Following their first performance together in eight years at a record company party in 1998, Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart began writing and recording together for the first time since 1989. The album's title was designed to reflect the duo's ongoing concern with global conflict and world peace. It was promoted with a concert on the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior II, where they played a mixture of old and new songs. A 24-date world tour, titled the Peacetour, followed soon after, with all profits donated to Amnesty International and Greenpeace. The final show of the tour, on 6 December 1999 at the London Docklands Arena, was filmed and released on VHS and DVD.
Singles
"I Saved the World Today" served as the lead single from the album, reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart—their highest-charting single since 1986. The second single, "17 Again", was released in January 2000. It reached the UK top 30 and topped the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. In May 2000, "Peace Is Just a Word" was released as a single in the United Kingdom with "Beautiful Child" as its B-side.
2005 re-release
On 14 November 2005, Sony BMG repackaged and released Eurythmics' back catalogue as "Deluxe Edition Reissues". Each of their eight studio albums' original track listings were supplemented with bonus tracks and remixes. For unknown reasons, many songs on the 2005 reissue of Peace are alternate mixes compared to the original 1999 release. The most dramatically different mix is "I've Tried Everything", which is more upbeat with additional drums. Other songs with mix differences include "17 Again", "I Saved the World Today", "Forever" and "Power to the Meek", and live tracks were substituted for the original studio versions of "I Want It All" and "Peace Is Just a Word".
Critical reception
Critics were generally impressed with the album, although NME commented that it "lacked the power" of their previous releases. Q magazine opined that the release of the album "quietly acknowledged that their solo careers had failed", despite the fact that both of Lennox's solo albums topped the UK Albums Chart, with Diva going four-times platinum in the United Kingdom and three-times platinum in the United States and Medusa going double platinum in both countries, respectively.
