Purchased : June 1984
Tracks : Nobody's Diary / Softly Over / Sweet Thing / Mr Blue / Good Times / Walk Away From Love / Ode To Boy / Unmarked / Anyone / Happy People / And On
This was the first of a string of LPs purchased on cassette because I'd done something rather stupid. After I'd had my new music centre (a leaving home present) six months I decided it was time to change the stylus. The problem was that none of the stores in Leeds recognised the make and advised me to bring the old one in to see if they had something compatible. Therefore I put it in the sleeve pocket of my coat which I neglected to fasten up properly and consequently lost it (probably jumping around at football). And so I had no stylus at all for 6 months until getting the right one in the first shop I tried that autumn.
Although I liked Yazoo I had passed on this when it first came out in July 1983 because I already had the single - "Nobody's Diary" - and I was unduly influenced by John Shearlaw's one-star review in Record Mirror ( I should have remembered that he'd given five stars to albums by Renato and Bow Wow Wow earlier in the year). My interest was rekindled when Radio One did a series of one hour programmes on female singers one of which was on Alison Moyet and they played "Unmarked" which I thought was fabulous. Therefore when I saw the cassette in Bostock's , Leeds for £2.99 I jumped at it.
This was Yazoo's second and final album made when Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet were barely speaking to each other and their split was announced as soon as the LP was released. They were in such a hurry to get away other that no further singles were taken from the LP and this album became one of the decade's forgotten chart-toppers despite each party's subsequent success. The cover art, chosen by Moyet, of two Dalmatians snarling at each other couldn't be more apt with echoes of McCartney's copulating beetles on the cover of Ram. If Clarke and Moyet had been a romantic as well as musical partnership this would have been the synth-pop Rumours . As it is only one song directly addresses the problem but there are hints all over the place in these mostly bleak songs.
There are no joint credits here, Moyet having six songs to Clarke's five and so the LP is bookended by Moyet songs. First up is the single "Nobody's Diary" with Moyet pleading with her man to keep the relationship going and using every wile on him- "Perhaps if I held you I could win again". Clarke's inventive arrangement with the brittle staccato opening giving way to melodic rushes makes it hard to credit they mostly avoided going into the studio together.
Clarke's "Softly Over" covers the same sort of emotional territory but it's bleaker ; the lover has gone and isn't there to hear the simple "Understand me " plea. It's based on a simple , high pitched synth motif with crashing bass chords at the start of each verse to express the crushing finality. The middle eight introduces O Superman vocal loops and the Gothic synth sound from Joy Division's Decades for emphasis.
But it's not all doom and gloom. On Moyet's "Sweet Thing " they remember that they're a feted dance act particularly in the US and deliver a Hi-NRG disco romp. Moyet is again being deserted but brays her defiance "It's your day now but it's gonna be mine ". Clarke moves things along with little slashes of synthetic brass but the track goes on a little too long.
Clarke's wonderful "Mr Blue" follows ; there are distinct echoes of "Only You " in both tune and arrangement but it's a great song in its own right and reached number one in Holland in 1993 when covered by an AIDS-ridden singer. Clarke imagines himself as the personification of melancholy, an inhabiting spirit like Bob from Twin Peaks on the hunt for hosts as they contemplate the onset of winter, famine at Christmas time (in a wierdly prescient second verse) , war (this was a year after the Falklands conflict) and yet again. desertion. Moyet's vocal is beautifully controlled resisting the temptation to embellish when presented with a melody that doesn't tax her too much.
Side One closes with Moyet's "Good Times " a fiesty song which follows on from Green Door and Neil Sedaka's Standing On The Inside as the expression of an outsider's wish to join the party. Moyet's breathless vocal and Clarke's abrasive synth-brass riff work together to suggest she's not after tea and cakes when she gets there. The fat girl wants sex and won't be denied although the brutally honest lyrics "I'm a bargain honey I'm a give away " express an uncomfortable truth.
