Erasure: Classic Or Dud?

couldn't have cared less after the 86-91 peak but GODDAMN that peak.

http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2134860,00.html

andy bell. god bless him.

Has anyone else said the new album is excellent?

If not, I'll do. Hadn't it been for "Nightbird", it would have been their best since "Chorus".

i still haven't heard it yet :/

"Ship of Fools" is a little spooky, isn't it? This make s me feel bad at words, but "Ship of Fools" freaks me out a little.

Hmm, never thought of it as spooky -- nicely atmospheric, though. (Helps that that's still my favorite album of theirs.)

It is. The music sort of sounds like wind howling. or something. lol. I am also bad at words. I feel like there are other songs on The Innocents that have a spooky vibe to them but tbh it's been a while since I've listened to them.

Toppermost of the poppermost: The Innocents, Chorus, I Say I Say I Say

Excellent and worth a listen but not-quite-there: Erasure, Nightbird

Good-to-great singles and one or two decent albums tracks, but otherwise patchy: Wonderland, The Circus, Wild!, Cowboy

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!: Loveboat, Light At The End Of The World, Tomorrow's World.

Ultimately though, my favourites are the analogue-synthfests of Chorus, I Say I Say I Say and Erasure, and the lovely-sounding softsynths of Nightbird.

Chorus is my favourite single

Andy Bell's excellent performance in Peter Hammill's opera The Fall of the House of Usher is often overlooked. Here he is duetting with Lene Lovich:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdYajmE_K4M

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/21/david-davies-gay-marriage-interview

Everything about that interview is amazing

At least he got into Boy George, doesn't seem to have got round to 'Pop!' yet

He probably wishes he could get into Boy George, if you know what I'm saying.

"I would give everything I own... not to be a Tory fuckwit homophobe."

I gave up listening to new Erasure albums quite a long time ago, but on a whim I decided to stream the new one and it's quite good. Maybe they're not self-conscious anymore now that no one's paying attention?

that's what Vince Clarke said.

I wasn't even aware that Erasure had a new one out, and probably would have ended up overlooking it completely if it hadn't been mentioned here, so thanks! I haven't heard it yet, but I'll at the very least be giving it a spin. I'm not expecting anything other than an Erasure record that comfortably sounds like an Erasure record, but I hope that it's better than that Tomorrow's World heap of dung that they put out a couple of years back.

It's called The Violet Flame and I actually didn't realize it had just come out today, so good timing on my part.

xpost:

...and it is! I'm halfway through it now, while it obviously doesn't touch anything from their "classic" period, it's leagues better than the likes of Tomorrow's World and Loveboat (which to me are the worst two albums they ever made), and I prefer it vastly to The Light at the End of the World. So I guess this is their best album since the turn of the millennium that isn't called Nightbird, which is a pleasant surprise to me given that I wasn't expecting much.

Love the Gareth Jones mix of You Surround Me has caused an argument between me and my friend. I say it's gorgeous, he says it's ruined.

With all the praise Nightbird has gotten in this thread, I'm giving it a go right now.

Andy's not really belting it out much on this album (Nightbird), huh?

Yeah, he's not really belting it out as much as he'd done on previous albums, but I do think it suits the Nightbird material. Andy's voice has obviously changed over the years, and it's hard to say whether this is down to age, or down to the cocaine habit he had in the '90s (which had apparently got so bad that when they were making the self-titled record from '95, he was snorting lines in between vocal takes in the studio - there certainly has been a difference in his voice from then onwards), or whether he's consciously trying to take more care of his voice these days. Then there was his HIV diagnosis in '98, too.

But yeah, it does suit the Nightbird material, I think. I find his voice absolutely unbearable on Tomorrow's World, though... it's like a massive advert for autotune, mostly done on purpose (as an "artistic" decision), but it sounds like absolute shit.

For me 'Nightbird' is their best since 'Chorus', though the self titled was a very interesting diversion - not sure how much it harmed them commercially given it came out at the height of britpop, but was probably artistically a great way to start a commercial decline.

