Erasure

For general discussion of Pet Shop Boys topics.
Message
Author
User avatar
Patrick Bateman
Posts: 9398
Joined: Sat 12 Apr 2008, 4:35 pm
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Erasure

#1 Post by Patrick Bateman »

I'm not going to get into the whole PSB vs Erasure thing but when you see PSB performing their greatest hits to such acclaim, including high-profile coverage like Glastonbury, it must really grate with them that they're not similarly beloved as national treasures. I'm obviously a Pethead but I still think Erasure's imperial phase of singles is highly impressive and it seems strange how they are relatively ignored by comparison.

User avatar
Flaffer
Posts: 3863
Joined: Wed 05 Nov 2003, 4:14 pm
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#2 Post by Flaffer »

I think the problem is the disconnect between Erasures work and that of Vince Clarke solo or with others from mid to late nineties onwards. The most recent Erasure output is practically parodyical (new word I think). Trite lyrics and uniformly mediocre music imho, ironic given Vince Clarkes love of analogue synths their music sounds produced by an Erasure 1994-2021 digital preset software on auto play. When you think of how beautiful Ship Of Fools and more recently Storm In A Teacup are, and the brilliance of Breath of Life how the songwriting seems to have fallen. Ive streamed latest albums and singles and just find it completely uninspired. What is strange is how great some of Vince Clarkes remixes are and indeed his solo album and collaboration with Martin Gore which was great by and large. I just cannot connect this work with Erasures output over the last 15 years
Still waiting to hear the Adam Freeland, Manhattan Clique and Axwell mixes of Integral.

User avatar
NikacP0kac
Posts: 1443
Joined: Fri 10 May 2013, 12:55 am
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#3 Post by NikacP0kac »

The Violet Flame is the only excellent album since the self-titled LP from 1995. The rest are borderline mediocre to properly cringe as a whole, but there have easily been 15-20 very good songs in the mix since.
Have a look at my taste in music:
http://www.last.fm/user/NikacPokac

That’s the thing about negative energy, about hatred. It can be positive. It throws into relief all the things you know you like. It tells you, by elimination, what you’re about. Sometimes you can only define yourself by what you hate. Hatred becomes an inspiration; it makes you think, “What I’m doing now I totally believe in, and I don’t care what other people say.” Guided by hatred, you don’t have to follow the herd. - Neil Tennant

User avatar
Drico One
Posts: 5882
Joined: Tue 16 Sep 2003, 8:56 pm
Has thanked: 29 times
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#4 Post by Drico One »

There are some bands, and I think Erasure is one of them, where you were never ever fashionable. We were very popular but we were never in the clique and I think Glastonbury is one of those clique ventures. I’m not sure whether we will ever be asked. We haven’t played that many other festivals either. But I’d quite like to visit Glastonbury and go down The Rabbit Hole, which is that secret pub they have down there.

And it’s not just Glasto who are failing to spot the potential of a Erasure headline set. “There are so many festivals that we’ve never been asked to do. It’s really weird with us because we don’t seem to fit the rock’n’roll mould. People seem to have this idea and prejudice of what we are sometimes. It’s almost like they never know what we’re about until they come and see us. I think we just got pipped to the post by Pet Shop Boys for all that kind of stuff. They’re the trendy ones!
The pale kid that hides in the attic behind his PC...

User avatar
Undertaker
Posts: 8947
Joined: Thu 30 Oct 2003, 8:16 pm
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#5 Post by Undertaker »

The biggest problem with Erasure is their quality control. They've put out far too much crap in the past 25 years. All bands have some but with Erasure, you can probably count on one hand the amount of decent songs since 2000ish.

They're like a tribute band of themselves.

User avatar
Old Soak
Posts: 1029
Joined: Tue 03 Apr 2012, 11:06 pm
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#6 Post by Old Soak »

The biggest problem with Erasure is that they simply haven't progressed at all and still use Vince's plinky plonk keyboard style he first settled on with Depeche Mode and thought "That'll do". Repeat ad infinitum for the rest of his career. Chris rather rings the changes, which keeps things fresh.
And at the end/ Your funny Uncle staring / At all your friends / With military bearing

andrewthomas100
Posts: 100
Joined: Wed 31 Oct 2012, 1:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#7 Post by andrewthomas100 »

I was just thinking about this the other day. Truth is, Vince Clarke was a fool to lose Alison Moyet (it was his fault, apparently). He just should have done everything in his power to keep her. Yazoo were out of this world perfect. Neither Vince nor Alison reached those peaks again. Erasure, just poop.

User avatar
Dog
Posts: 3086
Joined: Thu 30 Oct 2003, 10:41 pm
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#8 Post by Dog »

The teenage me enjoyed The Innocents and Wild! but even then they never had anything like the breadth or depth of Pet Shop Boys.
Woof.

User avatar
raggatwin
Posts: 4038
Joined: Thu 18 Dec 2003, 4:31 pm
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#9 Post by raggatwin »

Old Soak wrote: Thu 30 Jun 2022, 8:50 pm The biggest problem with Erasure is that they simply haven't progressed at all and still use Vince's plinky plonk keyboard style he first settled on with Depeche Mode and thought "That'll do". Repeat ad infinitum for the rest of his career. Chris rather rings the changes, which keeps things fresh.

Took the words out of my mouth.
Hello my name is Neil Tennant and I'm Chris Lowe and we're of the Pet Shop Boys.

