album // Erasure
Erasure's seventh studio album seems an inappropriate
point to give an LP an eponymous title, but that isn't what a large
tranche of Andy Bell and Vince Clarke's fans considered
the most inappropriate aspect of this album. Erasure is a
long album, in as far as the individual tracks are individually
long, and it is also the duo's most experimental release to date.
Personally, I think this 1995 album ranks among the very best of
Erasure's body of work, and I have many fond memories of the time
around its release - when I started university - and, thanks to
the wonder of the iPod, it feels as if I have just listened to this
album for the very first time all over again, since Erasure
is so intricately detailed that it is best appreciated on headphones.
I have never managed to get my head around the derision
with which this album met - I think quite unexpectedly from Erasure
and Mute's perspective - from the fans. Obviously one half
of Erasure's chemical make-up is Vince Clarke, without whose synthesizers
Erasure just wouldn't be Erasure. Vince is not only a great 'pop'
melody songwriter, but he is also more than adept at wringing imaginative
atmospheres out of supposedly 'soul-less' machinery. The previous
album I Say I Say I Say hinted at this within a 'pop' context,
as did Chorus; there was also his work on the BBC radio programme
Craig's Big Adventure, and further back even still his contribution
to Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert's Dome project
and his unusual ambient pieces on Yazoo's debut. For Erasure
really is Vince's baby - if I Say I Say I Say put Andy's
voice in the spotlight, Erasure does the same for Vince's
keyboard work. I'd listened to plenty of 'ambient' and textural
electronica by the time this album came out, and so for me to hear
Vince's synth sections allowed space to expand and germinate was
a dream come true. But, in fairness, Erasure also brings
out an exceptional quality in Andy Bell's vocals, and there are
a number of classic pop compositions, so I really can't fathom what
all the fuss was about. Perhaps its the slightly garish sleeve painting
by x.
I do have another theory - the choice of producer,
Germany's Thomas Fehlman. Fehlman was an original member
of Palais Schaumberg, has recorded adventurous electronica
under his own name and many others, but is perhaps best known for
his work with Alex Paterson on the Orb's ambient experiments. Orb
remixed 'Ship Of Fools' for one of the rare ERAS 12" promos,
and Erasure fans uniformly voted it their least favourite remix
in an end of year poll. There are several upbeat tracks here, but
even those are coloured with unexpected textures and a beautiful
sonic depth. I love it. Gareth Jones was credited as co-producer,
largely handling Andy's vocals, while Fehlman concentrated on the
synths and overall sound. Legendary DJ Francois Kevorkian
- responsible for the US mix of Yazoo's 'Situation', his work with
Kraftwerk and his mix of Depeche Mode's Violator - mixed
the LP. Chorus mixer Dave Bascombe also mixed the tracks
'Love The Way You Do So' and 'Angel'.
Erasure commences with the brief 'Intro:
Guess I'm Into Feeling', which is actually a remixed and edited
x, the 'Stay With Me' B-side. 'Rescue Me' is a six minute upbeat
electronic marvel, blending a phasing percussion section and melodic
hook after melodic hook, while changing and building throughout.
The near eight-minute 'Sono Luminus' starts with springy electronic
burbling, before becoming a beautiful Andy Bell torch song delivered
with passion and emotion.
The full seven minute single 'Fingers & Thumbs
(Cold Summer's Day)' follows, as does the full ten minute romantic
epic 'Rock Me Gently', which was released as a single in Germany
and the Czech Republic. It is truly one of Erasure's most fragile
love songs, one laced with a melancholic undertow but also a warmth
and tenderness. Andy's innocent vocal is accompanied - in a goosebump-giving
fashion by the London Community Gospel Choir - while Vince's synth
accompaniment is minimal and soft. An extended, somnambulent middle
eight brings a vast array of one-off sounds and a chilling solo
from the thrilling Diamanda Galas. Eventually the track leads
back to where it started, only with Andy and the choir reaching
a strident, moving crescendo. How can anyone fail to be moved by
this? 'Grace' finds Andy accompanied by Ruby James; it naturally
has a gospel edge, and its depiction of mankind's self-destructiveness
is quite captivating. The track actually feels like two blended
together in sequence, since it starts with a long instrumental passage
from Vince featuring a lovely series of wispy string melodies, altogether
creating a wonderful, epiphanic and affirming song. The full length
'Stay With Me' is next, a brittle emotional song that preceded the
album's release.
'Stay With Me' drifts into 'Love The Way You Do
So', which commences with the sound of passive white noise waves
crashing onto an analogue shore. Vince's synths wriggle and wobble
around Andy's paean to his partner, Paul Hickey, who - according
to the sleeve - also sings on the track. There is a murmured, whispering
vocal in the lower sonic end, but I'll be damned if I can find a
trace of anything but Andy's multi-tracked voice on this affectionate,
sweet ballad. The track fades into the dark, intensely atmospheric
intro to 'Angel' - my personal favourite on Erasure - which features
another edgy solo from chanteuse Diamanda Galas. It gradually builds
to become a euphoric, upbeat pop track, albeit one with plenty of
phasing synth interplay. 'See how much you mean to me / My electric
symphony in blue' runs the first line - it's romantic, mushy
pop and I think it's great. Vince's keyboard melody toward the end
- on what sounds like a more earnest kazoo - is simply joyous.
'I Love You' is, as you may expect, a romantic ballad,
an embracing but defiant love song, filled with bittersweet longing
and blinkered commitment. Again, Vince's melodies are in abundance
here (how does he continue to think of new ones?), plus the simple
beat gives sparseness a whole new spin. Closing track, 'A Long Goodbye'
is just that; it's also one of the more complicated, maudlin songs
on the album, a sad song to end on like most Erasure LPs have tended
to.
I remain dumbfounded why this album has had to deal
with so much bad press from fans - in my opinion, loving
both Vince's electronics and Andy's voice to have more of both is
fantastic. I hope that more people over time recognise this as a
underrated classic.
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