Don’T Go – Yazoo - 1981 - Disco Dance 80s

Don’T Go – Yazoo - 1981

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Yazoo: Biografia | Biography

Fonte: rockol.it

Gli Yazoo si formano nel 1981 dall’incontro tra Vince Clarke e la cantante Alison Moyet; il gruppo nasce dopo che Clarke lascia i Depeche Mode ad appena poco tempo dall’uscita del loro primo album, SPEAK & SPELL.

Gli Yazoo ottengono l’attenzione della classifica nel 1982 con i brani "Only you" e "Situation", che arrivano al secondo posto delle charts inglesi. Anche il successivo "Don't go" riscuote consensi positivi. Il successo prosegue con il primo LP UPSTAIRS AT ERIC’S 

e con YOU AND ME BOTH (1983); nonostante una carriera ben avviata, il duo decide comunque di sciogliersi. La Moyet si dedica ad una carriera solista, mentre Clarke forma gli Erasure, con Andy Bell.

Nel 1999 viene realizzata una raccolta, intitolata THE BEST OF YAZ.
Nel 2007 il duo annuncia la propria reunion: per celebrare l’evento viene pubblicato un box set di tre CD e un DVD dal titolo IN YOUR ROOM, uscito a maggio 2008. Nel 2010 viene invece realizzato il loro nuovo lavoro, RECONNECTED LIVE.

Source: thegreatrockbible.com

Accolades for a post-new wave, electro-pop duo that was around only a few years (and two LPs) are rare, but with YAZOO – or YAZ, as they were known in the States – exceptions to the rule were permitted. Led by former DEPECHE MODE synth/keyboard-player Vince 

Clarke, and fronted by larger-than-life chanter Alison Moyet, YAZOO rocketed from indie faves to global stars, paving the way for Clarke’s subsequent project, ERASURE, and, of course MOYET’s booming solo career. Making simplicity into an art-form among a sea of 

early-80s knob-twiddlers and yuppie boffins with second-hand synths, YAZOO will always be remembered for three glorious Top 3 hits, `Only You’ (“sadly” covered by a cappella group, The Flying Pickets, for a festive chart-topper in ’83), `Don’t Go’ and `Nobody’s Diary’.

Formed late 1981, in Basildon, Essex, then chief-songwriter Vince Clarke abruptly abandoned DEPECHE MODE after just one set (“Speak & Spell”) and found unheard-of white soul-stress, Alison Moyet. With electro/keys maestro Clarke retained by Mute 

Records and, hooking up with former Screaming Abdabs vocalist, Alison, the pair all-but gate-crashed the top slot the following spring by way of the bittersweet debut 45, `Only You’.

An objection, and impending multi-million-dollar lawsuit, raised by an insignificant American 

rock group of the same name, led to the duo being forced to call themselves YAZ – but thankfully only in the States. In Britain, however, the duo again reached Top 3 status later that summer with the hypnotic, upbeat power-blues of `Don’t Go’. YAZOO’s inaugural 

parent album, UPSTAIRS AT ERIC’S (1982) {*8}, not only scaled the burgeoning indie charts, but ranked as one of the best-selling albums of the year, it reached No.2 in Britain, while making inroads across the big pond. Understated at the time was Moyet’s songwriting 

role, responsible as she was for four R&B-meets-new wave numbers, namely `Goodbye 70’s’, `Winter Kills’, `Bring Your Love Down (Didn’t I)’ and `Midnight’. The duo itself rose above the synth-pop pack by dint of Clarke’s robotic yet seductively melodic keyboard lines 

and Moyet’s gritty, diva-like vocal impact and stunning range.

The following year, the pairing repeated the success with No.1 album, YOU AND ME BOTH (1983) {*8}, a more ambitious and consistent set which spawned Alison’s aforementioned 

jewel-in-the-crown, `Nobody’s Diary’. The sultry singer was again the focal point of the record, her not inconsiderable charisma and womanly presence asserting itself with a force that was rarely visible on her later, more ponderous mainstream material. Produced by E.C. 

Radcliffe, Alison’s other songs were arguably the best on show; `Ode To Boy’, `Sweet Thing’, `Good Times’ et al, giving a pulse and soul to an otherwise pop-fuelled dinky-ness.

Despite YAZOO’s enormous success and a growing groundswell of interest in America, the 

duo decided to split while the going was good; ALISON MOYET going on to a highly successful international solo career, while Clarke eventually – after a chart liaison with FEARGAL SHARKEY as The Assembly on `Never Never’ – hooked up with Alison’s male 

equivalent singer, Andy Bell, to form the equally fruitful ERASURE.

Spurred by a hundred or so acts emulating the electro-80s salad days (and, of course, YAZOO), messrs Clarke and Moyet put on hold their own projects to re-unite in 2008 on the 

25th anniversary of their split. Buoyed by YAZOO’s many hit re-mix/re-issues over the years and a stunning 27-date tour on both sides of the Atlantic, a concert double-album, RECONNECTED: LIVE {*7}, was finally delivered in 2010. Losing none of their panache 

and clinical dance-pop style, and judging by the crowd’s overwhelming response to just about everything (but just where was their once-exclusive Top 20 hit, `The Other Side Of Love’), YAZOO had proved that the 80s weren’t so bad after all.