Quantcast

Call for Feature Essays About Any Aspect of Popular Culture, Present or Past

Music
cover art

Erasure

Storm Chaser

(Mute; US: 2 Oct 2007; UK: 24 Sep 2007)

Back in the old days, they used to call this a Maxi Single. Here you have a radio mix of Erasure’s latest single, “Storm in a Teacup”, along with a smattering of remixes, b-sides, and remixed b-sides. There are even a couple “Extended Mixes”. When was the last time you saw that term? Vince Clarke is back to making spunky, catchy, cheesy, slightly house-inspired synth pop, while Andy Bell still belts a good chorus. Bell’s voice has become more operatic, which isn’t necessarily for the better, but otherwise any of this material could have been released any time in the last 15 years. If you’re a fan of Erasure albums like Chorus, that’s good. “Storm in a Teacup”, is actually one of Erasure’s better ones of the last decade. It’s danceable, slightly dramatic, and a bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s even topical, addressing Bell’s alcoholic mother. The one brand new track, “Early Bird”, features a nearly unrecognizable Cyndi Lauper, and might just be the most soulful electro-diva pairing since Heaven 17’s “Temptation”.  The rest is nothing surprising, but not exactly disappointing, either. Long live the Maxi Single!

Rating:

John Bergstrom has been writing various reviews and features for PopMatters since 2004. He has been a music fanatic at least since he and a couple friends put together The Rock Group Dictionary in third grade (although he now admits that giving Pat Benatar the title of "first good female rocker" was probably a mistake). He has done freelance writing for Trouser Pressonline, Milwaukee's Shepherd Express, and the late Milk magazine and website. He currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and two kids, both of whom are very good dancers.


Tagged as: cyndi lauper | erasure
Media
Erasure - Storm in a Teacup
Related Articles
13 Oct 2011
Club-thumping forefathers continue to sound pretty good, talk a bunch of nonsense.
By PopMatters Staff
29 Sep 2011
Synthpop legends Erasure return this fall with a new album, Tomorrow's World, releasing 3 October in the UK and 10 October in the US.
21 May 2007
Any new album from Erasure is a good thing, but Clarke and Bell's newest offering will leave you feeling their hearts weren't really in this one.
By PopMatters Staff
4 Jan 2006
Capturing the Nightbird tour for posterity, Erasure treats their fans to the expected elaborate games of dress up. Oh yeah, and some great music, too.
Comments
Now on PopMatters
A Painting Come to Life: 'The Mill & the Cross' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
A Far Too Safe... and Strained... 'House' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 9:00 am]
'Safe House' Is Ersatz Edgy (Reviews) [Fri, 8:06 am]
The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 7:50 am]
  1. 'Nebraska': Bruce Springsteen's 'Heart of Darkness' (Columns)
  2. The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
  3. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 1: From 13Ghosts to Friendly Fires (Features)
  4. The Best Games of 2011 (Features)
  5. Not-So-Central Casting: Kevin Smith and the Birth of the Reality Podcast (Features)
  6. The 10 Greatest Movie Spies Ever (Short Ends and Leader)
  7. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 2: From the Go! Team to the Phoenix Foundation (Features)
  8. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 3: From Real Estate to Youth Lagoon (Features)
  9. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Reviews)
  10. The Top 15 Madonna Singles of All Time (Sound Affects)
  11. Get Off of My Cloud!: 'Collecting' Music in the Digital Age (Features)
  12. Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas (Reviews)
  13. Google and the Production of Curiosity (Marginal Utility)
  14. Carole E. Barrowman’s Authorial Journey to Hollow Earth (Features)
  15. “Don’t Let Me Fall”: Hip-Hop in the Age of Austerity (Features)
  16. Tower Songs: Townes Van Zandt (Columns)
  17. Black Bananas: Rad Times Xpress IV (Reviews)
  18. Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom (Reviews)
  19. The Gay Ole Countryside (Columns)
  20. Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Reviews)
  21. Counterbalance No. 67: John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' (Sound Affects)
  22. Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro: A Rock Star’s Midlife Crisis or Valid Literature? (Features)
  23. A Look to the Past, An Insight Into the Present: The Use of Gender in 'Mad Men' (Features)
  24. The 10 Best John Coltrane Solos (Sound Affects)
  25. A Tale of How Great Journalism Became Revisionist History: Grambling State U Football (Columns)
  26. Chairlift: Something (Reviews)
  27. Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (Reviews)
  28. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - "Heart Attack" (Cosmic Kids Remix) (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media)
  29. The Barbaric (and Poetic) Yawp of Shelby Lynne (Notes from the Road)
  30. After Cease to Exist: The Far-from-Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (Features)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.