4.52am Issue: 068 The Erasure Edition 25th January 2018

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T
his week we couldn’t resist celebrating
one of the ‘80s finest bands as they
continue to defy the norm and continue to
be a creative band that continues to try
something you could never call safe.
From there we have Those lovely Eggs who have
a new album and continue to be amazing.
And as we went to ‘Press’ I heard that Mark E
Smith has passed on. I don’t think legend begins
to cover it.
All at 4.52am

Contents
Learn To Play: Peter Green ...................................................... 9
Erasure ................................................................................. 13
The Lovely Eggs ..................................................................... 23
La Contessa Presents… .......................................................... 35
1960s: Love Affair ................................................................. 37
1970s: Genesis ...................................................................... 39
1980s: Fine Young Cannibals ................................................. 41
1990s: McAlmont & Butler .................................................... 43
2000s: The Sugarbabes .......................................................... 45
2010s: Vance Joy ................................................................... 47

Learn To Play:
Peter Green
O
ne of my favourite guitarists ever is Peter Green, back
when Fleetwood Mac were a blues band and slinging a
’59 Les Paul around your neck the height of cool. Never
mind that, ‘Black Magic Woman’ is probably the reason I picked
a guitar up in the first place.
This week we decided to stretch the lesson part and focus on
just one player, so there are a variety of videos at different
levels, so hopefully something for everybody.

Erasure
I
f one band has managed to stay relevant despite the passing
of time, it has to be Erasure, who recently accepted the Icon
Award at Attitude’s 2017 award ceremony, have released a
staggering number of albums, including 5 UK Number 1s, and 35
UK Top 40 singles.
Not content to mine their reputation and history like many of
their contemporaries, Erasure last year released the rather
wonderful ‘World Be Gone’ which went to Number 6 in the UK
Official Albums Chart, giving the enduring BRIT and Ivor Novello
winning pop duo their highest album chart position since 1994’s
‘I Say I Say I Say.’
How they can do this is the really interesting question and it is an
old-fashioned answer – they write and have always written
classic songs. Songs that can be interpreted in many ways – they
made Wheatus seem cool when they covered ‘A Little Respect’
for instance, and it is this core quality and a willingness to
experiment that has aided their longevity.

Following their own path as ever, Bell and Clarke have
announced a collaboration with Echo Collective, the Brussels
based collective of post-classical musicians best known for their
ongoing collaborative work with A Winged Victory for the Sullen,
Johann Johannsson, Dustin O’Halloran and Stars of the Lid.
The collaboration sees the entirety of Erasure’s latest album,
World Be Gone, given a post-classical rework. World Beyond was
recorded over ten days by Andy Bell and seven performers from
the Echo Collective: Margaret Hermant (violin, harp), Neil Leiter
(viola), Thomas Engelen (cello), Jaroslaw Mroz (double bass),
Gary De Cart (piano) and Antoine Dandoy (vibraphone,
glockenspiel).
The album was produced by Echo Collective, mixed by Gareth
Jones and arranged by the Echo Collective’s Gary De Cart,
Margaret Hermant and Neil Leiter. Neil Leiter from the Echo
Collective explains, “The process of this project was really
deconstruction and re-purposing. We started by listening to each
track layer by layer, and then, using the layers that inspired us or
we found essential, we reconstructed the tracks instrumentally.
Each of the instruments in the band setup were chosen for their
inherent capacities and roles. Often choosing which layer to put
with each instrument was a question of matching roles and
colours. By stripping so much away, we were able to find a new
space for Andy to fill. The text of the songs became much more
important in the overall construction of the songs, and Andy was
free to explore more dynamics and vocal range.”
The tracks featured on World Beyond show award-winning
songwriters Vince Clarke and Andy Bell in a more reflective
mood, giving the world and recent political upheavals a
thoughtful examination. This new collaboration gives a new
dimension to the tracks - including fan-favourites ‘Still It’s Not

Over’, which tackles the LGBT rights movement post-Stonewall,
and ‘Lousy Some Of Nothing’, a ballad for our post-truth age -
but the band’s optimism about the future remains clear and
bright. Andy Bell explains: “…the reinterpretations have brought
such enormous context to the songs, it has created a new place
for them.”
The original idea for the album developed from Vince Clarke,
who initially suggested that a single from World Be Gone could
be given an orchestral reinterpretation, but as the idea
expanded and took shape, he spoke at length to the Echo
Collective ahead of the recording. “It was great to talk through
ideas with Echo Collective and then see how their arrangements
took shape. The collaboration has given elements of the album a
whole new feel and Andy's vocals remain as powerful and
uplifting as ever” says Clarke.
The collaboration is a natural progression from 1987’s The Two
Ring Circus, a companion EP for the band’s second album, The
Circus, which included several orchestral interpretations.
Watch this short film, introducing the players, filmed during the
recording sessions at Jet Studio in Brussels.
Find out more Here
Pre-order the album Here

