It wasn't easy for Vince Clarke when he set out to form his latest project in 1986. The synth-playing songwriter had a lengthy amount of credits to his name in the previous five years, including the first album by Depeche Mode (of which he was a founding member), two albums with singer Alison Moyet as the synthpop duo Yazoo and a collaboration with producer Eric Radcliffe under the name The Assembly.
When he put out an ad in Melody Maker for a singer for a new project, though, lightning struck once more when Andy Bell, a young man working in a meatpacking plant, answered his ad. With a rich tenor similar in tone to Moyet, the duo began working as Erasure, with Clarke's usual synth mastery nicely complementing Bell's vocals. Although audiences were slow to pick up on the band - debut album Wonderland (1986) only dented the U.K. Top 75 and spun off no Top 40 singles - their sophomore record, The Circus (1987) was a smash hit, going Top 10 in the U.K. and yielding four hits, including the Top 10 tracks "Sometimes," "Victim of Love" and the title track. (It was only the beginning of the band's most successful period, though; their next four albums through 1994 would top the U.K. charts and third album The Innocents (1988) gave the group their biggest chart success with "Chains of Love" and the gorgeous "A Little Respect.")
Erasure have gotten the deluxe treatment before; four box sets of the band's singles were released in 2000 and 2001, and 2009 saw The Innocents remastered and expanded for its 21st anniversary. Now, on July 4 in the U.K., Wonderland and The Circus will receive the same deluxe treatment, presenting each remastered album and scores of extra material on CD and DVD across two CDs and a DVD. Unreleased material includes BBC sessions and a 1986 concert film; the 1987 concert Live at the Seaside also makes its DVD debut, having been released on VHS some years ago.
Both are available for pre-order at Amazon as well as through the band's official fan club, the Erasure Information Service, which will offer exclusive bundles featuring a limited edition slipcase and T-shirt for each album. The full breakdown is after the jump.
Erasure, Wonderland: 25th Anniversary Edition (Mute/EMI LCDSTUMM 25 (U.K.), 2011)
Disc 1: Original LP plus bonus material
- Who Needs Love Like That
- Reunion
- Cry So Easy
- Push Me Shove Me
- Heavenly Action
- Say What
- Love is a Loser
- Senseless
- My Heart… So Blue
- Oh L'Amour
- Pistol
- Say What (Remix)
- March on Down the Line (Remix)
- Senseless (Remix)
- Who Needs Love Like That (Mexican Mix)
- Push Me Shove Me (Extended As Far As Possible Mix)
- Don't Say No (Ruby Red Mix)
- Heavenly Action (12" Mix)
- March on Down the Line
- Oh L'Amour (PWL Funky Sisters Say 'Ooh La La')
- Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (Remix)
- Cry So Easy (BBC Radio 1 Session: Bruno Brookes - 11/15/1985)
- Who Needs Love Like That (BBC Radio 1 Session: Bruno Brookes - 11/15/1985)
- Senseless (BBC Radio 1 Session - 12/5/1985)
- Heavenly Action (BBC Radio 1 Session - 12/5/1985)
- Say What? (BBC Radio 1 Session - 12/5/1985)
- Push Me Shove Me (BBC Radio 1 Session - 12/5/1985)
- Who Needs Love Like That (promo video)
- Heavenly Action (promo video)
- Oh L'Amour (promo video)
- Live at Karlsson, Stockholm 8/8/1986 (previously unreleased):
- Pistol
- Senseless
- Heavenly Action
- Reunion
- Sometimes
- Who Needs Love Like That
- Cry So Easy
- My Heart…So Blue
- March on Down the Line
- Say What
- Sexuality
- Oh L'Amour
- Push Me Shove Me
- Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
