Tag: Annie Lennox

A Beginners Guide To EURYTHMICS

17 May 2025 /

Photo by Lewis Ziolek

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart formed EURYTHMICS having left THE TOURISTS with whom they had two hits, a cover of Dusty Springfield’s ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ ‘So Good To Be Back Home Again’.

Romantically involved at the time, there had been creative frustration in THE TOURISTS as the main songwriter was guitarist Peet Coombes. But when THE TOURISTS split in 1980, so did Lennox and Stewart. However, they opted to continue working together. In line with their chosen name, EURYTHMICS reflected how the duo felt about being more European than exclusively British. Looking at first to Germany, although the Conny Plank produced debut album ‘In the Garden’ was not a success, the duo persevered.

With the advent of affordable synthesizers and home recording technology, Stewart had been taping ideas on a Portastudio of experiments with an EDP Wasp connected to a Caterpillar master keyboard and its Spider sequencer; it pointed to a new electronic direction for EURYTHMICS. To aid their cause, the duo secured a bank loan of £5000 for equipment including a TEAC 88 8 track tape recorder, Soundcraft Series 2 16 channel mixing desk for what was to become The Church Studios in London’s Crouch End.

Their breakthrough came in 1983 with ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’, the title of track of their second album. A stark commentary on exploitation within the music industry, it ironically became a huge international hit. Among the instruments used were the Roland SH‑101, an Oberheim OB‑X and a Movement Mk1 drum computer; with a combination of analogue and digital percussion sounds plus a separate monitor to view the programmed drum patterns, the machine made a starring appearance in the iconic video. Meanwhile, Lennox premiered her striking androgynous orange haired persona.

By their third album ‘Touch’, EURYTHMICS had acquired a Roland Juno 60, Octave Plateau Voyetra 8 and Oberheim DMX while their studio now had a second‑hand 24‑track Soundcraft tape machine at its disposal. The lead single ‘Who’s That Girl?’ saw Lennox pushing boundaries in the perception of gender for its accompanying video. The ending saw her kissing herself in male and female roles while Stewart was depicted escorting a number of female pop celebrities including Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston, Kiki Dee, Hazel O’Connor, Kate Garner, future wife Siobhan Fahey and BANANARAMA members Sara Dallin, Keren Woodward and Jacquie O’Sullivan; but in another twist, there was an appearance from the gender bending starlet Marilyn.

But following their soundtrack to the film ‘1984’, EURYTHMICS moved away from being an electronic duo into a more conventional band format using more drums, brass and guitar with a revolving door of guest musicians on 1985’s ‘Be Yourself Tonight’. Inevitably the worldwide success and personal tensions took their toll and EURYTHMICS quietly split in 1990.

Lennox and Stewart reunited for the ‘Peace’ album in 1999 although the subsequent concert tour was spoiled by far too many acoustic versions of their hits. Aside from two songs included on the ‘Ultimate Collection’ in 2005, there has been no new EURYTHMICS music since. However in 2022, they performed together at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

While Lennox now concentrates on her activism and makes only occasional live appearances in support of good causes, Stewart undertook the EURYTHMICS Songbook tour in 2023 with Vanessa Amorosi, Rahh and his daughter Kaya Stewart taking turns on lead vocals.

Aside from their solo careers, during EURYTHMICS’ original tenure, Stewart was an in-demand producer and songwriting collaborator. Meanwhile Lennox worked with DAF’s Robert Görl on his first solo album ‘Night Full Of Tension’, helping with lyrics and contributing vocals as well as duetting with Al Green on a Stewart produced cover of ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart’ for the 1988 film ‘Scrooged’. This Beginner’s Guide looks back at 20 tracks from the wider portfolio of the EURYTHMICS axis including productions, collaborations and co-writes with a restriction of one track per album.

THE TOURISTS So Good To Be Back Home (1980)

Written by Peet Coombes, the energetic and optimistic ‘So Good To Be Back Home’ proved that THE TOURISTS were not merely a new wave covers band and could have a hit with their own material. Annie Lennox now found grouped in with other charismatic front women like Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde and Hazel O’Connor but within the band itself, there was discontent and a split while Lennox and Stewart were no longer a couple.

Available on THE TOURISTS album ‘Greatest Hits’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.discogs.com/artist/291650-The-Tourists

EURYTHMICS Take Me To Your Heart (1981)

The debut EURYTHMICS album had the legendary Conny Plank producing while guest musicians included his fellow Germans Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit, Robert Görl and Markus Stockhausen. While Lennox and Stewart were in transition with ‘Belinda’ sounding like THE TOURISTS, the KRAFTWERK influenced ‘Take Me To Your Heart’ pointed to a new synthier direction.

