PopEntertainment.com

It's all the entertainment you need!

 

FEATURE STORIES MOVIE REVIEWS MUSIC REVIEWS BOX SET REVIEWS TV SHOWS ON DVD CONTESTS CONCERT PHOTOS

 

  FEATURE STORIES
  INTERVIEWS A TO E
  INTERVIEWS F TO J
  INTERVIEWS K TO O
  INTERVIEWS P TO T
  INTERVIEWS U TO Z
  INTERVIEWS ACTORS
  INTERVIEWS ACTRESSES
  INTERVIEWS BOOKS
  INTERVIEWS DIRECTORS AND SCREENWRITERS
  INTERVIEWS MUSIC
  INTERVIEWS OSCAR NOMINEES
  INTERVIEWS THEATER
  IN MEMORIAM
  REVIEWS
  MOVIE REVIEWS
  MUSIC REVIEWS
  CONCERT REVIEWS
  BOX SET REPORT CARD
  TV SHOWS ON DVD
  MISCELLANEOUS STUFF & NONSENSE
  CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY
  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
  CONTESTS
  LINKS
  MASTHEAD
  EMAIL US

"WILD YEARS-THE MUSIC & MYTH OF TOM WAITS" BY Jay S. Jacobs

AVAILABLE IN BOOK STORES EVERYWHERE!

 

PopEntertainment.com > Reviews > Record Reviews > Erasure

MUSIC REVIEWS

Erasure-Other People's Songs (Mute)

Erasure was sort of an anachronism even at the height of their late-80's success.  The group, made up of Depeche Mode and Yaz founder Vince Clarke and soft-but-strong singer Andy Bell, made synthicized hi-NRG dance music that was "so five years ago" even then, but their ability with a pop hook was undeniable on hits like "A Little Respect," "Stop" and "Chains of Love."

However, Erasure was never known for their skill at interpreting other people's music.  In fact, their previous all-covers EP Abba-esque, where the band recorded four songs by Swedish pop group ABBA, was a bizarre failure. It's kind of surprising because in many ways ABBA and Erasure were similar bands from different eras, but the aggressively (then) modern technobeats were allowed to trample the good pop songs they were supposed to be at service of.  (The Pet Shop Boys were a somewhat similar contemporary that was always much more adept at putting their own stamp on diverse remakes.)

Which makes it all the weirder that for Erasure's first album in three years is a collection of covers.  It is all the more weird because of the song choices, which are eccentric, to say the least.  We've got Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love" (Elvis Costello would seem a better fit for this band,) Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill," Buddy Holly's "Everyday" and "True Love Ways," The Partridge Family's "Walking In the Rain" and Cliff Eberhart's "Goodnight."  They also do The Righteous Brothers' "Ebb Tide" and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling."  (Hello, you have fifty years of popular music to choose from and you do TWO Righteous Brothers remakes?)

This puts them into a sort of weird chicken and egg position.  Does the album sound so dated because these songs are inappropriate for this band, or do most of the songs not work here because they are being hijacked into a style that is such an ill fit for them?

For example, "Solsbury Hill," one of the songs that would seem a match for the band, is garnished with a queasy disco gallop that feels totally wrong for the song.  They bleed the melody from "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" (by one-hit wonders the Korgis) so that it becomes a well-sung dirge.  The band is more successful when they stay faithful to the source material.  "True Love Ways" is performed on the band's traditional synths, but it works because it doesn't sound like it.  Same with the Three Degrees' Philly soul nugget "When Will I See You Again." 

This album may have been interesting in Erasure's prime, but now it just feels dead in the water.  Sadly, the song that sounds most comfortable with an Erasure makeover is the Buggles' pioneering new wave ditty "Video Killed the Radio Star," a song that is now as much of an outdated curio as... well, Erasure.  (7/03)

Dave Stohler

Copyright © 2003 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 6, 2003.

RETURN TO RECORD REVIEWS MENU

 

Copyright © 2003 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 6, 2003.