One record at a time: 133. Erasure - The Neon REMIXED

This is a remix album on double coloured vinyl. The mixes are the usual club oriented material that can make for a worthy listening experience but are more often best left to the dance floor (not that many clubs will be playing Erasure in any form). Also included is one new song called "Secrets" which I can only assume is there to drive sales.

The pick of the mixes here are "Shot a Satellite (GRN Extended Remix)" and the atmospheric "Tower of Love (BSB's Stella Polaris Remix)" which both improve on the originals immensely.  Also worthy of mention is the Matt Pop remix of "New Horizons" which retains the feeling of the original but adds a new glossy layer over the top. 

None of these mixes are terrible but the version of "No Point in Tripping" by JC Carr and Bill Coleman is a little tedious with its cheesy Korg M1 piano riffs and sampled break beats. Whilst Andy Bell and Gareth Jones's "Sapphire and Steel" mix of "Nerves of Steel" breaks the club tedium, it lacks a little punch compared to the pumping dance tracks that surround it.

There were 3 CD singles of remixes released alongside the original album and none of the 29 tracks featured there seem to be repeated on this album. There is also a download code included in the package which provides access to all the mixes plus another 7 included on the digital version. The fourteen minute "Octa Octo Psychedelic Visions Disco Dub" of the new track "Secrets" is not for the faint hearted.

Whilst Erasure can't be criticised for not offering value for money, I do miss the days of a remix album that only had 6 or so high quality mixes across a variety of styles. Having listened to this album I can still hear TR-909  style bass drums pounding in my head. 3/5

One record at a time: 132. Erasure - The Neon

Having trawled through the entire Erasure back catalogue, we finally come to their most recent project "The Neon".

This is a 'neon' orange vinyl that, despite being pressed by Optimal Media, sounds uncharacteristically poor. There are quite a few crackles and my copy seems to have a lot of sibilance. I've noticed this shift towards coloured vinyl, and whilst it might look good, it rarely provides sonic fidelity. There are a few exceptions, such as the Audio Fidelity pressing of Vangelis's "Blade Runner", but generally I find coloured vinyl inferior. 

The music on offer here is okay, but nothing exceptional. The lead single "Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)" sees Vince creating some great analogue bass sounds and twinkling percussion, but the repetitive nature of the melody becomes slightly annoying. "Nerves of Steel" is a another highly repetitive single which has some bizarre lyrics about finding love in the "Motor Hotel". The third and final single to be released, "Fallen Angel" is catchy but continues the penchant for eccentric lyrics. If riding on the top of roller-coasters or "walking up the down escalator" gives Andy love then he is much more easily pleased than I am.

"No Point in Tripping" is fairly standard stuff, but the next track "Shot a Satellite" is a bit funkier and features some great flourishes by Vince. I can also recommend the Initial Talk remix of this track which has much more of an eighties sound and really satisfies."Tower of Love" is something of a dirge that has nothing to say and goes nowhere. "Diamond Lies" sounds like it was pieced together from snippets of other songs and I can't help but think I've heard the ideas before. "New Horizons" is a piano driven piece that has a great melody and is one of the best compositions on this record. Penultimate track "Careful What I Try To Do" ticks along quite nicely and would probably be have been better at the front of the album breaking up the mediocre singles. The last track, "Kid You're Not Alone" sees Andy singing falsetto about nothing in particular. And this is one of the most disappointing aspects of Erasure's more recent material: the lyrics are either nonsensical or so bland as to be without any meaning. Okay, so "Blue Savannah" is hardly a message to the world, but the words were at least memorable. I can't recall most of the lyrics from this album, and when I can, it is simply because they are ludicrous. 2/5

One record at a time: 131. Erasure - World Be LIve

You've had the album. You've had the 'classical' reinterpretation of the album. Now you get the live album. The saving grace this time around is that the back catalogue has been rolled out to save the day.

It has to be said this vinyl version of "World Be Live" is a rather lavish package with plenty of attention to detail. As I ordered this limited edition coloured vinyl via PledgeMusic, my name in the credits and I also received an art print of the sleeve.

Two eighties classics "Oh L'amour" and "Ship of Fools" provide a good introduction and offer some initial reassurance. However, things go awry quite quickly. "I Love Saturday" is pretty awful: the introduction alone seems to move between at least three different keys. "Always"  and "Turns the Love to Anger" sound fragile and are a pale imitation of the studio recordings. A needless homage to Blondie comes in the form of "Atomic", which is mediocre in execution but is strangely well received by the audience.

Contemporaneous material such as "Love You to the Sky" and "Take Me Out of Myself" sound very similar to their album versions and their reception is suitably lukewarm. "Sweet Summer Loving" is a poor song and this live version must have bored the crowd to tears. Favourites such as "Victim of Love", "Blue Savannah" and "Stop!" do carry some energy and prove to be the highlight of this album. 

I didn't go to this tour as the parent album didn't inspire me to buy tickets. I've seen Erasure live many times over the years and this record does not replicate the experience at all. I don't expect (or want) live versions to mimic the original recording, but presenting them 'warts and all' can end up sounding, well, rubbish.

The mediocre result makes me ask the question, "Why release this album at all?" Well I think bands release live albums as a way of squeezing some profit from a costly tour and I guess this becomes even more pressing when the album it based on is not commercially successful. A nice looking record, but it has nothing between the ears. 2/5

One record at a time: 130. Erasure - World Beyond

OK, here is a confession: I have never listened to this record. In fact, I didn't really understand what it was until I read the promo sticker telling me it consists of 'classical' re-recordings of the songs from the "World Beyond" album. Why you would want to re-record mediocre songs with a Belgian string quartet I have no idea, but that's what they did. What is worse, I bought the thing.

