I am not the hugest fan of Eurythmics. A talented pair clearly, but much of what they came to represent, or seem at least on the surface to represent, were the parts and characteristics of the Eighties that I cared least for. The stuff by them I like most was generally what came first. Debut album, In The Garden, though it didn't sell, was a rather fascinating record, well worth a listen. A kind of Electro Pastoralism. Exceptionally inventive and melodically brilliant.
And this, the first single off the Sweet Dreams smash album, and one initially flopped until it was re-released after Sweet Dreams, (the single that broke them). It's my favourite of all of their 45s by a long way. Sweet Dreams is excellent product of course but it so reeked of the sickening aspirational values of the times that it surely actually ironised that I really can't listen to it anymore. Of course its ubiquity, then and now, doesn't help.
Love is a Stranger though is exquisite in every way. Seductive, propulsive, smooth as silk. They'd arrived clearly, before even needing to release Sweet Dreams. The Eighties was theirs. I cared for them less thereafter but they hardly needed me really.
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