"Ship of Fools" is a song by British

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

duo

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

, released in February 1988 as the lead single from their third studio album, '' The Innocents'' (1988). The song was written by

Vince Clarke Vincent John Martin (born 3 July 1960), known professionally as Vince Clarke, is an English synth-pop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since its inception in 1985, and was previously ...

and Andy Bell, and produced by

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session k ...

and Dave Jacob. It peaked at number six on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and was the duo's eighth single overall and their fourth UK Top 10 single.

Critical reception

Colin Irwin from ''

Number One Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

'' wrote, "Memorable in a tooth-achey kind of way and not a patch on '

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' which was at least disguised in brightness an light. And Andy Bell ''still'' sounds exactly like

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard ( ; born 18 June 1961) is an English singer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo (also known as Yaz), but has since mainly worked as a solo artist. Her ...

." Eleanor Levy of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'' described "Ship of Fools" as Erasure "at their most open, melodic and beautiful". She added, "If there's one voice guaranteed to make the old erogenous zones come over all a-quiver it's Andy Bell's when he gets all throaty and emotional like this." Ro Newton from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' named it Single of the Fortnight, writing, "'Ship of Fools' is first and foremost a ''song'', not a load of sterile bumps and clicks cobbed together in the way that some of the records on the charts are at the moment. It also happens to be very soothing with the quavery tones of Andy Bell fluttering away softly while

provides a strong orchestral backing with loads of swirly strings and other "subtle" things. I actually think this is rather wonderful and just the thing for the more sensitive souls among us to sip our ''

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'' to!"

Retrospective response

In an 2007 review, the Daily Vault's Michael R. Smith commented, "My only complaint about "Ship Of Fools" is that

Andy Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

chooses to sing in a lower register. Whenever he does this, it makes the song sound like a warped record; his voice was always as its best in the more comfortable range of

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

." In 2014, Chris Gerard from ''

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'' described it as a "dramatic ballad" that showed a completely different side of Erasure. He also noted that it featured Andy Bell's "finest vocal yet", and "showed significant artistic growth for the duo."

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was filmed to promote the single, directed by Phillip Vile.

Track listings

* 7" single (MUTE74) # "Ship of Fools" # "When I Needed You" * 12" single (12MUTE74) # "Ship of Fools" (Shiver Me Timbers Mix) # "

River Deep, Mountain High A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wat ...

" (Warm Depths Mix) # "When I Needed You" (Melancholic Mix) * Limited 12" single (L12MUTE74) # "Ship of Fools" (RC Mix) # "River Deep, Mountain High" (Private Dance Mix) # "When I Needed You" * CD single (CDMUTE74) # "Ship of Fools" (Shiver Me Timbers Mix) # "When I Needed You" (Melancholic Mix) # "River Deep, Mountain High" (Private Dance Mix)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ship Of Fools (Erasure Song) 1988 songs 1988 singles Erasure songs Songs written by Vince Clarke Songs written by Andy Bell (singer) Mute Records singles Song recordings produced by Stephen Hague UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles