Erasure

Erasure

COOL COVERUP
Synth-pop Duo Erasure Revisit -- and Reinvent -- Other People's Songs
Long before Mamma Mia took Broadway by storm, Vince Clarke and Andy Bell -- the artists better known as Erasure -- paid tribute to ABBA on the no-holds-barred Abba-esque EP, which spawned their first UK No. 1 single. Ten years later, the pair, who have kept a relatively low profile in recent times, get back under the covers, this time for a wide-ranging collection called -- appropriately enough -- Other People's Songs. Taking on artists as varied as Buddy Holly, the Buggles, and largely forgotten glam-rockers Cockney Rebel, Clarke and Bell bring the circus-like atmosphere of their best material to songs that, to some folks, have been carved in stylistic stone so long they've become museum pieces. Erasure singer Andy Bell pencils in some details on the new album for Barnes & Noble.com's David Sprague.

Barnes & Noble.com: When you do a cover song, is it more important to you to keep the spirit of the original or to put your stamp on the song?

Andy Bell: You can tell we care about the songs, and I think we have kept their integrity. Also, there's no mistaking that it's an Erasure record. I think it's because we have a lot of synthesizers, but we still managed to make them sound old-fashioned. I don't know why that is, other than to say that I'm a very old-fashioned singer, like a crooner more than anything. The vocals almost sound like they come from 78s or something.

B&N.com: Do you look at Erasure the same way now as when you started working together?

AB: I feel quite proud of our sound. There aren't many artists who you can identify straightaway, and I think you can do that with us. I don't think there are many artists who are like us in approach -- maybe Roy Wood from Wizzard or Roy Orbison. But other than that...I think we're really hard to pigeonhole. When I first started working with Vince, I was painfully shy and it took me two years or so to come out of my shell. I'd go down to the studio and just stare at Vince and not say anything. I was quite daunted by following in [Yaz vocalist] Alison Moyet's footsteps, because she's such a wonderful singer. We struggled on the first album, which didn't sell very well, but now I feel I've completed my apprenticeship...after 17 years. [laughs]

B&N.com: It's funny to hear you say you were shy, since you're quite a flamboyant performer. Do you work to get into character for that purpose?

AB: Yeah, it's another person onstage. When I was young, I would dress up and do shows for the neighbors. I'd print up tickets and everything. I feel comfortable onstage, and I do miss it when I'm not there. But like a lot of performers, I am really shy offstage. I have trouble making conversation with people and don't feel comfortable in social situations.

B&N.com: Will you be staging a lavish spectacle in support of Other People's Songs?

AB: I'd like it to be theatrical, since the staging is very important to me. I'd like to have a gramophone onstage, and go back in history and have Edwardian costumes made. Nothing too over-the-top.

B&N.com: What is it about songs like the Buddy Holly covers you do here that let them hold up for you?

AB: I don't know, really. I was really fortunate to have music around me when I was a child -- and parents who encouraged that side of my personality. The songs you are exposed to then really stick in your mind. I remember learning those songs by heart: Charley Pride, Slim Whitman, all sorts of things. There was a real sense of drama to those songs.

B&N.com: Some of the songs you cover here are quite unusual. How did you come to choose Cliff Eberhardt's "Good Night"?

AB: I found that song a couple of years ago on a Buffy Sainte-Marie's greatest hits album. I thought she'd written it, but then I read the sleeve notes in which she thanks him for writing it, and I'd like to thank her for exposing me to it. When I was young, I would get into bed and try to sing myself to sleep -- to the point where my parents would yell, Shut up! I think it's a bit of nostalgia for that feeling.

B&N.com: Of these, are there any you feel most surprised by?

AB: I'd say probably "Ebb Tide." I worked on the backing music on that with Gareth [Jones, Depeche Mode producer and current Erasure collaborator], and I was surprised how well it translated into being an uptempo dance song. It's not a typical song in that it's not verse-chorus-bridge; it starts, goes through, and ends without repeating. Also, I'd include "Solsbury Hill," because I'd never have chosen a Peter Gabriel song. It's quite stilted rhythmically, so I sang, a cappella, how I thought it should be done, and Vince worked an arrangement around it.

B&N.com: You're working on a new album now?

AB: Yes, we've got about four songs done so far. We needed to do this album as an exercise to get us back into writing, because we tend to be quite lazy when left to our own devices. That could be because most of our best songs have come to us in five minutes and the ones we struggle over tend not to be as good. I really enjoy a lot of our songs -- "Chorus," "Blue Savannah" -- and I really like when we can surprise ourselves.

January 28, 2003