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Andy Bell New Solo Album

  • Published in News

Torsten In Queereteria is the third solo album by Andy Bell (Erasure) performing as alter-ego Torsten, a semi-immortal polysexual who is destined to love many, lose many and be haunted by bittersweet memories, due to his unnaturally elongated life.  The album is released on April 12 through Cherry Red Records.

It’s a role Andy first took up at the Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival in 2014 in Torsten The Bareback Saint and a role reprised by him in the critically acclaimed 2016 follow up, Torsten The Beautiful Libertine, which enjoyed a sell-out four week run at London’s ‘Above The Stag’ Theatre.

Andy Bell Is Torsten is a unique collaboration between a singer (Andy Bell), a poet / playwright (Barney Ashton) and a musician (Christopher Frost). Their new album is structured around four separate themed ‘Acts’ which deal with different aspects of both Torsten’s life story and his self-realisation. As with previous Torsten albums, each song is designed as if a postcard insight into a particular hot-spot of memory.

Track listing is:

 

Act 1 : Remembrance, Youth and Beauty.

01 - A Hundred Years Plus Today

02 - You Stampede An Open Wound

03 - Lowland Lowriders

04 - I Am Of The Sea

 

Act 2 : The Hedonism And The Hurting.

05 - Cabaret Awayday

06 - Queereteria

07 - If We Want To Drink A Little

 

Act 3 : Bitter Regrets.

08 - Thou Shalt Be My Vibe

09 - Money With Menaces

10 - Let’s Be Sober Another Time

11 - Come And Taste My Breakdown

 

Act 4 : To Mourn And To Miss.

12 - To Know Good Men From Perverts

13 - We Hadn’t Slept For Twenty Years

14 - Silence Is Golden

15 - Not Opting Out

 

 

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Erasure, Olympia Theatre, Dublin

  • Published in Live

 

It’s Erasure, so we’ll skip the introductions, right?! Tonight is the first of three dates in Dame Street’s grand old lady, The Olympia Theatre. It’s a real treat to see them play a series of shows in a smaller, more elegant venue, rather than another gig in the arena down the road. The original run was postponed when Andy Bell took ill in January, but they are back and getting ready for an American tour. The audience sing along enthusiastically with the warm up tape of The Human League and Eurythmics. Their fellow Londoners, Ekkoes, are the ideal support act for the venerable popsters. The quartet are young, attractive, and heavily influenced by tonight’s main act, as well as by Vince Clarke’s former comrades in Depeche Mode, and ‘80s electropop in general.

The theme tune from Tales Of The Unexpected comes over the tannoy and Clarke and Bell emerge onto the fluorescent framed stage; the backing singers on risers either side of the pair. ‘Oh L’Amour’ elicits a rapturous response and Bell apologises for the delay, “A couple of hours is diva behaviour but three weeks is pushing it”. The set spans their entire career: from their debut single, ‘Who Needs Love Like That’, right up to their latest offering, the Brexit and Trump inspired 'World Be Gone'. Their songwriting is remarkably consistent and new tracks like ‘Sweet Summer Loving’ sit seamlessly alongside ‘Blue Savannah’ and ‘Victim Of Love’.

Clarke remains inscrutable as he punches in sounds, and strums a guitar, on a platform two metres above the flamboyant focal point that is Andy Bell. Bell’s voice isn’t as spectacular as it was when he was a young man but he has written the new songs to suit how he sounds now, and the backing singers bolster the ‘80s and ‘90s tunes when needed.

A cover of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’ signals a change of gear and the crowd rise as one in acknowledgement of both the New York discopunks and the legendary pop stars in front of us. As Bell strips down to a skintight onesie, (it’s reassuring to see him strut around confidently with a paunch), ‘Stop!’ sees the energy hit a new high. ‘Love You To The Sky’ and ‘Always’ raise the temperature to summertime levels.

 

‘Sometimes’ hasn’t aged a day since its initial release in 1986, and raises the roof before the band leave the stage. When they return for the encore of ‘A Little Respect’, it’s on an equal footing, with the quartet at the lip of the stage; Clarke holding his acoustic guitar. In just over 90 minutes, they have raced through over three decades of hits. It’s a noticeably older crowd, many keep their coats on throughout, but the power of the performance, and undeniable genius of the tunes, has everyone out of their seats, singing and dancing. It’s a masterclass in how to be a pop band.

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