The Lovely Eggs
B
rilliant news for lovers of psycho pop as only the Lovely
Eggs can whip up, is that not only does February see the
release of their new album, ‘This is Eggland’ but also sees
them off on their travels on a UK tour.
To celebrate the news, they have shared the second single from
the album which is many kinds of wonderful, ‘Wiggy Giggy.’
Speaking about the track, guitarist/vocalist Holly Ross said,
“It is inspired by a book we used to read to our son, about a
spaceman who went off exploring other planets but every planet
he went to, there was something inhospitable or wrong with it
and when he landed back on planet Earth he realised that after
all his cosmic travels that earth was the best place for him to
live. It was pretty deep and we really identified with it. We feel
the same about Lancaster where we live. It might be a shithole,
but it's OUR shithole and we love it. Not much goes on up here
and there's not much to do so it's kind of like living in space. But
we like being cosmonauts!”

The tour is already selling out, so if they are in your
neighbourhood it may be worth booking soon:
Tour Dates:
Thurs 8 Feb - The Yorkshire House, Lancaster (Sold Out)
Fri 9 Feb - The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Sat 10 Feb - The Cluny, Newcastle
Sun 11 Feb - The Mash House, Edinburgh
Mon 12 Feb - Stereo, Glasgow
Tue 13 Feb - The Adelphi, Hull
Wed 14 Feb - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
Thur 15 Feb - The Cellar, Oxford
Fri 16 - Feb The 100 Club, London (Sold Out)
Sat 17 - Band on the Wall, Manchester (Sold Out)
The Lovely Eggs are one of the most unique, innovative and
genuine bands on the British Underground music scene. Heavier
and more in-your-face than anything they’ve done previously,
married couple Holly Ross and David Blackwell bring together a
fierce DIY ethos, surreal sense of humour and kitchen-sink
realism. Working with a producer for the first time, Dave
Fridmann lends his magic dust to bring out the best of The
Lovely Eggs’ explosive blend of motoric krautrock, 60s
psychedelia and punk rock attitude, all flipped over and egged
up.
Being in Lancaster has given them a unique perspective on life
and the album wouldn’t have sounded the same if they were

living anywhere else. As Holly explains; “Living up here in
Lancaster is kind of mad. It's a bit like the Twin Peaks of Great
Britain.” The town has a rich history of the witchcraft,
notoriously it was where the Pendle witches were hanged. Even
today lunatic asylums are being turned into luxury flats and men
are being put in prison for feeding ready meals to pigeons.
The Lovely Eggs have been selling out venues across the country
without the help of management, booking agent or record label
support. With a fierce D.I.Y ethos they have earned a reputation
for their ferocious and joyous live shows and for Holly and David,
being in a band is a way of life.
Wiggy Giggy is the second single to be taken from their
forthcoming album This Is Eggland - the title being a cheeky nod
to Shane Meadows’ series, This Is England. But in a fucked up
post-Brexit Britain, which has left many people feeling like they
are living on an alien planet, David and Holly have assumed the
throne in a new parallel universe-Eggland-a world which flies the
flag for outsiders and encourages people to say a big fuck you to
society's conventions.
Since having their son in 2013, the pair have taken him on tour
with them, racing round the UK with two fingers up to traditional
family life firmly out of the window.
The album was self-recorded at Lancaster Musician's Co-op (a
non profit making recording studio and rehearsal rooms, where
the pair met and David works) and the Eggs’ own house in
Lancaster, while their three-year-old son was in bed. Dave
Fridmann then produced it remotely with the band sending
demos and working progress back and forth. They then went out
to Dave's Studio, Tarbox Road Studios in New York State, for the
mixing process.

Heavier and more in-your-face than anything they’ve done
previously, the result is a gratifyingly rich sounding record, which
still retains the raw energy of the band’s sound but harnesses a
real power and dynamism. As Holly says: “It's pretty relentless. It
kind of sounds like a chip shop on fire. We still write about
everyday life and the stuff that goes on in our world, it's just the
new album is more fierce and really tells it like it is.”
This Is Eggland is a giant leap forward in their wild-ride of a
career. Unashamed to be themselves and have fun while they’re
at it, The Lovely Eggs weave an intoxicatingly magnetic magic
spell and we’re helplessly and willingly falling under it. This is
Eggland! Welcome to their world!
You can pre-order the album Here
www.thelovelyeggs.co.uk
www.twitter.com/thelovelyeggs
www.facebook.com/thelovelyeggs
www.instagram.com/thelovelyeggs

La Contessa Presents…
A
S the weeks are moving on, I really don’t understand how
La contessa keeps finding such fine selection for your
delectation, but she has definitely turned-up some
special tunes this week, including,
• Love Affair
• Genesis
• Fine Young Cannibals
• McAlmont & Butler
• The Sugarbabes &
• Vance Joy
You can’t say fairer than that
Enjoy!

1960s: Love Affair

1970s: Genesis

1980s: Fine Young
Cannibals

1990s: McAlmont &
Butler

2000s: The
Sugarbabes

2010s: Vance Joy