Welcome to the community hub built on top of the Be Yourself Tonight Wikipedia article.
Here, you can discuss, collect, and organize anything related to Be Yourself Tonight. The
purpose of the hub is to connect people, foster deeper knowledge, and help improve
the root Wikipedia article.
It was a major commercial success for Eurythmics on international albums charts, reaching the top five in regions including Australia (where it reached number one), New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom.[11][12][13] Elsewhere, it reached the top ten in the United States, Switzerland and Germany.[14][15]
Largely recorded in Paris, with additional recording in Detroit and Los Angeles, this album saw Eurythmics move away from their previous more experimental, synthesizer-based songs, to a more pop/rock sound with some R&B elements. Songs, such as "Would I Lie To You?" were influenced by 1960s style music, as well as utilising American soul and British pop.[10] Combining elements of Motown and rock music, the album incorporates a more traditional band line-up/instrumentation. Nonetheless, the recordings still possessed an atmospheric and cutting edge sound, winning David A. Stewart awards for his production work on the album.
The release of the album coincided with a new look for singer Annie Lennox, who ditched the androgynous look of the previous albums and became, in biographer Lucy O'Brien's words, "a bleach-blonde rock 'n' roller". Be Yourself Tonight includes guest appearances by notable artists such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Elvis Costello. The album features a range of genres performed by the duo, many of which were performed by the band for the first time. It has been described as both a "masterpiece" and "one of the best pop/rock albums of the 1980s" largely in part a result of their "innovation and ability to not succumb to the machine”.[10]
No tour followed the album's release, due to Lennox's recuperation from vocal fold nodules (which also caused her to have to miss 1985's Live Aid concert).
Be Yourself Tonight reached the top 3 in the UK and top 10 in the US, as well as spawning several hit singles. The album includes the duo's first (and only) UK number-one "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)". The first single released was "Would I Lie to You?". It would hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #6 on the Cash Box Top 100 and also hit #1 in Australia. The album was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), indicating sales in excess of 600,000 copies,[17] and Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of one million copies.[18]
Track 9 is incorrectly labelled "Better to Have Lost in Love (Then Never to Have Loved at All)" on the 2005 remastered reissue.
Track 13 of the 2005 remastered reissue is listed as the "ET Mix", but it is actually the "Extended Mix" from the "Would I Lie to You?" 12-inch single.
The live version of "Conditioned Soul" (track 14) was recorded on 14 February 1987, not in 1985. It was captured during Eurythmics' Revenge Tour at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and it's the same performance featured in their Eurythmics Live video. This was omitted from the final video release but remains part of the audio recording used for the bonus track.
^Gerard, Chris (15 April 2024). "The 100 Best Alternative Songs of the 1980s". PopMatters. Retrieved 23 December 2024. They branched out for a more pop/rock sound on their albums Be Yourself Tonight and Revenge, and both were hugely successful.
^"Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 29 May 2022. Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "Be yourself tonight" in the "Titolo" field and press "cerca".
^Bakker, Machgiel; Inglis, Cathy (23 December 1985). "Pan-European Awards 1985"(PDF). Eurotipsheet. Vol. 2, no. 51/52. p. 7. OCLC29800226 – via World Radio History.
[1]
