4 keepers
keeper avg .363
If you fall into Gen X you know the English duo's two dance-chart hits "Don't Go"**** and "Situation"***** (the "move out" song). Both Alison Moyet's distinctively soulful vocals and Vince Clarke's (after one album with Depeche Mode and before forming Erasure) cool synth hooks forcefully grab attention and helped bring Kraftwerk electronica into dance and mainstream pop. "Goodbye 70's" (the "fashion war" song, complete with "platoon grunts") and the less-noteworthy "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)", both of which borrow some vibe from Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff," are also in a dance-pop vein, while "Too Pieces" and "Bad Connection" (based on a simple blues shuffle progression), are similar, just less dance-y.
In the remaining dark corners things get interesting, sometimes more sinister. "In My Room"**** pits Moyet's slap-back reverb-ed vocal against minimal synth pulses that get steadier in the choruses to prepare Moyet to succumb to the maddening isolation where "The walls are white and in the night, The room is lit by electric light" (the last words punctuated by a demonic background vocal and glass breaking). In contrast to Clarke's programmed synths, Moyet plays classical piano in the dark torch ballad "Winter Kills"****, singing "Tear at me searching for weaker seams," softly accusing "Pain in your eyes makes me cruel," and snapping in a chilling whisper "Makes me spiteful." Things also get dodgy in the dark corners, where "I Before E Except After C" is an unnecessary sound collage of readings from an equipment manual. But being an important link between electronic krautrock and 90's synth pop, the album is a worthwhile listen.
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