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Sometimes it works. Many of the early songs on the cd are really good, but the cd as a whole is a letdown after Chorus because it's not as consistently good. In particular, the cd starts to get really boring towards the end with songs that are uninspired and somewhat lifeless. The first track, "Take Me Back" sets the mood, a mid-tempo narrative full of illusions about rivers, lakes and fields of flowers with a touch of yearning ("Have you ever yearned?" - Cosmo Kramer) to belong to such a place. The cd gets even stronger with "I Love Saturday," a typical Erasure happy song. The only jarring imagery (to me at least) was when Andy sings about his lover rescuing him like a knight in shining armor. Not really an image I wanted to have in my head! It's still a really good song in the same vein as "Oh L'Amour" or "A Little Respect." "The Man in the Moon" isn't nearly as interesting to me, mostly because I don't like the chorus, I guess. Vince Clark was always known for writing catchy tunes, and this one just isn't; it doesn't seem like a natural song that is easy to keep in your mind. "So The Story Goes" is dark (well, for Erasure at least)and continues the fantasy theme. A more contemporary song, in term of lyrics, at least, is "Run to the Sun" with a very frenetic dance beat. Good stuff. Also excellent is the mid-tempo "Always" with inspiring lyrics and beautiful sounds. "All Through the Years" is disappointing to me. Again, it's not actually bad, but it does sound tired, and the melody isn't very catchy here, either. It's ultimately quite forgetable. One I'd like to forget is "Blues Away," a ballad with Andy singing everything except the chorus in a very falsetto voice. The lyrics are unforgiveably cheesy, and this is not at all on par with excellent Erasure ballads of the past like "When I Needed You." "Miracle" sounds like it's trying to be like "Home" of Chorus if the song structure is any guide, but it's not nearly as interesting as that song was. Again, not a bad song, but not one that you just want to keep repeating either. The cd finishes up with "Because You're So Sweet" that has a very nice synth intro and very, well, sweet, lyrics. Like the previous track, there's really nothing wrong with it, and it's even pretty good, but it just doesn't quite satisfy either.
For some reason I can't quite identify this cd came across as slightly boring compared to earlier works, especially Chorus which was so similar to it in many ways. Perhaps it was the theme; it was a bit sappier than anything Erasure had done previously while Chorus had a little bit of an edge with songs like "Love to Hate You" and others. It's certainly not a bad album, but somehow many of the songs bore me, even though I haven't heard this nearly as often as I have Wonderland, for instance, which I've had for much longer.
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