Episode 42: Erasure - Crackers International (1988) - Part 1 Plus Wham! "Last Christmas"

With the holiday season now in full swing, Brian and Sarah finally carved out some time in their busy schedules to sit down and record another podcast. And this week's selection has a definite holiday theme-- it's the November 1988 EP from Erasure, titled "Crackers International." However, they decide to make it an even more Christmasy episode by throwing in a bonus track at the end-- one of the best known Christmas songs of the 1980s.

Part 1 - Album History

This is the first EP Brian and Sarah have discussed on the show, so both hosts provide some information on how EPs are classified in both the UK and the US. They then go on to talk about where this album falls in the Erasure discography, and where it charted in various countries. Sarah provides a lot of information about the cover art, and voices her skepticism about whether the picture is an homage or more of a ripoff. Brian explains there is a "Crackers International Part II," with a slightly different track listing, and Sarah says the cover art on that EP is a definite ripoff-- but from the cover artist himself!

Part 2 - Personal History

Sarah is once again unsure about when or how she acquired this record. She deduced it would have been a bit inconvenient for Brian to copy, due to its short length. Brian reveals that he didn't actually own a real copy of the EP himself until college, when he bought it on CD. So why is there a store-bought copy of the cassette in their collection?

Part 3 - Track by Track

Our hosts have a lot of fun discussing the two songs on side one of the EP. It sounds like they're in agreement about a lot of things, such as the magnificent keyboard skills of Vince Clarke and the questionable quality of the video for the first song. And Brian has another opportunity to re-proclaim his love for synthetic-sounding drums!

Stop! The Hardest Part

Part 4 - Christmas Bonus Track

Since "Crackers International" is a shorter selection, and since Christmas is coming, Brian and Sarah decide this is the perfect time to discuss not only an 80s classic, but a Christmas classic as well-- the 1984 song "Last Christmas" by Wham! They provide a lot of information about the song's chart history (which spans decades!), the many different Wham! versions of the song, the many cover versions of the song, and the wonderful video both hosts just discovered while researching for the episode.

Extra Bonus - Christmas Giveaways!

This episode finds our hosts full of the generosity of the season, so during the course of the episode, Brian mentions two different giveaways that two lucky listeners can win. One is mentioned at the beginning, and the other is mentioned at the end-- and the second one is the bigger prize. So be sure to listen to the whole way through to find out how to enter!

See the videos we discuss here:

Stop!

Last Christmas

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