Yazoo
(Mute)
"Goodbye Seventies," Alison Moyet sang on the first Yazoo album. Then, the squelchy, buzzy, percolating synthesizers that accompanied her connoted the future. Now, they seem quaint or retro. Known as Yaz in the US because of conflicts with the venerable blues record label, Yazoo were short-lived but enduring. Synth player Vince Clarke started off in Depeche Mode and was responsible for their brilliantly poppy singles like "Dreaming Of Me." He teamed with newcomer Alison Moyet, whose deeply soulful voice contrasted with the mechanistic sounds of Clarke's keyboards and drum machine rhythm tracks. The result was two classic albums, 1982's Upstairs At Eric's and the subsequent year's You And Me Both, and a mess of archetypal new wave synthpop singles: "Only You" and its B-side "Situation," "Don't Go," "Nobody's Diary," "The Other Side Of Love." But upon the release of You And Me, the two parted ways, Clarke going on to success with Erasure and Moyet to her own solo career.
In Your Room contains remastered versions of the two albums, a CD of remixes and B-sides, and a DVD of promo videos and a short documentary. The two albums are stone classics: today, their sequencers, synths and synth-drums sound both quaint and influential, and aside from the (overly?) familiar singles, there are plenty of great tracks to be (re-)discovered, such as the impassioned "Midnight" or the uber-poppy "Walk Away From Love." The set as a whole is aimed at completists: five of the twelve tracks on the remix disc are versions of "Situation," so it's not for continuous listening. But Clarke and Moyet, who recently reunited to tour (they played only 24 dates in the ‘80s), were a perfect partnering, and In Your Room is a welcome reminder.
Standout Tracks: "Midnight," "Don't Go," "Situation" STEVE KLINGE
