Snow Globe

It took a long time for Erasure to make a holiday album; maybe that's why they announce on the opening track, “Bells of Love (Isabelle’s of Love)": “I don’t believe in your religion, I only know what I can see.” Here they’re enjoying the season for the snow and the decorations, not for Santa Claus or any holy deities. Erasure write much of their own material here; when they wander into the Xmas bag of goodies, they re-create the 16th-century “Gaudette” into their own image (far from the version Steeleye Span released in the '70s). By the time they arrive at “Silent Night,” Vince Clarke has plenty of synthetic blips and burps to remind you who’s controlling the script. “The Christmas Song” sounds like they’ve found a synth patch from 1986 to sing over. “White Christmas” is equally quirky. When you consider how many rock and pop singers break out far more sedate and conventional backings for their salutes to the holidays, you figure Erasure deserve extra points for the joyous “Loving Man” and the muted “Blood on the Snow.”