| Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Eurythmics |
| Cover: | Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).jpg |
| Border: | yes |
| Alt: | Inside the centre white area in between a grey border, a small image of a topless woman with short orange hair and black gloves holding a heart-shaped box. Above the image, text in a golden circle reads "D&A", referencing David Stewart and Annie Lennox. The band's name is seen on the top, with the album's title on the bottom. |
| Released: | 4 January 1983 |
| Recorded: | 1982 |
| Studio: | Eurythmics' 8-track studio and the Church, London |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 42:21 |
| Label: | RCA |
| Producer: |
|
| Prev Title: | In the Garden |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | Touch |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) is the second studio album by British pop duo Eurythmics, released on 4 January 1983 by RCA Records.
The album was assembled by Eurythmics mainly at two locations: a small project studio in the attic of an old warehouse in the Chalk Farm district of north London, where the duo spent seven months living and working, followed by a small room in the Church Studios in London.[2] [3] The album was largely recorded onto an 8-track tape machine, apart from three songs: "The Walk" was transferred onto a friend's 16-track, and "Somebody Told Me" and "Wrap It Up" were both recorded onto 24-track (using only half the tracks) while the Church studio was being built.[4] Equipment-wise, the band had a basic recording setup consisting of a Tascam 80-8 8-track, a Soundcraft Series 2 mixer, two Beyerdynamic M201 TG microphones, a Roland Space Echo, a Furman compressor, a B.E.L. Electronics noise reduction unit, and a Klark Teknik DN50 spring reverb unit.[5] [3] The instruments they used were mainly a Roland SH-09 synthesizer (later said to be an SH-101 instead), a CSQ-100 sequencer, a Gretsch slide guitar, a Movement drum computer, a Roland Juno-6, and a borrowed Oberheim synthesizer (later described as the OB-X model by Stewart).[5] [3] Overall, the record cost around £5,000 to make, due to equipment costs.[5]
After a year and a half of initial commercial failure for Eurythmics, this album became a breakthrough for the duo on both sides of the Atlantic. The title track became particularly popular and remains one of Eurythmics' most recognisable songs. Its music video, popular on MTV in the United States, is memorable for Annie Lennox's gender-bending imagery. In the wake of this success, the single "Love Is a Stranger", previously a flop, was re-released and became a hit as well. It too was accompanied by a striking video that featured Lennox dressed both as a man and a woman.
The album was re-released in 2005 with the entire Eurythmics studio catalogue except the 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother) album, to which Virgin Records holds the rights. The recordings were remastered and several bonus tracks added to each of eight albums. In this release, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) acquired six bonus tracks.
Early Australian, German, and US CD releases (printed in Japan) and the 2005 reissue version of this album have a slightly longer version of "This City Never Sleeps". The length of 6:40 is due to some mixed sound effects and a backmasked message by David A. Stewart saying, "I enjoyed making that there record. Very good, very good" that total 21 seconds. This message also appears on original UK vinyl pressings.
During 1982, Eurythmics recorded many tracks that ended up as B-sides of singles or as alternative versions of other songs. Tracks such as "Step on the Beast", "Invisible Hands", "Dr. Trash", or the alternative versions of "The Walk" have not been released on CD yet and any future plans for re-release are unknown at this time. However, these tracks can now be heard through YouTube.
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6]
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).[7]
| Sweet Dreams: The Video Album | |
| Type: | video |
| Artist: | Eurythmics |
| Released: | 1983 |
| Recorded: | 1982–1983 |
| Length: | 63 minutes |
| Label: | BMG Video |
| Director: | Derek Burbidge |
| Producer: |
|
| Next Title: | Eurythmics Live |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
Eurythmics also released a video album for Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), featuring in-concert performances, promotional videos, and narrative animation highlighting the duo's singles "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Love Is a Stranger", and other songs from the album.
The live concert performances, taped at the Heaven nightclub in London, feature a selection of songs from Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), as well as two songs from their 1981 debut album, In the Garden, "Never Gonna Cry Again" and "Take Me to Your Heart".
The video album was directed by Derek Burbidge, with the exception of the promos for "Love Is a Stranger" (directed by Mike Brady), "Who's That Girl?" (directed by Duncan Gibbins), and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (directed by Chris Ashbrook).
| Peak position | |
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[8] | 5 |
|---|---|
| Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)[9] | 66 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[10] | 77 |
| US Rock Albums (Billboard)[11] | 18 |
| Position | ||
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[12] | 19 | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[13] | 17 | |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] | 33 | |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] | 34 | |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[16] | 4 | |
| UK Albums (Gallup)[17] | 15 | |
| US Billboard 200[18] | 72 |
| Position | ||
| US Billboard 200[19] | 72 |
|---|
