After almost two years of initial commercial failure for Eurythmics, this album became a commercial 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 all the Eurythmics' studio catalogue except the 1984 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 acquired six bonus tracks.
Recording
Dave Stewart, together with Robert Crash and ex-The Selecter bassist Adam Williams, produced the album in Eurythmics' own relatively primitive 8-track studio, winning awards for the quality of the recording that belied its low-budget origins. Sweet Dreams saw the duo move away from the psychedelic, guitar-tinged band-oriented sound of their 1981 debut albumIn the Garden, instead focusing on raw analogue synthesizers and drum machines. Whilst the "synthpop" genre had grown in popularity in the preceding years, it was often associated with all-male groups and somewhat clinical, emotionless music. Eurythmics brought a soul music twist to the electronic sound, which proved popular with broader audiences. Early Australian, German and US CD releases and the 2005 reissue version of this album have a slightly longer version of "This City Never Sleeps". The length of 6:41 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. If the song is downloaded on certain video editing programs, strangely the audio backmasked is played FORWARD. 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.
Note: musician credits are not printed on the album sleeve. However, some additional info can be gained from the sleeves of the Touch album and the "This is the House" single.
''Sweet Dreams: The Video Album''
Eurythmics simultaneously released a video album for Sweet Dreams featuring in-concert performances, promotional videos and narrative animation highlighting the duo's international hits "Sweet Dreams ", "Love Is a Stranger" and other songs from the album. The live concert performances, taped at the Heaven nightclub in London, features a selection of songs from Sweet Dreams , 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", "Who's That Girl?" and "Sweet Dreams ".
