''The Two Ring Circus'' is a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

album by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo

Erasure Erasure may refer to: Arts and media * Erasure (duo), an English pop group * ''Erasure'' (album), 1995, by the British group Erasure * Erasure poetry, a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text * ''Erasure'' (novel), ...

that served as a companion piece to their second album '' The Circus''. It was released in 1987 on

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure (duo), Erasure, Einstürze ...

in the UK and

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

in the US.

Composition

The vinyl version of ''The Two Ring Circus'' was released as a double 12" album playing at 45rpm, featuring six previously unreleased remixes and three re-recordings. The CD and cassette editions feature an additional seven live bonus tracks billed as "The Touring Circus". The first six tracks are all new remixes of songs that had already appeared on their second album '' The Circus''. The next three tracks are re-recordings of two songs from ''The Circus'' and one song from the band's debut album '' Wonderland'' featuring orchestral arrangements by Andrew Poppy. None of these nine tracks have appeared again on any subsequent Erasure releases or reissues. The seven "Touring Circus" bonus live tracks on the CD and cassette mainly feature songs from Erasure's first two albums. The last track, a live version of "

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is a song by Swedish recording group ABBA. A disco song, it was first recorded in August 1979 to promote the group's North American and European concert legs of ABBA: The Tour. It was released on 1 ...

" was their first remake of an

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

song, foreshadowing a concept that would later provide them with a number-one in the UK in 1992 with the ''

Abba-esque ''Abba-esque'' is an extended play (EP) by English synth-pop duo Erasure (duo), Erasure. Released on 1 June 1992, the EP was Erasure's first and only number one on the UK Singles Chart and also became a number-one hit in Austria, Denmark, Fin ...

'' EP. All seven of the CD and cassette live bonus tracks were recorded in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and were previously featured on the triple 12" single release for " The Circus". There was a further live song per 12" not featured on this album. All ten of these live tracks (plus an 11th originally featured on the " Victim of Love"

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

) are featured on disc 2 of the '' EBX 2'' box-set. The US editions of the CD and cassette also include an additional remix in the form of an edited version of a previously released remix.

Commercial performance

UK chart rules at the time made ''The Two Ring Circus'' ineligible to chart. It became their second release to briefly slip into the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, peaking at number 186.

Track listing

UK version (L STUMM 35)

# " Sometimes" (Erasure and

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

Mix) # "

It Doesn't Have to Be "It Doesn't Have to Be" is a song by the English synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musica ...

" (Mix by

Pascal Gabriel Pascal Gabriel (born 15 December 1956) is a Belgian-born musician based in London, England and Provence, France. Background Pascal Gabriel's musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors (bass guitar). He left Belgium for Lo ...

) # " Victim of Love" (

Little Louie Vega Luis Ferdinand Vega Jr. (born June 12, 1965), as known as "Little Louie" Vega, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer of Puerto Ricans in the United States, Puerto Rican ancestry. He is one half of the Masters at Work musical production ...

Mix) # "Leave Me to Bleed" (Vince Clarke and Eric Radcliffe Mix) # "Hideaway" (Little Louie Vega Mix) # "Don't Dance" ( Daniel Miller and Flood Mix) # "If I Could" (Orchestral Arr. & Thanks to Andrew Poppy) # "Spiralling" (Orchestral Arr. & Thanks to Andrew Poppy) # "My Heart... So Blue" (Orchestral Arr. & Thanks to Andrew Poppy) "The Touring Circus" (Bonus tracks on the cassette (LC STUMM 35) and CD (CDL STUMM 35) # "Victim of Love" (live) # " The Circus" (live) # "Spiralling" (live) # "Sometimes" (live) # " Oh L'amour" (live) # " Who Needs Love (Like That)" (live) # " Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (live)

US Cassette and CD

25667-4 / 25667-4 # " Sometimes" (Erasure and

Mix) # "

" (Mix by

) # " Victim of Love" (

Mix) # "Leave Me to Bleed" (Vince Clarke and Eric Radcliffe Mix) # "Hideaway" (Little Louie Vega Mix) # "Don't Dance" ( Daniel Miller and Flood Mix) # " The Circus" (Dave Powell Mix) # "If I Could" (Orchestral Arr. & Thanks to Andrew Poppy) # "Spiralling" (Orchestral Arr. & Thanks to Andrew Poppy) # "My Heart... So Blue" (Orchestral Arr. & Thanks to Andrew Poppy) # "Victim of Love" (live) # "Spiralling" (live) # "Sometimes" (live) # " Oh L'amour" (live) # " Who Needs Love (Like That)" (live) # " Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (live)

Release history

Chart performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Two Ring Circus, The Erasure (duo) albums Albums produced by Flood (producer) 1987 compilation albums 1987 live albums 1987 remix albums Mute Records live albums Mute Records compilation albums Mute Records remix albums Sire Records compilation albums Sire Records live albums Sire Records remix albums