Erasure are celebrating 30 years of pop success with the king of BSOG that usually only comes from within the depths of my Record Cell; twelve CDs of material, curated nine ways to Sunday, and a copy of the “Wild!” live concert home video of the 1990 tour on DVD for the first time. That’s a hefty 13 discs! Now that I think of it, my previous largest set was an 11-disc set for Simple Minds in 2001 so yeah, I’ve been humbled. All the more astounding because it’s real. From The Man.
I have been a lapsed Erasure fan for the last 22 years, but from the five years of ’89 to ’94, I bought any shiny silver disc with the Erasure name on it as I was late to the game with them. Oh, I’d heard them from the first single, and many of them got airings on MTV’s 120 Minutes ghetto, but at first I blew off Erasure as just another Yaz[oo]. Vince Clarke + big voiced singer doing synthpop. I was never convinced by Clarke, and three years of Erasure singles didn’t put me over the edge. That happened once I heard “Wild” playing in-store and decided that it was far more accomplished and eclectic that I maybe had been giving them credit for. After that it was every single bought and filed away, until the bad remix demons started issuing boring trance material around the time of the “I Say, I Say, I Say” album. I stayed off the Erasure train from that point onward, but I did run across the “Cowboy” album a year or two back, and liked it a lot. But will this box be able to tempt me? What’s on it?
Mute Records | UK | 12xCD+DVD | 2016 | EBX5
Erasure: From Moscow To Mars – An Anthology UK 12xCD+DVD [2016]
CD1 – 7″ mixes v. 1
- Who Needs Love Like That?
- Heavenly Action
- Oh L’Amour
- Sometimes
- It Doesn’t Have To Be
- Victim Of Love
- The Circus
- Ship Of Fools
- Chains Of Love
- A Little Respect
- Stop!
- Drama!
- You Surround Me
- Blue Savannah
- Star
- Chorus
CD2 – 7″ mixes v. 1
- Love To Hate You
- Am I Right?
- Breath Of Life
- Take A Chance On Me
- Always
- Run To The Sun
- I Love Saturday
- Stay With Me
- Fingers and Thumbs (Cold Summer’s Day)
- Rock Me Gently
- In My Arms
- Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me
- Rain
- Freedom
- Moon And The Sky (JC’s Heaven Scent Radio Re-Work)
- Solsbury Hill
- Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
CD3- 7″ mixes v. 3
- Breathe
- Don’t Say You Love Me
- Here I Go Impossible Again
- All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love
- Boy (Acoustic)
- I Could Fall In Love With You
- Sunday Girl
- Storm In A Teacup
- Sucker For Love
- When I Start To (Break It All Down)
- Be With You
- Fill Us With Fire
- Gaudete
- Make It Wonderful
- Elevation
- Reason
- Sacred
CD4 – Andy Bell’s Playlist
- Fill Us With Fire
- Save Me Darling
- Fly Away
- Here I Go Impossible Again
- Witch In The Ditch
- Miracle
- Siren Song
- Mad As We Are
- Boy (Acoustic)
- Joan
- I Bet You’re Mad At Me
- Golden Heart
- A Long Goodbye
- What Will I Say When You’re Gone?
