"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
