Be Yourself Tonight is the fourth studio album by British
pop duo
Eurythmics, released on 29 April 1985 by
RCA Records.[7]
Background
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 commercial pop/rock sound. 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.
Chart performance
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.
No tour followed the album's release, due to Lennox's recuperation from
vocal fold nodules (which also caused her to miss 1985's
Live Aid concert).
On 14 November 2005, Sony BMG repackaged and released Eurythmics' back catalogue as "2005 Deluxe Edition Reissues". Each of their eight studio albums' original track listings were supplemented with bonus tracks and remixes.
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.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Be Yourself Tonight.[8]
^"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.