Vince's niece, Isabelle dressed as Charlie Chaplin for Halloween in New York City...
As mentioned in a recent EIS Newsletter, the EIS is releasing two albums for the fans, 'Buried Treasure II' and 'EIS Live'.
'Buried Treasure II' will feature a variety of demos and unreleased material from various Erasure albums; including several tracks from the original "Loveboat" studio sessions plus Andy Bell's audition recordings from 21 years ago. The track listing is published below, as well as a brief sample of one of the tracks.
'EIS Live' will featured unreleased live tracks from the Manchester "An Evening With Erasure" gig and a selection of songs from the Leicester EIS'04 convention.
- Who Needs Love Like That (Andy Bell's Audition)
- One Day (Andy Bell's Audition)
- Twilight (Unreleased - 'Chorus' Era)
- Tune 5 (Unreleased - 'Chorus' Era)
- Siren Song (Alternative Lyrics - 'Chorus')
- I Love Saturday (Early Demo - 'I Say I Say I Say')
- Miracle (Early Demo - 'I Say I Say I Say')
- All Through The Years (Early Demo - 'I Say I Say I Say')
- Reach Out (Alternative Lyrics - 'Cowboy')
- My Love (Unreleased - 'Cowboy' Era)
- Earth (Unreleased - 'Cowboy' Era)
- Perchance To Dream (Early Studio Sessions - 'Loveboat')
- Freedom (Early Studio Sessions - 'Loveboat')
- Heaven (Early Studio Sessions - 'Loveboat')
- Perchance To Dream (Alternative Lyrics - 'Loveboat') [windows | real media]
Further information, pricing, release date etc for these limited edition EIS CDs will be announced as soon as they are confirmed.
Erasure t-shirts are currently reduced in price by 50% from the EIS Shop. Get them while you can!
Of interest to fans of electro pop music and of Manhattan Clique (who have mixed several Erasure songs in the past, and worked with Andy Bell on the 'Electric Blue' album) is the new album "Robopop - The Return".
This is a brand new double CD compilation of UK electro pop talent, featuring established acts such as Goldfrapp, Tiga & The Knife, and showcasing emerging bands such as Matinee Club, Formatic & Dragonette.
Featuring a total of 34 tracks, CD1 features original versions, while CD2 is a continuous mix of remixes of the same tracks as CD1, mixed together by Virgin Records' DJs and remixers Manhattan Clique.
Most of the album features either brand new tracks or mixes/remixes exclusive to this compilation, totaling a whopping 140 minutes of music!
To celebrate this new release, there is an album launch party at "Too2Much" (London) on the Thursday 9th November. Playing live are the "la creme de la creme" of the electro pop scene: Matinee Club, SuperJupiter and Formatic plus very special guest to be announced. The DJs will be Manhattan Clique & Andy Galea aka DJ Bomba. Tickets available from eee-uk.net
Lucy McKenzie who created the artwork for the Union Street album, currently has an exhibition of her work on show at the Talbot Rice Gallery Edinburgh.
Talbot Rice presents the first major Scottish solo exhibition by Lucy McKenzie. McKenzie has gained an international reputation since leaving Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 1999, for her multi-disciplinary approach. Described as a 'cultural worker', McKenzie's practice encompasses wide ranging activities such as painting, drawing, performance, music and public art. The work on show at Talbot Rice will reveal the different facets of her artistic production.
Reflecting on a recent move from Glasgow to Brussels earlier this year McKenzie will display studies of Glasgow; a personal, psycho-geographical account of the city to be the basis of an artists book.
The upper gallery will be devoted to artworks originally produced as commissions; illustrations such as those for the Edinburgh periodical The One O'clock Gun, the album artwork for pop group Erasure, and various releases McKenzie has facilitated through her record label Decemberism.
