A Little Respect by Erasure

In 1988 Erasure burst onto the mainstream airwaves of US radio with "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect." Of course, Erasure had been kicking around for some time already by then, but they hadn't made a splash on mainstream music in the US until then, so I, as usual, had to scramble to collect their back catalogue after I discovered them. Of course, in 1988 that wasn't very deep; it meant, basically, buying Wonderland, Circus, and the compilation/remix album Two Ring Circus. I also, of course, bought the current CD The Innocents as well as the CD single for "Chains of Love" and the 12" vinyl of "A Little Respect." which included a nice extended mix as well as the fabulous Big Train Mix. Erasure has an interesting pedigree, being Vince Clarke's longest running project by far, with a (now) 12 full length albums (not counting compilations, remix albums, and greatest hits affairs) and several EPs as well. Vince Clarke, of course, was the original genius behind Depeche Mode, writing almost all of the tracks on Speak and Spell and all of the singles that were released, including "Just Can't Get Enough." He then had significant success with Alison Moyet in Yaz (Yazoo) and even a hit as a temp project The Assembly.

The soulfull, warm sound of Andy's distinctive vocals and Clarke's distinctive instrumentation really make Erasure what they are. Clarke eventually even further refined his trademark sound in later releases (such as Chorus) to wring warmth and life out of even more artificial and synthetic sounds, which makes his touch instantly recognizeable. I've got a number of Vince Clarke remixes of other songs, and hoo boy can you instantly tell that it's Clarke's.