As with the previous Erasure album "The Circus", my pursuit of a good
quality pressing has led me to own three copies of "The Innocents". I
have two original pressings and the 2016 180g reissue. I seem to
remember buying a second copy of the original as I thought mine didn't
include the poster that was given away with the initial run. However, my
memory was faulty and so I now own two copies with a poster (but only
one has the promo sticker on the sleeve telling us this).
Discogs
users have strong opinions about the fidelity of the repressing. Whilst
the experience isn't exactly, "like the neighbours are playing an
Erasure record and you're hearing it through the wall", it definitely
has less clarity than the original and the EQ is not sympathetic.
The
actual music on this album is very good indeed; but there are a couple
of party poopers in here. Things kick off with the mega single "A Little
Respect" and another chart success "Ship of Fools" follows hot on its
heels. The best track on the album, "Phantom Bride" is criminally tucked
away as the third track where it falls in the
shadow of "Chains of Love" somewhat. Side one ends with "Hallowed Ground" which
is another jewel of a song that stands up against the more up tempo
chart singles we have heard to this point.
Unfortunately, the
second side of the record is not nearly as strong as the first.
Instrumental cover version "Sixty Five Thousand" is fun, but it's
pointless pretending it is anything other than filler. "Heart of Stone"
is a well executed pop song replete with a typical eighties horn
section. However, the sequencing of the album sees the track sit
incongruously and it suffers as a result. "Witch in the Ditch" is one of
those twee, folk influenced melodies that Erasure seem to generate now
and again (see "Crown of Thorns" on follow up "Wild!" as another
example) and is probably the low point.
In my youth I never heard
much merit in the final track "Weight of the World". It was only in the
last 10 years or so that my wife pointed out it actually is a good song
with a strong melody. This forces me to reflect that this track is
another victim of poor sequencing. I assumed that this was down to some
disinterested intern in A&R, but on conducting a little research I
found that it was actually Andy Bell that decided.
It is well
documented that the gestation of this album was problematic as Vince
found it difficult to work with producer Stephen Hague. I think some of
that struggle comes through in the music and tracks like "Imagination"
and "Yahoo!" sound like they were thrown down quickly in an effort to
get he record finished and draw an end to the whole affair. For the
first time on an Erasure album it is easy to identify large numbers of
presets and the distinctive EMU Drumulator. The combination of a
slightly bland sound palette with poor choices in defining the running
order means this album isn't able to achieve the pop perfection that was
within reach of Erasure in 1988. 4/5