Available on EURYTHMICS album ‘In The Garden’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.eurythmics.com/

EURYTHMICS The Walk (1982)

With YAZOO setting the template for the soulful synthpop duo, EURYTHMICS saw a direction which could fit their new creative ethos. Overshadowed by the success of ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’ and ‘Love Is A Stranger’, ‘The Walk’ was the moody forgotten single that was released prior. It was also issued as a proto-house interpretation retitled ‘Let’s Just Close Our Eyes’ for the 12” B-side of ‘Love Is A Stranger’.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.facebook.com/eurythmics/

EURYTHMICS Here Comes The Rain Again (1983)

The third EURYTHMICS album ‘Touch’ had been swiftly recorded and mixed in 3 weeks at The Church but the acquisition of a 24 track recorder allowed for more sophisticated sonic possibilities. One shining example was the divine opener ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’. Although essentially still a synthpop song, it boasted a string arrangement by future film composer Michael Kamen performed by the British Philharmonic Orchestra.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘Touch’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.instagram.com/eurythmicsmusic/

ROBERT GÖRL featuring ANNIE LENNOX Darling Don’t Leave Me (1984)

Annie Lennox had met Robert Görl when he played drums on ‘Belinda’ from ‘In The Garden’. After DAF split, his first solo long player ‘Night Full Of Tension’ featured Lennox’s vocal contributions on several tracks including a lead vocal on ‘Charlie Cat’. But the album’s highlight was probably ‘Darling Don’t Leave Me’, a passionate but fun duet that was also a wonderfully wiggly synthpop pleasure co-produced by Mike Hedges.

Available on the ROBERT GÖRL album ‘Night Full Of Tension’ via Mute Records

https://www.instagram.com/robertgoerl/

EURYTHMICS Sexcrime (1984)

Virgin Films had commissioned EURYTHMICS to compose a soundtrack for their dramatisation of the dystopian George Orwell novel ‘1984’. However, director Michael Radford was not a fan and arranged his own orchestral score. One of the songs from a mostly instrumental work, ‘Sexcrime’ was a doomy dance number making use of stuttering voice samples and vocoder. Despite being a Top5 UK single, it was dropped from the film.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)’ via Virgin Records

https://www.discogs.com/artist/13911-Eurythmics

CHRIS N COSEY AND… Sweet Surprise II (1985)

By 1985, EURYTHMICS had entered their soul rock phase but they found time for a one-off collaboration with alternative synth couple Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti of THROBBING GRISTLE fame. Darkly swung at an almost funereal pace, the artful vocals from Lennox and Tutti on ‘Sweet Surprise II’ were mostly ad-libbed and played on their distinctive styles while Stewart sprayed blues guitar over Carter’s sparkling electronics.

Available on the CHRIS N COSEY AND… single ‘Sweet Surprise’ via https://cti.greedbag.com/buy/sweet-surprise-12/

http://chrisandcosey.com/

EURYTHMICS It’s Alright (1985)

Although ‘Be Yourself Tonight’ was notable for ‘There Must Be An Angel’ featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica and the R&B stomp of ‘Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves’ with Aretha Franklin, EURYTHMICS had not completely left the electronic sound with which they found fame on ‘It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back)’. Despite this, the topline recalled the introductory fairground riff from Smokey Robinson’s ‘Tears Of A Clown’ which was co-written by Stevie Wonder.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘Be Yourself Tonight’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.facebook.com/davestewart/

FEARGAL SHARKEY A Good Heart (1985)

A No1 for THE UNDERTONES’ one-time lead vocalist, ‘A Good Heart’ was written by LONE JUSTICE’s Maria McKee about her relationship with musician Benmont Tench. Produced by Stewart, he embellished the track with his characteristic aesthetic using a number of EURYTHMICS sidemen. Perhaps not by coincidence, Fergal Sharkey followed this with the Tench-written ‘You Little Thief’ which was allegedly about McKee!

Available on the FEARGAL SHARKEY album ‘Feargal Sharkey’ via Virgin Records

https://x.com/Feargal_Sharkey

EURYTHMICS When Tomorrow Comes (1986)

Recorded in Paris and near Cologne, ‘Revenge’ continued further into an AOR rock direction as EURYTHMICS used a smaller pool of musicians including Clem Burke on drums, Patrick Seymour on keyboards; the latter co-wrote ‘When Tomorrow Comes’, the first single which embraced a more band-oriented style verging on Bruce Springsteen, complete with a Clarence Clemons styled sax break from Jimmy Zavala.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘Revenge’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.instagram.com/davestewarteurythmics/

ALISON MOYET Is This Love? (1986)

Alison Moyet was working with Jimmy Iovine who was also producing ‘Revenge’ and it was suggested that she co-wrote with Stewart. He came up with a melodic idea that then she wrote words to. The end result was ‘Is This Love?’; however he wanted to be credited under a pseudonym Jean Guiot. Released at the same time as ‘Thorn In My Side’, while both hit the UK Top5, it was ‘Is This Love’ that did better reaching No3!

Available on the ALISON MOYET album ‘Raindancing’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.alisonmoyetmusic.com/

THE LOVER SPEAKS I Close My Eyes & Count To Ten (1987)

Comprising of David Freeman and Joseph Hughes, THE LOVER SPEAKS were signed to Stewart’s publishing company Anxious. In support of their Jimmy Iovine produced debut album, they opened for EURYTHMICS on their ‘Revenge’ tour where a standout song was ‘No More I Love’. Stewart produced a standalone cover of ‘I Close My Eyes & Count To Ten’ which played to the duo’s Scott Walker aspirations despite his reservations.

