Erasure
– Union Street (CD)
Music: B+
Sound: B
It’s always a pleasure to see a particular band mature
over the years, especially when it’s for the better. It’s a common myth that most bands as time goes on typically fade
away, but there are a handful of bands that manage to grow stronger with age
and ripen to a new level of accomplishment.
Recently I have seen and heard this with Depeche Mode’s recent album Playing
the Angel, which is an incredible album for a band that has been around
over 25 years. In addition to this it
would appear that ex-Depeche Mode member Vince Clark, who formed the band
Erasure, would have similar distinction with their recent Union Street
album, which is a terrific follow-up from the success of 2005’s Nightbird.
This particular outing is an all-acoustic fare that grows
quickly on the listener in a much more relaxed feel than what most will expect
from a group that’s origins date back to a more electronic/dance vibe. This album is entirely made up of
re-workings of earlier songs, but not the typical songs you might expect. Instead the band has chosen B-sides and more
obscure tracks that mainly deal with love.
There are 12 tracks here and the biggest complaint that most listeners
may have is that there is little distinction between tracks. After a few listening sessions you realize
that there are fine subtle nuances that make each song it’s own, but overall
it’s very much a standard album with a very basic shape. This is not a criticism, just a pure
observation and for those that don’t mind their music being very laid back at
times with little dynamics, than this is definitely for you. I enjoy chilling out to albums like this
because I can literally listen to it from front to back without feeling like I
need to navigate around much.
Track Listing:
Boy
Piano
Song
Stay
With Me
Spiralling
Home
Tenderest
Moments
Alien
Blues
Away
How Many
Times?
Love
Afair
Rock Me
Gently
This is such a unique release in it’s own right that seems
aimed directly at fans of the band, who will most likely be caught off guard by
the album, but in a good way. Those
that stumble across this may not know what to expect or how to deal with it,
but after a few listens you are either a big fan or you never want to hear it
again. It’s pretty much that cut and
dry. The CD sound is about as good as
it gets for CD with the 16 bit/44kHz PCM 2.0 stereo sound coming across fairly
detailed and solid, although there is little bass, which is a surprise for
Erasure music, but not in this case since it’s driven acoustically. Thematically the album is not altogether
original either, but that’s ok too because it’s contagious for the hopeless
romantic residing in all of us.
- Nate Goss
