Few musical collaborators have had better instincts for each othe'’s talents than Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, the Eurythmics. Lennox's remarkable vocal flexibility perfectly matched Stewart's penchant for exploring varying styles. Something of an enigma during their '80s heyday, Eurythmics went through almost as many creative changes as David Bowie a decade earlier. But Dave and Annie combined that with strong commercial appeal (which was frequently beyond Bowie), even at their most experimental. The purity of Lennox's voice coupled with her profound love of gospel music always gave the songs more soul than their plink-plonking rivals. By the mid '80s Stewart was recognized as one of the world's foremost producers and his melting pot of influences eventually saw him reintroduce the guitar to the fore of Eurythmics' sound. Dave and Annie's on/off relationship inspired many of the beautiful songs and heartfelt lyrics, the achingly gorgeous Miracle Of Love being just one example. Daring and provocative, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart sold millions of records with their sophisticated, adult-oriented pop.
Six years after their last album Peace, to coincide with the release of digitally re-mastered and expanded versions of all eight of their studio albums, the legendary 80s synthpop duo presents this updated greatest hits collection. Ultimate Collection covers the duo's best songs, from early synth-pop noodlings to brand new material recorded especially for this compilation. Unusually for reformed groups, the new material on this collection is a lot more successful than the duo's previous reunion, 1999's Peace. I've Got A Life, an up-tempo dance song, sounds like a precise collaboration of Annie's soulful harmonies and Dave's forward thinking production techniques; Sweet Dreams meets You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart. Was It Just Another Love Affair, tender and melancholic, also fits in nicely amongst their other gems. The Ultimate Collection opens with I've Got A Life and then runs chronologically until Was It Just Another Love Affair brings the curtain down. 17 of the 19 tracks catalogue their impressive career up to the present and illustrate the duo's diversity, from the austere, synthesized Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) to the funk of Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves, the bluesy rock of Missionary Man, the glorious pop of Here Comes the Rain Again, the AOR of Thorn In My Side and to the calm of 1999 hit I Saved the World Today. All have the same things in common: the impressive vocal range of Annie Lennox, the ground-breaking production and arrangements of Dave Stewart, the often clever lyrics.
Eurythmics played a large part in shaping the landscape of 80's and 90's music. The influence spreads wider than being innovators of the synth-pop genre they are often credited for. Their songs have been pillaged by the biggest names in music: P.Diddy, Marilyn Manson, Utah Saints, Redman (Wu-Tang Clan), Faith Evans and Pink, amongst others. This doesn't include the unofficial usage that's gladly unavoidable within the dance and hip-hop genre. You just have to look through the track listing of this disc to remember the impact these classics had. This album is a tribute to why they are revered as seminal. The absence of Don't Ask Me Why and Angel strangely leave We Are Too Are One the as only hit-yielding album unrepresented. But that aside, its difficult to argue with the track listing. It’s hit after glorious hit, and not one track is a makeweight. This album is a must have in any music collection, offering some of the most significant records of one of the most important acts the UK has ever produced.
