If you like pop music, you should like Erasure. Vince Clarke and Andy Bell have been responsible for some of the greatest British pop music ever released with tracks like A Little Respect, Love To Hate You and Blue Savannah known to anyone who has listened to music since the late 1980's . This year the band are celebrating their 30th anniversary which, for someone who grew up loving them at high school, makes me feel very old indeed.
Anniversary celebrations are becoming more and more prevalent and whilst some seem a tad unnecessary, Erasure's celebration is more than warranted. To kick it off, the band are releasing Sometimes (2015) on 23 October. It's a brand new remix by David Wrench and, as you can hear below, it's a superb take on Erasure's breakthrough single. Instead of mucking around with the song, Wrench has made a few subtle tweaks and beefed it up where it needs beefed up. Impressive stuff indeed.
The single is followed by a new best of collection, Always - The Very Best Of Erasure on 30 October. You might wonder whether another best of is needed as we've thus far had Pop! The First 20 Hits (which along with Pet Shop Boys' Discography is the definitive British pop singles album), Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure, Total Pop! The First 40 Hits, Pop 2! The Second 20 Hits and Essential. The alcum will be released on CD, download and deluxe 3cd/download and it's the latter that really grabs your attention. Yes, the single cd version contains what is basically the manual on how to write classic pop, but I'd be surprised if any Erasure fans didn't have all its songs in many different formats already. The two additional cd will be what the band's fans really want to get their hands on as they contain a number of classic and originally released only on limited edition 12" and cd single remixes, together with four brand new mixes. The tracklisting for the album is:
CD1: Who Needs Love Like That/Oh L'Amour/Sometimes/Victim Of Love/The Circus/Ship Of Fools/Chains Of Love/A Little Respect/Stop!/Drama!/Blue Savannah/Chorus/Love To Hate You/Take A Chance On Me/Always/Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)/Breathe/Be With You/Elevation/Sometimes (2015)
CD2: Who Needs Love Like That (Mexican Mix)/Oh L'Amour (PWL Funky Sisters Say "Ooh La La")/The Circus (Eternal Eraser Mix)/A Little Respect (Big Train Remix)/Stop! (Vince Clarke Sync 82 Remix)/Blue Savannah (Der Deutsche Mix II)/ Chorus (Vegan Mix)/Love To Hate You (LFO Modulated Filter Mix)/ Always (Microbots Inside Your Brain remix)/ Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day) (Tin Tin Out Remix)/ Breathe (GRN Remix)/ Elevation (BT Remix)
CD3: Victim Of Love (Vixen Vitesse Remix)/ Chains Of Love (Vince Clarke Remix)/ Drama! (Krucial Remix)/ You Surround Me (Mark Saunders Remix)/ Star (Interstella Mix)/ Am I Right (The Grid Remix)/ Run To The Sun (Beatmasters' Galactic Remix)/ In My Arms (BBE Remix)/ Freedom (Mark Pichiotti Strumapella Remix)/ Be With You (Starshapes Remix)/ Sometimes (Erasure & Flood Mix)
There are so many classic Erasure remixes on there that you really should check out if you haven't already heard them. The likes of Drama! (Krucial Remix), Chorus (Vegan Mix) and A Little Respect (Big Train Remix) hark back to a time when remixes were proper remixes rather than just generic club nonsense. I'd highly recommend the 3CD verison of this release.
The band aren't stopping there either. 2016 will see a deluxe super box set reissue of the band's 1985 debut album Wonderland which will come stuffed to the gills with all manner of good things. A 180g vinyl reissue campaign of the band's first three albums, Wonderland, The Circus and The Innocents will kick off in February 2016 too. Here's hoping the reissues continue with a reissue of Chorus, which for me is the band's best work and one of the definitive electronic pop albums.
Until then however, dig into the new Best Of and start celebrating Erasure. They are one of the most important British pop acts of all time and equally one of the most important electronic acts of all time. It's time to fall in love with them again.
Sometimes (2015) is released on 23 October 2015 and Always - The Very Best Of Erasure on 30 October 2015 both on the home of great music Mute Records.
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