THEY'RE BACK . . .

Erasure's new CD, "Nightbird" ... after a preliminary scan, it's hard for me to describe.

As an initial matter, I'm just so pleased they're back! In a strange way, they are like old friends, having seen me leave elementary school, move to a new home and start middle school, grow through high school and all the accompanying angst-ridden phases, and work my way through my college years ...

"Love is a Loser" made me schizophrenic, bopping my way along to the happy beat, but wondering at the lyrics.

"Sometimes" was a song I didn't understand, and maybe at that age, I shouldn't have anyway, but that didn't stop me from strolling the house, wailing "ooooooooooh, sometimes!" (And Omma would say, "sometimes what?!")

"My Heart, So Blue," one of those tunes I didn't enjoy that much, but with which I sang along nonetheless whenever I popped the cassette into my pink radio as I settled down to do my homework.

"Blue Savannah Song" sees me staring out the car window on my way to piano lessons.

"A Little Respect" conjures up clear-as-day memories of a church ski trip and a really horrid small group skit.

"Piano Song" rumbled my stomach with the vocals, and made me want to sing for people ... and senior year in high school, I finally got to do so.

"Siren Song," I sang along with as if it were my own heartsong, loud and selfless.

"I Love Saturday," a tune I loved just because I agreed with the title, a tune that Becky and I blared out the window the night before prom.

"Stay With Me," a rarity in that simply listening to it can make me weep, weep, weep. And I often did.

"Moon & the Sky," a weird, weird song that I still can't decide if I like.

And now, "Nightbird" ... I worry that I want to cling to my blissful and comedically drama-filled past. I'm sure Andy Bell and Vince Clarke have evolved and grown in the last twenty years (oh my Lord, that sounds so ... vacant a comment), and I wonder if I've evolved and grown along with these non-friend friends of mine. I want so desperately to love "Nightbird."

***

Read: The Queen's Fool, by Philippa Gregory; The Simple Truth, by David Baldacci
Reading: The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant
Next up: Still Life With Rice, by Helie Lee
Listening to: "The Diary of Alicia Keys," by Alicia Keys; "Nightbird," by Erasure