Side Two starts with Clarke's "Walk Away From Love" where the main synth riff bears a distinct resemblance to Just Can't Get Enough though the song itself is far less brash. This time it's Moyet doing the deserting though in the chorus she sings the part of her partner pleading for her to stay. There's a Kylie Minogue Shocked controversy about the second verse where she may sing "run to a place where you can't fuck me " although ""find me" rhymes with the previous line. Perhaps Clarke is trying to say in song what he couldn't in face-to-face conversation.
Moyet's "Ode To Boy" is unabashedly about Clarke and her dfficulty in understanding what made him tick. It's the slowest, bleakest track on the album with a sparse metallic sound which focuses attention on the stark lyric - I watch as he weeps unaware that I'm in awe of his despair" . Clarke closes the song with single note simulations of Oriental percussion reminiscent of Japan's similarly naked Ghosts . Moyet would record an acoustic version in the 90s but this is the superior take.
Clarke's "Unmarked" takes us away from personal matters for a post-Falklands rail at militarism. The song is built around a tortuous deliberately undanceable rhythm topped off with pistol-crack percussion that occasionally breaks into a military tattoo. If the lyrics are rather simplistic Moyet invests them with enough conviction in her delivery to silence the cynics and Clarke himself provides the wordless lamentation that forms the chorus.
"Anyone" sees Moyet retreating to her room for the sort of bedsit introspection with which Suzanne Vega would shortly be making a killing. Reflecting on a dismal one-night stand she retreats to her imagination. Clarke hovers in the background sympathetically with synthetic triangle and marimba sounds before returning to the O Superman vocal loops for an eeerie middle eight.
Clarke signs off with "Happy People" which he also sings, his Everyman voice well-suited to a barbed lyric about mindless hedonism. This of course came out just after Margaret Thatcher's first past the post "landslide" election victory in June 1983. The music reflects Clarke's veiled fist approach with a stabbing riff underneath the sugary glockenspiel melody on top. The line "Sometimes we're on TV when we're over 69" may be a reference to Thatcher's soulmate Reagan which might explain why the track was replaced by the single's B-side "State Farm" (very similar to "Good Times") for the US release.
The final track "And On" from Moyet is fittingly enough about a funeral. Ostensibly Moyet is singing about not being able to grieve for a young friend but really when she sings "I'm so glad that your life's gone now before it had the chance to die " it's clear that she's calling time on the project. Clarke bangs and swoops around its Vienna- like rhythm but you sense it's not his favourite song and he provides no coda. Almost as soon as Moyet finishes singing the word "die" they're gone , a brief but highly rewarding chapter in the story of pop coming to an abrupt end.
,This was Yazoo's second and final album made when Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet were barely speaking to each other and their split was announced as soon as the LP was released. They were in such a hurry to get away other that no further singles were taken from the LP and this album became one of the decade's forgotten chart-toppers despite each party's subsequent success. The cover art, chosen by Moyet, of two Dalmatians snarling at each other couldn't be more apt with echoes of McCartney's copulating beetles on the cover of Ram. If Clarke and Moyet had been a romantic as well as musical partnership this would have been the synth-pop Rumours . As it is only one song directly addresses the problem but there are hints all over the place in these mostly bleak songs.
There are no joint credits here, Moyet having six songs to Clarke's five and so the LP is bookended by Moyet songs. First up is the single "Nobody's Diary" with Moyet pleading with her man to keep the relationship going and using every wile on him- "Perhaps if I held you I could win again". Clarke's inventive arrangement with the brittle staccato opening giving way to melodic rushes makes it hard to credit they mostly avoided going into the studio together.
Clarke's "Softly Over" covers the same sort of emotional territory but it's bleaker ; the lover has gone and isn't there to hear the simple "Understand me " plea. It's based on a simple , high pitched synth motif with crashing bass chords at the start of each verse to express the crushing finality. The middle eight introduces O Superman vocal loops and the Gothic synth sound from Joy Division's Decades for emphasis.