Available on THE LOVER SPEAKS album ‘The Lover Speaks’ via Cherry Pop

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/the-lover-speaks-expanded-edition

EURYTHMICS You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart (1987)

‘Savage’ saw EURYTHMICS return to a starker electronic sound after the mainstream MTV friendly blow out. Driven by a drum machine, synth and Synclavier programming, ‘You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart’ saw Lennox reflect on the drive to leave a toxic relationship where affection was not reciprocated. However the B-side was an acoustic version and pointed to how EURYTHMICS would later perform many of their hits on the ‘Peace’ tour.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘Savage’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.instagram.com/officialannielennox

EURYTHMICS Don’t Ask Me Why (1989)

Despite the ‘We Too Are One’ parent album title, a rift had developed between Lennox and Stewart; its heartbreaking second single ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’ signalled poignantly in song that this first phase of their working relationship was over. With echoes of ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’, the emotive resignation was summed up by closing refrains of “I don’t love you anymore…” – EURYTHMICS were over…for now.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘We Too Are One’ via Sony BMG Music

https://www.davestewartent.com/

DAVID A STEWART featuring CANDY DULFER Lily Was Here (1989)

Saxophonist Candy Dulfer had been championed by Madonna and Prince; this slice of smooth jazz elevator music for the Dutch movie ‘De Kassière’ (known in English as ‘Lily Was Here’) was recorded with Stewart as a one-take instrumental jam. Beginning with a call-and-response guitar and sax section before a slinky improvised solo from Dulfer, it was a surprise UK Top10 hit although the track had already been a No1 in The Netherlands.

Available on the soundtrack album ‘Lily Was Here’ via Anxious / RCA

https://candydulfer.nl/

SHAKESPEARS SISTER Stay (1991)

Co-written by Stewart (again as Jean Guiot), with his then-wife Siobhan Fahey and Marcella Detroit for SHAKESPEARS SISTER, ‘Stay’ was inspired by the 1953 Sci-Fi film ‘Cat-Women Of The Moon’. He had suggested writing a ballad featuring Detroit on lead vocals and saw her end the song in whistle register sparring against Fahey’s gothic deadpan, capturing a battle of two mysterious worlds that went to No1.

Available on the SHAKESPEARS SISTER album ‘Hormonally Yours’ via London Records

http://www.shakespearssisterofficial.com/

ANNIE LENNOX Precious (1992)

Following the informal dissolution of EURYTHMICS, Lennox took some time away from the music industry, during which she gave birth to her eldest daughter. Now writing alone for her debut solo record, the Stephen Lipson produced ‘Precious’ was a funky song featuring a biting bass groove and key change passionately celebrating the joys of motherhood. The parent album ‘Diva’ sold more than any of EURYTHMICS’ studio albums.

Available on the ANNIE LENNOX album ‘The Annie Lennox Collection’ via Sony Music

https://www.annielennox.com/

VEGAS Walk Into The Wind (1993)

VEGAS was the surprise collaboration between Stewart and Terry Hall of THE SPECIALS, FUN BOY THREE and THE COLOURFIELD. The highlight of their only album was the cinematic electro-reggae of ‘Walk Into The Wind’. “You have to learn to love by loving” sang Hall in this cynical love song that also featured a vocal cameo from Siobhan Fahey. Haunting and beautiful, this was Stewart’s song best outside of EURYTHMICS.

Available on the VEGAS album ‘Possessed’ via RCA

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1343740-Vegas-8

ANNIE LENNOX No More I Love You’s (1995)

Originally by THE LOVER SPEAKS who supported EURYTHMICS in 1986, Lennox felt ‘No More I Love You’s’ “should have touched the consciousness of the nation” and deserved better than its No58 chart position. So she wanted to give this poetic breakup song another chance. With slightly altered lyrics, it was the lead single from her covers album ‘Medusa’ which also featured THE BLUE NILE’s ‘The Downtown Lights’.

Available on the ANNIE LENNOX album ‘Medusa’ via Sony Music

https://www.facebook.com/annielennox/

EURYTHMICS I’ve Got A Life (2005)

To date, the final EURYTHMICS single, ‘I’ve Got A Life’ was something of a reflective “return to roots” check for Lennox and Stewart as a building electronic soul number with uplifting lyrics of empowerment in the face of middle age. There was even a video featuring Lennox and Stewart revisiting their dark suited ‘Sweet Dreams’ image of 1983 while the pair also appeared in front of a towering Moog modular stack.

Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘Ultimate Collection’ via RCA

https://bsky.app/profile/eurythmics.bsky.social

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th May 2025

The Walk: The Legacy of EURYTHMICS

16 April 2018 /

Photo by Lewis Ziolek

Between April and October this year, sees the vinyl reissues of eight EURYTHMICS albums ‘In The Garden’, ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’, ‘Touch’, ‘Be Yourself Tonight’, ‘Revenge’, ‘We Too Are One’, ‘Savage’ and ‘Peace’ and gives a welcome chance to look back retrospectively over the duo’s musical output.

Although it didn’t trouble the charts, the debut 1981 album ‘In The Garden’ provided a necessary bridging point between Annie Lennox and David A Stewart’s output as New Wave act THE TOURISTS and their newly convened status as a duo.

Co-produced by the legendary Conny Plank in his Cologne studio and featuring BLONDIE drummer Clem Burke, Robert Görl from DAF, and CAN’s Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit, the album swings between the guitar-driven post-punk sound of ‘English Summer’ and the more rocky ‘Belinda’ which would foreshadow some the band’s more rockist leanings latterly in their career.

