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The Circus Erasure's second cd hit the shelves in 1987 and for the most part it followed up on the same style that they pioneered with Wonderland. Well, not exactly. Erasure tried to be a little more artistic. The Circus is experimental in nature compared to Wonderland and like many experimental albums, it is a little hit and miss. Some of the things they decided to do were great ideas, some were a little off. In general, the cd is pretty good, it doesn't completely miss, at least. Where it doesn't do as good is where the lyrics turn preachy and take starring roles, pushing the music to the background. The first song, "It Doesn't Have to Be," is like that. It seems as if the music was written as an afterthought to the lyrics, which are pretty pretentious and cheesy, in my opinion. Not one of Erasure's best songs, for sure. However, they are quick to redeem themselves with "Hideaway," a poignant gay story. Being the sensitive, understanding guy that I am, I have little patience with persecution complexes, yet the sense of aloneness as his family cuts off the figure of the narrative is powerful, and the music is good enough to punctuate that feeling as well as provide a rollicking good listen. "Don't Dance" and "If I Could" come off a little bit preachy again, although the music is much stronger than with the first track. "Sexuality" is a darker dance-oriented track that shows Erasure has lost much of the innocence and naivete of Wonderland. The same thing goes with "Victim of Love," "Leave Me to Bleed," and "Sometimes" although the chorus on "Victim" makes it the weakest of that set. "Sometimes" is the best known track on the CD, probably, and deservedly so, since it highlights Erasure's ability to make a poppy dance song. "Circus" is an interesting song, with dark lyrics and an almost scary sounding carnival synthline. This is one of the best of Erasure's art songs. In general, Erasure isn't as good at those, but "Circus" definately works for me. The same holds true for "Spiralling" one of Erasure's more emotionally moving songs with a dark theme (the synthwork is characteristically light, though, of course.) The CD comes with three bonus tracks, none of which are particularly exciting. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is the instrumental synthpop arrangement of the classical piece. Interesting idea, but not really interesting to listen to. Also included are remixes of "Sometimes" and "It Doesn't Have to Be." Since I don't like the latter, the remix doesn't do much for me, and the former is a standard extended mix variety. If I had bought the CDs in sequential order, I don't know how I would have reacted to this one. In many ways Circus is more accomplished than its predecessor, but it also isn't as fun to listen to. Overall I don't like it as much, although some songs are certainly top notch.