Lucy McKenzie was born in Glasgow in 1977 and graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee. As well as exhibiting her own work, McKenzie has undertaken curatorial and collaborative projects as an intrinsic part of her practice, including record label Decemberism, a group show titled The Best Book About Pessimism I Ever Read at the Kunstverein Braunschweig in 2002, and Nova Popularna, a temporary salon and performance space in Warsaw, Poland, 2003 with Paulina Olowska. Recent exhibitions include Deathwatch, Vanabbe Museum, Eindhoven, Bi-Curious, Cabinet, London in 2004, and SMERSH, Metro Pictures, New York in 2005, as well as her Round Room installation here at Talbot Rice with Lucile Desamory and Birgit Megerle.
McKenzie currently lives and works in Brussels.
You may recall from various interviews with Andy Bell in recent years that his partner and manager Paul Hickey has written an autobiography, "Happiness Is The Best Facelift".
The book gives a powerful insight into how his and Andy's lives together changed with the phenomenal success of Erasure, and paints a vivid picture of what it was like for Paul to suffer a stroke and to be struck down in the prime of life. One learns from the book that it is never too late to start doing the right thing, and that it is always worth putting up a fight, even when all the cards seem to be stacked against you...
Paul has set up a presence on myspace.com, where one can read a detailed synopsis of his book plus a breakdown of the first two chapters in his blog.
Now this is where your help would be appreciated. Basically we need to demonstrate with hard figures the demand for the book to potential publishers. So it would be of a great assistance if you could leave feedback / comments via Paul's myspace blog of what you think about what you have read and if it is a publication that would interest you.
One will be required to request becoming a friend in order to read the blog (all requests will be approved), again this is in order to demonstrate (to a certain extent) the interest. Because of this, please do not republish the synopsis on other websites / blogs / forums etc.
There are some fantastic savings to be had in Mute Bank's new Erasure sale including the 2CD version of Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure for just £6.99; which includes a bonus full length mega-mix CD, a one off opportunity to buy the fantastic Erasure Single Boxsets 3 and 4 for only £10.99 each, plus double DVD's reduced to only £6.99 each.
Best Of Compilations From Only £5.99 (saving up to £6.00)
- Erasure "Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure" 2 CD Edition (LCDMUTEL10) £6.99 (£6.00 off)
- Erasure "Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure" (CDMUTEL10) £5.99 (£5.00 off)
- Yazoo "Only Yazoo - The Best Of" (CDMUTEL6) £5.99 (£5.00 off)
Singles Boxsets Now Only £10.99 each (saving £8.00) Strictly Limited Stock
- Erasure "Singles Boxset 3" (EBX3) 43 tracks on 5 CD singles - Stop! / Drama! / You Surround Me / Blue Savannah / Star
- Erasure "Singles Boxset 4" (EBX4) 38 tracks on 5 CD singles - Chorus / Love To Hate You / Am I Right? / Breath Of Life / Abba-esque
Double DVDs Now Only £6.99 (saving up to £8.00)
- Erasure "Hits! The Videos" (DVDMUTEL10) All the videos from Who Needs Love Like That to Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) and more.
- Erasure "The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon Live!"(ERASDVD2) Includes a free original bingo card as used during the intermission on the tour
Live Here Now - Deluxe Limited Edition Double CDs
Also now available through Mute Bank are the Live Here Now limited edition double Live CD's from the Erasure Show and Acoustic Tour. Each comes in deluxe packaging and is limited to only 1000 copies worldwide.
Erasure "Acoustic Live" (19th April 2006) London Shepherds Bush Empire £15.00
The show at Shepherds Bush Empire was the only one to be recorded during the memorable sell out 'Acoustic Tour' and includes upbeat foot-stompin versions of 'Victim Of Love', 'Blue Savannah', 'Sometimes', 'Love To Hate You', 'Stop' and 'A Little Respect' plus tracks from the acoustic album 'Union Street'.
Erasure "The Erasure Show" (various shows) £12.00
Erasure played 61 shows on their 'Erasure Show' tour including a record breaking 10 nights sold out at the Irving Plaza in New York.