Disc 1, Track 12 was the B-side to "Sometimes" 12" single 12 MUTE 51 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 1, Track 13 was the B-side to "Oh L'Amour" 12" single 12 MUTE 45 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 1, Track 14 was the B-side to "Sometimes" 12" single L12 MUTE 51 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 1 was the A-side to "Who Needs Love Like That" 12" single L12 MUTE 40 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 2 was the B-side to "Who Needs Love Like That" 12" single 12 MUTE 40 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 3 was the B-side to "Heavenly Action" 12" single L12 MUTE 42 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 4 was the A-side to "Heavenly Action" 12" single 12 MUTE 42 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 5 was the B-side to "Oh L'Amour" 7" single MUTE 45 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 6 was the A-side to "Oh L'Amour" 12" single L12 MUTE 45 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 7 was the B-side to "Oh L'Amour" 12" single L12 MUTE 45 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Tracks 8-13 previously unreleased
- It Doesn't Have to Be
- Hideaway
- Don't Dance
- If I Could
- Sexuality
- Victim of Love
- Leave Me to Bleed
- Sometimes
- The Circus
- Spiralling
- In the Hall of the Mountain King (from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op. 46 by Edvard Greig - arranged by Erasure)
- Sometimes (12" Mix)
- It Doesn't Have to Be (Boop Oopa Doo Mix)
- Sexuality (12" Mix)
- Sometimes (Shiver Mix)
- The Circus (Bareback Rider Mix)
- Who Needs Love Like That (Betty Boop Mix)
- It Doesn't Have To Be (Cement Mix)
- The Soldier's Return (The Return of the Radical Radcliffe Mix)
- Victim of Love (Vixen Vitesse Mix)
- If I Could (Japanese Mix)
- The Circus (BBC Radio 1 Session - 3/10/1987)
- Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (BBC Radio 1 Session - 3/10/1987)
- Spiralling (BBC Radio 1 Session - 3/10/1987)
- Phantom Bride (BBC Radio 1 Session - 3/10/1987)
- Sometimes (promo video)
- It Doesn't Have to Be (promo video)
- Victim of Love (promo video)
- The Circus (promo video)
- Sometimes (Top of the Pops, 11/20/1986)
- It Doesn't Have to Be (Top of the Pops, 3/19/1987)
- Victim of Love (Top of the Pops, 6/5/1987)
- The Circus (Top of the Pops, 10/22/1987)
- Live at the Seaside - recorded at The Dome in Brighton on 4/17/1987 and previously released on VHS as Virgin Music Video VVD 209, 1987
- Safety in Numbers
- Victim of Love
- It Doesn't Have to Be
- Don't Dance
- Who Needs Love (Like That)
- Leave Me to Bleed
- If I Could
- Oh L'Amour
- The Circus
- Say What
- Sometimes
- Spiralling
- Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
Disc 1, Tracks 11 and 13 and Disc 2, Track 4 from "It Doesn't Have to Be" 12" single 12 MUTE 56, 1987
Disc 1, Track 12 and Disc 2, Track 1 from "Sometimes" 12" single 12 MUTE 51 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 2 was the A-side to "Sometimes" 12" single L12 MUTE 51 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 2, Track 3 was the B-side to "The Circus" 12" single 2-12 MUTE 66 (U.K.), 1987
Disc 2, Track 5 was the A-side to "It Doesn't Have to Be" 12" single L12 MUTE 56, 1987
Disc 2, Track 6 was the B-side to "Victim of Love" 12" single 12 MUTE 61, 1987
Disc 2, Tracks 7-8 from "Victim of Love" 12" single L12 MUTE 61, 1987
Disc 2, Tracks 9-12 exact release origin unknown
I got the Innocents 2CD/1DVD set and it's pretty great. There are a few unreleased live tracks on CD2, but otherwise the mixes were widely available on the singles. For Wonderland and The Circus, it looks like they're digging deeper into the vaults for the bonus songs.
I'm not a big fan of Wonderland or The Circus, but I hope these reissues will continue to include the two excellent post-Innocents albums, Wild! and Chorus.