Cooler than Ice Cream & Warmer than the Sun

Artist: Eurythmics
Album: Touch
Released: November 26, 1983
RS-500: #500

I could be going out on a limb here, but I think anyone who claims the 1980's were a horrible decade for music has clearly never listened to Eurythmics' Touch. The record is worthy of a listen (not to mention inclusion on the RS 500) simply for the voice of Annie Lennox alone. Beautiful, dynamic, unique, and so damn soulful, to not know or not include such a voice is a sin. Truly. Take for instance, "No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts)" in which she sounds so powerful that it makes the listener feel powerful, too.

The great thing about Touch is that the music created by Miss Lennox and Dave Stewart is just as varied and soulful, a perfect compliment to and vehicle for her voice. Sometimes it's laid back with a bass bobbing like water ("Aqua"). Others, it's a slightly sinister jazz-meets-techno groove ("Regrets"). It's kind of laid back, yet still danceable ("Cool Blue"). And then there's a song like "The First Cut", which gets into your guts almost and makes you want to get up and dance. The music of the track (the bass especially) connects that primal thing that makes you want to move and you can't really explain why. Similarly, the tropical and wonderfully upbeat, "Right By Your Side", just makes you feel good and want to move your hips. Though it's the type of song that I suspect if it were done by anyone lacking the soulful voice of Annie Lennox that it would be called fluff, but she delivers it with sincerity and makes it joyful and heartfelt.

On the other side of the spectrum is the gothic "Who's That Girl". While the mix of synths, bass, and strings is utterly gorgeous, it is the vocals and lyrics that take center stage. Whether it's the forceful and demanding, "but there's just one thing" or vulnerability in the titular question, they all come together beautifully to show the heartbreak and frustration of the person left "broken on the rocks." The track as well as the opener, "Here Comes the Rain Again", shows that the real heart of the album is emotions contained in the lyrics. "Here Comes the Rain Again" sets the stage wonderfully with its mix of shoo-wop background vocals and techno beats, as well as lyrical references to rain/water, which is frequently used throughout the record. In this instance, it seems as if the rain is there to symbolize depression or loneliness, something the narrator has felt before, but each time it feels fresh and new. And asking, whether it is just the audience or someone specific, if anyone feels the same with the line, "Is it raining with you?"

I confess, for me the only downside to the entire album is the final track, "Paint a Rumour". The song is almost a sound collage, like The Beatles' "Revolution #9" except less chaotic. Plus, the point and purpose of this song is much clearer. It, like "The Final Cut" earlier in the album, is about reputations. In "The Final Cut" there is a line, "Each impression, makes a chain reaction... Will never be, never be, never be broken," possibly showing how your reputation can proceed you and that it will never die until you do. "Paint a Rumour" is about how secrets and rumors (true or not) can spread and do damage, such as in the line, "I heard a whisper - make it go away"; as well as cause embarrassment and anger when told, "See the place go red."

Regardless of my feeling that the final track is a tad too long, Eurythmics' Touch as a whole is a great and solid record. It's eclectic and has possibly some of the best, most intelligent and soulful dance music of the 1980s, if not, the last thirty years or more. Not simply for Annie Lennox' amazing voice or the fact that she and Dave Stewart could groove, but because of the heart and real tangible emotion behind it all; that makes you feel and move not just in your body, but your heart.