User avatar
Drico One
Posts: 5882
Joined: Tue 16 Sep 2003, 8:56 pm
Has thanked: 29 times
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#10 Post by Drico One »

The quote up above is from Andy in 2019. I don't think he means to be offensive or even resentful, but it's amazingly tin-eared of him to think Erasure were in some kind of competition with Pet Shop Boys. As Marina Hyde once memorably wrote about the idea that the England football team was in some sort of close competition with the Germany team: "We are rivals with Germany in the same way Christine Bleakley is rivals with Oprah."

This applies just as fittingly to Erasure's notional rivalry with Pet Shop Boys.

I think Erasure were one of the truly great pop groups of the 1980s and 1990s. I think they could easily and successfully headline a festival. But the idea that they were "pipped to the post" by Pet Shop Boys is slightly bizarre. I mean, a PSB show does not preclude an Erasure slot. Other than the fact that both acts had a sizeable gay following, and were duos (like half the acts of the 1980s), I'm really not sure that they operate even in the same musical universe. To me, Erasure were a fantastic camp frolic. They had a great way with a pop tune and cornered the lovelorn and oppressed fairy nymph in-a-leotard market. I say this with the utmost admiration. They had one of the greatest runs of singles in modern pop history from 1986 to 1995. But they always lacked gravitas... The Erasure horizon was narrow.

Andy likes to term this perceived lack of gravitas as "working class" versus the well-to-do "middle class" PSB. But while it's nothing to do with social class as he describes it, it is everything to do with class in the other sense of the word.

They lacked the coded, subversive insidious mystery that Pet Shop Boys traded in. They lacked the literacy, wordplay, and musical sophistication of Pet Shop Boys. Vince Clarke's most wonderful compositions are childishly simple. That's a great thing. Andy Bell's lyrics are similarly childish. That's less compelling...

In the end, if you allow the assumption that these acts are "similar", which I don't, it's a question of gears. Erasure had quite a few, but the PSB universe operates quite a few levels above. Their reach is far wider. Their themes are multi-layered. Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat is not a bad way to sum them up. From a cerebral perspective, Erasure is a fizzy drink to Pet Shop Boys's fine wine. This is not to offend Erasure fans. Erasure are great. But it's Andy who seems to want to compare - and that's a comparison that will never do Erasure many favours.

Drico.
The pale kid that hides in the attic behind his PC...

User avatar
East End Bhoy
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri 05 Sep 2014, 11:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#11 Post by East End Bhoy »

Dog wrote: Thu 30 Jun 2022, 9:03 pm The teenage me enjoyed The Innocents and Wild! but even then they never had anything like the breadth or depth of Pet Shop Boys.
This
1991-Glasgow, 1999-Glasgow, 2002-Edinburgh, 2006-Newcastle, 2007-Manchester, 2009-Manchester, 2009-Glasgow, 2014-Glasgow, 2016-London, 2017-Glasgow, 2022-Glasgow, 2023-Aberdeen

User avatar
Patrick Bateman
Posts: 9398
Joined: Sat 12 Apr 2008, 4:35 pm
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#12 Post by Patrick Bateman »

Dog wrote: Thu 30 Jun 2022, 9:03 pm The teenage me enjoyed The Innocents and Wild! but even then they never had anything like the breadth or depth of Pet Shop Boys.
I agree, but as a pure pop group, their run of singles during both groups' heyday is very impressive, and like PSB, they had proper hits. Seeing PSB tour their greatest hits to such acclaim makes me feel sad that Erasure seem almost forgotten. The Sugababes played Glastonbury last week, so why can't Vince and Andy?
Last edited by Patrick Bateman on Sat 02 Jul 2022, 10:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
JJ Naas
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu 16 Mar 2006, 5:46 pm
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#13 Post by JJ Naas »

Drico One wrote: Thu 30 Jun 2022, 10:23 pm ..everything to do with class in the other sense of the word.
They don't have a Mark Farrow, for one.

User avatar
MikeyC
Posts: 1566
Joined: Sat 07 Oct 2006, 5:28 am
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#14 Post by MikeyC »

Patrick Bateman wrote: Thu 30 Jun 2022, 10:30 pm
Dog wrote: Thu 30 Jun 2022, 9:03 pm The teenage me enjoyed The Innocents and Wild! but even then they never had anything like the breadth or depth of Pet Shop Boys.
I agree, but as a pure pop group, their run of singles during both groups' heyday is very impressive, and like PSB, they had proper hits. Seeing PSB tour their greatest hits to such acclaim makes me feel sad that Erasure seem almost fogotten. The Sugababes played Glastonbury last week, so why can't Vince and Andy?
Erasure isn’t that forgotten considering they played arenas during the recent tour including the O2!

User avatar
tottenhammattspurs
Posts: 4054
Joined: Sat 04 Nov 2006, 5:17 pm
Contact:

Re: Erasure

#15 Post by tottenhammattspurs »

It’s all down to quality control. Like it’s been mentioned above, decent tracks since 2000 could be counted on one hand. Also the “milking it” with albums. World be gone, then an orchestral version of that album, then a live version. Then the neon, the neon remixes and now another reworking of the neon is about to be released. Bang average albums at best. Their sound hasn’t progressed since 1994. Albums like snow globe undermine anything decent they’ve put out. Albums like union street and other peoples songs show that they ran out of ideas.
is is and isnt isnt

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Parkol, Semrush [Bot], Wish and 52 guests