Eurythmics - Touch Dance

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Touch Dance, a remix album by the Eurythmics. The four tracks came from their 1983 album Touch (click here for that review). They were turned into dance versions by John "Jellybean" Benitez and Francois Kevorkian, both prominent in the New York City club scene. It went to number 1 in the UK; here in the US it spent eleven weeks on the Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 115.


Side one begins with "The First Cut", followed by "Cool Blue", "Paint a Rumour" and then "Regrets".

Side two features the mostly instrumental versions of "The First Cut", "Cool Blue" and "Paint a Rumour".

Touch Dance skips over the previous record's hit singles to focus instead on the deeper cuts. As I noted previously, I liked the original version of those deep tracks. And, I have always been a fan of Jellybean's remixes. So, this forty-eight minute collection of tunes has the perfect formula to appeal to me. This was my first listen to the record (thanks, YouTube) and I liked it well enough.

I read where Annie Lennox, quoted in interviews, said that she disliked this release. She indicated that she and Dave Stewart had little to do with it; it was all the work of the studio and the producers. I can see why, as artists, they would be frustrated by that. Even if it was a "strike while the band is hot" effort by the label, hopefully Eurythmics at least reaped some financial benefit from it.

If you are an 80's dance remix fan, you might want to see this one out.