But it's not all doom and gloom. On Moyet's "Sweet Thing " they remember that they're a feted dance act particularly in the US and deliver a Hi-NRG disco romp. Moyet is again being deserted but brays her defiance "It's your day now but it's gonna be mine ". Clarke moves things along with little slashes of synthetic brass but the track goes on a little too long.
Clarke's wonderful "Mr Blue" follows ; there are distinct echoes of "Only You " in both tune and arrangement but it's a great song in its own right and reached number one in Holland in 1993 when covered by an AIDS-ridden singer. Clarke imagines himself as the personification of melancholy, an inhabiting spirit like Bob from Twin Peaks on the hunt for hosts as they contemplate the onset of winter, famine at Christmas time (in a wierdly prescient second verse) , war (this was a year after the Falklands conflict) and yet again. desertion. Moyet's vocal is beautifully controlled resisting the temptation to embellish when presented with a melody that doesn't tax her too much.
Side One closes with Moyet's "Good Times " a fiesty song which follows on from Green Door and Neil Sedaka's Standing On The Inside as the expression of an outsider's wish to join the party. Moyet's breathless vocal and Clarke's abrasive synth-brass riff work together to suggest she's not after tea and cakes when she gets there. The fat girl wants sex and won't be denied although the brutally honest lyrics "I'm a bargain honey I'm a give away " express an uncomfortable truth.
Side Two starts with Clarke's "Walk Away From Love" where the main synth riff bears a distinct resemblance to Just Can't Get Enough though the song itself is far less brash. This time it's Moyet doing the deserting though in the chorus she sings the part of her partner pleading for her to stay. There's a Kylie Minogue Shocked controversy about the second verse where she may sing "run to a place where you can't fuck me " although ""find me" rhymes with the previous line. Perhaps Clarke is trying to say in song what he couldn't in face-to-face conversation.
Moyet's "Ode To Boy" is unabashedly about Clarke and her dfficulty in understanding what made him tick. It's the slowest, bleakest track on the album with a sparse metallic sound which focuses attention on the stark lyric - I watch as he weeps unaware that I'm in awe of his despair" . Clarke closes the song with single note simulations of Oriental percussion reminiscent of Japan's similarly naked Ghosts . Moyet would record an acoustic version in the 90s but this is the superior take.
Clarke's "Unmarked" takes us away from personal matters for a post-Falklands rail at militarism. The song is built around a tortuous deliberately undanceable rhythm topped off with pistol-crack percussion that occasionally breaks into a military tattoo. If the lyrics are rather simplistic Moyet invests them with enough conviction in her delivery to silence the cynics and Clarke himself provides the wordless lamentation that forms the chorus.
"Anyone" sees Moyet retreating to her room for the sort of bedsit introspection with which Suzanne Vega would shortly be making a killing. Reflecting on a dismal one-night stand she retreats to her imagination. Clarke hovers in the background sympathetically with synthetic triangle and marimba sounds before returning to the O Superman vocal loops for an eeerie middle eight.
Clarke signs off with "Happy People" which he also sings, his Everyman voice well-suited to a barbed lyric about mindless hedonism. This of course came out just after Margaret Thatcher's first past the post "landslide" election victory in June 1983. The music reflects Clarke's veiled fist approach with a stabbing riff underneath the sugary glockenspiel melody on top. The line "Sometimes we're on TV when we're over 69" may be a reference to Thatcher's soulmate Reagan which might explain why the track was replaced by the single's B-side "State Farm" (very similar to "Good Times") for the US release.
The final track "And On" from Moyet is fittingly enough about a funeral. Ostensibly Moyet is singing about not being able to grieve for a young friend but really when she sings "I'm so glad that your life's gone now before it had the chance to die " it's clear that she's calling time on the project. Clarke bangs and swoops around its Vienna- like rhythm but you sense it's not his favourite song and he provides no coda. Almost as soon as Moyet finishes singing the word "die" they're gone , a brief but highly rewarding chapter in the story of pop coming to an abrupt end.
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