>EURYTHMICS LIVE
Fast-forward past this tape's opening segment, a bubble-brained studio scenario. It shows David Stewart gaping at a broken mirror, a snake, a gun, an old fellow who looks like a guru, Annie Lennox putting on a glove and some crucifixion symbolism. This sequence (it was Stewart's dumb idea) doesn't set up the Eurythmics' Sydney, Australia, concert that follows; it delays it. The opening is doubly wasteful because the concert is so good. Lennox prowls the stage like a leopard and is in dynamite form vocally; Stewart hops about in gnomelike fashion, firing off an especially nice guitar solo on It's Alright, Baby's Coming Back. The material covers most of the Eurythmics' hits up to the concert date (February 1987), and the small touring band was first-rate. Joniece Jamison, a gospel-flavored backup singer with a playful stage presence, stands out. The sound mix is strange—the crowd noise often seems mixed out. The music comes across, though, and the event is so high-spirited that Lennox' studied aplomb breaks only for an instant when a fan runs up behind her from backstage and kisses her on the cheek. (PolyGram, $19.95)
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