Once again, Erasure have somehow managed to turn one mediocre album into no less than four separate releases (we have been spared the live album here as, up to press, the vinyl hasn't been released).
The promo blurb describes this record as an 'unexpected bonus' that manipulates the sound files form the original to create a new atmospheric and introspective album. Basically Vince was bored during lockdown and started experimenting in Logic Pro. After a while Andy added some new vocals and before they knew it, they had a new album.
You will be unsurprised to hear this record is pressed on 'neon green' vinyl which sounds OK without being spectacular.
It's relatively easy to discern which of the original album tracks form
the basis of these reinterpretations, but they do move in strange an
unexpected directions. Opening track "Based on a True Story" has a very atmospheric introduction but ends up using a sequence that Front Line Assembly would be proud of. "Pop Beat" chops up the vocals of the single "Hey Now (Think I got a Feeling)" and sets them against a new beat that is much more layered and atmospheric than the original.
Vince's riffs and flourishes are as distinctive as Andy's vocals (even when they have been cut up and manipulated) and you get the feeling this record was fun to make. "The Conman" seems to catch Andy chatting into the microphone between takes as Vince pours out a river of analogue delights. Less successful is the song "3 Strikes and You're Out" which is a more traditional composition. The strength of this album is its experimental nature and the atmosphere that Vince builds. Adding a straight forward vocal track spoils the mood a little and seems superfluous. I notice most of these tracks are all between three and four minutes. Vince should have had more courage in his conviction and teased out some of these tracks at the expense of some of the weaker material. But all in all this album is better than the original. 3/5
This album brings our odyssey through the Erasure back catalogue to an end. Thank you for sticking with it (readership figures have waxed and waned during the course of these albums). Next time we dive into another legendary band that found fame in the eighties.
