Rather like the peeling wallpaper in the scarcely used parlour, ERASURE seem to have been around forever and this reviewer for one has largely been pretty indifferent to them. After all, however much respect I have for Vince Clarke's quiet pop nous, that dancing clown Andy Bell has always tried hard to undermine these songs. I've no problem with his campness, but for God's sake - the man used to wear shellsuits! How can he be allowed to live?
So, with all that in mind, it's a staggering statistic to discover that Erasure have notched up an incredible 28 straight Top 40 UK hits over the past (strewth) 17 years, not to mention selling over 14 million albums. Not bad for what this writer has always considered to be second division pop fare.
Yet, in all fairness, the suitably-endowed 20-track "Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure" shows - in its' exactly what it says on the tin fashion - that they can actually hold their own pretty reasonably in the Greatest Hits stakes. OK, there's little progression or anything that amounts to risk-taking, but at times there's no denying Clarke's excellence in supplying memorably catchy electro-pop tunes, as the likes of "Chain Of Love," the melancholy "Sometimes" or the Georgio Moroder-style thrum of the original "Oh! L'Amour" ably demonstrate.
Elsewhere, even the much-maligned Bell suggests he can belt it out with the best of them. He sounds convincingly gutsy and soulful on "Sometimes," and slower, satisfying concoctions such as "Ship Of Fools" and "You Surround Me" and really impresses during "Blue Savannah."
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His input is something of a double-edged sword, though, and at other times, such as when he overdoes the falsetto ("Victim Of Love" and the ridiculous "Stop!" which desperately wants to be "I Will Survive" - ho hum) he's difficult to take seriously. And, while they're an obvious gay disco staple, I've never really understood what Erasure thought they could add to Abba's "Take A Chance On Me". It still sounds as naffly anaemic as ever in these surroundings, and is hardly improved on by their redundant take of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill", which we're again forced to endure here.
Ultimately, "Hits!" certainly sparks intermittently and again reminds us of Vince Clarke's master touch with catchy synth-pop and his ability to sell it back to us for years to come. Whatever its' heights, though, it also sinks to depths of really wince-worthy depravity in places and struggles to stave off relegation in credibility terms. Not that either the fanbase or the boys' bank balances will suffer unduly, especially with this being timed to perfection in the all-important Christmas market. Cynical? Moi?
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