| 
album // Upstairs At Eric's
Everyone is agreed that Yazoo
shouldn't have worked - the combination of gutsy, bluesy vocals
with electronics just isn't right. And yet, as displayed
on the first of two albums Alison Moyet and Vincent
Clarke recorded as Yazoo, the combination was incredibly
right.
Fresh-faced from Depeche Mode,
Vince brought an inevitable element of his former band's poppy sheen
to Upstair's At Eric's, most notably on a song like the
pulsing synthpop of 'Bad Connection', but elsewhere there is an
unexpected, experimental angle. The same team that worked with Depeche
Mode on Speak & Spell also worked on Upstairs At
Eric's - Mute founder and owner Daniel
Miller and fellow producer Eric Radcliffe
(whose name and apartment provided part of the album's title). Interestingly,
none of the tracks were written as collaborations between Clarke
and Moyet - it's seven Vince songs and four of Moyet's ('Midnight',
'Goodbye 70s', 'Winter Kills' and 'Bring Your Love Down (Didn't
I)'.
Beginning with the svelte pop classic that is 'Don't
Go', a deserving hit which was passed over by the members of Depeche
Mode Vince left behind, this is followed up by 'Too Pieces' (exactly
how does that make sense?) which is a delicate pop track with a
stop-start rhythm. It is also mostly instrumental, lots of deep
bass noises and sparkling, dreamy overlapping melodies.
'Bad Connection' is a lot of fun - a squelchy bass
line and a bouncing rhythm not dissimilar to those deployed on Speak
& Spell. It has a doo-wop, early rock 'n roll feel, plenty of
innocent 'Sweet Little Sixteen' angles; and then a swoony middle
eight where a telephone conversation drops in underneath some breathy
oohs and aaahs from Alison.
'I Before E Except After C' was mysteriously ommitted
from the original CD version of Upstairs At Eric's, until
the remastered edition from 2008?? only appearing on the vinyl and
cassette versions. It is certainly an oddity, a studio experiment
consisting of lots of spoken word sections (and Moyet laughing)
cut up and overlaid; synth accompaniment is sporadically dropped
in, fat bass progressions and eerie melodies carving a path through
the dense web of voices. One wouldn't expect this from Vince, but
it is totally Mute. Why anyone thought it wise to leave it off the
first CD edition is beyond me. 'In My Room' mines the same territory
- Vince reciting the Lord's Prayer over a simple, faltering electronic
rhythm and echo-y phrases (that I have never been able to decipher),
while Moyet throws in a wonderfully plaintive tale of isolation
and abandonment. When it coalesces into a proper rhythm and 'tune',
it is abruptly dissolved and back we go to the layers of experimentation.
What people must have made of this turning up on a 'pop' album is
anyone's guess.
'Midnight' showcases Moyet's bluesy vocal, an emphatic
paen to a lost lover. Her vocal rests on top of a gentle electronic
accompaniment from Vince, spirals of synth and an almost Latin beat.
It is one of those tracks which doesn't sound like it could make
sense - Moyet's vocal being so gutsy as almost to obliterate any
attempt at backing - but it once again defies logic, and works beautifully.
The ever-graceful 'Only You' is followed by the
upbeat 'Goodbye 70s', described by Moyet as a farewell to a decade
and also a stage in her life. It is sleek and urgent, focussed and
dancefloor-friendly. It also doesn't could have been recorded anytime
since as it still sounds fresh, but the lyrical theme anchors it
to the early Eighties. It has a hi-NRG feel and the vocal grunts
of Morricone's main theme to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.
It could be twice as long and just as brilliant. 'Tuesday' is what
I'd call intelligent pop, describing a maudlin tale of a put-upon
woman in her thirties fleeing her sorry life. It's pretty miserable
to be honest, but so is the life it describes.
The stately 'Don't Go' B-side 'Winter Kills' puts
in an appearance and effortlessly segues into the closing track,
'Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)', which again sets its sights firmly
on the Eighties dancefloor. Nice bit handclaps and a surging vocal
from Moyet takes Upstairs At Eric's to a thudding conclusion.
The original CD edition from 1990 may have lost
'I Before E Except After C' but it included the post-album single
'The Other Side Of Love' (12" version) and Francois Kevorkian's
well-known 12" remix of 'Situation'. The US version of the
CD ditched 'Tuesday' in favour of the same version of 'Situation'.
I bought this on cassette when I was doing my
GCSEs in 1993 and I remember listening to it avidly while revising.
I was at that point two years on from first coming across the Documentary
Evidence flyer that inspired this site, and just starting my exploration
of Vince's earlier works and the wider Mute catalogue. It is an
album which has never dimmed in my consciousness, but it's taken
nearly five years to finally review it. I think I was slightly nervous
about doing so, for some reason.
lp/c/cd (2008 remaster):
1. Don't Go
2. Too Pieces
3. Bad Connection
4. I Before E Except After C (ommitted from 1990 CD release)
5. Midnight
6. In Your Room
7. Only You
8. Goodbye 70s
9. Tuesday
10. Winter Kills
11. Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)
extra tracks on original 1990 CD release:
The Other Side Of Love (12" Mix)
Situation (Francois Kevorkian Remix)
single // Only You
Review forthcoming.
7":
A. Only You
B. Situation
12"/CD:
A1. Only You
A2. Situation
B. Situation (Extended Version)
single // Don't Go
Review forthcoming.
7":
A. Don't Go
B. Winter Kills
12":
A. Don't Go (Re-Mix)
B1. Don't Go (Re-Re-Mix)
B2. Winter Kills
CD:
1. Don't Go
2. Winter Kills
3. Don't Go (Re-Mix)
4. Don't Go (Re-Re-Mix)
|
