album // The Innocents
Erasure's 1988 album The Innocents
remains one of their best, and most successful, albums. Produced
by US producer Stephen Hague - responsible for many of the
early Pet Shop Boys tracks - and engineered by Bob Kraushar (who
himself went on to become a successful producer, curating hit singles
for the likes of Marc Almond), The Innocents is high quality,
serious pop with a sonic depth that in many ways belies its use
of digital synths, which are often seen as 'soul-less'. The album
spawned three huge hit singles for the duo - 'Ship Of Fools', 'Chains
Of Love' and 'A Little Respect'.
The sleeve expertly captures the title of the album
- designed by Paul Khera and Slim Smith (who would
go on to design many more sleeves for Mute and also now works
at The Wire magazine), the front cover features a design
based on the stained glass window of St. James and Charlemagne in
Chartres Cathedral.
Following the singles 'A Little Respect' and 'Ship
Of Fools' comes one of Erasure's best-loved album tracks, 'Phantom
Bride', a positive, affirming sounding song with some of Vince
Clarke's most elaborately simple keyboard work and Andy Bell's
resounding vocal. The song is actually very melancholy, dealing
with misery, despair and loneliness ('And in her mind she'd drift
away / A secret place to steal away'). So popular is this track
that Erasure fans have voted for its inclusion on the upcoming Nightbird
tour.
After 'Chains Of Love' comes 'Hallowed Ground',
a sullen, dark track driven on by a deep bassline, detailing a society
torn apart by crime, misery : 'Are we living for an uncertain
future?' Andy sings in one of his best vocal performances thus
far, echoing the woes of Thatcherite England at the tail end of
the 1980s. Lest we forget, this is an Erasure album, for this is
serious stuff - a far cry from the 'camp' duo that many consider
them to be. 'Sixty-Five Thousand', bizarrely, is an instrumental
- a melodic, layered song with some soul-boy horn riffs, that I
have seen described more than once as a cover of a Glen Miller tune
- the writing credit goes to Vince and Andy, so I'll assume that
the assumption is incorrect. Speaking of soul, 'Heart Of Stone'
proves the influence of Motown on Andy, an exceptionally upbeat
- but bitter - brokenhearted love sony featuring a gorgeously arpeggiating
bass, some squelchy synths and blasts of horns from The Kickhorns
(Roddy Lorimer, Tim Sanders, Simon Clark and Steve Sidwell), who
are among the most respected session hornplayers in the industry.
'Yahoo!' sticks with the same sound, only this time it's gospel,
Andy's voice swelled by backing vocalists Naomi Osborne, Caron Wheeler
and Jane Ayre. It's a powerful, uplifting track with faith and religion
at it's core. Vince's synths are soft, subtle and reverential. 'Imagination'
features phasing synth effects and a bouncy melody but evokes a
mysteriousness, Andy even singing about Medusa at one point, his
vocal sounding like the true showman that he is.
'Witch In The Ditch' is certainly an oddity, arpeggios
and tambourine accompaniment evoking the mediaeval vibe of the sleeve.
Andy drops in German words from time to time in this fantasy-like
waltz. The same Olde Englishe vibe came out again on Wild!'s
'Crown Of Thorns'. Closing track, 'Weight Of The World', another
soulful track with Jane Ayre's backing vocals, is a melancholy piece
featuring icy melodies and strummed guitar from Vince; Andy sings
with compassion about a Samaritan-like character burdened by the
troubles of others, and he really gives his singing his absolute
all - Stephen Hague was notorious for seeking the utmost perfection
from the artists he worked with, and this really shines through
in Andy's performance.
The CD and cassette feature two bonus tracks, 'Where
Were You (Melancholic Mix)' from the 'Ship Of Fools' single, and
Erasure's own Private Dance mix of Tina Turner's 'River Deep, Mountain
High' written with Phil Spector. As far as I know, there is no original
Erasure version of this track easily available, and this mix does
not appear anywhere else - so it really is a bonus track. There
is something slightly weird about Andy singing 'When I was a
young girl...', but otherwise it's a storming, high-energy cover
driven ever forward over its seven minutes by rapid beats and some
buzzing keyboards. The extended instrumental passages reveal the
depth of the synth layers, something that would have been impossible
on Spector's compressed, muddy mono version. Andy is heard to mutter
'Turn me down again' (I think), presumably kept in from the
studio sessions.
The Innocents is a landmark album, in terms
of both synthpop's history, but also Erasure's own recorded legacy.
It is a stunning body of work with a lyrical and musical superiority
that has helped it last the test of time. It was also with this
album that I became the fan that I am, the album that changed my
musical direction forever.
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