Pop! – The First 20 Hits
Onge's Review
This compilation album comprises Erasure's first twenty single releases, and went triple platinum within months of its release in 1992. This album was released as Erasure's popularity peaked, shortly after topping the charts with the excellent ABBA-esque. This is an absolutely indispensable member of any record collection, with twenty-one tracks of the highest calibre contained herein. Who Needs Love (Like That) finds itself in two forms: the original mix from Wonderland and the 1992 Hamburg Mix which open and close this album giving it a very circular feel. The other singles from Erasure's debut album are included in Heavenly Action and the phenomenal Oh L'amour. Pop! The First 20 Hits continues with all the singles from Erasure's albums up to Chorus with such classics as Sometimes, Ship Of Fools, A Little Respect, Chains Of Love, Stop!, Blue Savannah and Love To Hate You.
“”The 20 songs here are extraordinary, all classic arrangements, mad spiralling tunes, glorious singing and mondo disco stompo...This is a brilliant record, the compilation of the year and a sexy tune farm that you should leave to your grandchildren in your will.
NME
There are very few weak points as you would expect from a greatest hits style album, but songs such as Chorus, Heavenly Action and Take A Chance On Me aren't quite in the same calibre as the other songs. Take A Chance On Me is the weakest song from the ABBA-esque; it hasn't aged well and the awful rap from MC Kinky doesn't help in the slightest, but this was the song that drove the EP to become Erasure's only number one single so it's inclusion here is entirely understandable. To appreciate the superior ABBA covers Erasure have done you will also need to purchase their chart topping EP.
Summary
If this is the only Erasure CD you own then you are really missing out as Erasure continued to write some amazing material after this release, with such classic singles like Always, Stay With Me and In My Arms only available on a rare Japanese version Pop! which contains an extra CD of singles up to 1997. Although subsequently eclipsed by the follow-up Total Pop! – The First 40 Hits, this remains masterful compilation that brilliantly showcases the incredible talent that is Erasure.
Fan Reviews
Below are some fan reviews written by visitors to this very site. Once you've read these, please feel free to use the form at the end of the page to write your own review.
It’s really hard to give 10 to Pop! 20 Hits, since it deserves a better rating indeed… Well, what can I say about this superb/amazing/terrific/fantastic compilation?! Hmmm… I think it’s the definitive one for proving what a wonderful pop duo Erasure are! The only track that should be erased here is Heavenly Action, not only because it was a complete disaster when it was released as single, but also because it’s so boring… Regarding Take A Chance On Me cover, I take this one as an improved version from its original one recorded by ABBA. Besides I enjoy its rap part indeed, since it’s better than if they had recorded a solo part on this specific song. All the other 18 songs are spectacular in terms of pop quality!
28 January 2006 6:10 pm (GMT)
Pop! The First 20 Hits is “the” Erasure album for people who like them but are not fans. Pop! includes the 20 first singles without taking aside any and not adding any other. Mentioning the enormous songs in this record would be repetitive so I am going to talk about how could it be better. Heavenly Action is the only track that they could have avoided. The live version of Oh L’Amour that appears in The Two Ring Circus would have been more appropriate than the original. Instead of incorporating Who Needs Love Like That (Hamburg mix) –a good remix-, I would have chosen a non-single as extra song such as Knocking On Your Door; When I Needed You; Hideaway; Turns Love To Anger; Crown Of Thorns; How Many Times; Waiting For The Day or any b-side as Snappy; The Good, The Bad And The Ugly or Sweet, Sweet Baby.
Summary: an excellent album that shows the changes in Erasure career. It would be nice to see a new Pop! The Next 20 Hits –after this album up to Union Street they have released 18 songs as singles, including Oh L’Amour (August mix)-.
—————–
Extra data: the Pop! Plus (Japanese version) besides the original tracklist, there is an extra cd that adds the three singles of I Say I Say I Say (Always, Run To The Sun, I Love Saturday), two singles of Erasure-self-titled album- (Stay With Me, Fingers and Thumbs; the Czech single Rock Me Gently is omitted) and the three singles of Cowboy (In My Arms, Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me, Rain) plus the brilliant b-side First Contact. With Rock Me Gently this double album would get a 10.
22 July 2008 9:21 pm (GMT)
Obviously most fans will have had everything on here already, but if you’d gone past your singles-buying phase then Stop! and the Abba songs would have slipped through the cracks, so it’s worth buying just for them. It’s also handy to have if you just want a car ride of Erasure classics rather than spend time listening to the original albums. The most interesting track on here is the beefed-up new version of Who Needs Love Like That? Had this been around in 1985 it might have made more of an impact on radio DJs, got more airplay and been Erasure’s first hit.
2 August 2011 4:09 pm (GMT)
The best Erasure album the world has seen. Fantastic collection of tunes from 1985 – 1992.
Must say that every song on the album has a very catchy tune and despite not doing so well in the charts, ‘Heavenly Action’ is a great tune by the band. Classics such as ‘Stop!’, ‘A Little Respect’ and ‘Ship of Fools’ are all included.
Am I Right?
25 January 2014 2:18 pm (GMT)
Simple – A juke box on one record.
The best hit collection you will ever buy!
21 February 2014 3:05 pm (GMT)
Simply put: If you only ever get one Erasure record, make that *this one*.
It contains almost all of Erasure’s “must have”-songs, and thankfully the dynamic range hasn’t been crippled, unlike later compilations.
4 March 2015 9:04 pm (GMT)
How does an Erasure completest rate a greatest hits from one of his favorite bands? There is no question that I give this greater than 4 stars.
That being said, while I love all of these Erasure singles, they are not my favorites from the respective albums. I would have chosen a different 20 but alas, I am only a fan.
What a great release for the boys.
14 March 2016 7:34 pm (GMT)