For the month of October, I’m selecting a song each day from the decade that has the most meaning to me: the 80s. It was the decade that I grew up in. The period of time where I discovered my love for music — and explored many different genres. For the next 31 days, I’ll highlight a handful of songs that I truly loved and that were representative of the decade. #31DaysOf80sSongs
One of the most talented and versatile voices of our time is Annie Lennox. Throughout her time with the Eurythmics, her vocals spanned all kinds of genres, including rock, new wave, motown and soul. VH-1 once went so far as to name her "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive”. A natural contralto, Lennox pushed up to the upper octaves with this falsetto that seemed to come down from heaven. She made good singers seem mediocre, most evident in vocal range-stretching tracks like “There Must Be An Angel”.
Be Yourself Tonight, as a full body of work, was quite different from the earlier Eurythmics synth-heavy aesthetic. It had much more rock, much more soul, even some Motown. I liked those songs, but “There Must Be An Angel” is still my favorite track off the album because of Dave Stewart’s production mastery and synth hooks. A second movement to the song begins about halfway through the track with this soul-infused approach that culminates in a mind blowing harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder.
“This must be a strange deception. By celestial intervention. Leaving me the recollection. Of your Heavenly connection.”