Erasure (part 0)

Back in the late 80's,  my then-best friend and fellow classmate introduced me to his favourite bands : Pet Shop Boys and Erasure, each composed by 2 members and which are still active to this day. They quickly became 2 of my top-10 bands, and I enjoy most of their songs, their rhythms, and the beauty in writing and singing.
I'll now concentrate on Erasure, a synthpop band formed by Vince Clarke the musician and Andy Bell the singer, in 1985.

Both of them write the lyrics, which I find it very cool, and explains why they are still here, sharing their  private, personal lives, and not just ''ooh baby ooh baby''...

I appreciate the poetic writings, and a good majority of their songs which I can listen to obsessively, repeatedly and I cannot stop but sing along (though I'm tone deaf).

On the side, Andy released 2 solo albums, whilst Vince was part of Yazoo, Depeche Mode, The Assembly, and have colaborated with Martin Gore from Depeche Mode (releasing VCMG), Robert Marlowe, and lately with Jean Michel Jarre, a master at synth intrumental EDM compositions... 

Thus far, Erausre have released 16 studio albums, 5 lives, 8 compilations, 7 EP, 13 video releases, 43 music videos for 41 singles, and there are 2 tribute albums in their honour...

I have to say I enjoy their lives as well, on the few dvd released I managed to get thus far ; they let their crazy creativity bloom and explode in glitter and other shiny costumes...

Here's a quick listing - I remind you that the first links send to the album wiki pages, or to discogs if wiki doesn't have details, and when I create my own blog entries, I point to them :

1. Wonderland (1986)
2. The Circus (1987)
3. The Innocents (1988)
4. Wild! (1989)
5. Chorus (1991)
6. I Say I Say I Say (1994)
7. Erasure (1995)
8. Cowboy (1997)
9. Loveboat (2000)
10. Other People's Songs (2003)
11. Nightbird (2005)
12. Union Street (2006)
13. Light at the End of the World (2007)
14. Tomorrow's World (2011)
15. Snow Globe (2013)
16. The Violet Flame (2014)

And these are the compilations :

1. The two rings circus (1987), a companion remix album for their second studio album the Circus ; it also includes some live tracks
2. Pop the first 20 hits is their first best of compilation, and has 20 songs, but one of them in 2 versions, thus 21 tracks. (1992) it was released between their 5th and 6th albums.
3.  Hits! the best best of Erasure is their second best of, released in (2003) between their 10th & 11th albums. Its 2CD edition contains 20 songs on the first Cd (12 of which had already been on Pop...) and a megamix of 18 songs on the second cd. In (2007) it was also released a DVD with 35 video clips.
4. then came Total pop!  the first 40 hits, a major update best off, which has several editions (and which I find a bit confusing so I'll make an entry later on). It was released in (2009)
5. Always : the very best of Erasure has just been released a couple days ago (30/10/2015) in two editions : 1cd and the limited 3 cds, and celebrating 30 years of their singles and remixes. 4 out of the 44 tracks are brand new remixes. 

Live albums comprise :
The Erasure show (2005)
Acoustic live (2006) is a double cd live
Live at Albert Hall (2007) for the 2 cd and (2008) for the dvd edition
On the Road to Nashville (2007) exists in dvd, or dvd+cd editions
Tomorrow's World Tour (Live at the Roundhouse) (2011)

Just like any other band, their maxi singles have several editions with varying tracks, sometimes depending on original country of release. Some have 2 parts, and can be quite complicated to find. The best source I found thus far is discogs.com which links barcodes to each edition, and usually offers pictures and always track listings. It'd be quite difficult to detail them on my blog, but I might write about the ones I already bought.

Some have also been released as EPs, such as Am I right? (1991), I love Saturday (1994), Rain:plus (1997), Moon and sky:plus (2001), Boy (2006), Storm chaser (2007), and Phantom bride (2009)

There are also 4 boxsets for maxi singles, released in 1999 & 2001, called ''EB'' 1 through 4 and are very rare. However, I belive that it's actually more cost effective to track down the individual singels.

Easier to understand and find are their other EP's :

1. Crackers International (1988)
2. Abba-esque also from 1991 in which Erasure cover their 4 favourite Abba songs
3. Pop! Remixed (2009) and  
4. Erasure.club (2009)

I used to get their albums fast after their release, before finding out second hand stores, and waiting patiently for better deals, but my city's stores carry far fewer of their albums and singles now, so I've had to resort to online shopping which doesn't make it easy to get part of it done... because of that, I shall pace my reviews - I do miss a few releases already.