Haven't listened to the new one yet, but it is waiting for me when I get home. I don't mind 'Tommorrow's World' but I rarely go back to it.

I enjoy quite a lot of the self-titled album and appreciate it for its indulgence, even if it is a bit on the long side. I'll admit that not all of it is successful in what it's attempting, but when it works it works really well, and I find it probably the most interesting album they ever made. It's definitely one of those albums that divides fans... some can tolerate the ambient section in the middle of 'Rock Me Gently' with Diamanda Galas vocalising throughout, and some can't.

Interesting, the first track on it ('Intro: Guess I'm Into Feeling') is a shortened/slightly different version of a track called 'True Love Wars', which was slated to go on the album, but instead was relegated to the B-side of 'Stay With Me'. I'm not quite sure whether it was bumped because they didn't think the song was good enough to be on the album, or whether it was bumped because of space reasons (the album is long enough as it is!)

*Interestingly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=herZ8lENFMk

I reckon 'Stay With Me' could have been their biggest hit overall had it just been released at an earlier point in their career

myself and NI made one of the remixes that's on the single (the Club Clique mix). seems to have had a pretty good reaction so far.

https://soundcloud.com/erasureinfo/elevation-club-clique-remix

I reckon 'Stay With Me' could have been their biggest hit overall had it just been released at an earlier point in their career

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, September 24, 2014 12:52 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It could have been a bigger hit than it was even if it had only been released three or four years earlier, I reckon. Prior to 'Stay With Me', Chorus and the ABBA Esque EP had been quite successful, and then 'Always' was quite a big hit from I Say I Say I Say. By the time the self-titled record came out, the UK had gone Britpop crazy and pretty much every band deemed "'80s electro" that was still active struggled apart from Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys (but even then, Bilingual got a mixed reception). I think everything from The Innocents up to I Say I Say I Say made it to #1 in the UK album chart, whereas the self-titled record made it to #14. People were still very much buying a lot of albums at the time, so they were very much selling to their hardcore fanbase from that point onwards.

Very odd choice of first single, though... 'Fingers & Thumbs' probably would have been my pick.

Haven't heard the new album yet. I got my hopes about it being good as they'd work with Richard X but the single didn't do a lot for me. Agree that the last album was terrible and that Loveboat was a low point in their career.

Nightbird is a wonderful album. I loved it when it came out and almost 10 years later it's definitely my favourite Erasure album, ahead of Chorus. A great set of understated and beautiful songs with perfect production. It was such a great moment when Breathe game them another top five hit. I just didn't see it coming at the time. It makes it more of a shame that the two albums after were so weak.

I think the problem with the self titled album was it was released too soon after I Say I Say I Say. It came out less than 18 months after an album that did spawn a couple of big hits and made number one but also did sell much less and didn't stay in the charts for long at all. They needed to give the public a bit more time to miss them. I remember them saying they thought it was going to be their Dark Side of the Moon. It's not a bad album but fairly forgettable. Fingers & Thumbs is an incredible song, defiantly should have been the first single.

I can understand what you mean. Plus, if they'd held off releasing it for a while, they could have lived with the material a bit more and might have gone back and made further adjustments and/or come up with additional songs that may have improved it. But as it stands, really there's only 'Grace' and 'Love The Way You Do So' that I'm not keen on from that album.

Then Play Long reaches The Innocents and, uh, yeah: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/erasure-innocents.html

I disagree, naturally. As someone more than familiar with the '80s synthpop "canon", I think The Innocents is a great record and find it mostly consistent throughout. Fair enough if he doesn't like it, though.

The "wall" he mentions is his own inability to accept Erasure as anything other than a) a singles band and b) exclusively peers of Depeche Mode and PSB which results is a very pedestrian appraisal but whatever. Great album.

Then Play Long reaches Wild! and meets Kate Bush along the way: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/erasure-wild.html

Maybe they're not self-conscious anymore now that no one's paying attention?

I'd say that applies again to World Be Gone, which is also pretty enjoyable. I briefly forgot, during "Take Me Out of Myself," that I wasn't listening to the new Perfume Genius.

