Customer Reviews

Upstairs at Erics

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yaz appeared on the "New Wave" scene in 1982 with the hits "Situation", "Don't Go" and "Only You". Fronted by Vince Clark (ex-Depeche Mode) on synthesizers and an unknown female vocalist named Allison Moyet, Yaz (originally Yazoo) created catchy electro/pop. Yaz's debut album "Upstairs At Eric's" produced several huge club hits with "Situation" (here in it's entire "Club Mix" version), "Don't Go" and the moderately successful "Only You". The first two songs are synthesized discoish club tunes with strong vocals courtesy of Moyet. Club jocks pumped these songs thru their sound systems to packed dancefloors (I know cause I was one of the jocks that spun both these tunes, sometimes several times a night) worldwide. But the album also had other great songs such as "Bad Connection", "Goodbye Seventies", and "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" to name a few. If you enjoy artists such as Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, New Order, Human League, Heaven 17 and Ultravox then this cd is a must have. Highly Recommended!

This is the FINEST piece of electronic pop music to come out of the Eighties. The marriage of Vince Clarke's cold electronics and the gospel/blues influenced vocals of Alison "Alf" Moyet is a match made in music heaven. Even the more experiental pieces here work really well, although casual fans slag them off as being overblown and pretentious. Filled with hits, both ballads and dance floor fillers ( "Only You", "Situation", "Don't Go") Even the deeper album cuts are great - "( Didn't I ) Bring Your Love Down" is a stomper we STILL play at our house parties,the haunting "Winter Kills" just might well be Alison's finest vocal performance on record ( and this was on her DEBUT for God's sake )and the bluesy "Midnight" still sends shivers down my spine. A few of more pop-flavoured songs round out this collection, making it very perfectly balanced. It's not "just a dance record" it's a piece of music history, an undeniable classic.

You'll NEVER remove this disc from your player. This is a promise to all the music lovers out there. Young and old alike. This collection of tracks sways from the digital orgasm of Clarke's instrumentation to the bassa boom of Moyet's vocals.
This collection is started with the energy inducing "Don't Go": Moyet pleads with you not to exit, you'll never want to as Clark's keyboard hugs you as tight as Moyet's voice. The other "shiners" here are "Goodbye Seventies", "Situation", "Bad Connection" and the mega-looped "I Before E Except After C": an eloquent vocal conocotion. "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" is another crooner. You'll be dazzled by both the odd instrumentation and the oddly masculine femininity of Moyet's voice. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Thank God Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode in 1982! Otherwise this might not have happened. Alison "Alf" Moyet had then (and still does have) a voice with incredible range, and for the most part, she doesn't feel she has to scream and wail a la Mariah Carey to be heard. Only You, Situation and Don't Go are alternative-radio classics. Even though "Situation" has been sampled to death in a number of dance tracks (most well-known is probably "Macarena"), hearing the original is still a thrill. Wasn't "Only You" covered in a Spanish-language version ("Solo Tu") a few years ago by, I think it was Enrique Iglesias? That just goes to show that this music is timeless - it sounds great even today. Although neither Alf nor Vince are enjoying the same levels of success today as they did in the '80s (Alf as a solo artist and Vince with Erasure), their music as Yaz(oo) will live forever.

Usually, every track has to sparkle to warrant 5 stars, but there are so many perfect moments here that it gets 5.

The problems? Someone should have known better than release "I Before E Except After C." "In My Room" sounds harsh, and meanders so much in its backing vocals that the entire track is annoyingly destroyed. "Goodbye Seventies" is a fluff song.

That's about it, though. The rest of album wavers between very good and utterly captivating. "Don't Go" and "Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)" are masterpiece dance tracks, with Alison Moyet's giant voice pushing over whatever synth lines Vince Clarke can throw at her. "Only You" is, quite simply, the best ballad to come out of the decade (that's a conservative estimate...maybe a hell of a lot longer than that). "Winter Kills" is almost as interesting, as Moyet whispers, hisses, and blasts her way through a spare background. "Too Pieces" and the very '60s-ish pop (vocally) of "Bad Connection" are the rest of the standouts.

