Erasure "Erasure" Promo Postcard October 1995

Oh dear. Erasure exit their "Imperial Phase" and enter the "difficult mid career dip". It's never good when a band who have been going for a while release an album with the same name as the band. It's either a lack of new ideas, or "this is the real us" and what follows is an album of self indulgent turgid toss. Erasure fell somewhere inbetween with this eponymously titled release, complete with odd cover painted portrait. The dance floor stompers of the past were mostly absent, apart from the sublime "Fingers and Thumbs", replaced with thoughtful ballads and slowies like "Sono Luminous" and the lead single "Stay With Me". Most tracks clocked in over 5 minutes and Vince has long passages of synth noodling throughout. It's probably a fan fave but didn't really grab me. Like Pet Shop Boys' "Release" album, "Erasure" was probably an album they had to get out of their system, and if it had sold in great quantities we would have had more of the same, but it didn't, so it was back to the stompers, albeit with less commercial success than before.

Erasure "Cowboy" Promo Postcard 2000

Erasure's new album! Hurrah! Err.. hello? Anybody there? Nope, the general public had fallen out with Erasure by 2000 and were selling to the fan-base only. The days of instant top ten hits seemed well and truly over. It's not surprising really, as "Loveboat" was the third average album in a row after "Erasure" and "Cowboy". And just look at the cover. Awful. The lead single "Freedom" was okay, and made a dint in the top 30 by reaching 27, but it seemed Vince and Andy were doomed to get left in the 20th Century.

Fortunately, after a few years off, Erasure's fortunes were revived in 2003 with a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", and the second chapter of their career began in earnest, becoming more successful as a top live act than selling albums and singles.