Advance copies of the new album from Vince Clarke and Andy Bell were sent out with a special security number and a pompous letter warning the disc should not be “left with a third party” and demanding that “we must globally recognise the risk of illegal copying of music”. Why anyone should want to is another matter. Ten years ago, Erasure released a witty, chart-topping Abba pastiche. Here they try it again with daft versions of songs by the likes of Buggles, Cockney Rebel, Peter Gabriel, the Three Degrees and the Righteous Brothers. The results are risible but the joke is no longer funny. It’s this sort of copying that should be made illegal.
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