Eurythmics’ ‘In the Garden’ turns 45 on 16 October
British new wave duo Eurythmics released their debut studio album, “In the Garden,” on 16 October 1981 through RCA Records. The record turns 45 this year.
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart recorded “In the Garden” with krautrock producer Conny Plank at his studio in Cologne between January and May 1981, the same producer who worked with Ultravox during the same period. Lennox and Stewart wrote all ten tracks, except “English Summer” and “Caveman Head,” co-written with Roger Pomphrey. The album features Blondie drummer Clem Burke, D.A.F.’s Robert Görl, and Can’s Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit as guest musicians. The tracklist runs: “English Summer,” “Belinda,” “Take Me to Your Heart,” “She’s Invisible Now,” “Your Time Will Come,” “Caveman Head,” “Never Gonna Cry Again,” “All the Young (People of Today),” “Sing-Sing” and “Revenge.” Neither the album nor its two singles, “Never Gonna Cry Again” and “Belinda,” charted successfully at the time of release, but RCA reissued “In the Garden” in 2005 with the singles’ B-sides and three live tracks added.
About Eurythmics
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart met in London in 1977, when Lennox was waitressing and Stewart was playing in the band Longdancer. The two formed the Tourists with Peet Coombes, releasing three albums before the group split in 1980. Lennox and Stewart then formed Eurythmics, a name coined after Plank hosted the pair at a New Year’s Eve party at his German studio, where they jammed with D.A.F.’s Robert Görl and Can’s Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay. That encounter led to the “In the Garden” sessions and an RCA deal.
The duo’s commercial breakthrough came with their second album, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” (1983), produced by Stewart alone and built around a drum machine and synthesiser after the costly “In the Garden” sessions pushed them toward a leaner approach. The title track topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1983, and further albums, including “Touch” (1983) and “Be Yourself Tonight” (1985), established Eurythmics as one of the decade’s most commercially successful acts. The duo disbanded as a recording unit in 1990 and reunited periodically, releasing “Peace” in 1999 and touring together as recently as 2014. “In the Garden,” recorded before any of that success, remains the record where Eurythmics first worked out its sound alongside some of the musicians who shaped German and American post-punk, and it turns 45 this October.
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