The Erasure story began in 1985, when former Depeche Mode founding member
Vince advertised to find a singer for his new project. Then just 21, ex-butcher
Andy was the 41st candidate that Vince auditioned, but their creative chemistry
clicked instantly. Before long, the pair were scoring the first of five number
one albums and began racking up an incredible 32 consecutive singles in the UK
Top 40. In the process, they became instant alternative favorites on the burgeoning
electronic music scene in America.
Despite their cult status, Erasure have always been proudly, defiantly, shamelessly
pop - they even named their chart-topping greatest hits collection Pop! in 1992.
But behind their impressive sales figures (14 million albums sold to date), pop
and dance chart successes and kitsch stage costumes, it has sometimes been overlooked
just what consistently great songwriters Vince and Andy have been throughout their career.
Indeed, Andy insists one motivating factor behind Union Street was to "show the songs
in a different light, and to show that they could work on any instrument, synthesizer
or guitar. Vince agrees: "We just felt there were songs on our albums that had been missed as songs."
Some tracks on Union Street have been completely transformed by their radical new
arrangements. "Spiralling," which started life on The Circus in 1987, is now a
crisp marriage of finger-picking guitar and melancholy introspection. And
"Blues Away," taken from the 1994 album I Say I Say I Say, is a rich, warm,
sleepy-eyed strum about yearning for that elusive perfect lover. "It's nearly bedtime,
and I'm getting lonely..."
Union Street proves there has always been much more to Vince and Andy than shiny pop
thrills. Unplugged, both musically and emotionally, they have never before sounded so
graceful or so heartfelt. This is an album full of pleasant surprises. But coming from
Erasure, that is no surprise at all.
Buy Union Street now from Amazon
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