The Circus (album)

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The Circus
The Circus cover
Studio album by Erasure
Released Flag of the United Kingdom March 30, 1987 (1987-03-30)
Flag of the United States July 7, 1987 (1987-07-07)
Recorded 1986
Genre Synthpop
Length 54:17
Label Mute - STUMM35
Sire - 25554
Producer Flood and Vince Clarke
Professional reviews
Erasure chronology
Wonderland
(1986)
The Circus
(1987)
The Two Ring Circus
(1987)
Singles from The Circus
  1. "Sometimes"
    Released: October 6, 1986 (1986-10-06)
  2. "It Doesn't Have To Be"
    Released: February 16, 1987 (1987-02-16)
  3. "Victim of Love"
    Released: May 18, 1987 (1987-05-18)
  4. "The Circus"
    Released: September 21, 1987 (1987-09-21)

The Circus is the second album by Erasure, originally released in April 1987 on Mute Records in the UK and Sire Records in the U.S. It was Erasure's second consecutive album to be produced by Flood.

The Circus became the duo's breakthrough in the UK, spawning four hit singles and reaching number six. It was an immediate success thanks to the number two UK placing of the first single "Sometimes", six months earlier. The album remains Erasure's longest-running on the UK charts.

Although mainstream success in the U.S. did not occur with this album, it did generate two hits (including a number-one) on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. It also became their first record to barely scrape into the Billboard 200.

[edit] Track listing

  • all tracks written by Clarke/Bell unless otherwise noted.
  1. "It Doesn't Have To Be" – 3:53
  2. "Hideaway" – 3:48
  3. "Don't Dance" – 3:36
  4. "If I Could" – 3:52
  5. "Sexuality" – 3:55
  6. "Victim of Love" – 3:40
  7. "Leave Me to Bleed" – 3:21
  8. "Sometimes" – 3:38
  9. "The Circus" – 5:30
  10. "Spiralling" – 3:10

CD only bonus tracks:

  1. "In the Hall Of the Mountain King" (taken from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite) – 2:58
  2. "Sometimes" (Extended Mix) – 5:22
  3. "It Doesn't Have To Be" (The Boop Oopa Doo Mix) – 7:12

[edit] Chart Placings

The Circus hit number six on the UK album charts and number twenty in Germany. It peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200.