*** Eurythmics

PEACE

(Arista)

Ostensibly this is a reunion -- after a nine-year break -- of the duo who entered into pop's heart with "Sweet Dreams," in 1983. But it sounds more like another Annie Lennox solo album. The only clues to multi-instrumentalist Dave Stewart's presence are token tunes like "I Want It All" and "Power to the Meek," where the music lifts tempo and Lennox puts an edge on her voice. Otherwise these arrangements serve as translucent vehicles for the blue-eyed soul-diva excursions that have become such a familiar part of the Lennox repertoire over the course of her solo career. And there's nothing wrong with that, because Lennox sounds elegant at every turn, whether she's taking a metaphorical trip through Eurythmics' history in "17 Again" or drawing from the spiritual well for "Lifting." It's all easy listening, which is fine, because Lennox is so superbly easy to listen to. But Peace is so much her album one has to wonder why Stewart's here at all. Nostalgia? Pity (his solo projects have faltered, hers have soared)? Moral support?

-- Ted Drozdowski