Thursday, March 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Music: Cover up

Erasure returns with Other People's Songs

By Mike Prevatt

One of the great artistic debates in popular music involves cover songs. Nearly every great artist, from the Beatles and Frank Sinatra to Bob Dylan and U2, has gotten his start reinterpreting others' material. But the reliance on a cover--especially one that adds nothing to or barely distinguishes itself from the original--can be the death knell of a performer (Vegas entertainers are apparently excepted here) and/or his integrity (see "American Idol" Kelly Clarkson). Then there's the complicated issue of the cover album, as there are visionary (Tori Amos' Strange Little Girls) and forgettable (Rage Against the Machine's Renegades) examples galore.

Erasure vocalist Andy Bell understands the lure and the potential trappings of playing songs not written by his band, now that it has two collections--1992's Abba-esque EP and the recently released Other People's Songs--that solely feature them, and a tour that's ultimately promoting them.

"When we did a fan club show in England, I felt a bit of a phony doing the covers, like, this is a real sellout," he says before a recent gig in New York. "And I spoke to people after the show, and they said the performances of the covers were better than our originals, so that put that to rest. And as time has gone, performances of, like, `Can't Help Falling in Love,' have really come together. Now they feel part of [our] repertoire."

No reason why they shouldn't--Erasure has been writing stellar pop songs since Bell joined keyboardist/programmer Vince Clarke in 1985. It took them only seven years to amass such an arsenal of catchy electronic pop songs that they were able to release an album, Pop, featuring 20 of their greatest hits--including the ubiquitous "Chains of Love," which propelled them into the top 40, and "Love to Hate You," which kept them relevant on alternative radio despite the new reign of grunge.

However, as soon as it started recording with different record labels in the mid-1990s, and synth-pop fell from favor with an audience following newer pop trends, Erasure wasn't selling as many records as it used to, nor was it easily landing radio play. A minor hit came with 1997's "In My Arms," but the band's 2000 album, Lifeboat, didn't even see an American release (Maverick, its label at the time, also went through personnel changes that didn't see the act as one of its major players any longer). For Other People's Songs, the act settled for the American arm of its European label.

"Our final option was we go with Mute America, which is a small label," says Bell. "We talked it over and that's what's happened. Otherwise, we might not have had another American release.

"You go through a period, you're on a treadmill after 10 years and [you think] the world owes you a favor, and you realize it doesn't. At the same time, we've always been down to earth, and we don't really like all the whooping and awards and red carpet treatment."

That doesn't mean Bell misses a quote opportunity, whether it be on stage in a thong or advising the new crop of musicians--such as Casey Spooner, vocalist for electroclash it-band Fischerspooner. "I loved how he asked, `Who do I have to blow to get on the cover of [British weekly] NME?'" he says. "I told him, `I've tried that before, and it doesn't work!'"