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Top Dance Hits
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Formed in the wake of Vince Clarke's short-lived tenures with Depeche Mode, Yaz(oo) and the Assembly, Erasure, the duo of Clarke and vocalist Andy Bell, have been one of the most consistently successful Dance music artists of the past two decades. Erasure's success with club audiences is perhaps primarily due to the quality of their music, but they have also gained abundant respect due to vocalist Andy Bell's proud defiance of cultural homophobia. Along with other performers, notably Jimmy Somerville and the Pet Shop Boys, Andy Bell's lyrics and performance have established him as an icon in the gay community. Devoted to the legacy of Disco and the thrill of a pure Pop hook, Erasure consistently embrace Dance music as a vehicle for ecstatic drama, love, and unbridled joy.
Synth player and songwriter Vince Clarke was a founding member of Depeche Mode and half of the short-lived but highly successful duo Yazoo (Yaz in the U.S. where they topped the Dance chart 3 times in 12 months). After leaving Yazoo, he formed the Assembly with vocalist Feargal Sharkey, producer Eric Radcliffe, and guitarist Dave Clempson. They released the single Never Never that rose to the Pop top 5 in late 1983 in the U.K. and then dissolved. Vince Clarke had reached the U.K. top 10 as part of 3 different recording acts in just over 2 years. Clarke soon advertised for a vocalist for a 4th recording act. His 41st candidate was a 21 year-old ex-butcher named Andy Bell. According to Clarke and Bell the creative chemistry was nearly instant. Erasure was born.
Erasure's first album Wonderland was released in 1986. Commercially it was a miserable failure at home in the U.K. reaching only 71 on the chart. However, in the U.S. the duo were instantly embraced by club DJ's and the first 2 singles Who Needs Love Like That and the gorgeous Oh L'Amour kicked off what would be a string of 8 consecutive top 10 Dance hits. The single Sometimes, released in the fall of 1986, was the breakthrough Erasure needed at home. It reached the number two spot on the charts and served as an introduction to the smash second album The Circus. Victim Of Love, a followup single from the album, became the duo's only #1 Dance hit in the U.S. Erasure's next album The Innocents, released in the spring of 1988, included their first two U.S. Pop hit singles, Chains Of Love and A Little Respect, and was the first in a string of 5 number one albums in the U.K.
The duo continued to create hit singles and albums through the late 80's and early 90's. Erasure became known for outlandish stage shows and elaborate videos. On the 1991 album Chorus Vince Clarke indulged his obsession with vintage synthesizers and sequencers creating a sound that is uniquely Erasure. In 1992 Clarke and Bell paid homage to Abba with a four song EP that brought Lay All Your Love On Me and Take a Chance On Me back to dancefloors around the world. By the end of 1992 Erasure could release a compilation album triumphantly titled Pop! The First 20 Hits.
Following the greatest hits collection, the pace of Erasure's releases slowed. The 1994 album I Say I Say I Say included Always, another gorgeous Dance top 10 hit, but Erasure, released in 1995, took a sharp turn away from the pair's typical music. Instead of typical bright, catchy Pop, the album featured more reflective, moody music. 1997's Cowboy was a return to catchy Dance-Pop and Erasure landed their 13th and 14th top 10 Dance hits in the U.S., In Your Arms and Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me. It was 3 years until the release of the next album Loveboat in 2000 and by the duo's usual standards it was a commercial disaster with the lead single barely making the top 30 in the U.K. and the album including no Dance hits in the U.S. 2003's all-covers album Other People's Songs regained some lost ground with their hit version of Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill. As 2005 began Erasure's fans on both sides of the Atlantic looked forward to the release of Nightbird, the first album with all new songs in 5 years.
