Innocents VHS/DVD

[Pughie]

UK Release Date
1988
Details
Live from the Birmingham NEC
15 November 1988

Released on DVD and as MP3 files in 2009 as part of the 21st anniversary edition of The Innocents

Chains Of Love
A Little Respect
The Circus
The Hardest Part
Push Me Shove Me
Spiralling
Hallowed Ground
Oh L'amour
Who Needs Love (Like That)
Stop!
Victim Of Love
Ship Of Fools
Knocking On Your Door
Sometimes



Behind the scenes




2006 Remastered reissue +DVD








Recorded at the NEC Arena, Birmingham on 15 November 1988, this was the second concert video released by British synthpop duo Erasure. It was recorded in the latter stages of the band's tour of their third studio album . Originally only available on VHS, the video features 14 songs recorded at the concert, including performances of tracks from Wonderland, The Circus and the Crackers International EP. Only 4 of the included tracks are songs from The Innocents.

0:00:00 Chains of Love
0:03:58 A Little Respect
0:08:06 Witch in the Ditch*
0:11:54 The Circus
0:15:58 The Hardest Part
0:20:03 Push Me Shove Me
0:24:38 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)*
0:28:56 Spiralling
0:31:54 Hallowed Ground
0:36:47 Oh l'amour
0:40:22 Who Needs Love Like That
0:44:31 Stop!
0:48:02 Victim of Love
0:51:53 Ship of Fools
0:56:09 Knocking on Your Door
0:59:29 Sometimes

*The songs "Witch in the Ditch" and the ABBA cover "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" were omitted from the original video release, and have been re-inserted into their appropriate place in the setlist

[Pughie]

Updated 2021 version includes Witch In The Ditch & Gimme Gimme Gimme.

Thanks for Darren Mitchell for creating this new redux version with the added tracks now in the correct running order,these were included on the reissue dvd but as added bonus tracks at the end of the original cut of the VHS version.

Chains Of Love
A Little Respect
The Circus
Witch In The Ditch
The Hardest Part
Push Me Shove Me
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Spiralling
Hallowed Ground
Oh L'amour
Who Needs Love (Like That)
Stop!
Victim Of Love
Ship Of Fools
Knocking On Your Door
Sometimes

[dcd747]

The thing I found interesting about the re-release was the noticeable difference in audio for several songs: notably the trumpet on The Circus and Victim of Love and the missing echo effect on Spiralling.

Was the echo added to the VHS audio (then removed for the DVD) or was that how it originally sounded live?

Now I haven’t watched the VHS release in years, but am I remembering these other differences correctly?

[kwerty]

The thing I found interesting about the re-release was the noticeable difference in audio for several songs: notably the trumpet on The Circus and Victim of Love and the missing echo effect on Spiralling.

Was the echo added to the VHS audio (then removed for the DVD) or was that how it originally sounded live?

Long before the DVD came out I always thought that echo effect was added in post production, and suspected it was there to try and hide that Andy's timing might have been a little bit off. Back then I also found a bootleg crowd recording of the very same concert, and despite the poor quality, it didn't sound like there was any echo there which just confirmed my thoughts. And then of course eventually we got the DVD remaster... and I DO think Andy's timing is a little 'off'!

And yes, Guy Barker's trumpet playing is definitely different! It's was not unheard of for concerts to be overdubbed in post-production, particulary to cover mistakes in performance. HOWEVER... I'm not sure where I got this idea from (possibly an EIS newsletter back in the day?), but I was always under the impression that this concert was recorded over TWO nights, or at least the audio may have been, so it's possible that what we hear on the final VHS is Guy Barker's performance from the other show where he maybe gets it right! But I can't verify that and I could be remembering wrong, but it's certainly true that Depeche Mode do something similar to that sort of thing and cherry pick the best performances from each night for their concert releases.

Anyway, if it was done deliberately and they chose to release the DVD as a different 'warts and all' edition, I think they should have at least promoted it as such and/or say something in the sleeve notes. But I do sometimes wonder if the people tasked with doing these remasters don't listen to the original release! They perhaps just went to the original source maybe and didn't think to cross reference it with what was released. Or they simply no-longer had the final version to create master from so some reason.

[dcd747]

Yes, setlist.fm shows three Erasure concerts in November (and one in December) at the Birmingham NEC, so you are probably right about the multiple nights and the overdubbing.

"Warts and all" is a great description for the trumpet-playing on those songs on the DVD release.

[Pughie]

The audio may have well been recorded on the 3 nights,but the video was recorded on one night the 15th.
I have also been told that the Ship Of Fools track where Vince plays the Casio Horn the lighting wasn’t on him during the actual show so they had to re-film the shot of him playing after the actual gig had ended.

[kwerty]

Yes, setlist.fm shows three Erasure concerts

Ah okay, it was three, not two like I remembered.

The audio may have well been recorded on the 3 nights,but the video was recorded on one night the 15th.

Yeah, getting the video crew out to film all three nights would have been quite expensive, so it's more likely they just recorded audio (and it's possible they didn't even do that, but I'm curious where I got the idea that they did.)

I have also been told that the Ship Of Fools track where Vince plays the Casio Horn the lighting wasn’t on him during the actual show so they had to re-film the shot of him playing after the actual gig had ended.

What we have to remember is that this concert was staged specifically for television and video - even the stage was designed with camera access in mind - so it was approached more like a television production, and just like on a film or tv production it wouldn't have been unusual to get 'pick-up' shots to make it perfect. Or dub over mistakes on the audio!

[AaronLancs]

Yes, setlist.fm shows three Erasure concerts

Ah okay, it was three, not two like I remembered.

Well over on the Erasure Gig Guide there were four shows. Three in November and One in December. So wether all four of the shows were recorded in audio is anyones guess.