Though already well establishing in the UK and Germany, Erasure wasn't making a big impact on the USA. However, this would change with their 1988 released, The Innocents. Not only would the album become the first of several consistent number one albums in the UK, but become the first to crack the top fifty of the Billboard Hot 200 in America. It would also generate two Billboard Hot 100 top twenty hits, Chains Of Love, and A Little Respect. Meanwhile, in the UK, it would also spawn the additional hit, Ship Of Fools.
Okay, now we're talking. Now I can get a little excited for the band that, to date, hasn't really impressed. I saw some potential on the last half of their prior album, The Circus (1987), and this information above gives me hope that things are about to turn around.
The about face is very obvious with the upbeat opening track, A Little Respect. It's no surprise that it's a winner. It's one of the songs I bought the album for. The other being Chains Of Love.
However, wedged in between those two are Ship Of Fools, and Phantom Bride. Fools is a slower paced (in comparison) tune, but equally delightful to the two aforementioned hits. Phantom is an enjoyable track, but its definitely not as strong as the others so far.
Hallowed Ground closes out side one on a decent note, but doesn't really resonate as highly as the others. Meanwhile, side two opens with the (mostly) instrument Sixty-Five Thousand, which was serviceable, but yet kind of out of place. With the hits out of the way, I admittedly was concerned that the remaining half of The Innocents would be nothing short of filler.
I appreciate and respect the track Yahoo, for being a seemingly religious song. While it doesn't denote a specific denomination, it's chorus, "Find your way unto the Lord," resonate as Christian. It was also at this point that I dug in further to Andy Bell, and discovered he was not only a professed Christian, but took over as head of Oakbrook Preparatory School in July 2025. Prior to that, he served as the Superintendent of Christian School of York, and continues to attend church at Daybreak Church. While that's awesome, unfortunately, that's not the same Andy Bell who was part of Erasure, and only serves to show more how useless Google's new AI search has made the search engine worse.
As for the remainder of The Innocents, it was pretty okay. Heart Of Stone, Imagination, and Weight Of The World were decent, perhaps even good enough to add to the IPOD shuffle list. I haven't yet made that decision, but I'm sure in the long run they'll end up on there.
Prior to calling it a day on 1988, Erasure released the Christmas EP, Crackers International. It's not an album I'll be jumping into just yet. However, I do plan on circling back in December, when I go through a series of Christmas albums from the 80's. As for me, my next stop for the band is their final entry in the decade, 1989's Wild!...Mind you, that exclamation point is part of the title. It's not me being all excited about hearing it.
Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS October 2, 1982 |
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