YEAR: 1992
PEAK POSITION: 1
VOTER: Jester- 25pts, JulianT- 20pts, King Rollo- 13pts, Mango- 11pts, Padamic Tension- 10pts, Chartjack2- 7pts, AHGold- 1pt, Dandy*- 1pt



A No 3 hit for Abba on release, this was one of four covers that formed the “Abba-Esque EP” which FINALLY gave the group their first and only UK Chart topping single. On recording Bell recanted “I think it was a case of getting ABBA out of my system really. I’ve been a fan since I can remember, and it was always me and my best friend at school who admitted that we liked ABBA…I know mot of the songs by heart really”.

“Make It Wonderful” was a lovely discovery, but I’m pleased about the song that is the 21st century winner.

 

“Voulez Vous” is the only one of the ABBA tracks that comes close to the original for me: would have liked to see it a bit higher.

Voulez Vous is my second fave of the ABBA tracks but it's quite a long way behind my favourite

Agree with Julian above - 'Make It Wonderful' was a brilliant discovery. I hadn't picked up on any festive connection though.

 

Another of my non-votes also out :D the one remaining is better I think but, you know, original is best.

Edited October 12, 2024Oct 12 by jimwatts

not a fan of the last 2

YEAR: 1997
PEAK POSITION: 23
VOTER: Mango- 25pts, AHGold- 22pts, Bjork- 19pts, Padamic Tension- 11pts, gezza- 9pts, Jimwatts- 8pts, Chartjack2- 4pts, King Rollo- 1pt



The single that broke a string of 24 consecutive top 20 singles in the UK. It featured their version of the Blondie classic “Heart Of Glass” on the CD version.

YEAR: 1987
PEAK POSITION: 12
VOTER: Bjork- 25pts, Padamic Tension- 22pts, AHGold- 12pts, Chartjack2- 11pts, Jester- 10pts, Popchartfreak- 8pts, Jimwatts- 7pts, Gezza- 6pts, Mango- 5pts



Erasure’s follow up to “Sometimes” narrowly missed the top 10 but kept the momentum going for the pair. Rumoured to be about apartheid but this was never confirmed by the group.

Noooooo It Doesn't Have to Be is one of my big big Erasure singles

I never ever ever understood why it missed the top 10 and was the lowest charting single from The Circus

for me it's almost there with Sometimes and millions of times better than the over-rated singles 3 & 4

I want to like 'Don't Say Your Love is Killing Me' more than I do but I find the chorus really quite annoying.

 

It Doesn't Have To Be :heart:

Love Voulez Vous. It's my second favourite from that EP

Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me was the first single of theirs that I thought was a let down. I'd liked everything else from them up to that point but this just felt like a real step down, it was the final physical single of theirs I bought I think.

 

It Doesn't Have To Be is good though - it was 31st in my rank, but in retrospect I should have gave it points. There were a couple of ones above it that I definitely don't like as much but I wanted to give some newer songs a few points.

I liked Dont Say You're Love is Killing Me. The chorus saves it.

 

I wasn't a huge fan of Always or Run to the Sun. I grew to like Always quite a lot since then but Run to the Sun still feels a bit empty - despite a decent riff.

Edited October 13, 2024Oct 13 by Colm

I loved Always from the first time I heard it and it's still one of my favourites now. At the time I also really liked the micronauts remix that was on the second cd single.

 

Run to the Sun is definitely less good, although I still bought it 3 times!! Take Me Back, So The Story Goes and All Through The Years were my favourites on the album though

 

I never really listened to the album. I listened to the following album more.

Fair enough - the following album was indeed better still, it's a shame it killed them somewhat but maybe that would have happened regardless of what they released in the britpop era. But it's such a great artistic step from them, it's perhaps a tiny bit plodding towards the end but it contains some of my absolute favourites of theirs (I absolutely adore the singles, Sono Luminous, Rescue Me, Angel and A Long Goodbye

YEAR: 1990
PEAK POSITION: 11
VOTERS: Mango- 23pts, Padamic Tension- 23pts, JulianT- 19pts, Jimwatts- 12pts, AH Gold- 11pts, Jester- 8pts, Dandy*- 7pts, Popchartfreak- 4pts, King Rollo- 2pts



Final single from “Wild!” just missed the top 10, it’s a protest song about nuclear war apparently- that passed me by entirely in 1990.

YEAR: 1992
PEAK POSITION: 1
VOTER: Jester- 27pts, Padamic Tension- 18pts, King Rollo- 16pts, Mango- 13pts, JulianT- 10pts, Jimwatts- 9pts, AH Gold- 7pts, Bjork- 7pts, Chartjack2- 2pts



The main track from the “Abba-Esque EP” and certainly the one that they performed on TOTP. It features MC Kinky providing the rap, and the boys dragged up as Agnetha and Frida in the promo.
Bell: “They’ve heard it now (Benny and Bjorn”) because we had to get permission- they’re quite tough cookies those ABBA people and the publishers clamped down on us once they heard the rap on the track because it was newly written piece, but when the men heard it they liked it and said it was typical Erasure and let it pass”

I gave some points to that one as, aside from being the lead track, it's kinda fun and at least they did something different with the rap. Still wouldn't ever choose to listen to it over the original though.

I will not be having this talk of that being the lead track! Or at least not the only lead track...

 

Before release it was most definitely Lay All Your Love On Me that was being marketed as the lead, but then it split upon release with Take a Chance On Me being performed on tv and people laughing along with them dressing up as ABBA in the video etc. But it was definitely still LAYLOM that was being played on the radio and on the chart show etc - quite clever I suppose in retrospect as it sold the whole EP to people instead of just one song.

 

At the time I was quite annoyed that Take a Chance On Me went on to become the most remembered as I always thought it was a bit of a gimmick and the worst on the EP, where as Lay All Your Love On Me was something I genuinely really liked.

 

 

 

 

Star is one of their singles that I usually underestimate. I didn't have it scoring any points when I did my provisional rank but then I was reminded of just how upbeat and fun it is and decided it deserved a handful of them... I particularly like the middle section.

I still love this version - my favourite on the EP.