Wiki
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Release Date
4 January 1983
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Length
10 tracks
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) is the second album by British music duo Eurythmics.
After two years of initial commercial failure for the Eurythmics project, this album became a commercial breakthrough for the duo on both sides of the Atlantic, with the title track being especially popular: it remains one of Eurythmics' most recognizable songs, and its music video, popular on MTV in the United States, is memorable for Annie Lennox's gender-bending psycho-sexual imagery. In the wake of this success, the single "Love is a Stranger," previously a flop, achieved hit status as well. It too was accompanied by a striking video, which featured Lennox dressed both as a man and a woman.
Stewart, together with Robert Crash and ex-The Selector bassist Adam Williams, produced the album in Eurythmics' own relatively primitive 8-track studio, winning awards for the quality of the end-result which belied its low-budget origins. Sweet Dreams saw the duo move away from the psychedelic, guitar-tinged band-orientated sound of In the Garden, instead focusing on raw analogue synthesizers (including the Oberheim OB1 and EDP Wasp) and drum machines (particularly the Movement Systems Drum Computer, which featured a graphic visual display of the drum patterns). Whilst the "synth pop" genre had grown in popularity in the preceding years, it was often associated with all male groups and somewhat clinical, emotionless music. Eurythmics (particularly with Lennox's vocal stylings) brought a soul music twist to the electronic sound, which proved popular with broader audiences.
Early Australian, German and US CD releases (printed in Japan) and the 2005 reissue version of this album have a slightly longer version of "This City Never Sleeps." The length of 6:41 is due to some mixed sound effects and a backmasked message by David A. Stewart saying, "I enjoyed making that there record. Very good, very good." that total 21 seconds.
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