Erasure for Christmas?

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, as a sucker for a limited edition (I even subscribe to @sdedition twitter feed) I couldn’t help but order the deluxe box set of “Snow Globe” and boy am I glad I did. Not only is the box set one of the most thoughtful I’ve ever bought but the music is quite brilliant.

Firstly we should look at the music. Why does (what on paper) looks a terrible concept, work so well in execution? Well firstly Andy has truly found his inner choir boy. Tracks like “Silent Night” and “Silver Bells” work specifically because Andy sings them so well. Vince’s sparse arrangements seem to extenuate the beauty of the vocals yet remain imaginative and unique. Christmas related music makes up 75% of the album with the remainder taken up by fantastic new tracks such as “Loving Man” and “There’ll be no Tomorrow”. From first listen this album was good enough to even make this Scrooge feel Christmassy in November. The box set also features a second disc with remixes, acoustic versions and oddities plus a  third disc with a 'Radio Show'.

As you might expect, the 3000 box sets were only available for pre-order and are sold out.