Due to Plank’s top notch production and Lennox’s effortlessly beautiful vocals throughout, the album hasn’t dated too badly and if never listened to before certainly doesn’t hint at the stellar jump with their subsequent offering ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’.

Recorded in their newly fitted out 8 track home studio in Chalk Farm London purchased using a £5,000 bank loan, ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ would have come as a complete curveball if as a fan you’d latched onto the more pastoral guitar-based sound of ‘In The Garden’; almost purely electronic in conception and with the backbeat of Stewart’s Movement Drum Computer (which puts in a cameo appearance in the iconic ‘Sweet Dreams’ promo video).

Also significant for the album was the use of Dave Stewart’s EDP Wasp synth which (according to Synth Guru Paul Wiffen) was often recorded using a microphone placed over the in-built speaker in order to capture the sound of the resonating body of the synth’s case alongside its source sound.

With YAZOO’s debut ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’ opening the public’s perception to cold electronics with an accompaniment of soulful vocals, the timing of ‘Sweet Dreams’ couldn’t have been better. There are obvious echoes of Clarke and Moyet in tracks such as ‘Wrap it Up’, but the addition of Stewart’s guitar and the bigger multi-layered vocal production meant that they don’t come across as mere pastiches.

Musically one of the things that becomes apparent on ‘Sweet Dreams’ is Stewart’s knack at creating some truly wonderful synth basslines, often using a Roland SH09. From ‘I Could Give You (A Mirror)’ to the ‘The Walk’, these perfectly counterpointed Lennox’s glacial vocals and set a template for what was to follow with album number three ‘Touch’.

‘Touch’ is often overlooked when it comes to people’s go-to classic electronic albums; this could possibly be down to the huge success of the Calypso-themed ‘Right By Your Side’ which at the end of the day really wasn’t representative of the album as a whole. This is a shame, because ‘Touch’ is arguably the band’s finest hour, tracks such as the singles ‘Who’s That Girl?’ and ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’ are matched by album cuts ‘Regrets’ and ‘No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts).

‘The First Cut’ echoes YAZOO’s ‘Sweet Thing’ but brings in some live guitar and fretless/slapped bass to the party; whilst the epic 7 and a half minute closing ‘Paint A Rumour’ takes the listener on a spellbinding musical journey incorporating blippy Kraftwerkian electro pop, dub brass and BLANCMANGE-like Middle Eastern synth elements along the way. Unfortunately the band were never truly this electronic again, with the remix/mini-LP ‘Touch Dance’ eventually giving way to 1985’s ‘Be Yourself Tonight’…….

The next two albums ‘Be Yourself Tonight’ and ‘Revenge’ continued to give the band some huge chart hits; ‘There Must Be An Angel’ was the band’s only UK No1 single from the former, but tracks which had the potential to echo EURYTHMICS earlier electronic work (including the Linn Drum-driven ‘I Love You Like A Ball & Chain’) seemed to become an excuse for Stewart to wig-out with a show-off guitar solo.

Songs such as ‘Thorn in My Side’ started to showcase EURYTHMICS steady mutation (and some would say decline) into a US radio-friendly guitar act with most of their electronic elements gradually being exorcised from the bands’ production. In some ways EURYTHMICS followed a similar career trajectory to SIMPLE MINDS with stadium rock leanings starting to filter into their recorded output and before you knew it, songs appeared to be written specifically for large arenas.

With the next couple of albums there were still a few glimmers of experimentation, THE ART OF NOISE-aping, Fairlight-driven ‘Beethoven (I Love To Listen)’ from ‘Savage’ was an unexpected single choice, but stalled at number 25 in the UK charts.

The highlight of 1989’s ‘We Too Are One’ (with its striking cover photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino) was the melancholic break-up single ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’ which in many ways echoed ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’, especially with its use of pizzicato strings.

After a ten year hiatus, ‘Peace’ saw Lennox and Stewart reconvene with the understated ‘I Saved the World Today’ giving them some chart success, only narrowly missing the UK top 10. With its almost PORTISHEAD retro-style textures, it went some way in distancing the band from its more bombastic productions.

By overviewing the band’s output, the listener could cynically surmise that EURYTHMICS jumped on the Synth Britannia bandwagon; riding on YAZOO’s coat tails by adopting an electronic aesthetic and then slowly revealing themselves as the rock band that they actually were all along (underneath all of the production surface). That would however do a huge disservice to their early work, which includes some of the VERY best electronic pop tracks from that era.

Interestingly, Dave Stewart confirmed the spiritual link with YAZOO by eventually going on to work with Alison Moyet, co-writing / co-producing ‘Is This Love?’ under the pseudonym Jean Guiot (used to avoid problems with his music publishers).

The mid-period and latter albums (although in many places giving the band deserved huge commercial success) do however chart EURYTHMICS slow transformation into an entirely different musical beast altogether. For those that bemoan the way DEPECHE MODE now deliver their songs live, should take some solace in that Lennox and Stewart committed far worse musical crimes to some of their iconic synth pop hits than Gahan and co are doing now…

Jean-Baptiste Mondino

So in terms of influence, what is there left to say about EURYTHMICS legacy? Their nearest contemporaries now would be GOLDFRAPP and PURITY RING; acts that use that male synth / female vocal dynamic.