- Brother & Sister
- Whole Lotta Love Run Riot
CD5 – Vince Clarke’s Playlist
- Sono Luminus
- Because You’re So Sweet
- Love Affair
- Home
- Alien
- Precious
- Don’t Dance
- How My Eyes Adore You
- Boy
- Blues Away
- Spiralling (Acoustic)
- Piano Song
- Tenderest Moments (Acoustic)
- Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime
- Cry So Easy
- You’ve Got to Save Me Right Now
- Weight Of The World
CD6 – Mailing List Selected B-Sides vol. 1
- Supernature
- The Hardest Part
- When I Needed You
- She Won’t Be Home
- Knocking On Your Door
- Don’t Suppose
- Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
- Over The Rainbow
- Waiting For Sex
- Tenderest Moments
- March On Down The Line
- Dreamlike State
- The Soldier’s Return
- Heart Of Glass (Live In Oxford)
- Let It Flow
- Runaround On The Underground
- Rapture
- Paradise
CD7 – Mailing List Selected B-Sides vol. 2
- La La La
- Truly, Madly, Deeply
- Like Zsa Zsa Zsa Gabor
- Sweet Sweet Baby
- True Love Wars
- Ghost
- Hi NRG
- The Good The Bad And The Ugly
- In The Name Of The Heart
- Die 4 Love
- Tragic
- First Contact
- Love Is Colder Than Death
- Don’t Say No
- In The Hall Of The Mountain King
- No G.D.M
- Take Me On A Highway
- Tomorrow’s World
CD8 – Remixes vol. 1
- A Little Respect – Extended Mix
- Waiting for The Day – Vince Clarke Remix
- Supernature – William Orbit Remix
- Blue Savannah – Little Boots Remix
- S.O.S – Perimeter Mix
- Love To Hate You – Bruce Forest Remix
- Snappy – The Spice has Risen Mix
- Ship Of Fools – Nicka & Asle’s Stella Polaris Remix
- The Circus – The Equalateral Mix
- Elevation – Jack Antonoff Remix
- Stay With Me – Guitar Mix
CD9 – Remixes vol. 2
- Stop – 12″ Remix
- I Could Fall In Love With You – Jeremy Wheatley Extended 12″ mix
- Always – ‘Always In Motion’ mix
- Blue Savannah – ‘Out Of The Blue’ Mix
- Oh L’Amour – Almighty Remix
- Chorus – Aggressive Trance Mix
- Heavenly Action – Matt Pop’s Planet Cupid Mix
- Breath Of Life – Joey Beltram Mix
- You Surround Me – Syrinx Mix
- If I Could – Japanese Mix
- Rock Me Gently – A Combination Of Special Events
CD10 – Erasure – Live!
- Victim Of Love – The Circus Tour 1987
- Knocking On Your Door – The Erasure Show 2005
- A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot – Tomorrow’s World Tour 2011
- Joan – The Phantasmagorical Entertainment Tour 1992
- Witch In The Ditch – The Innocents Tour 1988
- I Bet You’re Mad At Me – The Erasure Show 2005
- Home – The Phantasmagorical Entertainment Tour 1992
- Spiralling – The Innocents Tour 1988
- Sunday Girl – Light At The End Of The World Tour 2007
- Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me – An Evening With Erasure 1997
- Breathe – The Erasure Show 2005
- Sometimes – The Innocents Tour 1988
- Tenderest Moments – The Acoustic Tour 2006
- Ave Maria – The Erasure Show 2005
- Soldiers Return – The Phantasmagorical Entertainment Tour 1992
- I Could Fall In Love With You – Light At The End Of The World Tour 2007
- A Little Respect – The Innocents Tour 1988
CD11 – Rarities
- Who Needs Love Like That? (Audition Version)
- Blue (Searching)
- Piano (Tomorrow’s World Demo)
- Waiting For The Day (Demo)
- Siempre – (Always – Spanish Version)
- 2000 Miles (Monteverde 7″ Mix)
- Chanson (Moon & The Sky French Demo)
- Am I Right (Guitar Demo)
- Worlds On Fire (Demo)
- Run To The Sun (Demo)
- Breath Of Life (Piano Demo)
- Alien (Demo)
- Whole Lotta Love Run Riot (Demo)
- Moon & The Sky – (The Beatmasters Remix)
- Untitled (Loveboat Demo)
- Amo Odiarti (Love To Hate You – Italian Disco Anthem Mix)
- UK Vibe 3 (Tomorrow’s World Demo)
- Symphony
- Reason (Sirius XM Radio Session)
CD12 – A Little Respect – 30 years Of Erasure (Audio Documentary)
An audio documentary looking at the first thirty years of Erasure’s career, presented by Mark Goodier for radio broadcast around the world and including contributions from Vince Clarke and Andy Bell alongside:
- Martyn Ware (Heaven 17)
- Gareth Malone
- Paul Humphreys (OMD)
- Daniel Miller.
Disc 13 – The Wild! Tour DVD (NTSC Region 0)
- Piano Song
- How Many Times?
- You Surround Me
- Knocking On Your Door
- Brother And Sister
- Crown Of Thorns
- Star
- Chains Of Love
- Hideaway
- Supernature
- Who Needs Love Like That?
- Stop!
- Victim Of Love
- La Gloria
- Ship Of Fools
- It Doesn’t Have To Be
- Blue Savannah
- Sometimes
- The Hardest Part
- Oh L’Amour
- Drama!
