Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1983)

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) is the second studio album by British pop duo Eurythmics, released on 4 January 1983 by RCA Records. Along with the title track, which reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 that year, the album also features the singles "This Is the House", "The Walk", and "Love Is a Stranger".

Background and release

Recording and production

The album was assembled by Eurythmics mainly at two locations: a small project studio in the attic of an old warehouse in the Chalk Farm district of north London, where the duo spent seven months living and working, followed by a small room in the Church Studios in London.

The album was largely recorded onto an 8-track tape machine, apart from three songs: "The Walk" was transferred onto a friend's 16-track, and "Somebody Told Me" and "Wrap It Up" were both recorded onto 24-track (using only half the tracks) while the Church studio was being built. Equipment-wise, the band had a recording setup consisting of a Tascam 80-8 8-track, a Soundcraft Series 2 mixer, two Beyerdynamic M201 TG microphones, a Roland Space Echo, a Furman compressor, a B.E.L. Electronics noise reduction unit, and a Klark Teknik DN50 spring reverb unit. The instruments they used were mainly a Roland SH-09 synthesizer (later said to be an SH-101 instead), a CSQ-100 sequencer, a Gretsch slide guitar, a Movement drum computer, a Roland Juno-6, and a borrowed Oberheim synthesizer (later described as the OB-X model by Stewart). Overall, the record cost around £5,000 to make because of equipment costs.

Release

After a year and a half of initial commercial failure for Eurythmics, the album became a breakthrough for the duo on both sides of the Atlantic. The title track became particularly popular and remains one of Eurythmics' most recognisable songs. Its music video, popular on MTV in the United States, featured Annie Lennox's gender-bending imagery. In the wake of this success, the single "Love Is a Stranger", previously a flop, was re-released and became a hit as well. It was accompanied by a video that featured Lennox dressed both as a man and a woman.

The album was re-released in 2005 with the entire Eurythmics studio catalogue, except the 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) album, to which Virgin Records holds the rights. The recordings were remastered, and several bonus tracks were added to each of the eight albums. In this release, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) acquired six bonus tracks. 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 6:40 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."

Stewart was particularly pleased with the final product and called it "one of the most important records of 1983", due to the "carefully structured" arrangements and lyrics.

Critical reception

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) has generally received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. Smash Hits noted that some of the lyrics detracted from the "otherwise pleasant LP", although they were complimentary of "Love Is a Stranger". Robert Christgau found that the album was "starkly hooky" but called the duo pretentious. Cashbox wrote that it was "difficult to find anything to disagree with on this haunting, forceful showing." AllMusic praised some of the singles but felt that the album possessed a few dull moments. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).

• Annie Lennox – vocals
• David A. Stewart – production (all tracks); engineering
• Adam Williams – production (tracks 1, 2, 5, 8); engineering
• Robert Crash – production (tracks 3, 4, 9); engineering
• Chris Ashbrook – video stills
• Lewis Ziolek – cover photography
• Laurence Stevens – design

Green Gartside – guest vocals (track 3)

Sweet Dreams: The Video Album

Eurythmics also released a video album for Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), featuring in-concert performances, promotional videos, and narrative animation highlighting the duo's singles "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Love Is a Stranger", and other songs from the album.

The live concert performances, taped at the Heaven nightclub in London, feature a selection of songs from Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), as well as two songs from their 1981 debut album, In the Garden, "Never Gonna Cry Again" and "Take Me to Your Heart".

The video album was directed by Derek Burbidge, with the exception of the promos for "Love Is a Stranger" (directed by Mike Brady), "Who's That Girl?" (directed by Duncan Gibbins), and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (directed by Chris Ashbrook).

Information

• Director: Derek Burbidge
• Producers: Kate Burbidge, Maurice Bacon
• Executive producer: Mickey Shapiro
• Animation: Bura and Hardwick
• VHS release: 1983
• DVD release: 1998