Completists could possibly complain that the soundtrack to the motion picture ‘1984 (For The Love Of Big Brother)’ and ‘Touch Dance’ albums should have made the set up to a round 10, but for most, ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘Touch’ still remain the essential albums to own, with ‘In The Garden’ being seen as more of an interesting curio in the band’s back catalogue.

‘In The Garden’, ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘Touch’, ‘Be Yourself Tonight’, ‘Revenge’, ‘Savage’, ‘We Too Are One’ and ‘Peace’ are reissued by Sony Music in three stages through 2018

http://www.eurythmics.com

https://www.facebook.com/eurythmics/

Text by Paul Boddy
16th April 2018

ROBERT GÖRL Interview

23 November 2017 /

DEUTSCH AMERIKANISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT or DAF are the influential pioneers of electronic body music.

Forming at Die Ratinger Hof in Düsseldorf, DAF’s punky ethos became fully realised thanks to the availability of newly affordable synthesizer technology from Japan. Attaching the powerful sound to heavy rhythms and Teutonic expression, the energetic aggression of the music reflected their militaristic aesthetic, as exemplified by songs like ‘Der Mussolini’ and’ Kebabträume’.

Between 1981-1982, the nucleus of Gabi Delgado on vocals and Robert Görl on drums and electronics released an acclaimed trilogy comprising of ‘Alles Ist Gut’, ‘Gold Und Liebe’ and ‘Für Immer’ which were produced by the legendary Conny Plank and originally came out on Virgin Records.

That trilogy along with what was the first album ever released on Mute Records ‘Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen’ (which Plank also worked on) form the bulk of ‘Das Ist DAF’;  a celebratory boxed set released by Grönland Records, the set also features a bonus disc of respectful remixes while the lavish vinyl edition exclusively contains the treat of a brand new DAF single entitled ‘Die Sprache Der Liebe’.

While DAF fell under a haze of “sex, drugs and sequencer” after 1982, Görl began a solo career with the cult favourite ‘Mit Dir’ in 1983. This was followed by ‘Night Full Of Tension’, an album which saw Görl embracing synthpop and the English language. It featured vocal contributions from Annie Lennox of EURYTHMICS.

Fast forward to the present day, Görl and Delgado-Lopez have more than occasionally reunited for DAF shows, while the DAF drummer has been showcasing his ‘Glücksritter’ live only project to audiences around Europe, most recently at the 2017 ELECTRI_CITY CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf.

With the success of the ‘Das Ist DAF’ boxed set and the accompanying authorised biography of the same title due to break cover, Robert Görl kindly chatted about DAF’s past, present and future while also reminiscing about the beginnings of his solo career and working with Conny Plank.

Are you pleased with the ‘Das Ist DAF’ boxed set and what it has achieved?

Yes, I’m happy, we put in just the core albums and I thought the different remixes were a great idea plus of course, there is a very special new DAF single in the box.

It’s taken a long time to get new DAF material together, what was the idea behind ‘Die Sprache Der Liebe’?

The working process how we did it was completely old school, like in our old days. I have to say when me and Gabi come together, we don’t do so many new records, we have lots of different projects and sometimes we do DAF. The last DAF album was already 15 years ago! But sometimes we meet and talk about maybe doing something new and this time, it worked because we had Grönland and they said they would be very happy if we did at least a single.

For me and Gabi, the two songs we did was kind of a test, I did the sequences, made all of the music and then the drumming before Gabi did the lyrics and singing. It’s in the same style like in the old days. It’s not like what many bands do… Gabi lives in Spain and me in Berlin, but I don’t send audio files for him to progress further before sending it back to me or for a third person to mix it… I don’t like this style of working when people don’t even see each other to do a record. This for me is very boring.

So me and Gabi had to meet and come together, I played him my sequences. He sees everything like my drumming and I see Gabi while he puts down his first lines and makes them better while I’m in the studio.

Gabi says you still love your vintage synthesizers?

Yes, I still love them. For example, this single is a Korg MS20 and the Korg sequencer, as is the B-side ‘Ich Bin Nicht Da’

Did you and Gabi choose the remixers?

Grönland suggested these guys like WESTBAM and BOYZ NOISE, we were happy with them and agreed. Apparently when they approached Giorgio Moroder, he said “Greetings to the DAF guys, tell them I really want to do it” – this was fantastic.

There is this new authorised book ‘Das Ist DAF’? Is it a tale of “sex, drugs and sequencer”?

The most interesting part of the book is it tells the hard truth. We were interviewed many times for the book and it is not about a band where everything worked fine, where it’s a nice and successful polished career. No, in this book, the reader will see how at many points, Gabi and me had discomfort and there were times when it was not so nice.

We never had fist fights but we did split and said “you go your way and I go mine”. We talk very honestly about what happened and when it was sh*t *laughs*

So was your first solo album ‘Night Full Of Tension’ a result of one of these splits?

Yes, we’d worked for 5 years together as DAF and we were burned out. This was the first split and very heavy, we could not even see each other anymore because we were together day and night for those 5 years. I wanted to do something else.

How did it feel on that album to not be drumming as well as writing and singing in English?

