This is my favourite Eurythmics track by some considerable margin, though I also rate some others on the album quite highly. I consider "Julia" to be a classic of 80's electronica, with a rather haunting chord sequence underpinning an effective vocal line with extensive use of vocoder on Annie Lennox's voice. There is a bridge section (heard twice) which is rather derivatve of Vangelis's "Chariots of Fire" theme, but as the track progresses and builds up texturally, there is an undeniable emotional impact, and I always enjoy the various instrumental melodies and counter-melodies that appear.
22 Sep 04 ·delicado: A fantastic track. It definitely rises above a lot of other songs of the period, even though it does feature an extremely cheesy guitar solo. And I still have the 12 inch of it that you sold me in 1987! 23 Sep 04 ·Mike: Hold onto that 12"... a lot of great work was done in rock and pop during the 1980s. Rather like 1960s British housing, much of it has yet to reach classic status, but for some of it at least, its time will surely come!
Lounge lizards rarely get more reptilian than this. Another brilliant example of Ferry�s cover mad, song-stylist solo work outside of Roxy Music in the early to mid 1970�s � totally rethinking some well-known standard, yet grasping something intrinsic about the song�s core. Here he gives the tune just the hint of a Philly-soul groove, and keeps the production/arrangement as open/eerie as an empty parking garage. Very sexy, and more a little creepy � its like being hit on by the ghost of Bela Lugosi in the toilet of a disco in 1975.
from Let's Stick Together, available on CD (Virgin)
A re-recording, with Sylvian's lyrics, of Sakamoto's instrumental track written a few years earlier for the film "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence".
Delicately, poignantly beautiful; an exquisite piece (ok - song) which used to be available as the "extra" track on CD versions of Sylvian's most consistent album, "Secrets of the Beehive".
Wonderfully melodic virtuoso blues guitar work. Minor key tonality. As usual on Gary's tracks, the vocals are rather dwarfed by the over top magnificence of his guitar playing.
