and light, and to a certain extent, almost disco-like fun. Adding the fable-like lyrics (the animals in the song are given human forms distinctions as fully functional citizens who work, take their bicycles to work and work for a living- or dying for that matter) gives it a reflective edge on vegetarianism and makes you think twice about eating any meat.

The album closes with "Revenge" (a long-term relationship between Annie and the actual act awaits her for years to come). Albeit, this album is a career-defying and career-defining moment which will lead to the eventual, more commercial "Sweet Dreams" a year later, but is a definite buy for anyone trying to understand the Eurythmics evolution, and the bridge from the Tourists to Eurythmics. An emerald in a crown, that's what this is!