492: Eurythmics — Touch (1983, RCA)

Overall rating: 2

Level of prior familiarity: 1

How I listened: vinyl, at home

Chalk one up for vinyl: it kind of forces you to listen in one sitting, or maybe two. Because I really didn’t like this album very much. I think I picked it up in a bargain bin somewhere, and this was the first time I’d ever spun it.

Not that I don’t like Annie Lennox, or even Eurythmics (Dave Stewart and I don’t see eye to eye on things, but that’s for a different article…). I think Annie might be one of the most important female cultural icons of all time.

But I found this album trite, sometimes boring, and weirdly derivative. Maybe the more correct description is dated. I mean, there’s a damn calypso song here (“Right By Your Side”) performed entirely on primitive synthesizers (plus phantom saxophone solo). I’m sure in 1983 this was awesome. Today it sounds lame, at least to my ears.