The other tracks, "Midnight" and "Situation" are very good, but each has a slight flaw. "Situation" is a tad too long for the stark instrumentation to carry, and "Midnight" is one of only a few songs where Moyet ever sounds like she's crossed the border into histrionics.

These comments apply to "Upstairs at Eric's" and "You and Me Both" by Yaz:

Turned on to these albums in high school in a very interesting way (long story ... :->), I have not been able to get these albums out of my head. (The fact that later I was able to connect with one of my supervisors over these very albums is another very interesting story ....)

I bought the cassettes when they first came out, then later the CDs, and somewhere along the line lost the CDs and bought them again recently.

These albums are most excellent, with a classic late 1980s/ early 1990s feel with a slightly different twist. I like the beat that is indicative of the time, but the lyrics, the language, has a meat, a bite, with much more depth than a lot of the music of that same time.

To me, a music library is just not complete without these two albums, and now that I've verified my previously purchased CDs are not merely misplaced in a move but truly lost, I feel much more complete now that I've repurchased these albums and have them in my musical collection.

I could discuss each track in laborious detail - but suffice it to say, if you're even remotely a fan of late 1980's/early 1990's music, you'll love Yaz.

DM's "Speak & Spell" came out a year before, and everyone was in awe over the British Electronic Band. And then Vince Clarke left, and formed Yaz(oo) with Alison Moyet, and what a great move it was. For both Clark and DM. "Upstairs At Eric's" is a masterpiece of music making. It was the first time that anyone had heard a bluesy female singer backed by dark electronic sound. What a combination. Not only did it sound good. The songs are good as well. "Don't Go", "Only You" and "Situation" are classic synth-pop songs. Alison's laugh in "Situation" has been sampled by dozens of other songs including "The Macarena", while other Yaz songs have been sampled or covered by many an artist, which goes to show how much of an influence these two were. Other tracks which are outstaning are "Midnight", "Goodbye Seventies" and the brooding "Winter Kills". This would have to be in my Top 20, of the best albums ever made.

Yaz might never have scored the big hit single (or video) in the United States like such sythesizer rock contemporaries as The Human League or A Flock of Seagulls. Instead they managed to accomplish something a little more lasting. Twenty years later, their music still has a freshness while their contemporaries are consigned to the where-are-they-now dustbin. That said, "Upstairs at Eric's" is an uneven album, but when it takes off it really soars. Alison Moyet's warm, inviting voice stands in sharp contrast to most of her electronic rock peers, who sound as if they were auditioning for the role of the ship's computer voice on The Enterprise. Her vocal instrument is what really makes songs like the amazing ballads "Too Pieces" and "Only You," and faster songs like "Don't Go" soar. As her accompaniment, Vince Clark's extracts an incredible variety of sounds from his synthesizer. The only drawback is that some of the experimental material, like the awful chanting "I Before E Except After C" doesn't work.

Overall, "Upstairs at Eric's" was a pioneering electronic rock record at the time of its release that still holds much of its power today.

When Yaz (Yazoo in the UK) first hit the scene, no one quite new what to make of it. This wasn't Depeche Mode! It wasn't even New Order! After everyone got over the idea of DM wunderkind Vince Clarke teaming up with a diva, people actually listened. And it's great stuff! Everyone's heard the unbridled pulse of Don't Go and Situation on the dance floor, and Only You was of course their signature hit. But what surprises today is how enduring this music really is. Despite a few odd moments (I Before E is a throwaway), it's impressive to see that songs like Winter Kills have stood the test of time. If you've been refraining from buying this because you caught only 1 of their songs on an 80s compilation, and didn't know if the rest was any good, be assured: it IS good.

Imagine Annie Lennox of Eurythmics singing early Depeche Mode standards. Well this is Yaz, only better. Based on the music of founding Depeche member, Vince Clarke, Yaz puts out an interesting blend of 80's digital dance ,slow soulful based jazz electronica ,and a brief sojourn into Kraftwerk styling (I Before E except after C). The music is not as richly textured as later electronica ,as is all late seventies early eighties albums of this type, but is still a pleasure to listen to.Keep in mind without Alison Moyet's vocals Yaz simply wouldn't have made the grade, but with her voice a gem is produced. I only give it four stars in lieu of 5 due to the fact that the music is dated and a little threadbare.