The first track is my favourite from the original album "Oh What A World". The string arrangement is relatively sympathetic to the material even if it is a little uninspired. Thankfully Andy's vocal carries the melody and allows some of the quality of the original song to shine through. 

The maudlin "Be Careful What You Wish For" is only three and a half minutes long but it feels like it goes on forever. The sparse arrangement of "World Be Gone" gives the tune a new lease of life and is almost quite good. "A Bitter Parting" injects a little bit of rhythm, but the violin that mirrors Andy's vocal in the verses makes it sound like a sea shanty. The first hint of vocal fragility comes with "Still It's Not Over" where Andy struggles to overcome the building cacophony behind him. 

Weaker songs such as "Sweet Summer Loving" and "Tale Me Out of Myself" don't emerge well from the 'classical' arrangement but the single "Love You to the Sky" is a little better. As with most of the recordings here the remaining two tracks are just too long as the arrangement doesn't do enough to maintain my interest. Lets face it, even the most ardent Erasure fan won't be spinning this very often. 1/5

One record at a time: 129. Erasure - World Be Gone

"World Be Gone" is not a commercial album and the songs have very little immediate appeal. To add insult to injury, the orange vinyl doesn't sound all that great either. I don't think even the most ardent Erasure fan would argue this is one of their best albums.

Proceedings kick off with the single "Love You to the Sky" which is a reasonable attempt at an uptempo pop song with a darker edge. The second track "Be Careful What You Wish For" confirms that this album definitely not a sequel to the dance-floor beats of predecessor "The Violet Flame". Another single "World Be Gone" has a good melody that heaves and sighs along at a medium tempo. At this point the album reminds me of the eponymously titled album from 1995 - everything is a little over indulgent. "A Bitter Parting" is just too repetitive and monochrome to be entertaining but the next track "Still It's Not Over" wins points for its piano driven backing track.   

Unfortunately the slide from mediocrity to hopeless is realised on the second side of the record. "Take Me Out of Myself", "Sweet Summer Loving" and "Lousy Sum of Nothing" are just plain boring. "Just a Little Love" was released as a single but it sounds like b-side material to me. Only "Oh What A world" comes out of the debacle with any real merit but some of the lyrics are strange to say the least. 1/5

One record at a time: 128. Erasure - The Voilet Flame

By 2014 Erasure seem to have become aware of the vinyl resurgence and this white and violet double album was made available a few months after the initial CD and digital release. I seem to remember this version was initially exclusive to the now defunct PledgeMusic service. The basic premise of this retailer was to take your money upfront (a 'pledge') which was then used to finance the production of the physical product. 

When this album was announced I thought that an Erasure album produced and co-written (well he gets publishing anyway) by Richard X was guaranteed to be a winner. Whilst this record is undoubtedly better than some of its predecessors, "The Violet Flame" isn't quite as successful as I imagined it would be. Yet again Erasure deliver an album with a terrible title and art work that seems to be completely unrelated to the project.

Things kick off with the rather splendid "Dead of Night" which has some great synth arpeggios and a thundering bass. I seem to remember reading Vince and Andy changed their traditional approach of writing songs using a guitar or piano and wrote with the synths used to create the final product. You can hear that some of these tracks are a little more reliant on a groove than traditional chord structures but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The club friendly single "Elevation" is a case in point where there isn't a great deal of differentiation between the verse and chorus, but somehow it doesn't matter.

Another single "Reason" continues the club vibes with its TR-808 style hit hats, bubbling bassline and resonated sweeps. Richard X turns up the compressor to emphasise the pounding of "Promises" but it lacks melody. The first four tracks on this record have been pretty relentless but "Be The One" is our first opportunity to catch a breath before another trance inflected single "Sacred" comes rolling through. "Under the Wave" cuts back a little on the heavy club vibes and allows the melody to emerge much more successfully. Things go a bit avant-garde with "Smoke and Mirrors" and whilst the end result isn't brilliant, it makes for a welcome change of pace. "Paradise" sounds like some kind of disco reject or a poor "Supernature" pastiche that I can leave or take. The obligatory closing lament is delivered by  "Stayed a Little Late Tonight".

The vinyl version of the album includes six extended and club mixes taken from the two singles which had been released up to the point of the vinyl being made available. Whilst all of the mixes are competent, none stand out particularly.

I went to see the band live on the tour that accompanied this album and, to be honest, this new material fell a little flat. In isolation this album sounds good, but when these songs are held up to the best of the back catalogue, they pale in comparison. This album is much more club orientated than I remember it being and I can't help but feel this sound was two or three albums too late in their career. 3/5

One record at a time: 127. Erasure - Snow Globe

"Snow Globe" is a Christmas album that was released 2013 but not pressed on vinyl until 2016 when Erasure's back catalogue was bought by BMG. 

When I found out Erasure were recording a Christmas album, I have to admit, I wasn’t very excited. In fact I was anticipating it being as bad as “Other People’s Songs”. Yet, somehow this album isn't the car crash it could have been.

Tracks like “Silent Night” and “Silver Bells” work because Andy sings them so well. Vince’s sparse arrangements augment the beauty of the vocals as they are imaginative and unique. 

Strangely, a quarter of the tracks here are original material that are unrelated to Christmas. This means "The Christmas Song" sits cheek by jowl with new pop songs like "Loving Man". Whilst the running order of the album is incongruous, the new material is actually very good."Bells of Love", the afore mentioned "Loving Man" and "Make it Wonderful" are some of the best songs Vince and Andy had written in the 8 years since "Nightbird". An oddity of an album, but definitely worth a look. 3/5