Eurythmics - 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)

Eurythmics' soundtrack album to the movie of Orwell's novel is now a forgotten curiosity. The movie was a rather routine adaptation of the classic tale of a nightmarish totalitarian regime, and it is now similarly obscure. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart's music was an interesting variation on their early 80's synth pop sound, and came in for some stick at the time. In the case of the only hit from it, the bizarrely perky "Sexcrime", the criticism might have been deserved. The soundtrack seems to go well with the low-budget Brit-movie feel, but there's a lot of decent under-rated stuff here. "Julia" is a suitably chilling and desolate love song, backed by a curtain of glittering synth. "Doubleplusgood" might be irritatingly repetitive to some but it's an enjoyable manic accompaniment to the announcer's babbling Newspeak. "Greetings from a Dead Man" with its insistent drum thumping and the eerily hazy "For the Love of Big Brother" also provide some suitable sinister atmospheres.

June 24, 2004

6 out of 10

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