Retro Spins: Erasure - Wild!

The Erasure ride started off a bit bumpy. It started off on a pretty low point, with me comparing Andy Bell to nothing more than a carbon copy of Yaz's Alison Moyet. However, by 1987's The Innocents, something changed. Bell was coming into his own, stepping up to finally become the lead singer of Erasure, and not just a cover version of Moyet.

Wild! kicks off with the short, and frankly, unnecessary instrumental, Piano Song. This leads into the peppy, and fun Blue Savannah. I was onboard with it, and it set an expectation that I hoped would be met.

This was followed by Drama! (boy, they sure do love their exclamation points), which kept the adrenaline high. In fact, as a whole, this level of energy is consistent. With it comes good tracks like Star, and La Gloria.

I also really dug Brother And Sister, which may be my favorite from the album. This was followed by 2000 Miles, decent, but definitely has Bell back to channeling his inner Moyet.

Admittedly, the final two tracks are a bit of a disappointment. While Crown Of Thorns simply doesn't resonate with me, Piano Song, yes, the same that opened the album, is not filled with vocals, but still doesn't fair well. The latter, like its opening counterpart just feels unnecessary to the album as a whole.

Erasure would continue to achieve number one albums in the UK in the early 90's with Chorus (1991), and I Say I Say I Say (1994). However, sales would begin to steadily decline by 1995's (self titled) Erasure. Despite this, they've stuck through it, and continued to release albums fairly consecutively through 2022's Day-Glo (Based On A True Story), with their albums continuing to rank in the UK top ten, twenty, or fifty.

Additionally, Erasure would contribute greatly to the resurgence of ABBA in the 90's with their 1992 EP, Abba-esque. The album featured cover versions of Lay All Your Love On Me, S.O.S., Voulez-Vous, and Take A Chance On Me. The latter received a music video, which...just isn't right. Agnetha Fältskog, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are beautiful women. Meanwhile, Andy Bell, and Vince Clarke dressed as the two ladies are not. I mean...well...see for yourself...

I will say that it looks like the two had a lot of fun making the video, and look like they're on the verge of laughing at each other throughout it.

Overall, I'm glad that Erasure was able to turn it around for me personally. The latter decade albums, specifically, The Innocents, and Wild! are definitely the better of what I heard. They were a good note to end on, and I suppose that too wraps up this post.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 3, 1981

 

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 3, 1987

Retro Spins: Erasure - The Innocents

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.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 2, 1982

 

Retro Spins: Erasure - The Circus

I don't know...I still have a sour feeling about Erasure, and I'll tell you, it all comes down to Andy Bell simply sounding like a male version on Alison Moyet (of Yaz). It just doesn't make sense to me that Vince Clarke would break up the prior popular duo of Yaz to simply go on and create another version of them.

Though they failed to garner much attention with their debut, Erasure would finally break through with the single, Sometimes, which peaked at number two in the UK and Germany. It would apparently become the first of many successful hits for the group. The album it would end up on, 1987's The Circus, would reach number six in the UK, and spawn additional hits, It Doesn't Have To Be, Victim Of Love, and the album titled track, The Circus.

Playing through it, the album opener, It Doesn't Have To Be did certainly stand out as okay, but ultimately wasn't anything to write home about. In fact, by track four, and a series of mediocre tunes, I would be lying if I said I even remembered how the song even sounded. At this point, I was too focused on what I said above. Andy Bell just sounds like Alison Moyet, and frankly, I'd rather be hearing these songs sung by her.

Side one of the album droned on, continuing to deliver blandness at its best. Considering side two boasted three hits, I set my expectations a bit higher than I probably should have. This resulted in the opener, and hit for that side, Victim Of Love, being pretty disappointing. If this was a hit, I don't see how.

Surprisingly, things turned around pretty abruptly with the non-hit, Leave Me Blead. It really shocked me that I was suddenly enjoying thing, and all the more better when the following tunes, and aforementioned hits, Sometimes, and The Circus, consecutively came up next. Where was this album hiding? Why didn't Erasure start with these two tracks instead?

The Circus wouldn't make too many waves in the US. However, it did spawn a couple hits on the Hot Dance Music / Club Play. Additionally, as a whole, the album did manage to hit the Billboard Hot 200, peaking at 190.

Erasure would also release a counterpart remix album that same year, The Two Ring Circus. Surprisingly, it would actually fair better on the Hot 200 than its parent album, though not by much, peaking at 186.

1988 would finally bring their USA breakthrough with the album, The Innocents, but we'll dive into that one tomorrow. As for now...Still not a big fan of Erasure. However, I'm coming around a bit. I just wish Andy Bell had his own style and voice, and wasn't just a carbon copy of Moyet.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 1, 1983

 

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
October 1, 1988

Retro Spins: Erasure - Wonderland

It's confused. So Vince Clarke broke up Yaz, and then went on to form Erasure with Andy Bell.  However, Bell sounds like the male counterpart to Alison Moyet, singer of Yaz. Seems dumb.

And on that negative note, we come to my journey through Erasure. The duo group was formed in 1985 after Clarke placed an ad in Melody Maker seeking a vocalist. Ironically, Bell prepped for his audition by listening to Moyet, as well as Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Erasure's first three singles, including Oh l'amour, failed in the UK, with the latter managing to chart in Australia, South Africa and a few European countries. In fact, the song remains the groups only hit in Germany. They also found minor success on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play in the US with a couple singles. However, upon their debut album Wonderland's release (1986), it was considered a flop. It remains their only album of the 80's to not receive an sales certifications.

The album ended up in my collection for the aforementioned Oh l'amour, a song which I enjoy in moderation. It's a fun pop song, but not one I necessarily need to hear every day. While I was hoping to come away from Wonderland with more than this, unfortunately, things were not going that route. By track four, I was essentially asking myself, "What is this generic bubblegum throw away pop?" For someone as established as Vince Clarke, this was really bad.

Track five, Heavenly Action was decent, but far from amazing, and I'm still down with Oh l'amour. However, by track seven, I couldn't take anymore of this album. I audibly said, "This is bad," and started skipping songs in a vein effort to find something salvageable here. I couldn't.

You know how when you buy an entire 80's discography from someone based on a handful of songs, only to regret that life decision? I do. I'm feeling it right now. Fortunately, most of Erasure's albums were found in dollar bins, but man, based on this one, I'm not looking forward to continuing through them.

I'm hoping, I mean, really crossing my fingers hoping that things turn around with their next album, 1987's the Circus. Wish me luck...

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
September 30, 1989