Hits (The Very Best Of Erasure) - Erasure

~0~ hits ! - the very best of erasure ~0~

2003 has been a bit of successful year for Erasure . Firstly saw the release of the highly successful erasure album ' Other Peoples Songs ' , a compilation of classic songs given the erasure treatment . from it were released two successful singles , namely ' Solisbury Hill ' and ' Make Me Smile ( Come Up and See Me ) ' . Next followed a UK tour , which was again well received . Then came the ...
...released the compilation album ' Hits - the very best of Erasure ' . In the meantime andy and vince continue to work on new material.

~0~ comparison time ~0~

Back in 1992 mute records released ' Pop ! 20 hits ' , a compilation album containing erasures first 20 released singles , plus a bonus remix track of the first ever single release ' Who Needs Love (like that) ' .
' Hit's - the very best of ' was released ... more

~0~ hits ! - the very best of erasure ~0~

2003 has been a bit of successful year for Erasure . Firstly saw the release of the highly successful erasure album ' Other Peoples Songs ' , a compilation of classic songs given the erasure treatment . from it were released two successful singles , namely ' Solisbury Hill ' and ' Make Me Smile ( Come Up and See Me ) ' . Next followed a UK tour , which was again well received . Then came the surprise release of the erasure classic ' Oh l'amour ' , only this time remixed , and again it proved a big success .
to finalise the year , Mute records have released the compilation album ' Hits - the very best of Erasure ' . In the meantime andy and vince continue to work on new material.

~0~ comparison time ~0~

Back in 1992 mute records released ' Pop ! 20 hits ' , a compilation album containing erasures first 20 released singles , plus a bonus remix track of the first ever single release ' Who Needs Love (like that) ' .
' Hit's - the very best of ' was released a full eleven years later . However , it does overlap with ' Pop !' , in that contains twelve tracks that can be found on ' Pop !' .
The remainder of the album is made up of the ' Abbaesque ' tracks not included on ' Pop !' and selected releases from tracks after the release of ' Pop !' - one notable miss though is the highly acclaimed ' Rain ' .

The track listing is as follows ( * marked tracks can be found on ' Pop !' as well ) :

1) Oh l'amour *
2) Sometimes *
3) Victims of Love *
4) Ship of Fools *
5) Chains of Love *
6) A Little Respect *
7) Stop ! *
8) Blue Savannah *
9) Chorus *
10) Love To Hate You *
11) Breath of Life *
12) Lay All Your Love On Me *
13) Take a Chance on Me
14) Voulez Vous
15) Always
16) Stay With Me
17) In My Arms
18) Freedom
19) Solisbury Hill
20) Oh L'Amour ( August Mix - 2003 release )

Total Playing Time - 77 mins. 47 secs.

~0~ Value for Money ? ~0~

I think Mute have been very clever as to the timing of this release . If you discount the ' Oh L'Amour' remix , then 12/19 can be found on ' Pop !' , leaving just seven songs to make up the album . Many people will have ' Pop !' in their record collection , and will begrudge paying their hard earned money for an additional seven tracks . There were other single releases that could have replaced a few of the duplicated tracks .

In normal circumstances I would not contemplate buying this album , in particular because I already own ' Pop !' . However , Mute aware of this possible reaction , were also clever enough to release this album in two versions . The second version contains an additional CD with the Erasure MegaMix , and ironically it costs the same as the standard release .

~0~ The MegaMix ~0~

1) Stay With Me
2) You Surround Me
3) In My Arms
4) Soilisbury Hill
5) A Little Respect
6) Chains Of Love
7) Take A Chance On Me
8) Love To Hate You
9) Stop !
10) Victims Of Love
11) Blue Savannah
12) Always
13) Freedom
14) Corus
15) Oh L'Amour
16) Breath Of Life
17) Sometimes
18) Ship Of Fools

Total Playing Time : 73 mins. 49 secs.
Mastered and recontructed by Mark Jones

Take note of the above - the tracks are not a new mix , and they can be found on various obscure Erasure releases , eg ' Stop! ' can be found on 'Crackers International - CD 2 ' , which was released in America .
This means that Erasure fanatics may have come across the odd track .
As a rule , the editing / joining of tracks is pretty good , there are however a few ambiguous joins to say the least in particular 5/6 , 6/7 and 11/12
There is however enough of the remix fix to please any Erasure fan , especially the inclusion of classic remixes of ' Stay With Me ' , ' Stop! ' , ' Freedom ' and 'Oh L'Amour ' .

~0~ Release Details ~0~

Released October 2003

CDMutel 10 ( standard release )

LCDMtel 10 ( with bonus CD ) .

Cost : £ 9.99

Availability - most music outlets , although you may find it difficult to find the bonus CD edition , however this can be ordered from the Mute web site ( www.mute.com ) , at a cost of £9.35 + P&P + vat .

~0~ Final Thought ~0~

A bit of a con really , and only worth buying if you haven't got ' Pop ' or can find the bonus CD edition .
 

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