The [creative] Death of Annie Lennox

Say, I just hit the random review button and saw that ye olde editor was seriously down on Annie Lennox's solo career. He first raked "Diva" over the coals but if memory serves, the dlx version of that title has Ira Robbins liner notes. Cognitive dissonance, anyone? Then he really brought the knives out for "Medusa." While I found "Diva" marginally acceptable, I heartily concur with his excoriation of "Medusa." Never have I heard songs [some of which I loved] so rapaciously slaughtered and injected full of formaldehyde without even the dignity of last rites! It was the record that ended decades of Lennox fandom dating from The Tourists. "Medusa" was so ghastly, that I traded it in even though I got a copy for free, thanks to the [ironic] Maxell "Max Points" promotion that saw CDs being doled out to buyers of their blank tapes.

Years later a friend passed on to me a copy of "Bare" which had been given to him. He didn't like it so he wondered what my reaction was. After a listen revealed that not only couldn't La Lennox sing someone else's tunes with panache any more, but also her own efforts were just as lifeless as the covers on her previous album, it went onto the discard pile! From that point on Annie Lennox has ceased to exist for me. Years later I saw she made a Christmas album, surely the kiss of death? Dear gawd! I just looked at the CD art on Discogs.com!! I hope she meant that as irony.



Post Edited (08-03-13 10:37)

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The last thing I enjoyed from Annie was her Love Song for a Vampire from Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Same here! It looks like you joined the club too.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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Sorry, it took me a while to read up on all this, and as a result I have added a note that should have been there all along acknowledging my liner notes for the Diva reissue. Mea culpa.

I wouldn't characterize my review here of Diva to be a coal-raking, but whatever.

In my ethical defense, however, these are the notes I provided:

Strip away their rock'n'roll image--the clothes, the coiffure, the videos--and too many big-name stars amount to very little. But what Annie Lennox brings to music--an exceptional voice, extraordinary range and a knack for lyrics that cut straight to the emotional heart of things--are substantial artistic gifts that keep on giving. A master of disguise unafraid to reveal her inner feelings, Lennox provides proof that even the most modern music is best served with traditional values.

Born in Scotland, Annie Lennox spent time at London's Royal Academy of Music before joining the new wave pop race in the late 1970s. The Tourists hit the U.K. charts in 1979 with a remake of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You," but packed it in after three albums, freeing her and bandmate David Stewart to embark on a decidedly more forward-looking musical adventure: Eurythmics. Despite a slow start (In the Garden, the pair's 1981 debut, was not even released in the U.S.), these two creative explorers soon found wide-scale success on their own original terms: an innovative sensibility in which diverse, imaginative music and video became shared components of a new cultural equation.

From techno-pop to soul, ethereal ballads to driving R&B, Lennox has sung it all with strength, insight and inspiration--on hits like "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," "Here Comes the Rain Again," "Would I Lie to You?," "Missionary Man" and her 1985 duet with Aretha Franklin, "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves." In addition to seven studio albums, Eurythmics' first decade produced a record of film music (1984), a remix disc (Touch Dance) and a greatest hits collection. Diva is Annie Lennox's first solo project.

For all the diminishing returns of her post-Eurythmics work, I still hold Annie Lennox in very high regard as a singer. Her 2007 show in Boulder was outstanding. Her voice was as great as ever, her band was tight, and she re-worked a lot of her older material to great effect. "Here Comes the Rain Again" and "Who's That Girl?," both done with just Lennox at the piano, were excellent. And we were startled by her band's treatment of "Sweet Dreams" -- a song I never imagined would have the power to surprise me. With the guitarist handling that synthesizer riff, they actually made that chilly little New Wave trifle sound torrid.

Hmmm. Well, that's a very non-commital career overview. Fair enough. Thanks for saving me from digging through the Record Cell for my copy.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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The Tourists put out three albums?

Aitch - Yup.







Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®