Reviewed by Tom Mott
Released: August 20 1982 Yazoo (AKA Yaz) Upstairs At Eric's Genre: Now This Is What I Call Synthpop Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Tom’s Rating: 4.7 out of 5 Highlights: Don't Go Bad Connection Midnight Only You Situation Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I) JOHN FREEMAN (THE QUIETUS): In 1982, at my rundown grammar school in a grey suburb of Manchester, musical battle lines had been drawn - you either liked Japan or The Human League. You couldn't like both and had to display an allegiance. Soft Cell were a tad too edgy and The Smiths were still a few months away. Then, in the springtime, a single was released that comfortably straddled the great divide. Every last one of us loved 'Only You' by Yazoo. While the electronics were familiar, the stark ballad offered something very different – soul. ALISON MOYET: Vince called me up and said he had a song, would I like to go and demo it for him? He played me 'Only You'. I had a very quick musical memory then and just sang it into his tape recorder. He called me up a week later saying he'd played it to the record company and they thought we should record it. So we recorded it, and when they heard that they said we should make it into a single so tried to find some b-sides. Vince had written 'Don't Go' but that was too good for a b-side so then we wrote 'Situation' together. VINCE CLARKE: We just came together and it was a bit of a mish-mash really. ALISON MOYET: Everything we did at that time just seemed to spark - it just kind of worked. I don't think Vince ever intended to start a band with me, that wasn't what he was looking for. TOM: I hear a strong connection to the past -- skipping back past Kraftwerk, OMD, Gary Numan, Ultravox, and even Giorgio Moroder -- to the early bubbly 70s synth pop sounds of Wendy Carlos (Switched on Bach) and Perry & Kingsley (Popcorn, Baroque Hoedown). Back to what I call the "bleep blorp" school of electronic music. Listen to Don't Go around 1:16 -- that's straight up Hot Butter doing "Popcorn"! VINCE CLARKE: Part of the charm of that album is a naivety. We'd make one sound and we'd think it was great and just stop there and wouldn't make any more sounds. ALISON MOYET: We had this strange studio relationship where he would bring a song to me or I would bring a song to him and he would do what he did without asking me anything and I would do what I did without asking him anything... there was no conversation. VINCE CLARKE: Other than [Only You], my favourite would be 'Midnight', a song that Alison wrote. She had it already and at the time I thought it was a real challenge to orchestrate and write music for. ONLINE REVIEWER: What reviewers often overlook is the strength of Moyet's compositional contributions which sometimes match Clarke's for sheer skill, and frequently outstrips them in the emotional stakes. ALISON MOYET: if you'd have heard 'Don't Go' when Vince first played it to me it was a very straight melody much in the way of 'Just Can't Get Enough'. Those turns in the melody in the final version were things that I brought to it from my own sense of playing R&B. DAVID JEFFRIES: While Speak and Spell is, by far, the more consistent record, Upstairs at Eric's is wholly more satisfying, and is light years ahead in emotion. TOM: Clarke gets heralded as a genius more frequently, but Moyet's songwriting equals his, and it's the juxtaposition of her voice and her vocal delivery with his synth sounds and uncluttered arrangements that make it work. She's brilliant. As is he. There's only one dud on the album -- his experimental voice collage (Track 4). Given this is the product of two 20 year olds who barely knew each other experimenting in the studio, it's entirely forgivable. A FRIEND: CLASSIC!!! JIM COURSEY: Formative, yes. A FRIEND: It would be nice to get stoned and listen to the whole thing in a comfortable, dark room. ONLINE REVIEWER: Among the best three albums ever. ONLINE REVIEWER: A masterpiece. That two 20 year old kids could write and record this in itself is amazing. 1982 PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER REVIEW: This group is even more pretentious than most. Yuk. 1 star rating.
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