Around this time, I was getting more into pop. When we split DAF at this highpoint, when you look at our style and how we behaved with these three successful DAF albums, we were like pop stars, more or less. We had lots of money and good clothes, I could just book a flight to New York and go… we had everything that we wanted. I wanted to make a pop album and at this time, I was invited to London and New York a lot. People suggested to me if I wanted to really make it worldwide, I should do an English album. In the 80s, the kingdom of pop music was still London so for me, it was normal and not a big compromise.

What was it like working with Annie Lennox?

She was involved in helping me with lyrics, I went to Montpellier for 2 weeks to write the basic ideas and then I showed her them in London. She would make suggestions so we worked together on the lyrics, that’s why she was also on the album.

You released a great standalone single ‘Mit Dir’ before ‘Night Full Of Tension’. Have you heard DJ HELL and STEREO MCs cover version of it as ‘With You’?

I think they did a good well-produced version; ‘Mit Dir’ is my favourite solo song…

…DJ HELL also did a remix with you of ‘Liebe Auf Den Ersten Blick’ for ‘Das Ist DAF’?

Yes, I liked it… I had a few arguments about how he did it, but in the end it was a good product.

There was also the Prada commercial using the ‘Headed For The Sun’ version by MURK.FM?

That was a good one…

The ‘Das Ist DAF’ boxed set highlights your productive relationship with Conny Plank on those classic albums? What sort of person was he?

Conny was like home, he made it comfortable for all the bands he produced. What I really liked about him was he gave you comfort. Even at lunchtime, we met many times in the kitchen and he would just give Gabi and me his studio. He said “Take my studio, it’s yours”. He gave us time and wouldn’t look at the watch saying “we must do this and this and that now”, he was not like this.

Was he like your favourite uncle?

He was almost like a father to me, we lived at the studio so it was all very familiar. We had a room and slept there, we would go down in the morning and he would be making breakfast, while his girlfriend Christa Fast would make cakes. It was the very homely feeling that we remember most. And this made it easier for us to feel good and create without having a heavy head.

Other studios can give you headaches because of the deadlines, it was the opposite at Conny’s Studio. He would come down in the afternoon, listen and say “hey, this sounds good, let’s record it”… it was warm and comfortable with no pressure. He was a fan of our music and he was a gentleman. He always found the moment when we were hot… this was very good.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Robert Görl

Special Thanks to Rudi Esch

‘Das Ist DAF: Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft – Die Autorisierte Biografie’ by Gabi Delgado, Robert Görl, Miriam Spies and Rudi Esch is published by Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf

The boxed set ‘Das Ist DAF’ is released by Grönland Records, available in vinyl and CD formats

DAF perform at Malmö Inkonst on Saturday 25th November 2017

http://www.robert-goerl.de

http://www.das-ist-daf.net

https://www.facebook.com/DASISTDAF/

https://www.groenland.com/en/artist/deutsch-amerikanische-freundschaft/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
23rd November 2017

Lost Albums: ROBERT GÖRL Night Full Of Tension

22 October 2017 /

DEUTSCH AMERIKANISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT, also more commonly referred to as DAF, undoubtedly all but invented electronic body music; the late veteran DJ John Peel charmingly called them the “Grandfathers of Techno”.

Featuring the nucleus of Gabi Delgado-Lopez on vocals and Robert Görl on drums and electronics, their punky ethos utilised the availability of the-then newly affordable synthesizer technology, attaching the Korg MS20 semi-modular synth driven by its corresponding 16-step SQ10 analog sequencer to heavy Teutonic rhythms.

DAF’s music was a confrontational statement against the very strong American influence in popular culture that had seeped into post-war Germany. But following the cult success of their acclaimed Virgin album trilogy of ‘Alles Ist Gut’, ‘Gold Und Liebe’ and ‘Für Immer’ produced by Conny Plank, DAF went into hiatus after falling under a haze of “sex, drugs and sequencer”.

1982’s ‘Für Immer’ with its best known song ‘Kebabträume’ had already seen DAF veer towards synthpop territory at various points, but it was still something of a surprise when the DAF drummer appeared in 1984 with an eight track album made in that vein, released on Mute Records.

Görl’s solo career had begun with a standalone single ‘Mit Dir’ in 1983. Dark, brooding and magnificent, the song was to become a favourite among the cognoscenti, eventually borrowed by a newer generation of electronic duos like SIN COS TAN, reinterpreted for Prada commercials and covered by DJ Hell with STEREO MCs. But by ‘Night Full Of Tension’, Görl had lightened up considerably and the artwork even had him looking totally relaxed, posing by a swimming pool.

Co-produced by Mike Hedges who had worked his studio magic on ASSOCIATES ‘Sulk’, the percussive backbone of the record was dominated by an Oberheim DMX, in a contrast to the live drumming that DAF followers were used to. And while sequencers were still prevalent, the patterns were now more sophisticated, thanks to the advent of digital sequencers like the Oberheim DSK which could control polyphonic synths such as the OBXa which DAF had used on ‘Für Immer’.

Singing in English apart from on the solemn Brecht-influenced cabaret art piece ‘Gewinnen Wir Die Beste Der Frauen’ reciting a 13th Century Poem by Walther Von Metze,  Görl exuded a relaxed vocal style in the manner of Bryan Ferry and David Bowie that actually came over more like Yukihiro Takahashi of YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA and Winston Tong of TUXEDOMOON.

