I have a massive obsession with the band Erasure. I can’t explain it but I have seen them over 50 times, travelling as far as New York and Moscow and have met them quite a few times now. I also made my wife who was six months pregnant stand in the front row at a gig last year and persuaded her to have an Erasure tribute band at our wedding. 17 top-ten singles, four numbe- one albums and a Brit award for best band, but I am still embarrassed to admit my love for them. To dilute it slightly I have picked five Vince Clarke songs (Vince is one half of Erasure with Andy Bell). I hugely admire Vince because he doesn’t care about publicity and still feels he hasn’t written the perfect pop song.
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Written by Vince when he was writing all of Depeche Mode’s songs. That catchy song which many of you probably know because it was covered by The Saturday’s. Now a favourite of my eight-month-old daughter.
Only You
Written by Vince when he was in Yazoo with Alison Moyet and performed live at Burberry’s last catwalk show and is on Kylie Minogue’s latest Christmas album. A beautiful song that stands the test of time.
Blue Savannah
I love this song because it was written in five minutes and it still won an Ivor Novello award. You need to see Andy Bell dance to this song to believe it. In fact you just need to see Andy Bell dance.
A Little Respect
Covered by Wheatus and chartered one place higher than the original which still irritates me. According to iTunes I have played this song over 3,000 times which is rather frightening.
Waiting For Sex
The only Erasure song to mention Sherlock Holmes, another embarrassing passion of mine.
Playlist by Jim Hawker, co-founder of PR agency Threepipe
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