Dean Winchester
11-25-2005, 03:41 PM
are there any fans of Andy Bell or Erasure here? For a spell in the late 80's to early 90's, these guys were one the biggest groups in Europe and they had a few American crossover hits as well. Probably best known in the US for 1988's "A Little Respect" and 1994's "Always". Their latter work was a little more downtempo and sales began to drop considerably. However, after four disapointing records, they released "Nightbird" this past January, following Andy's admission to being HIV+ and it turned out to be their best work in a decade, even if it was a mostly slow album, although the dance mix to "Breathe" gave them their first US #1 dance hit in over a decade.
Taking a break from Erasure, he has just released a great solo record (his first after 20 years with Erasure) called "Electric Blue". surprisingly the album isn't selling either in America (at least not to Erasure's recent standards) or Europe (where Erasure still sell well). Much like "Confessions On A Dancefloor" by Madonna is doing well because it really is a return to her old sound and is precisely exactly what long-term fans have been wanting to hear from her, same goes with "Electric Blue", those who love the old Erasure records will love this, it's all upbeat dance songs, this is the Erasure album that you've been wanting since they changed their sound in 1995. It really is a shame that "Crazy" is not setting the charts afire, it is definately one of the best singles out right now.
Granted, at this point in America, Andy is more or less an obscure artist from the 80's, but he gets kudos from me for putting out TWO great albums in 2005. If anything, you can tell finally putting that he is poz out in the open had opened the door to just be himself and start having fun making music again.
Taking a break from Erasure, he has just released a great solo record (his first after 20 years with Erasure) called "Electric Blue". surprisingly the album isn't selling either in America (at least not to Erasure's recent standards) or Europe (where Erasure still sell well). Much like "Confessions On A Dancefloor" by Madonna is doing well because it really is a return to her old sound and is precisely exactly what long-term fans have been wanting to hear from her, same goes with "Electric Blue", those who love the old Erasure records will love this, it's all upbeat dance songs, this is the Erasure album that you've been wanting since they changed their sound in 1995. It really is a shame that "Crazy" is not setting the charts afire, it is definately one of the best singles out right now.
Granted, at this point in America, Andy is more or less an obscure artist from the 80's, but he gets kudos from me for putting out TWO great albums in 2005. If anything, you can tell finally putting that he is poz out in the open had opened the door to just be himself and start having fun making music again.