- A Little Respect
- Spiralling
+ 6 bonus downloads
- Dreamlike State – 7” Alternative Mix
- Sugar Hill – Vox Mix
- Heart of Stone – Live
- Then I Go Twisting (Demo)
- Fingers & Thumbs (Electrofinger Dub)
- Sacred (Chris Cox Dub Mix)
Phew! I’m tired just reading that. The thing is selling for £80 [$106.74] and for that much material, I have to admit that it’s priced to move! That’s $8.15/disc. A huge step forward for the kind of Super Deluxe Boxed Set that usually sees half that many discs for sometimes even more. The thought that went into it is impressive. Having all of the 7″ edits of 30 years of singles makes a true pop statement. I’m less convinced by the discs that Clarke + Bell curated themselves since all of my top tracks are somehow missing. The selection of B-Sides was made by the members of the Erasure Information Service mailing list and it’s both egalitarian and authoritative. Many of my fave raves are there for the taking. That’s the first half of the box.
The remixes run the gamut of common to rare, to I’ve never even heard of that one. But it’s only remixes. A full box of all Erasure remixes would be how many discs? Any guesses? 33? The live CD is kind of a sop. Erasure live was never the thing to my mind. I’m sure it was fun if you were there, but I never had the pleasure. I had tickets once, but that never happened [long, painful story]. The rarities disc will probably cause the Erasure faithful the most vexation. Their collections will not be complete without that disc! Good thing I stopped collecting a long time ago. The 12th disc is something different; a radio documentary on the band with friends and colleagues weighing in for the BBC. A coffee table book would have been nicer, but it’s the post-literate era, I suppose. The final disc is the “Wild” tour DVD, which I have actually owned on laserdisc for over 23 years without ever watching, so I suppose that says volumes about my suitability as the target audience for this fine product.
I can’t say I will be dropping the $108 for this, but if I had no Erasure product, and had an even later-in-the-game conversion to Erasure fandom, this looks to be as authoritative an overall 30 year sampling of the band as it is possible to get. All of the angles, except music videos were covered [thoroughly] here. The price to value ratio is not bad at all, though collectors with everything but the “Rarities” disc and the new remixes may beg to differ. The cover art looks fabbo and I certainly, ultimately, approve of the effort, even as I will not be partaking. The set is released on October 21st, 2016 and can be pre-ordered here, among many possible retailers.
– 30 –
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Post-Punk Monk 
I’m with you on the probably not buying this, largely because it’s too much money for too much stuff that I already have. The things that I don’t have….shudder…I gave up on Erasure mixes in the early 90’s as they fell victim to the endless awful remix syndrome that kicked in with core acts around 1993. Your suggestion of a coffee table book is on target, I have the Lee Hazlewood Industries box set and the book in that one is the icing on the cake.
Aside from duplication there’s something else that keeps my wallet holstered on this one, I just don’t listen to the Erasure that I have that much, I’ve recently begun work on cleaning up the Erasure folder on The Evil Jukebox HD and have listened to this stuff the most that I have in probably ten years and a fair amount of things are being deleted. There was a blog a while back hosted by some bloke who called himself 50 pound note and his Erasure megamix has become for me my go – to for listening to them. Every time I listen to that one I think hmmm I should listen to Erasure more than I do.
Perhaps it’s time to make an uber Erasure playlist like I did with ABC after this years release of LoL II The ABC list has had a ton of playings this year however I listen to ABC with some frequency and the list is riding the coat tails of a new album that is dead good.
Now the threatened Marc Almond set…..again lots of duplication there, too. But if I had to buy one or the other I would probably but my dollars on that one.
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Tim – I’m with you on Marc Almond since the key thing is that I have much less of his oeuvre. I have “The Stars We Are,” “Enchanted,” and “Tenement Symphony.” I have a few singles from those last two albums. A run of three great albums and also the “Treasure Box” of rarities + mixes which perfectly complements those. So there’s a whole lotta Almond I could stand to hear.
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Damn, Tenement Symphony is a fine album. My favorite of his actually. The French album (Absinthe) and the one of Brel covers are both worth finding.
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1000 votes yes for a Marc Almond official or Monk BSOG®!!! I snake in and out of interest in Erasure and always have. Hands down I have to say the William Orbit remix of Supernature is absolutely magnificent!
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Speaking of box sets this was announced. Wow. I don’t mean that in a Wow, I’m buying that sense just kinda stunned….19 discs of Dead or Alive?
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/dead-or-alive-19-disc-career-box-set-sophisticated-boom-box-mmxvi/
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tim – Perhaps the question should be, “have we gone too far?”
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Someone (I think the same person) commented on both the SDE website and FB page about the sheer quantity of mixes in that of “You Spin Me ‘Round.”
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tim – 34 mixes is about 34 too many for me. That’s a song I can go without hearing until death.
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34 dead or alive mixes in a crate
34 dead or alive mixes…..
take one down, spin it around
33 dead or alive mixes in a crate!
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I started checking my Erasure and Marc Almond collections to see overlap / versioning in these recently announced box sets (I usually purchase the Deluxe retail versions wherever possible) and need some advice; what s/w do you use to track all these tracks? I tried to pull my ~30 Almond CDs and gave up after my brain cramped. I joined Discogs but haven’t been able to use my bar code reader to scan my few thousand CDs, ~50 Canadian release “never on vinyl” cassettes and ~40 vinyl 12″ singles and a few full length vinyl releases (just read your turntable post and had to embarrassedly admit I’ve never owned one; my brother had a Sears system similar to yours but I couldn’t get any of my vinyl on his metal-band only player).
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KeithC – So software as such. Just judicious, and constant, poring over the ever-expanding Discogs.com database. Yes, it’s work! I hear you on the bar code. About a fourth of my collection has none. Actually, I’ve never tried the bar code method of data entry for my Discogs collection. My iPad could probably work there now that they have the app. My iPod Touch is so old, no modern software is compatible with it. As for my Discogs collection, it’s far from accurate. I’ve contemplated taking a few days of “staycation” one week where all I do from dawn to dusk is feed the database and try to get 100% of my collection in there. Then it’s an easy matter to download a CSV spreadsheet of your collection in extreme detail. It’s a thought that I have been having this last month. Because, I can’t sit here and say how many records or CDs I have. I’ve been estimating for decades. Sad, I know.
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OK, I’m cleaning up the Erasure files and came up with a couple of Re-Made & Re-Modeled editions with new tracklists, putting them out there to share an alternate take on two albums.
1989 Wilder!
Piano Song (Instrumental)
Blue Savannah (Der Deutsche Mix I)
Drama (Ext)
Sweet Sweet Baby
Supernature (William Orbit Mix)
How Many Times
No GDM (Zeus B Held Mix)
91 Steps
Star (Trafalmadore Mix)
La Gloria
You Surround Me (Syrinx Mix)
Dreamlike State (24 Hour Technocolour Mix)
Brother & Sister
Runaround on the Underground
Paradise
2000 Miles
Crown of Thorns
Piano Song (Vocal)
1991 Chorus (RMRM)
Carry On Clangers’
Chorus (mix that I made)
Waiting For The Day
Joan
Breath of Life
La La La
Am I Right (Grid Mix)
Over The Rainbow
Love to Hate You
Waiting For Sex
Perfect Stranger
Snappy
Turns The Love To Anger
Siren Song
Let It Flow\
Home
These are my new go-to versions, pending some tweaking Am working on home made mixes of Breath of Life and Love to Hate You and will see how they pan out.
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Tim – I am completely down with your “Wild!” Remodel! Enough so that I may make my own copy!! That was an incredible album with some fantastic mix and B-side material. “Chorus” didn’t work for me, so I barely have an opinion on that one.
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I felt the same way about Chorus and haven’t touched the album proper in years (Am I Right and Waiting for Sex were the best things to come out of it in my opinion). It was a lot less technoy than I remember it when I revisited it, I did omit one of the b-sides that was just too much boop beep noodle bloodle but I am actually looking forward to revisiting this one more. I had written it off but I think I need to give it a second chance.
I am flattered that you like my take on Wilder!
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Forgot to say, I am seriously thinking of ditching La Gloria from my Wilder. Didn’t like it in 1989, like it even less decades on.
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Tim – Oh, I can’t go there. Sure, it’s campy but it expands the eclectic breadth of the album something fierce.
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ERASURE – WILD! – 30TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION – (2XCD)
Erasure – Wild! – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition – (2xCD Hardback Book Album)
Originally released in October 1989, the classic Erasure album Wild! is the band’s fourth album and their 2nd UK number one.
Featuring the four hit singles ‘Drama!’,’You Surround Me’,’Blue Savannah’ and ‘Star’ the album is re-mastered and re-issued as a deluxe 2CD version in a hard back media book format with rare images, original photography by Pierre et Gilles and brand new sleeve notes.
An exclusive bonus disc features five unreleased tracks including a brand new remix by Richard Norris (The Grid / Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve), a recently discovered unreleased mix of ‘How Many Times?’, rare 12″ remixes by Mark Saunders, Gareth Jones and Mute supremo Daniel Miller (with Phil Legg), cover versions (including the fan favourite ‘Supernature’) and exclusive live tracks recorded at London Arena, Docklands in December 1989.
Click on the highlighted track listing links below for the official track videos.
A limited number of exclusive Wild! badges will be given out randomly with pre-orders.
“Erasure – Wild! – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition”, is out Friday, 29th March 2019 and available for pre-order worldwide now.
NB: All products ordered with a pre-order will be dispatched together close to the latest pre-order release date.
If you want earlier dispatched for another product then please place separate order(s).
CD1 Track Listing
Piano Song – Instrumental
Blue Savannah
Drama!
How Many Times?
Star
La Gloria
You Surround Me
Brother and Sister
2000 Miles
Crown Of Thorns
Piano Song
CD2 Track Listing
Sweet, Sweet Baby – The Moo Moo Mix
Drama! – Richard Norris Mix (unreleased)
Blue Savannah – Mark Saunders 12″ Mix
Piano Song – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
Runaround On The Underground – Remix
How Many Times? – Alternative Mix (unreleased)
Supernature – Daniel Miller & Phil Legg Remix
Star – Soul Mix
No GDM. – Unfinished Mix
Drama! – Act 2
Brother and Sister – Live at the London Arena (unreleased)
Dreamlike State – 7″ A Cappella Mix (unreleased)
You Surround Me – Gareth Jones Mix
91 Steps – 6 Pianos Mix
Format: CD Album
BarCode: 4050538374568
Catalogue Number: LCDSTUMM75
Label: BMG / Mute Records
Release Date: Friday, 29th March 2019
later
-1
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negative1ne – “Wild!” was the album that sucked me into the erasure universe, and I kept all of my CD singles from that one so I’ll be sitting this reissue out, but for anyone who’s not heard it, they are in for a treat if they get that one! If they really wanted to do this one right they would have at least 3 discs.
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There are two tracks on the new version that I would buy as digital downloads. There it s not enough new here for a double dip.
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hi mr monk,
this one is just like the first 3 releases with a 2 cd set.
it’s a bargain price release. although the innocents did come with a DVD though.
i’m not sure you could get even close with 3cd’s, thats barely enough for the
album, and some mixes, certainly not all of them. you would need 5 or maybe 6,
and that would NEVER, EVER happen unfortunately.
there are mixes, edits, promos, promo edits, vinyl only tracks, cd promo edits,
cd promo mixes, unreleased tracks, live tracks, demo versions, and that’s
just for starters.
i collected as much erasure as possible for the first 2 albums, and have sllowly
been filling the back catalog since then, because pretty much everything on
cd is dirt cheap, and easy to find, even the foreign releases and european
one offs. although i do want to find the cd-single they released in the 7 inch
sleeve.
anyways, much like the pet shop boys and new order, no release is ever
going to come close, unless you do it yourself, and even then some collector
out there will have stuff you’ve never heard of, or never knew existed.
this release is worth getting in the book format, and has several unreleased
tracks, so i’m not sure why any fan wouldn’t get it.
later
-1
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Great interview about the Wild set. I like the part about Vince Clarke coming up with the piano parts of Blue Savannah. http://www.side-line.com/interview-with-erasure-s-vince-clarke-mark-saunders-and-gareth-jones-on-re-release-wild-lp/amp/
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Tim – That was full of interesting info from Jones and Saunders! Thanks for passing that along.
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You’re kindly welcome. It’s a long piece however I found it to be a great read.
The one guy is asked about his career with Mute and he says well you get the Cliff Notes version because I’ve told this tale so many times. Uh, for some of us it’s the first time so let’s not be so stingy!
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