Photo by Sabine Raef

And in another twist, ‘Night Full Of Tension’ featured vocal contributions from Annie Lennox; the two had met when Görl played on EURYTHMICS’ ‘Belinda’ from ‘In The Garden’ which Conny Plank had produced. Laced with ad-libs by Lennox, ‘Playtime’ was a fine accessible opener recalling NEW ORDER that showcased the sequencer and drum machine driven pop ethos of the album.

‘I Love Me’ referenced ASSOCIATES and resembled a less frantic and more electronic ‘Club Country’, a track which Mike Hedges helmed. Given the Mute connection too, elements of DEPECHE MODE’s DAF influences that had been heard on ‘Construction Time Again’ ironically also crept in… the sorcerer was grabbing back from the apprentice. Meanwhile the quirky ‘Charlie Cat’ actually saw Lennox take the entire lead vocal and unsurprisingly, it sounded like something by EURYTHMICS as around this time, David A Stewart was using similar Oberheim equipment.

The second half of ‘Night Full Of Tension’ was glorious; ‘Queen King’ played with androgyny and sexuality over hypnotic sequences and synthetic brass stabs, while on the brilliant ‘Love In Mind’, its machine groove sat comfortably next to the similarly constructed ‘Big Brother’ by Winston Tong and ‘Big Blue World’ by Paul Haig as fine examples of the sophisticated electronic pop that was emerging during this period.

But the album’s highlight was probably ‘Darling Don’t Leave Me’, a passionate but fun duet with Lennox that was also a wonderfully wiggly synthpop pleasure. Closing with ‘Wind In Hair’, this was the closest ‘Night Full Of Tension’ got to DAF, its bassline resembling ‘Der Mussolini’ although this realisation was far lighter, with the synthetic choir and string drones pushing it closer to KRAFTWERK.

DAF reconvened in 1985 for ‘1st Step To Heaven’, their only album in English, but the pair parted ways again. Since then, Görl and Delgado-Lopez have more than occasionally reunited for DAF shows, while the recent release of the ‘Das Ist DAF’ boxed set on Grönland Records has cemented the duo’s status as the “Grandfathers of Techno”.

Meanwhile, the intervening years have seen Görl pursue that very Techno direction with albums like ‘Watch The Great Copy Cat’, ‘Sexdrops’, ‘Final Metal Pralinées’ and ‘Dark Tool Symphony’. So like Winston Tong’s wonderful ’Theoretically Chinese’ excursion, ‘Night Full Of Tension’ was a one-off experiment.

But Görl’s intriguing and cool escapist journey into synthpop crossed over into an audience that may have found DAF a bit too threatening, and that was not necessarily a bad thing. ‘Night Full Of Tension’ is a very good but forgotten body of work that deserves as much recognition as DAF’s Virgin-era albums.

‘Night Full Of Tension’ is still available via Mute Records as a digital album featuring the extended version of ‘Mit Dir’ as a bonus track

http://www.robert-goerl.de

http://mute.com/category/robert-gorl

https://www.groenland.com/en/artist/deutsch-amerikanische-freundschaft/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Sabine Raef
22nd October 2017

ELECTRI_CITY 1_2

17 August 2016 /

Elektronische Musik Aus Düsseldorf

German music has been compiled before, but it has often been a hit and miss affair. Soul Jazz Records’ lushly packaged ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik’ sets over two volumes contained a wide range of freeform experimental works from Der Bundesrepublik, but occasionally forgot about the Trade Descriptions Act implications of its title.

Released to coincide with ‘ELECTRI_CITY – The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’, the English translation of the acclaimed book by Rudi Esch about the city’s music heritage, ‘ELECTRI_CITY 2’ gathers together the more accessible elements of Deutsche Elektronische Musik, Kosmische and Neue Deutsche Welle.

Think of it as a direct journey of discovery, but with the benefit of a local tour guide as well. Issued by Grönland Records who handled the NEU! and HARMONIA remasters, the 2CD deluxe edition  ‘ELECTRI_CITY 1_2’ adds the first volume that came out in 2015 alongside the original German language book.

NEU! and DAF will probably be the best known acts of those included; produced by the legendary Conny Plank, both are more than well represented on ‘ELECTRI_CITY 1_2’. But with the proto-synthpop of ‘Isi’ and the proto-punk of ‘Hero’ from the former, alongside the electro-body controversies of ‘Der Mussolini’ and ‘Kebabträume’ from the latter, there are also many other acts who are worthy graduates of the school.

One of the most welcome inclusions is that of the under rated Neue Deutsche Welle trio RHEINGOLD. Both ‘3Klangsdimensionen’ and ‘Fluß’ are almost up there with great international crossover hits like PETER SCHILLING’s ‘Major Tom’.

But often, the German language was a barrier to wider recognition and apart from DAF, most of the material gathered here does not really break the lyric bank.

Those of Klaus Dinger from NEU! in particular are amusingly close to ranting gibberish, especially on the two brilliant offerings from his more synth driven combo LA DÜSSELDORF.

