Onge's Erasure Page

Christmas Album Update & Andy Covers Kate Bush

Onge — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:24:19 +0000

In recent weeks Andy and Vince have been in the studio working on their next album, which will be Christmas themed and is due for release Nov/Dec this year.

Vince recently spoke with side-line.com about the project and revealed the album with be half covers and half new material, with a minimalist 8-bit sound. From posts made on Twitter, Vince has said one of the original songs being written has a working title of Blood On The Snow (although the tweet could actually be Vince joking rather than being serious!) and that they plan to produce the album themselves. Also, one of the cover versions could well be a new version of She Won't Be Home - the Clarke/Bell penned Christmas song from 1988's Crackers International EP.

In other news, Andy has recorded a cover version of the Kate Bush song Breathing which will be released as part of the British Electric Foundation's Dark – Music Of Quality & Distinction Vol 3. The compilation, which also includes tracks by Kim Wilde, Boy George and Glenn Gregory is released on 27th May and is available to pre-order now via the British Electric Foundation website.

Site Update: Poll 2012-13 Results Published

Onge — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:02:12 +0000

The votes are in, have been counted and now I can finally reveal them to the world! Which album was voted the favourite? What song should've been a single? What is the best b-side? Stop reading this and head over to the Poll 2012-13 Results page to find out the answers to these, and more!

New Erasure Album & Solo Projects In The Works

Onge — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:38:58 +0000

During a recent interview with The Quietus, Vince announced a few interesting projects lined up for 2013. Firstly, he stated he and Andy would soon be starting work on the next Erasure album and that he will be collaborating with various DJs to create a solo "electronic dance record".

Also of note is an Erasure project with Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 that appears to have been recorded already. It involves a violin player helping to re-create some Erasure tracks in an "electronic ambient style". I've no idea if this is related to the orchestral Oh L'amour version Andy performed last year aboard a sea cruise - but one can hope!

Meanwhile, Andy's new look official website launched this week and on it Andy has confirmed new solo material will be released soon. When pressed on Twitter for more, he said to expect his new solo project to see the light of day around May this year.

Plenty to look forward to then!

UPDATE: It appears that Andy's third solo album will now be released in 2014 after the release of Erasure's forthcoming Christmas album.

The Clarke & Ware Experiment Box Set – The House Of Illustrious

Onge — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:57:30 +0000

The Clarke & Ware Experiment is a collaboration between Vince and Martyn Ware (of Human League and Heaven 17 fame) which started in the late 1990s. Mute Records have confirmed that a limited edition 10 CD box set of The Clarke & Ware Experiment's work, entitled The House Of Illustrious, will be released on the 26th November. Eight of the CDs are home to previously unreleased content, with the other two CDs being the two Clarke & Ware Experiment albums Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle and Pretentious. Only 1000 copies of the box set will be pressed, with each one being signed by both Vince and Martyn.

You can pre-order your copy now from Lexer Music or learn more about the release on The House Of Illustrious microsite.

The Complete Tomorrow’s World Box Set Announced

Onge — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:47:59 +0000

It's been almost a year since Erasure's latest album Tomorrow's World was released, but it's not the end of the line for the album just yet. It has been officially announced that The Complete Tomorrow's World box set will be available to pre-order on Friday 21st September at 6pm (BST) from online retailer Lexer Music.

The box set comes with one CD featuring all tracks and remixes from Tomorrow's World's singles that have not been commercially available or have only seen the light of day in download format, as well as a DVD which contains all the promotional videos for the Tomorrow's World singles. The box set contains space for the Tomorrow's World CD album, all three CD singles from the album and the Tomorrow's World Tour live CD (all available to buy separately). Not too dissimilar to the Andy Bell Non-Stop box set in that regard then.

And also like the Non-Stop box set, if you want a copy though you'll have to be quick - only 1500 are being produced. One in 15 of these limited edition box sets will also be signed by Andy and Vince and will be assigned randomly to the pre-orders (here's hoping I'm one of the lucky ones!). Available to buy now via the The Complete Tomorrow's World Box Set Microsite but only while stocks last!

Site Update: Music Quiz Now Available To Play

Onge — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 19:28:48 +0000

Back in January, I launched a Lyrics Quiz on this site, that allowed users to test their Erasure lyrics knowledge. Since then, the game has been played over 23,000 times and at the time of writing there are more than 450 players on the leaderboard.

Due to this popularity, I've created another game - this time you get to test your knowledge of Erasure's music by identifying songs from short audio clips. To play, just head on over the Music Quiz page! Have fun!

Site Update: Pictogram Wallpapers Added

Onge — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:44:22 +0000

Last year, before the official Erasure forum on the EIS website closed, one forum user started a thread and posted some Erasure related pictograms they had made. I liked the clever simplicity and striking nature of the images. I liked them so much in fact that I approached their creator and asked if they would like to make wallpaper versions of these pictograms that I could make available to download on this site.

Well, I'm pleased to say that the brains behind these pictograms, Chris McGuinness, agreed and you can now download some pictogram wallpapers from the Downloads section of this site! Want to request that an Erasure song gets the pictogram treatment? Then share your views by commenting below, or send Chris a message directly on Twitter by using the @iMcGenius username.

Site Update: Fans’ Poll 2012-13 Launched

Onge — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 17:52:35 +0000

Since 2000, every few years I have run a large fans' poll, akin to the official polls run by the EIS back in the days of the Private Ear fanzine. I've always found the results of these polls to be interesting and with it being four years since the last poll was published, I thought now would be a good time to run another one. Head on over the Poll 2012-13 page and leave your views - and when done, why not check out the Poll 2007-08 Results, which was the last large-scale poll run on this site.

Official Erasure Forum Closed

Onge — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:35:52 +0000

Today sees the official Erasure forum on the EIS website shut down. Launched in 2003, the forum was a great place to discuss the band and meet fellow fans but recently visitor numbers were dwindling with many threads descending into arguments so the decision to close the forum was made. It will remain accessible as an archive but no longer will users be able to post messages.

Whilst it is a shame the official forum is no more, there are plenty of unofficial alternatives (see below). See you there!

Work On New Album To Start This Summer?

Onge — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 21:40:02 +0000

After an extremely busy 2011, so far Erasure news in 2012 has felt somewhat sparse in comparison. So it comes as a relief to learn that work on the next Erasure album could begin in "weeks". That's according to Vince on Twitter:

@stephy1970 Hopefully start writing in the next few weeks...(cheer up, it's nearly ThursdayV)

— Vince Clarke (@thecabinstudio) June 7, 2012

Adding further weight to the belief the band will soon be writing new material is another Vince tweet (although perhaps this one should be taken with a pinch of salt):

@Dnannery The one we're just about to write..heh! heh!V

— Vince Clarke (@thecabinstudio) June 5, 2012

While these tweets look positive, Vince did state the band would be touring early in 2012, especially in Asia, and unfortunately that never happened. Still, it's good to read there is still the desire to get work on a new album under-way.