''I Say I Say I Say'' is the sixth studio album from

synthpop 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 a ...

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 1994 by

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

in the UK and

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

in the US. The album was produced by

Martyn Ware Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer. As a founding member of both the Human League and Heaven 17, Ware was partly responsible for hit songs such as " Being Boiled" and ...

, who was a founding member of veteran synthpop groups

the Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

and

Heaven 17 Heaven 17 are an English new wave and synth-pop band that formed in Sheffield in 1980. The band were a trio for most of their career, composed of Martyn Ware (keyboards) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously of the Human League), an ...

. Upon its release it became Erasure's fourth consecutive studio album to hit No. 1 in the UK, and fifth overall, generating three top-20 singles. In the US, ''I Say I Say I Say'' debuted and peaked at number 18 on the ''Billboard'' 200, easily beating their previous highest chart placing. In Germany, the album climbed to number six. Although Erasure always maintained popularity in the US dance club community, with the rise of

grunge rock Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of pu ...

Erasure saw their exposure on

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

, mainstream stations and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

become mostly non-existent by 1994. This made it even more of a surprise when the ballad "

Always Always may refer to: Film and television * ''Always'', a 1985 film directed by Henry Jaglom * ''Always'' (1989 film), a 1989 romantic comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg * ''Always'' (2011 film), a 2011 South Korean film, also known as '' ...

" gave them their third top-20 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in September. The album saw keyboardist/programmer

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 ...

continue with his by-then trademark exclusive usage of pre-

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

analog synthesizers and sequencers, with the additional self-imposed constraint that no drum machines were to be used either. Instead, Clarke used synthesizers to create the album's drum and percussion sounds.

Track listing

On the Chilean/Argentinian cassette version, there's a Spanish rendition of "Always" (Spanish vocal), just before "Always". In the Philippines release of this album in MC, 2 extended remixes of "Always" were added as hidden tracks (no mention or credits in the inlay), one at the start of each side (before "Take Me Back" on Side 1 and the original "Always" on Side 2).

2016 "Erasure 30" 30th anniversary BMG reissue LP

Subsequent to their acquisition of Erasure's back catalog, and in anticipation of the band's 30th anniversary, BMG commissioned reissues of all previously released UK editions of Erasure albums up to and including 2007's ''

Light at the End of the World ''Light at the End of the World'' is the thirteenth studio album by English synth-pop duo Erasure, released on 14 May 2007 by Mute Records. The album's release was announced on the band's website on 26 January 2007 in a video message from membe ...

''. All titles were pressed and distributed by Play It Again Sam on 180-gram vinyl and shrinkwrapped with a custom anniversary sticker.

Personnel

* Andy Bell – vocals *

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, programming * Sy-Jenq Cheng – design * Mike Cosford – paintings * John Dexter – arranger, conductor * Luke Gifford – assistant engineer * Norman Hathaway – design * Andy Houston – engineer * Rob Kirwan – assistant engineer * Phil Legg – engineer, mixing * Kevin Metcalfe – editing * St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir – choir, chorus * Al Stone – engineer * Martyn Ware – producer * Olaf Wendt – artwork

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Erasure albums 1994 albums Mute Records albums Elektra Records albums