Anybody who was lucky enough to see Erasure on this tour will never forget the electric atmosphere and sheer energy on stage which is captured on each of these very special live recordings.
Available shows: Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Preston, Portsmouth, Bristol, Wolverhampton, Norwich, Cardiff, Hull, Berlin, Hamburg, Koln
Although no exact release date had been announced by Mute for the forthcoming Erasure "On The Road To Nashville" live DVD, the original plan was for it to be released late this year in time for Christmas.
Unfortunately due to various circumstances, we are now looking at early next year for the DVD to be released.
Additional fan mixes from Carlos Chimeo, Pete Cripps, Pablo Duran and Mark Towns have been uploaded. New mixes are listed in bold.
Gareth Jones (producer of the new Erasure album) has started an online diary of what Andy, Vince and himself are getting up to in the US with the new Erasure album.
Keep an eye on it for the latest info.
Jill Walsh (who featured on the Erasure single "Breathe" and has recently toured with them on their Acoustic Tour) has released her debut CD "Jill Walsh".
The album is available via cdbaby.com, iTunes (UK), iTunes (US) and iTunes (DE).
One can listen to a selection of tracks from the album at jillwalsh.com and myspace.com.
Jill Walsh is from Portland, Oregon and is currently living in Nashville, TN. She moved to Nashville in 2005 after living in NYC as a successful performing singer/songwriter.
Jill is a modern songwriter with a gift for beautiful melodies and a voice as pure as the Pacific Northwest. Her lyrics draw listeners in and lend a sense of comfort. Backed by some of New York's and Nashville's finest musicians, Jill brings a sense of musicianship and integrity that is sometimes missing in today's music.
A musician since the age of four, Jill has shared the stage and studio with Shawn Colvin, Jessica Simpson and she is featured on the UK top 5 single "Breathe", which is from the album "Nightbird" by Erasure. The album was produced by Steve Walsh who's credits include productions with Erasure, Fil Izler, and Amy Atchley. The record was mixed in Nashville by Jason Lehning (Guster, Allison Krauss).
Jill was also involved in Erasure's latest album, "Union Street", where she is featured in a vocal only 're-arrangement' of the song "Rock Me Gently". She recently completed a tour with Erasure for their "Union Street" album where she sang backup vocals, played autoharp (a la The Carter Family), penny whistle, and melodica. She says, "the best experience of the tour was getting to play in Nashville at the revered Ryman. There's so much history there that you can just feel it seeping into you as you play."
Her debut CD "Jill Walsh" was mixed in Nashville by Jason Lehning (Guster, Allison Krauss).
The final song on her CD, "Small Place", is a devastating ballad which is about her father, who died of AIDS. This song frequently moves people in Jill's live shows as well as in this cinematic setting. The tongue-in-cheek "Big Man" is an ode to men of all 'sizes'. The haunting "Falling Into You" stays with you long after it's over. And "Fearless" is featured in the film "The Deal", staring Christian Slater and Selma Blair.
Tuck these songs into your pocket and let them comfort, humor, and move you.
Mute Bank have copies of the new French Import 'Crier la vie' (Slipping Away).
It is released on a 2 track and 4 track Maxi CD single and features vocals by the huge French pop star Mylène Farmer, plus a new mix by Manhattan Clique on the 4 track Maxi CD (who worked with Andy Bell on his solo album and have produced several Erasure mixes).
The CD may be purchased online here.
Tickets are now on sale for The Food Chain's first theatre benefit, which is to be held on the 2nd December 2006 in London.
A night of unique duets, the evening will feature, amongst others Jimmy Somerville, Heather Small, Julian Clary, Andy Bell, Fran Healy and Jonathan Harvey.
Tickets are £20 and £50.
The venue is The Mermaid Theatre in Puddle Dock and there is full disabled access.
Doors open at 7 and the performance starts at 8pm.
There are even rumours of a very special after the show party so bring a little cash and a lot of stamina; it is going to be a great night.
To book call the barbican on 020 7638 8891
For further information visit Foodchain.org and Barbican.org.