The British pop duo Erasure returns with their latest CD, Other People's Songs, an entire album of cover songs. Erasure has covered songs on previous albums, and even released an EP of Abba cover songs, Abba-esque, in 1992. Other People's Songs covers a variety of styles and eras including Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love", Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again", and the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". Why did Vince Clarke and Andy Bell decide to make their tenth full-length album all covers?
"It's also been quite refreshing for us," says Bell. "I think we found that we were heading towards auto-pilot after Cowboy and Loveboat. It's not that you lose the spark, but you forget what pop's all about and just how inspiring music can be to you. What's interesting about doing these cover versions as well, is that a lot of them are really old, they're from the 1950's, and it's really weird that we've done synthesized versions, but the vocals still sound sometimes older than the original ones. So it's quite bizarre."
Erasure was formed in 1985. Vince Clarke was a founding member of Depeche Mode. After one album he left to form the group Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet. After two albums Moyet left for a solo career. Clarke decided to form Erasure, and placed an ad for a lead singer. Andy Bell was one of over 40 singers that auditioned. Clarke was so impressed with Bell's vocals that he hired him on the spot.
Erasure released their debut album, Wonderland, in 1986. It received mixed reviews and didn't sell many copies. The group rebounded with 1987's The Circus, which made the British Top 10. Erasure broke through on a global scale with their third album, 1988's The Innocents. It went to number 1 on the British charts, and spawned the worldwide hit singles "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect".
The group's next two albums, 1989's Wild!, and 1991's Chorus also went to number one in the UK, but didn't do as well in the US. 1994's I Say I Say I Say returned Erasure to the US pop charts with the hit single "Always".
Erasure changed their style a bit on their next 2 releases. 1995's Erasure was more experimental, and 1997's Cowboy had a strong techno influence. 2000's Loveboat saw a return to the group's trademark sound.
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