In The Garden (deluxe re-issue) [Original recording remastered]

When the Eurythmics decided to remaster and re-release their studio albums, they made the brave - but necessary - decision to include their sadly overlooked debut, "In The Garden". Upon its initial release, this album fared poorly on the charts; of course, the duo's fortunes turned around with their next project (the "Sweet Dreams" album), but that success only seemed to push "In The Garden" even further in the background. Now that the album has been remastered - with an exceptional care, I must say - it's fair to say that "In The Garden" was an album with uncommon qualities.

The album is typical Eurythmics, in the sense that it is wildly ecclectic. The album opens with the pulsating yet subdued song "English Summer", then produces a strong rocker with "Belinda", turns the volume down to the sinister electronica of "Take me to your heart", takes a new wave spin on "She's invisible now" and "Your time will come"... In fact, this album has more twists and turns than any other subsequent album by the band. This may leave some casual Eurythmics fans confused, as there are certainly no songs as catchy as their subsequent deluge of hit singles; however, the experimentalism of this album, coupled with the duo's brave songwriting, make it an arresting album.

All is not perfect - the album loses steam somewhere in its last quarter, and Annie Lennox's vocals are toned down in a way that intentionnally makes her singing cold and detached. One could also argue that the production was a bit dense and cluttered; however, it's fair to say that this weakness has been ironed out by the remastering. A song like "Never gonna cry again" finally delivers each of its luscious layers of sound in an audible way, whereas the original release didn't.

It must be said that this album features some additional tracks (mostly B-Sides and live tracks), some rare photos of this era of the band, and fantastic liner notes. Diehard fans of the band should put their hands on this revamped edition, but casual fans ought to give it a try, if only to realize that there has always been something special about the Eurythmics, even back in the days when the world was not ready to admit it !

This dreamy, avant-garde album of 1981 gave little indication of the Eurythmics' subsequent melodic pop direction that led them to mega stardom for most of the decade. It more closely resembles the work of 1970s experimentalists like Howard Devoto, Brian Eno and German artists like Can. Sometimes it even sounds like the later Cocteau Twins or the more ethereal varieties of world music. The poetic imagery and melodies are superb but it's as if Lennox & Stewart went out of their way to avoid popular appeal.

This direction is all the more odd in the light of their previous band, the brilliant but underrated pop group The Tourists with their catchy tunes. In The Garden is a highly atmospheric work and contains at least two classics. The first is the rousing Belinda - to which Holger Czukay contributes French horn - with its cascading guitar textures, mournful drone and oriental backing vocals soaring to a scorching climax. She's Invisible Now is the second, an eerie, mournful song with a haunting spoken countdown.

English Summer is replete with chirping crickets, distant voices & traffic sounds, whilst Take Me To Your Heart & Your Time Will Come both have strong melodies. The problem is that the delivery is too subdued and understated to be immediately appealing. 'Heart' has a vague eastern feel owing to Czukay's "Thai stringed instrument." Anne's vocals on 'Your Time' are particularly arresting. The voice samples and found sounds on Caveman Head create a striking, other-worldly air.

The album's melancholia is particularly evident on the lament All The Young People Of Today, a slow song with muffled vocal samples and tortured guitar parts. The French track Sing-Sing's oneiric mood is interrupted by animal & metallic sounds. The mid-tempo Revenge, a lyrical gem, concluded the original album; it contains truly bizarre sound effects including normal and demented laughter. With its ticking clock and brooding sax, Le Sinistre amply lives up to its title.

In contrast, Heartbeat Heartbeat is edgy and uptempo, whilst the live version of Never Gonna Cry Again with its lilting beat is far more varied and appealing than the studio version. Of the other two live recordings, 4/4 In Leather is buoyant and percussive; Take Me To Your Heart which has a spoken French intro, concludes the album. People who like Magazine, The World of Skin, the Neo-Psychedelia of the 1990s like Rose Chronicles, the above-mentioned German avant-gardists, Brian Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, etc. will appreciate In The Garden.

Beautiful photographs of Lennox & Stewart enhance the fold-out digipack & the booklet that contains a brief bio by Phil Savidge that focuses on the band's history, style & influence as well as the track listing and information on the musicians, photographers & designers. The sound is crystal clear, revealing the depth and intricacy of the complex vocal & instrumental textures.

Checking out Eurythmics' debut-album "In The Garden" certainly was a big, pleasant surprise. What annoys me though, is what other people write about it. Just because it doesn't have the idiosyncratic Eurythmics-sound á la "Sweet Dreams" doesn't make their first album any less amazing; in fact, it's a whole lot better than their later albums like 1986's "Revenge". Annie's vocals aren't really being pushed forward in the mix, creating quite an ethereal mood, and often a quite eerie one. Every song is filled with great, but often pretty weird melodies that are dreamy and eerie at the same time. What's funny is that the album reminds me of a mixture between old Stereolab (the "Peng!"-era) and new Stereolab ("Margerine Eclipse"); there ARE a lot of synths on this record, they're only much more light-sounding and not as prominently in the mix. "In The Garden" is a pretty strange record with an almost ghostly atmosphere, and that's an acquired taste. Actually, it's by far the creepiest and strangest record in the whole Eurythmics-catalog. That alone, and great, quirky songs like "Caveman Head", "Never Gonna Cry Again" and "Sing-Sing" make this album definitely worth checking out.