Video: Rex The Dog "Bubblicious"

Rex The Dog might be stalking Vince Clarke. Rex developed his distinct sound after buying a Korg 700S because it was used on Depeche Mode's first album so one of his first moves was to turn in a storming remix of "Photographic" that was one of the few redeeming tracks on DM's cash grab Remixes 81-04. Rex's most recent video moves the timeline ahead a year or so later borrowing Alison Moyet's vocals from "Midnight", an album track on Yaz's (that's Yazoo to those outside of the US) debut Upstairs At Erics. "Bubblicious" is an exhilarating track that marries the essence of synthpop's age of innocence with the spirit of today's retro-flavored floor fillers. The video finds Yaz reconnected through the magic of stop motion cardboard albeit with Rex stepping in for the mysteriously absent Vince:



: I held off posting on this song for some months now because I had hoped to post news of Rex The Dog's album being released in the US. Unfortunately that still hasn't happened and nothing has been announced that suggests it will happen which is a terrible shame.

Pop! Chart

Erasure are shortly due to finally update their classic singles collection Hits: The Very Best Of Erasure Pop! with the eagerly anticipated Total Pop!: The First 40 Hits. Naturally the two disc collection contains 41 tracks, 39 songs and omits the Union Street single "Boy". It's not all bad because the title suggests an alternate universal where the top 40 charts would be dominated by Erasure tunes. It might look something like this:

1. Oh L'Amour
2. Chains Of Love
3. A Little Respect
4. Blue Savannah
5. Chorus
6. Who Needs Love (Like That)
7. Victim Of Love
8. Drama!
9. Ship Of Fools
10. Breath Of Life
11. Star
12. Love To Hate You
13. Take A Chance On Me
14. Always
15. Am I Right?
16. Sometimes
17. You Surround Me
18. It Doesn't Have To Be
19. Solsbury Hill
20. Rock Me Gently
21. Stop!
22. Breathe
23. Fingers And Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)
24. The Circus
25. Stay With Me
26. Sunday Girl
27. Freedom
28. Heavenly Action
29. Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me
30. In My Arms
31. Here I Go Impossible Again
32. Rain
33. Run To The Sun
34. I Could Fall In Love With You
35. Don't Say You Love Me
36. Moon And The Sky
37. I Love Saturday
38. Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
39. Storm In A Teacup

: If we were to group those singles by the albums they were taken from and assigned a value of 39 to the highest ranked single and 1 to the lowest ranked then we would end up with a chart like this:



: Overall this indicates a slight drop off in amazingess in the I Say I Say I Say era which was Erasure's first album following the original Pop!. It is also worth noting that 85% of my top 20 appear on that first compillation despite my continuing to follow the duo after the general public lost their scent making this new greatest hits useless to all but the most dedicated fans. Still stop by Erasure's myspace to hear some flawless tunes.

I Know Twenty Five Years Is A Long Time

Respect My Girl Authority

One of Vince Clarke's first songs is seeing the light of day this week as part of "preeteen pop girl group" Girl Authority's album Road Trip. The official Erasure site reports that Clarke reworked the song, which pre-dates his time with Depeche Mode, to include the riff from "Just Can't Get Enough" and to make it a better fit for the intended young female audience.

"Let's Get Together" can be streamed at Girl Authority's myspace and Road Trip can be streamed in full here for the next week.

UPDATE: Bardot tracked down video of Vince running through the song with the first formation of Depeche. Check it out, it's fascinating stuff.

The Other Side Of Love

Yaz is back in the US...as birth control. Do I sense a lawsuit? They might be Yazoo everywhere else in the world but Alison Moyet & Vince Clarke were threatened with legal action forcing a name change in the US. Isn't turnabout fair play?