Wonderland (album)

Wonderland
Studio album by Erasure
Released	June 2, 1986 (1986-06-02)
Recorded	1985
Genre	synthpop
Length	49:05
Label	Mute - STUMM25 Sire - 25354
Producer	Flood
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Erasure chronology
— Wonderland (1986) The Circus (1987)
Singles from Wonderland
"Who Needs Love Like That" Released: September 2, 1985 (1985-09-02) "Heavenly Action" Released: November 11, 1985 (1985-11-11) "Oh L'amour" Released: April 21, 1986 (1986-04-21)

Wonderland is the debut album by Erasure, originally released in June 1986 on Mute Records in the UK and Sire Records in the U.S. Not an immediate success, the three singles released from it failed to crack the top forty in the UK, nor did any of them enter the Billboard Hot 100 (although "Oh L'amour" became a UK top twenty hit in 2003, in a remixed form). Erasure's initial exposure in the U.S. came via dance clubs, as two singles did hit the top ten on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

Group member Vince Clarke had originally planned for this album to feature different singers for each track, but because of their musical chemistry, he and Andy Bell collaborated for the entire album and shortly after its release Clarke and Bell formed a permanent partnership. Unfortunately at the time of its release, many considered it to be a failure, especially when comparing it to Clarke's prior successes with Depeche Mode and Yazoo. Early reviews of the album dubbed Bell as an Alison Moyet imitator. Nearly two decades after its release, Wonderland is widely revered as a classic example of mid-80s synth pop and is appreciated now as the beginning stages of one of electronic music's most enduring acts.

Track listing

UK version

1. "Who Needs Love Like That" (Clarke)
2. "Reunion" (Clarke/Bell)
3. "Cry So Easy" (Bell)
4. "Push Me Shove Me" (Clarke/Bell)
5. "Heavenly Action" (Clarke/Bell)
6. "Say What" (Clarke/Bell)
7. "Love is a Loser" (Clarke/Bell)
8. "Senseless" (Clarke/Bell)
9. "My Heart... So Blue" (Clarke)
10. "Oh L'amour" (Clarke/Bell)
11. "Pistol" (Clarke/Bell)
12. "March on Down the Line" (remix)
13. "Say What" (remix)
14. "Senseless" (remix)

US version

1. "Who Needs Love Like That" (Clarke)
2. "Reunion" (Clarke/Bell)
3. "Cry So Easy" (Bell)
4. "Senseless" (Clarke/Bell)
5. "Heavenly Action" (Clarke/Bell)
6. "Say What" (Clarke/Bell)
7. "Love is a Loser" (Clarke/Bell)
8. "March on Down the Line" (Clarke/Bell)
9. "My Heart... So Blue" (Clarke)
10. "Oh L'amour" (Clarke/Bell)
11. "Who Needs Love Like That" (The Love That Mix Version)
12. "Oh L'amour" (The Funky Sisters Remix)

Chart placings

Wonderland peaked at number seventy-one on the UK album chart and never hit the Billboard 200 in the U.S. In Germany the album climbed to number sixteen.