It has often been said that a sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result every time. So does the same thing apply to music?
It seems that Erasure, the sometime standard-bearer of techno-pop, may have lost their minds by releasing a CD that, while it contains some good work, contains songs so similar to each other as to temporarily keep the duo out of the running among new wave fans and the mainstream.
With their ninth album, Erasure, the duo of singer Andy Bell and instrumentalist Vince Clarke, have provided their loyal fans with the culmination of their work during the last year or so.
To much of the mainstream audience, they dropped out of sight after their hits in the 1980's: "A Little Respect" and "Chains of Love." Remember those?
And no, they weren't really a two-hit wonder. They churned out several albums before that and have been doing so every year or two since. But Erasure grabbed onto its core listeners -- New Wave addicted teens, Asian-American young adult cliques scattered around the country and die-hard dance-club denizens.
So other than their hit about a year and a half ago, "Always," from the album "I Say I Say I Say," and the release of a facetious greatest hits CD, Erasure have mainly stuck to catering to their core constituencies.
So it would follow that this album, "Erasure" would continue in their tradition of not stretching too hard to enter the mainstream, and if they did by accident every so often, then great.
But it seems while there are admirable new tunes to which you can dance, sing and relax, the CD "Erasure" simply fails to embody Erasure's best work. Perhaps, by trying to please both the mainstream and their loyal audience, they have really succeeded in neither.
The 11 tracks on this CD are made of their usual offerings -- new wave dance, intimate ballads and undeniable techno-pop. Some actually make the grade as great ideas -- if only the same sounds weren't used over and over.
The introductory song "Guess I'm Into Feeling" grabs the listener with its danceable beat and excellent use of synthesizers. To an Erasure fan, it would raise hopes the duo have formulated another album that truly follows in their techno-pop tradition.
But the techno-ballads, or whatever they ought to be called, are carbon copies of each other. These songs consist of Bell crowing soft and gentle lyrics with the support of Clarke's synthesizers and beats.
"Sono Luminus" (for those who remember their Latin) and "Grace" also have meaningful lyrics. The only problem is that the message is buried under repetitious and glossed-over ballad music.
In other words, after four similar tunes, like tracks 3, 5, 6 and 7, it starts to get monotonous. Erasure have shown they have mastered the techno-ballad, but enough is enough. They even enlisted help from members of the London Community Gospel Choir, who perform choir vocals on two of those songs. Perhaps this is an attempt at mainstream justification of their work. But who asked for it?
Granted, there are some bright spots. Diamanda Galas, who visited Dartmouth over a year ago, solos on "Rock Me Gently" and "Angel." The latter song is probably the best one on the album -- upbeat and danceable.
Bell sings, "Here we go round and there's no secrets/ high and ascending delving deeper/ under the water clear as a crystal/ spinning around in giant circles/ fly like an angel wings unfurling/ fanning the flames of love eternal." "Angel" just reminds the listeners that love can be fun and carefree.
Maybe they're just going through a phase of experimentation. Maybe they want to mellow out their act. Maybe they're just trying to find the meaning of life as evidenced in the final, haunting song "A Long Goodbye": "life is truer than fiction in this crazy mixed up world of honey life is just an illusion darling."
The CD "Erasure" will probably not make it into the mainstream like their previous album, but Erasure's fans probably will still buy it. But their fans deserve better -- something that is more commensurate with their abilities.
