Best of '05 Preview: Eurythmics Go Back to the Sweetest Dreams of All

ARTIST: Eurythmics

ALBUM: Ultimate Collection; Remastered re-release of entire catalog

STANDOUT TRACKS: I've Got a Life (new single), Touch, Savage (the albums)

DISTINCTION: Who knew they were reuniting? Suddenly, there was a new Eurythmics single. And it's not half bad. The Ultimate Collection is far superior to the Greatest Hits CD that was released in the early 1990s. But the real Eurythmics news of the year was Dave Stewart's painstaking remastering of every album from In the Garden through Peace, with bonus tracks and rare photographs accompanying each. The only downside is that the original liner notes of each album have been ignored (doubly annoying for Eurythmics completists like me).

SOUND: Their post-Savage output still remains painfully dated in style. But Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), the magnificent Touch and Be Yourself Tonight prove that theirs was a collaboration that was far from a one-trick pony. The new single combines gospel and the 80s dance beat revival...enjoyable for certain (and far better than anything off 1999's Peace), but lacking in any of the mystery or "darkness" of the duo's classic work.

YEAR-END CUMULATIVE GPA: New tracks: 3.30...Remastered catalog: 3.9...Eur-iffic!