I am not sure how this is going to work, so I am diving right in. Right now I am using my iPod Classic to guide me. The first album I am reviewing is not al album at all. It is an EP. What is an EP you ask. Well, an EP actually means Extended Play. It is for recordings that contains more than one single, but are too small to be considered an actual album. That's simply enough.
OK, this EP is from Erasure. It is called Abba-Esque. Released in 1992, this is a 4 song EP that celebrates the wonderful of the Supergroup ABBA from Sweden. If you don't know who ABBA is, then you probably were born after 1995, I'm guessing. Do yourself a favor. Delve into the ABBA library. You will love their music. Anyway, the track listed is:
1) Lay All Your Love On Me
2) S.O.S.
3) Take A Chance On Me
4) Voulez-Vous
While Erasure stayed true to the original subject matter, they did Erasure it up quite a bit. This is a fun album and all 4 songs are worth the price I paid when this CD Came out. You can probably get it much cheaper on iTunes nowadays since it is only 4 songs long.
Track 1 - Lay all your love on me. Click on this link to see the video and hear the song on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlYcgp8Nsp4. This video has nothing to do with the song itself. It is just Vince Clarke and Andy Bell having fun with a green screen on a gold motorbike. Wearing Gold Lame. Andy Bell looks so good here. Before he got hooked on Plastic Surgery.
Track 2 - S.O.S. Click on this link to see the video and hear the music on You Tube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixTxa9YeX0U This video is much better, but it is just all about the music.
Track 3 - Take A Chance on Me. Click here to see the video and hear the song on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSnLGdpjWf4 This is by far the FUNNEST video they made for the songs on this EP. Vince and Andy in Drag. Hilarious. Dancing around and having a blast. Join them while listening to this song. The dancing part, not the drag, unless you want to. Make a video and post it here. Would love to see it and share with my friends.
Track 4 - Voulez-Vous. Click here to see the video and hear the song on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WblFcLctZQE This is by far the most Electronic Remake of any of the songs on this EP. Love it.
All in All I love this EP. These videos got huge airplay on Mtv, who still played music video's at the time, and it brought a whole new audience to the pair.
Erasure is the Brain-Child of Vince Clarke. Vince is one of the founding members of Depeche Mode. He left them and formed the superb group known as Yaz in the US and Yazoo in the UK. Alison Moyet was on vocals in that group. They had 2 great albums and then the dream was over. Vince was looking for a new singer in a trade mag, Melody Maker, and Andy Bell answered the ad.
Their first Demo sent to the Record group was "Who Needs Love Like That" a technician wrote Erasure on the tape mistaking it for a tape needing to be erased. It is believed that is how they came up with the name Erasure. Their first album was named Wonderland. The band was going nowhere fast with the first three releases from the album. The Forth release, Sometime, garnered hit status in the UK and people started paying attention from there. I have been a fan from the first album and have them all.
OK, that's enough History, back to the EP. I was hoping for a Full Abba Remake album since this was so successful. Alas, it didn't happen. I guess it is best to dabble, make it a hit, and leave us wanting more. Erasure - we want MORE ABBA remakes from you. It is time.
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