Wild!

Erasure: Andy Bell (vocals); Vince Clarke (various instruments).
Producers: Gareth Jones, Mark Saunders, Erasure.
Widely considered the duo's masterpiece, 1989's WILD! is the album on which Vince Clarke and Andy Bell move away from the sometimes camp Hi-NRG dance pop of earlier releases like WONDERLAND and CRACKERS INTERNATIONAL into a quieter, more complex, and organic sound. Though the 11 tracks, including the two versions of "Piano Song" which bookend the album, are still based around Clarke's synthesizers, some songs introduce traditional instruments into the mix in a much less jarring way than the orchestral experiments of 1987's THE TWO RING CIRCUS.
"La Gloria" has the same Latinized feel as contemporary singles by the Pet Shop Boys and New Order, thanks to the Spanish resort of Ibiza's then-dominant position as the trendy European club scene. The mock-medieval "Brother and Sister," and "How Many Times," are somber tunes which foreshadow the melancholy of later Erasure albums such as I SAY I SAY I SAY.