Annie Lennox has been "itching to get back on track" ever since
back surgery to relieve a trapped nerve in her spinal cord last
August postponed the planned fall release of "The Annie Lennox
Collection."
"I still have a constantly numb left foot, and I limp quite a bit,"
Lennox tells Billboard.com of her condition. "Hopefully in the next
six months it might improve some; it's hard to say. It's a bit of a
drag, pardon the pun, but you just have to learn to live with
it."
Lennox, who received the Award of Merit at November's American
Music Awards, will now release the "Collection" album on Feb. 10,
featuring a dozen hits from her post-Eurythmics solo albums, two
new recordings -- "Pattern of My Life," written by Keane's Tom
Chaplin, and a cover of Ash's "Shining Light" -- and a DVD that
includes videos of all 14 songs.
"It represents a culmination of many years of working, like
rounding off a very long creative chapter," Lennox says. "I usually
don't listen to my songs; I create new music or listen to other
things. But I was able to listen to these for this (album) and say,
'Yeah, alright, these are bloody good,' kind of like rediscovering
something. That sounds arrogant, but I was very pleased with
them."
And while her focus is on the "Collection," which will include TV
appearances in the U.S., Lennox says she's ready to "go back in the
studio and just experiment and have a lot of fun. I'm just ecstatic
when I get a chance to be there and make music. That's sometimes
when I'm really happiest."
Lennox has "no idea" what creative direction she might head in, but
the "Collection" does bring her deal with Sony BMG to an end, which
she says creates even more possibilities for what she does
next.
"I'm looking at the industry of music and it's constantly
changing," she notes. "By the time I've got some music to be
released, I can consult with people and see what is the best way to
do that. I just have a lot of freedom. It's like a fresh, new
beginning in a way. There's a lot to be explored, so creatively
it's a very exciting time for me."