Saw them over the summer and it was honestly one of the best nights of my life. Beyond fun. They were delightful.

Yes, lovely show in August.

That Wild! is great but flawed, because this is THE remix of their "Supernature" cover AFAIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JmE4hgBp3U

Richard shared this little titbit of information over on FB

This is the second time I have mixed Erasure. The first time (with David Ball) was a little unnerving as Vince Clarke had very specific instructions. No 909 kick drums were to be used, for example...

So I was a little apprehensive about sending this mix back. They liked it though, thankfully

I'm surprised they've felt the need to have a deluxe edition of this one. I'd rather have a really, really good B-sides compilation as they've had some good ones over the years. I'm particularly fond of 'Let It Flow' and 'Waiting For Sex' from the Am I Right? single.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 15 December 2018 22:59 (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Classic, obviously. My first musical love.

https://thequietus.com/articles/25925-erasure-wild-reissue-richard-norris-remix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi1--FQUf3c

I've been on such an Erasure kick lately, basically starting from the beginning, having never heard most of their albums in full. I'm up to Wild now myself, and even the stuff that is more album track-y sounds great to me* - think I'm just in the right mood for them atm

*not "La Gloria"

also, why do they have like five albums since 2000 with the word "world" in it

Briefly summing them up.

Never much of a fan, but this ^^ list reminded me to pull up this song last night for the first time in 20 years, and I promptly listened to it 10 times in a row before going out dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMbBMxX2nB0

in a deep Vincent Clarke hole right now, don't think i'll ever get over how much this one man has totally shifted my perspective on pop music.

also this first comment from the "Always" video just made me rofl:

"i love how the prince saves the princess with the ultimate power of gay"

Classic

https://attitude.co.uk/article/erasures-frontman-andy-bell-claims-he-refused-to-have-a-sex-with-an-alien-because-he-is-gay/22550/

felt like doing an Erasure top ten, hear it is

1. Joan
2. Oh L'Amour
3. Brother & Sister
4. Chorus
5. Take Me Back
6. You Surround Me
7. Ship of Fools
8. Cry So Easy
9. Rock Me Gently
10. A Little Respect

The new single is the first erasure track that’s pricked up my ears in... a few decades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n77X65Aquw

Their 1995 self-titled album that arguably strangled their Imperial Phase might be the masterpiece that contains their best songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgIU8D--cuw

Superior to A Little Respect etc IMO. what an album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di1mBv3iHMQ

And there's Grace, which no one ever mentions. Truly beautiful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptApotnluTc

Agreed generally. One of two albums I can think of that not only derailed a healthy chain of no. 1 albums but did so by missing the top ten altogether (the other is ahem Stereophonics' Keep Calm and Carry On). 'Wilfully obscure' in the sense that they sound like they're forcing their own transition to fans-only territory by focusing for a time on open-ended, amorphous music.

It's a really gorgeous record and I wish it was better known.

As much as I love Fingers & Thumbs (and consider it most likely the best Erasure song), it was never as hooky as the likes of their biggest hits, so I reckon the arguments that suggest it should have been the lead single fall flat- I mean, "a shattered heart in love's debris" may be a fantastic line, but it simply is not a hooky enough song to fulfill that criteria.

I think Stay With Me must have been chosen as the single as it represented the album best as a whole. I still maintain that had they led off with it in 1991 then it may have been number one for many weeks. Who knows.

Regardless this album is a masterpiece

I mostly think the album works but the songs don't always justify their longer lengths. "Rock Me Gently" is the most successful track here imo, the long atmospheric section pushing them into places they hadn't really explored before. 10 minutes goes by quickly! Whereas some tracks like "Sono Luminus" and "I Love You" feel more like those extended remixes that are mostly stretching out an existing short song. I like both tracks, but I may just prefer a 3-4 minute version. I might even prefer the single edit of "Stay With Me" to the album one

Agree with you that "Grace" is awesome, another track that uses the time well