new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

Over a fifteen-year career, Erasure has maintained impressive commercial popularity, and from 1986-94, an unbroken run of twenty UK top 20 hits. Even when their commercial edge soured at that point, it only soured to the level of chart placings between #10 and #30, which surely can't be called bad by any stretch of imagination.

Vince Clarke was a top 10 chart vet before teaming with Andy Bell for Erasure. He was the driving force and songwriter of Depeche Mode in 1980, but left them just after their first album and hooked up with Alison Moyet to form Yazoo, who chalked up four hit singles (three of them top 3) in under two years. In 1984, teamed with Feargal Sharkey as The Assembly, he hit #4 with "Never Never." His only chart stumble came with "One Day," which, credited to Vince Clarke & Paul Quinn, sneaked out with no advertising or support and missed the chart. By that point, Clarke had already begun working with Andy Bell and preparing Erasure to much public expectation... which the album failed to meet. Wonderland sank in at #71, which might indicate the weakness of the material. Much of it is simply twee and dated synthpop, although the sublime "Oh L'amour," one of their greatest moments, is stuck in here breathing for air. It works much better as a single.

This hiccup must surely rank as one of the oddest moments in British chart history, for after such an ignoble debut, Erasure clicked with the public with the smash "Sometimes" later that year. Extroverted, sure and upbeat, they began dominating club play and strong word of mouth brought them denting the American charts when they opened up for Duran Duran in the summer of '87. (They were introduced as "Madonna's favorite band," which I always thought was a bit odd.) Neither The Circus nor the remix album Two-Ring Circus troubled the top 100, but a good buzz was spreading.

Their third proper album, from 1988, was their first significant US seller, containing such MTV crossover hits as "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect," which both made the US top 20 and started a large fan base that's guaranteed consistent sales. This is confident, intelligent synthpop with great lyrics.

Erasure hit something of a plateau with this album. 1988's "Crackers International" (a four-track EP single in Britain and a six-track LP in America), 1989's Wild!, 1991's Chorus and 1992's ABBA-esque (again a single in England and an "album" in the US) and their relevant singles all stormed in to the UK top ten and moved in respectable, if not huge numbers in the US. They all feature a similar, soft-edged synth sound, never changing very much.

I Say I Say I Say is their most successful chart album, making UK #1 (of course) and going top 20 in the US. It's rather low key, concentrating on laid back, emotional love songs like the 1994 hit "Always" (another US top 20), but lacking some of the energy we'd prefer. It's not bad, just not manic, and that actually points the way towards their future products. In a typical US radio move, "Always" remained on playlists for almost a year, meaning the stunning follow-up "Run to the Sun" never had a chance.

1995's soft-edged Erasure was their last for Sire Records in the US. This unpromoted effort missed the UK top 10 to considerable surprise and demanded a rethink. With American distribution now handled by Maverick, Cowboy performed somewhat better, but the sound was, uncomfortably, too similar to everything else they'd ever done. None of their albums could be called "bad," but even their most ardent fans had to agree that the collected work all sounded awfully similar. Perhaps that's why Maverick rejected their 2000 album Loveboat, demanding remixes and a harder edge. American fans await its release; British fans watched it hit the top 20 and leave the chart entirely in less than two months.

ERASURE: Pop! The First 20 Hits (1992, UK #1, US #112, ****)
This is a very well-done compilation. The first 20 singles are arranged in order, with full production credits, reproductions of the sleeves and shots from the videos.