Backtracking 1983: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and Touch by Eurythmics

Thanks to KLPX and Jonathan L's Sunday night must-listen Virgin Vinyl, I heard the Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" one Sunday night early in 1983 – probably in the month of February – and picked up the album of the same name the very next weekend at the Base Exchange for $4.99. The song probably showed up in the rotation on KWFM, which had been doing an AOR hybrid format featuring consultant Rick Carroll's Rock of the 80s since December 1982, shortly after that.

KWFM was one of my favorite stations of the time and it had started a Saturday night music video show (Rock & Roll Picture Show ran on the local ABC outlet KGUN beginning in April 1983. It was hosted by KWFM PD Jim Ray - ed.) that was simulcast by the radio station. That was where I recall first seeing Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart's music videos for "Sweet Dreams" and album opener "Love Is A Stranger". I picked up the 12" singles for both tracks a little later on in 1983 but prefer the album versions forty years down the road.

Along that journey, I've held onto that original vinyl album, adding another copy picked up cheap and still sealed in the early Nineties. To my ears, the 2018 high-resolution mastering sounds very close to my preferred CD from 2005: the bass is punchy, the range of vocals is clean & clear, and the synths still sound cooly analog. One of my favorite albums from the time, it still has a calming effect that takes me back almost immediately to late winter/early spring 1983 just before I got my driver's license. Sweet Dreams is definitely a solid night listen for me as it creates a soulful chill vibe that just sounds better when skies are dark which made it a near-perfect listen recently on my early morning commute on quiet and empty streets.

A little more than six months after getting my license and about four months after I met the girl I was going to marry a few years later, Eurythmics Dave and Annie released their second album of 1983, Touch. I didn't care too much for the album's initial single "Who's That Girl?" though in hindsight I can't really tell you what I didn't like about it. The second single "Right By Your Side" received much love from my girlfriend at the time and one night at the mall after payday she convinced me to pick up Touch.

I still remember dropping the needle and hearing the album opener "Here Comes The Rain Again" for the very first time when we got back to her place. The song still thrills me hundreds if not thousands of plays later. Unlike its predecessor, Touch is a daytime listen and I prefer the 2005 remaster sans bonus tracks. Though I still have hope that there will be a super deluxe edition Euythmics box set someday with all their b-sides, remixes, cover versions, etc. included.

We had the pleasure of seeing Eurythmics in concert in April 1984 with Real Life as their opening act, it was the third or fourth song they performed and it sounded magnificent in all of its heavenly lushness as it washed over us. It remains my all-time favorite song by the newly enshrined Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo. Clocking in just a few seconds longer than the album Touch despite having two fewer tracks, the remix album Touch Dance, featuring remixes from both John 'Jellybean' Benitez and François Kevorkian, was somewhat of a surprise release I picked up about a month after we attended the concert and just before I graduated from high school in June 1984.