346 Hello Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart* - Blind Among The Flowers

( * as  part  of  The  Tourists )

Chart  entered :  9  June  1979

Chart  peak  :  52

Number  of  hits :  Annie  45 (  5  with  The  Tourists,  27 with  Eurythmics ,  13  solo )
                                Dave  39 ( 5  with  the  Tourists, 27  with  Eurythmics, 3  with  Vegas, 4  solo )

We  take  a  step  further  into  the  modern  world  here  as  Annie  is  the  first  person  we've  covered  so  far  who's  had  a  hit  in  2015.

We'll  start  with  Dave  as  the  older  of  the  pair. He  was  born  in  Sunderland  in  1952. In  1972  he  formed  the  band  Longdancer  with  three  other  guys  and  got  a  deal  with  Rocket. In  fact  their  debut  single  "If  It  Was  So  Simple " was  the  first  release  on  the  label. It's  a  glorious  folk  rock  anthem  in  the  Lindisfarne  vein,  building  up  to  an  anthemic  chorus. I  remember  it  getting  a  lot  of  airplay  when  I  was  first  tuning  into  Radio  One   but  it  didn't  chart. Probably  Rocket  had  yet  to  get  their  marketing  and  distribution  worked  out.

Longdancer  never  really  recovered  from that  disappointment. Their  debut  LP  "If  It  Was  So  Simple"  is  a  lost  gem  of  folk  rock  with  Simon  and  Garfunkel, Roy  Harper  and  Jethro  Tull   amongst  its  influences. The  track  "Take  The  Man"  is  particularly  good.  I  haven't  heard  much  from  their  second  album  "Trailer  For  A  Good  Life"  in  1974 .  What's  interesting  is  that  Dave  was  only  a  guitarist  in  the  band  without  any  song  credits to  his  name. After  the  band  split  he  recorded  an  obscure  EP  with  singer  Brian  Harrison on  a   tiny   Sunderland   label  then  left  Wearside  for  London.

He  was  living  in  a  squat  in  London  in  1976  when  he  was  introduced  to  Annie  Lennox.  She  was  born  on  Christmas  Day  1954  in  Aberdeen  and  had  been  studying  flute  piano  and  harpsichord  at  the  Royal  College  of  Music  in  London. In  between  day  jobs  to  keep  herself  going  she'd  had  short  spells  in  the  folk  rock  bands  Windsong  and  Dragon's  Playground. They  soon  became  a  couple  and  Dave  invited  her  to  form  a  band  with  his  friend  from  Sunderland  Peet  Coombes  a  singer-songwriter  in  1977.

The  trio  were  initially  called  The  Catch  and  released  the  single  "Borderline" a  poorly  produced  but  not  bad  soft  rock  effort  with  more  than  a  passing  resemblance  to  Ozark  Mountain  Devils'  Jackie  Blue   and  a  lyric  about  homesickness.  They  then  expanded  the  line  up  to  include  a  rhythm  section  and  re-branded  themselves  as  The  Tourists.

"Blind  Among  The  Flowers "  was  their  first  single.  Even  with  Conny  Plank  now  at  the  helm  they  still  hadn't  sorted  out  their  production  problems  with  a  very  murky  sound  mix  particularly  on  the  vocals  where  he  seems  to  be  trying  to  blend  Peet  and  Annie's  voices  into  one. The  opening  drum  salvo  is  filched  from  The  Ramones ' Teenage  Lobotomy   - it  too  could  sound  crisper - and  Dave's  guitar  solo  is  punky  but  otherwise  they  seem  to  be  aiming   like  Blondie  and  the  Pretenders  for  a  Spector-ish  big  pop  sound. Written  by  Peet  I'd  guess  the  song  is  about  depression  and  it's  so-so  with  some  unwieldy  lines  and   a  chorus  that  doesn't  quite  soar.