Vince Clarke and Andy Bell have been making beautiful music together for over a quarter-century. Those of you who only know the handful of Erasure songs that hit the pop top 40 have missed out on some of the best electronic music to emerge during this time period. Clarke is a master on the synthesizers, and Andy Bell is a fantastic vocalist (his two solo albums are also pretty decent. If you see either of them somewhere, snap ’em up.) […]
Posts tagged "Andy Bell"
Spin Cycle: Erasure’s “Tomorrow’s World”
To dismiss Erasure as mere “synthpop pioneers” seems like it’d be erroneous; it’s true, the duo of Vince Clark and Andy Bell built a career from the ground up, dolling up their sound with more canned drumbeats and squelching keyboards than you could shake a Yaz at. But any pop connoisseur knows the real deal: peel away the layers, and what remained under that distinctly-80’s veneer were, simply, a series of excellent pop songs. Melodically, next to nothing can compete with […]
New Release Report 6/8/10: Christina Aguilera-Bionic Woman
Looks like things are starting to heat up again on the new release front, with albums out from a variety of current and former superstar artists. First on the list is Christina Aguilera with her fifth English-language studio, non-holiday album. “Bionic” is the title, and if you’re an Xtina fan, you probably don’t need me to tell you about the album’s direction. After all, she’s been talking about it ever since she debuted “Keeps Gettin’ Better” on the VMAs two […]
The Disco 100 #40-#31: No Stoppin'!
In case ya missed ’em, here’s the previous ten songs in the countdown . So, we’re hitting the sweet spot-we’re in the Top 40. One thing I notice as I’m looking back on these songs is that it kinda sucks that I was a little kid when these records came out. I never got to experience Studio 54 or The Paradise Garage. Not that I would have been a huge clubgoer-that scene just never really did a lot for me. But I think things were different […]