I Say, I Say, I Say (1992)

On their last record, Erasureheads Andy Bell and Vince Clarke took a chance on Abba covers. This time out on I Say, I Say, I Say, the synth-pop Brits lose the bad '70s wigs, blue eye shadow, and frivolity; instead, Bell's tender falsetto comforts a dying mate by dripping somber sentiments through a tangle of computerized blips and the rapidly fibrillating heartbeat of a drum machine. The noble convictions of this sonic eulogy are like the words of a weathered minister-touching but also, sadly, a tad dull and formulaic. B