Erasure - Wild! (Anniversary Celebration)

UK release date: October 16th 1989
UK album chart peak: #1
US album chart peak: #57

Buy Wild! here (Amazon GB)
Read my #Wild30 singles project here
Read my Erasure anniversary posts here

By the time 1989 rolled around, Erasure were firmly on the map as one of the top pop acts in the UK (and with considerable global success under their belts too). It followed on from the huge critical and public adoration for their The Innocents album (as well as much beloved Crackers International EP) and their next album release Wild remains a favourite for many (including me) to this very day. When I rushed down to the shops to buy it, 15 year old me was convinced that they had not only matched the brilliance of The Innocents but possibly surpassed it in creating one of the most fully realised albums of their career. The public seemed to agree - it debuted on top of the UK album charts (becoming their second of four consecutive number one albums) and has sold almost a million copies in this country alone. 25 years later it definitely stands the test of time - the arrangements are complex and innovative, while Andy Bell is a vocal tour de force (indeed, the same could be said of their latest collection of songs The Violet Flame - see review above). Here's why you should be revisiting the album now - or, if new to you, seeking it out for your guaranteed to be thrilling first listen...

The album campaign kicked off with one of their most daring and opulent singles to date - Drama. It was a stunning piece of music that set the tone for Wild! quite magnificently. Starting off with a subtle keyboard riff and a subdued vocal from Andy, it soon builds into a cabaret inspired musical courtroom drama that incorporates elements of dance, pop, theatre and anthemic refrains. Those shouts of "GUILTY!" (by The Jesus and Mary Chain?) are sheer invigoration and galvanisation - never has berating someone for being so deliciously over the top and self involved sounded so bloody gleeful and contagious. It quite rightly became another top five hit for them and solidified their place in the history books as a dynamic pop duo to be reckoned with. This was followed by "Christmas" single You Surround Me - one of my favourite Erasure songs of all time. A compelling, mellifluous love song, it's down tempo rhythm and repetitive synthesized keyboard worked it's way into my heart almost as much as Andy's lower registers vocals which sent chills down my spine. That opening lyric of "Don't ever let me take you for granted/you've got your finger on the pulse of my soul" meant more to me over the years than a million cookie cutter love songs, the sheer poetry and passion of it's delivery lingering firmly across the traverses of time and experience. While many note it should have been a bigger hit (it peaked at fifteen), it did actually spend nine weeks on the charts - quite the accomplishment for a track from a still high selling album (and of course Christmas is a ridiculously competitive time to release a single in any era in the UK)...

Blue Savannah was up next and became one of Erasure's most successful singles - and enduring hits. While I still lapped it up, I wasn't entirely sold on it being a single (although that's an opinion that's changed over the years and I've become particularly fond of the tune). Lyrically, it actually felt like it continued the narrative of the previous single (conversely, it's placed before You Surround Me on the album yet still works as a twofer love story) with dreamy lyrics that had me wishing and longing that I would feel comfortable & safe enough to declare my romantic intentions to the boy of my dreams. Some of the remixes for this song (more in general on that later) are absolutely phenomenal - the rare Shep Pettibone Out Of The Blue mix is a particular corker, while the William Orbit tinkering takes the song to intriguing and alluring new places that sound fresh and contemporary two and a half decades on. The run of singles concluded with the cantering exuberance of Star. It was remixed somewhat for the single release, accentuating the guitar elements and highlighting more forcibly those incredible backing vocals. It contained a healthy injection of vibrant Latin rhythms and an effusive refrain that lingered in the synapses long after the song had finished. It became their fourth top twenty hit from the album (bringing their total of consecutive top twenty smashes to a whopping twelve) - an accomplishment that would only matched by their 1991 album Chorus.

Placing these singles in the context of the album and you'll find that Wild! has one of the most perfectly sequenced track listings of any album. The elegant and elegiac instrumental of Piano Song opens the album with one of the most stirring overtures that you could hope for (and again, a bold choice to start the album with - one that also provides excellent symmetry as the glorious full version completes the opus too). It may have been a big surprise for fans of the duo that the music lacked any synthesizers yet if flows beautifully into the next track (Blue Savannah - whose thunder rolls at the conclusion of that song segue perfectly into the opulent Drama). Other highlights include the sorrowful lament of How Many Times which felt as much of a companion piece (musically) to You Surround Me as the ebullient La Gloria did to Star. The sing a long style of Brother and Sister masks a more cogent narrative (and is the song I was pining for to be a single at the time Blue Savannah was released). Similarly 2000 Miles is musically rosy and sanguine yet has some pith and vinegar to those lyrics that you could almost miss if not paying attention. Crown of Thorns remains a complex novel set to music and completes the seamless flow into the rebirth of Piano Song as you journey from hopeful and optimistic beginning to the sad and lonely ending. Not exactly a themed album but structured better than most tv dramas - making it endlessly rewarding and reflective of your own life experiences...

Sidebar - I remember having a discussion with a friend who was adamant that a number one album was more important than a number one single, the argument being that an album costs more and ergo is reflective of how many people are buying a body of work rather than the impulsive fast nature of the singles market. This may be true in some cases but in the 80s as much as today (see their Lexer shop for a glittering array of collectibles) Erasure knew how to offer their fans more. All four single releases came with cd singles/12"s as well as limited edition versions of these - and all featured brand new b-sides as well as ingenious remixes. One could not only make a full album of alternative versions of the Wild! singles (and in many cases, the b-sides as well) but an additional disc of new material that didn't feature on the albums - here are my probably-not-exhaustive suggestions for a 2 disc Wild! re-release...
Disc One - 1989 original album tracklisting & b-sides (Sweet Sweet Baby / Paradise / 91 Steps / Supernature / Runaround On The Underground / No G.D.M / Dreamlike State / Looking Glass Sea (from Dick Tracey) / Too Darn Hot (from Red Hot and Blue))
Disc Two (remixes) - Drama (Act 2) / Sweet Sweet Baby (Moo Moo Mix) / Paradise (Lost and Found Mix) / You Surround Me (Remix) / Supernature (William Orbit Mix) / 91 Steps (6 Pianos Mix) / Blue Savannah (Out Of The Blue Mix) / Runaround On The Underground (12" Mix) / No G.D.M (Zeus B Held Mix) / Star (Interstellar Mix) / Dreamlike State (24 Hr Technicolour Mix)