Eurythmics released this belated live album nearly five years after
We Two Are One, which would prove to be the duo's last record together for a decade. It's a chronological run-through of the group's hits (with some of their stronger album tracks interspersed) with the songs culled from the parent album's respective tours. There are some notable players in their live bands including once-and-future
Blondie drummer
Clem Burke, future
Curve member
Dean Garcia, and
Eddie Reader (frustratingly, it is not noted who played which tours). The performances are spirited with
Annie Lennox's vocals as rapturous as the studio counterparts. Some of the earlier, more new wave-inflected material sounds a bit thin and anemic while the more organic songs from Be Yourself Tonight fare better. Coming far after the Eurythmic's commercial peak, Live 1983-1989 received little interest upon its 1993 release and most fans would be more likely satisfied with the less-complete greatest-hits package issued two years earlier. ~ Tom Demalon