Formation, In The Garden (1980-1982)
The pair had first worked together as members of
The Tourists. During this time, they were also romantic partners. This band achieved modest commercial success, but the experience was reportedly an unhappy one. Personal and musical tensions existed within the group, whose main
songwriter was Pete Coombes, the band often received very negative critical press in the UK, and there were legal wranglings with the band's management, publishers and record labels. Lennox and Stewart felt the fixed band line-up was not a good vehicle to explore their experimental creative leanings.
Lennox and Stewart decided their next project should be much more flexible and free from artistic compromise. They were interested in creating 'pop music', but wanted freedom to experiment with electronics and the avant-garde as well. Calling themselves "Eurythmics" after a dance technique (
Eurythmy; see also
Eurhythmics) Lennox had encountered as a child at her school, they decided to keep themselves as the only permanent members and songwriters, and involve others in the collaboration as they saw fit "on the basis of mutual compatibility and availability".
RCA Records decided to retain the pair from their Tourists recording contract. Wanting to concentrate on their musical relationship, Lennox and Stewart decided to discontinue their romantic liaison in 1980 (see
1980 in music).
Their first album saw them continue to work in Cologne with the legendary
Conny Plank (who had produced the later Tourists sessions). This resulted in the album
In the Garden, released October 1981), including contributions from
Holger Czukay and
Jaki Liebezeit of
Can, drummer
Clem Burke of
Blondie, Robert Görl of
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, and flautist Tim Wheater. A couple of the songs were co-written by guitarist Roger Pomphrey (now a TV director). The album featured rather cold and melancholy songs, mixing
psychedelic, krautrock and
electropop influences. It received a lukewarm critical reception and poor sales. Two singles from the album also flopped, though "Never Gonna Cry Again" made the UK charts. Lennox and Stewart then put their new Eurythmics mode of operation into action by touring the record as a duo, accompanied by backing tracks and electronics, carted around the country themselves in a horse-box.
Stewart and Lennox retreated to
Chalk Farm in London, and used a bank loan to set up a tiny 8-track studio above a picture framing factory, giving them freedom to record without having to pay expensive studio fees. They began to employ much more electronics in their music, collaborating with Raynard Faulkner and Adam Williams. They continued to record many tracks and play live using various line-up permutations. However, the three singles RCA released for them that year ("This is the House," "The Walk," and "
Love Is a Stranger") all flopped on initial release in the UK. The band's state of affairs was becoming critical — although their mode of operation had given them the creative freedom they desired, commercial success was still eluding them, and the responsibility of running so many of their affairs personally (down to roadying their own equipment) was exhausting. Apparently Lennox suffered at least one
nervous breakdown during this period, while Stewart was hospitalized with a collapsed lung.
