Top 10 Favorite 80's Synth-Pop Songs #9 - "Chains of Love"

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#9 in my series, Top 10 Favorite 80's Synth-Pop Songs, takes us to London, home of Erasure. After Vince Clarke (synthesizer/keyboards) left Depeche Mode in 1981, he formed Yazoo (known as Yaz here in the States) with vocalist Alison Moyet. After he and Moyet split in 83, Clarke eventually hooked up with vocalist Andy Bell (who sounds eerily similar to Alison Moyet) to form Erasure in 1985. Erasure was an international hit machine in the 80's, including my favorite, "Chains of Love," from their 1988 album The Innocents. "Chains of Love" charted seemingly everywhere on the planet, including #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the song hit four different Billboard charts alone.) "Chains of Love" is a lovely piece of synth-pop that sounds, if you need a reference, more like Yazoo than early Depeche Mode, largely due to Bell's vocals. Musically, however this wouldn't have sounded all that out of place on either Yazoo album. I met both Vince Clarke and Andy Bell after an Erasure show in Denver. They couldn't have been nicer guys, taking the time to talk to us, even though it was very cold outside. (The show was great, by the way.)