POLL, I hear you calling! ... ERASURE - The Innocents Poll

In my opinion, Erasure's first genuinely great album. Not to knock Wonderland or The Circus, but this is the one I feel where the partnership of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell (with a little help from Stephen Hague, of course), began to really gel over the course of a long-player.

Ship of Fools for me. Think I prefer Wild as a whole though.

Wild! is a bit of a strange one for me, coming as it does between this one and Chorus (which is quite often voted as the 'fans favourite' Erasure record)... it contains some of my favourite Erasure songs, like 'You Surround Me' for example, but it also contains what is UNDOUBTEDLY my least favourite song of their 'peak' period in 'La Gloria', which I think is just absolutely awful. Even the Erasure hardcore dislike that track from what I've read, and it doesn't surprise me at all.

I'm not a big fan of Wild at all, if you ignore it I think they got better with each album up until Chorus. I agree The Innocents is their first great album. Chorus vs Nightbird for my favourite Erasure album these days.

Not sure what to vote for from this? Those first four songs are just perfect. Might have to go for the obvious choice of A Little Respect but I do love Phantom Bride. Kind of surpised they only relased three singles from this, almost every song sounds like a hit, well apart from Sixty-Five Thousand which is the worst song ever made.

"A Little Respect" easy peasy

xp:

I usually tend to go for this one, Chorus, I Say I Say I Say or Erasure whenever I want to listen to an Erasure album in full these days. I still think these some great songs on I Say I Say I Say and I like the way they at least made an attempt to do something a bit different with the Erasure album, but I just LOVE that pure analogue synth sound they had between 1991-1995.

After that, it all goes a bit 'meh' for me: I could understand them retreating back to their pop formula with the Cowboy album after the Erasure album got a mixed reception from fans, but the songwriting on it seems very forced/calculated. In fact, I'd say this is the point in their career where their winning formula stopped delivering the goods and everything seriously got a bit by-the-numbers. The album sounds pleasant enough to listen to while it's playing, but the songs mostly don't stick or leave much of an impression. Loveboat also has the glaring flaw of a god-awful production job, so bad I honestly can't believe Flood was involved in the making of it!

Nightbird is the one that folks say is a 'return to form' album, and it's definitely an improvement for me over the two before it. It sounds absolutely gorgeous on headphones too. I don't think it's as much of a 'return to form' as some folks say it is, though... the songwriting is definitely not up there with their 'peak' era stuff, in my opinion, as much as it is definitely their best post-1995 album for me.

Since Nightbird they've sorta taken this really fucking awful almost-Europop direction which I don't like at all. I found their last one, Tomorrow's World, to be really embarrassing in particular - especially the needless autotune abuse.

*these=there's

Heart Of Stone but man its a tough choice.

christ what an amazing era in UK pop when THIS could be a stadium show in front of 50,000 people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StsF_FAz6Ko

'A Little Respect'

The Innocents is their first great album. It has this great pop darkness to it. Wild! more of a mix of different things ('Crown of Thorns' sounds more like something from The Innocents) and lacks that single sense of purpose.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME, SAL?

I probably played this album more from ages 13-16 than any other.

A Little Respect.

Though there are at least 4 others I still love.

Very good album, and I'd love to say there's a sleeper song, but A Little Respect still blows everything else away.

Listening to this now - I'd forgotten 1/2 the songs on it. Still stand behind my ALR vote because I mean c'mon. That said, there are a couple of other really solid tunes too.

I too am voting for the obvious choice despite some regret about not honoring the great deep cuts on this record, but I thought the obvious choice was "Chains of Love"! I can think of almost nothing in the pop repertoire that comes close to the tension and release of the harmony on "break these chains of love" -- "Never Can Say Goodbye" is the only thing I can think of that hits the same spot with the same kind of force.

But no, looking at last.fm, I see that my sense of what Erasure songs are popular is totally off. Based on going to a lot of parties in college in the 1990s I thought "Chains of Love" and "Oh L'Amour" were their biggest hits, but it seems people listen to "A Little Respect" massively more than either of these.

Yeah, great album still, though it's been years upon years since I listened to it. Second half has some sleepers on it too.

Wild also contains what is UNDOUBTEDLY my least favourite song of their 'peak' period in 'La Gloria', which I think is just absolutely awful.

aka, the one track I always skipped over when it came up on the CD player.

how can I explain when there are few words I can choose

The band that speaks so dearly to your heart.

Dan's hell of 1988 summed up:

"..and that was Erasure! Up next, the new one by Pet Shop Boys, "Domino Dancing!""

throw in "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and you basically have all the reasons why I started listening to Skinny Puppy and Ministry around that time period

wait dan, do you actually hate erasure?

they have assorted songs I like but I've never been able to get through an entire album; they basically take everything that annoyed me about Speak and Spell and ramp it up to 11

SPEAK AND SPELL THE BEST GOD DAN SOMETIMES YOU ARE SO WRONG.

(sorry)

Isn't A Little Respect generally agreed to be their greatest single? That's pretty much the consensus in the UK.

I think it would probably be between ALR and Oh L'amour in terms of greatest single for me with the latter winning out in the end.

Speak and Spell is redeemed by "New Life" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" but it also has things like "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" and "Boys Say Go!" which may actually be the worst fucking Depeche Mode songs ever recorded (and they released "It's Called A Heart" as a single)

I can deal with "A Little Respect" but "Oh L'amour" is a bridge too far

"Chains of Love" pwns tho

I can sing a kick-ass karaoke version of "Chains of Love."

Boys say go! is hilarious and omg I can't believe you just dissed Oh L'amour. O_O

Heart Of Stone but man its a tough choice.

― piscesx, Tuesday, December 11, 2012 1:30 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I'm very tempted to go for 'Heart Of Stone', myself... or maybe even 'Phantom Bride' which I think should have been a single at the time. Really, it could be any track for me bar 'Sixty-Five Thousand'. I'm not surprised that 'A Little Respect' is getting plenty of votes, although I've personally heard the track so many times that the sparkle has worn off a little bit for me. I'd say if there's any Erasure album with a smattering of great deep cuts, it's this one!

Re: Speak And Spell - I can see why folks more into Depeche Mode's later Martin Gore/Alan Wilder-helmed style might not be as into it so much, but I couldn't call it a patchy album - what it does, it does extremely well. It's a fun listen, and I think it's analogue sound has held up extremely well over the years and still sounds great.

*its

Chains Of Love, without question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uttV1VZUgQQ

I don't even have to play that to tell you what happens at the beginning. Andy flys up into the air on wires after the intro.

Went with 'Heart Of Stone'.

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