''Touch'' is the third studio album by British

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

duo

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British New wave music, new wave duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band t ...

, released on 14 November 1983 by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. It became the duo's first number-one album on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and also peaked at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200. It has since been certified Platinum in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The album spawned the singles " Who's That Girl?", " Right by Your Side" and " Here Comes the Rain Again", all of which reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. The album was listed 500th on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s "

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...

" in 2003, and again on a revised list in 2012, at number 492.

Background

By the time ''Touch'' was released, Eurythmics had achieved international success with their single "

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" is a song by British synth-pop duo Eurythmics. It was released as the fourth and final single from their second album of the same name in January 1983. It was their breakthrough hit, establishing the duo wor ...

" and the album of the same name. Preceded by the single " Who's That Girl?", ''Touch'' was recorded and mixed in about three weeks at Eurythmics' own London studio facility, The Church. An accompanying remix album, '' Touch Dance'', was released in May 1984.

Cover

The cover image of Lennox was shot in 1983 by

Peter Ashworth Peter Ashworth (born 1953) is an English photographer. Ashworth initially specialized in music photography, between 1979 and 2000. In the 1980s, he worked with many UK and international music artists including The Smiths, Tina Turner, Depeche M ...

in Bagley's Warehouse above King's Cross Station. Originally, the shoot was for the The Face magazine and the image was used for the cover of issue 42, before being chosen also as the cover of 'Touch'.

2005 reissue

On 14 November 2005,

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

repackaged and re-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.

Critical reception

Accolades

In 2000, ''Touch'' was voted number 221 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

''. In 2012, ''

'' ranked ''Touch'' at number 492 on its list of "

", calling the album "divine synth pop". It had originally appeared at number 500 on the 2003 version of the list. ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' placed the album at number 47 on its list of "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Touch''.

Eurythmics

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

– lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, flute, arrangements * David A. Stewart – guitars, keyboards,

dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

, backing vocals, drum sequencer, synthesiser sequencer, arrangements

Additional musicians

Dick Cuthell Dick Cuthell is a British musician and record producer. He plays flugelhorn, cornet, and trumpet, amongst a range of other brass instruments, including tenor horn and valve trombone. Cuthell is best known for his work with the SpecialsStrong, M ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet * Dean Garcia – bass guitar *

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, record producer and musician. Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...

– string arrangements, string conducting * British Philharmonic Orchestra – strings * Martin Dobson –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

(3)

Technical

* David A. Stewart – production * Jon Bavin – engineering

Artwork

– outer sleeve photography * Brian Aris – inner sleeve photography * Laurence Stevens – art direction, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Touch (Eurythmics Album) 1983 albums Albums produced by Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Eurythmics albums RCA Records albums Albums recorded at The Church Studios