Missing though are KRAFTWERK; but with Ralf Hütter’s well-known defensiveness of the Kling Klang legacy, representation instead comes from former percussionist Wolfgang Flür and his autobiographical party piece ‘I Was A Robot’. There is also a special hidden cover of ‘Ruckzuck’ from THE TECHNOCRATS, a side project of Ralf Dörper, best known as a member of PROPAGANDA and DIE KRUPPS. Anyone getting as far as even listening to this set of compilations will probably have at least one KRAFTWERK album in their collection, so their absence is not really noticed.

As Andy McCluskey put it: “Whilst KRAFTWERK cement their position in the pantheon of the museums and the books, LA DÜSSELDORF and NEU! were very important. They also did something that was beautiful and different”. Of course, British acts like OMD championed the cause of Elektronische Musik aus Düsseldorf, eventually distilling the form into synthpop and even selling it back to Das Vaterland; in acknowledgement of that, a mysterious collective called MAKROSOFT cover ‘Electricity’ in a deadpan apocalyptic fashion.

Further evidence of cultural exchange comes with the 1976 HARMONIA & ENO collaboration ‘Luneberg Heath’, the effects of which were to later have a profound effect on DAVID BOWIE’s Berlin Trilogy of ‘Low’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lodger’. But the biggest surprise to many will be ‘Darling Don’t Leave Me’, a lost duet between DAF drummer Robert Görl and Annie Lennox of EURYTHMICS which is a gloriously wiggly synthpop pleasure.

Diversity was one of the beauties of The Düsseldorf School Of Electronic Music and harder, edgier sounds emerged alongside more esoteric instrumental pieces. ‘Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn’ and ‘Zwei Herzen, Ein Rhythmus’ from DIE KRUPPS show how much of a debt is owed to them by the Industrial music scene.

Meanwhile LIAISONS DANGEREUSES led by Beate Bartel (MANIA D, EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, MALARIA!) and Chrislo Haas (DAF, DER PLAN) took Teutonic precision into the underground dance clubs with hypnotic numbers like ‘Etre Assis Ou Danser’ and ‘Los Ninos Del Parque’. However, those in the hunt for something even angrier will probably appreciate the more challenging platitudes of BELFEGORE.

With ‘Flammende Herzen’, NEU! guitarist Michael Rother opened his solo account to become Germany’s answer to Mike Oldfield while on ‘Karussell’, he also proved he could sound like a one-man ULTRAVOX. A former band mate of Rother’s, RIECHMANN is undoubtedly the great lost talent of the era; the lunar synth passages of ‘Abendlicht’ and the delicate melodic schaffel of ‘Wunderbar’ showcased his potential towards the musical magnificence that was never able to be fulfilled due to his tragic passing.

Of course, a vibrant art scene centred around Düsseldorf and provided a sympathetic environment for many to flourish. DER PLAN, TEJA and DIE LEMMINGE are good examples of that more experimental approach. PYROLATOR’s ‘Max’ in particular comes over like a Rhein-Ruhr version of THE NORMAL while ‘Mustafa’ by TOPOLINOS, a pre-PROPAGANDA girl group featuring Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag, is a jaunty, enjoyable piece of Middle Eastern flavoured avant pop that was not really a true indicator of what was to come.

All-in-all, ‘ELECTRI_CITY 1_2’ is as Rudi Esch puts it “an intelligent and sophisticated roller coaster ride through one of the most integral chapters of recent German music history”. A fine collection of cathartic expressionism, the 29 tracks on offer provide a fine entry point into a fascinating post-war attitude that resulted in a highly influential musical aesthetic.

CD1
01 LA DÜSSELDORF Düsseldorf
02 RIECHMANN Wunderbar
03 HARMONIA & ENO Luneburg Heath
04 DER PLAN Wir Werden Immer Mehr
05 DAF Der Mussolini
06 NEU! Hero
07 TEJA Säuren Ätzen
08 DIE KRUPPS Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn
09 LIAISONS DANGEREUSES Los Ninos Del Parque
10 WOLFGANG FLÜR I Was A Robot
11 RHEINGOLD 3Klangsdimensionen 2010
12 MICHAEL ROTHER Flammende Herzen
13 MAKROSOFT Electricity

CD2
01 RIECHMANN Abendlicht
02 NEU! Isi
03 RHEINGOLD Fluss
04 ROBERT GÖRL featuring ANNIE LENNOX Darling Don’t Leave Me
05 DIE KRUPPS Zwei Herzen, Ein Rhythmus
06 TEJA SCHMITZ Studieren
07 DAF Kebabträume
08 PYROLATOR Max
09 LA DÜSSELDORF La Düsseldorf
10 BELFEGORE Mensch Oder Gott
11 DER PLAN Gummitwist
12 LIAISONS DANGEREUSES Etre Assis Ou Danser
13 TOPOLINOS Mustafa
14 DIE LEMMINGE Himmel
15 MICHAEL ROTHER Karussell
16 THE TECHNOCRATS Ruckzuck (Hidden Track)

‘ELECTRI_CITY 1_2’ is released by Grönland Records as a deluxe 2CD edition. Each compendium is also available separately as a CD, double vinyl LP and download

https://groenland.com/en/artist/electri_city/

‘ELECTRI_CITY – The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music’ by Rudi Esch is published by Omnibus Press on 26th August 2016.

http://www.electricity-conference.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ELECTRICITY.Conference/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th August 2016

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