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4 • Love To Hate You • 8.75

UK Chart • 7-4-4-5-9-17-29-39-58

 

So we go from the first single from Chorus to the follow up single 'Love To Hate You', a combination that represents their best start to any era. This one is them back to their most flamboyant with chanting crowds and Andy strutting his stuff down a water filled catwalk (yet another lesson not learned from the Sometimes video!) and frankly the whole thing is just utterly fabulous and something that could surely only be born from the camptastic brain of Erasure. The whole concept of having a line of lovers being delivered and sending them back due to a lack of satisfaction guarantee is just an amazing thing to transfer into a song, it's like something Edna Mode would come up with and the bit at 2:44 where Andy's vocal soars and fragments into a sample is just glorious too. Literally FAB-U-LOUS in the very best emphasising every syllable sense.

 

Edited January 24, 201510 yr by مدهش*

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3 • Breathe • 8.833

UK Chart • 4-14-25-37-51-70

 

The single that just keeps on defying all expectations does it once again... yes, Breathe has somehow ended up in the top three of the results. Now don't get me wrong here, it's a decent enough effort and one that doesn't sound too out of place among their classic singles on a best of but it's just not quite there for me as being worthy of finishing this high. As Tony & Shoat have mentioned, I suspect we have a case of merely recognising the title of one of the group's later singles and awarding it highly as a result. Back in 2005 this somehow managed to be released at a time when downloads were not yet eligible, a low sales climate of January and an era where a relatively loyal fanbase would still buy physical singles in release week to find itself at the lofty heights of number four in the charts. And they did it without the need to follow the 'employ a rent-a-rapper for the middle section' trend of the time... a trend of course that Erasure and MC Kinky had practically invented back in 1992 *.*

 

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2 • You Surround Me • 8.875

UK Chart • 16-15-22-23-21-27-35-53-73

 

And very nearly pulling off the shock of the rate is You Surround Me, ascending all the way to a second place finish. A comparative flop for them at the time, managing only number fifteen in the UK, this has always been one of their songs that just hits the mark for me. The lyrics are quite direct for them, being an open lyric of love expressed in what comes across as a really genuine and heartfelt manner... I'm particularly fond of the "I love you with all the joy of living..." sections and the first line of "Don't ever let me take you for granted". I also really love the way this song builds, the opening synth is lovely and the way the drums gradually kick in is also a joy.... the drop at 2:26 is also a high, something that I've always thought Erasure were pretty close to perfecting. Anyway, one hopes that Shoat is satisfied!

 

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1 • A Little Respect • 9.250

UK Chart • 19-12-7-4-5-10-14-20-36-58

 

So in the end the obvious choice won out... but it's an obvious choice for a very good reason. Erasure had many strong singles within their own genre, A Little Respect is probably the only one that manages to transcend that genre and that's a sign of a truly classic song. Released as the final single from The Innocents, (a wtf moment in retrospect surely?!!!), it became their highest peaking track from the album and sparked a revived interest in it sending the album back to number one for a second stint. Much like You Surround Me before it, the track starts quietly and gradually builds with each section of the song all the way through the song's structure until it culminates by building to a note that no normal human male should ever be able to hit, essentially the track's most memorable point I guess. The video is one of their more straightforward, making use of (to be honest, pretty basic) wordplay but at least it's sort of memorable - the fact they could use Seoul to tie in with the 1988 Olympics probably helped no end. Anyway, this makes for a perfectly satisfactory winner for me so I'm pleased enough with that and you can't argue with the margin it won by either with only Fiesta not rating it highly... I'll end by saying a quick thanks to the eight of you that voted (doesn't sound a lot but pretty much counts as a record attendance for this forum!) and I hope the results are to your collective satisfaction.

 

 

FIN.

OMG

 

 

 

Exactly what is Breathe doing in the Top 3? It rhymes "without you" with "without you" FFS!!!!

 

While I listen back to You Surround Me I think I overrated it - quite a bit. It seems some over-rating really improves the performance of a song when only 8 people vote.

 

Oh, and. Obvious winner is obvious. Great song.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for doing this Dandy*. Wonderful review of their singles career and they've gone up in my estimation this week. Vince is very underrated.

yes thanks Dandy, you've reawakened my enthusiasm for their back catalogue, I agree I think a worthy winner, and I need to revisit some maybe Ive under-rated like Chorus and Drama! in my charts of the time.

 

cheers!

 

I just noticed that the lead single from The Innocents, Wild! and Chorus managed to not be the biggest selling single off each album.

 

 

http://open.spotify.com/user/colmmc75/play...TfcmK4iAnAUYyBE

 

My 17 track best of.

Strange results in the end, but a good rundown - cheers!

Thanks for the comments folks, glad you enjoyed it.

 

I just noticed that the lead single from The Innocents, Wild! and Chorus managed to not be the biggest selling single off each album.

Do you have a list of their biggest sellers?

 

No. I was deducing this from End of Year charts 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991 all on wikipedia.

I met Erasure in November. I told them of my love for "I Love Saturday" they were bewildered.

 

Great write up on the results!

 

Thanks

I met Erasure in November. I told them of my love for "I Love Saturday" they were bewildered.

 

Great write up on the results!

 

Thanks

 

 

Even they think it's shite? :lol: