— Ian Birch
A mash up of a pair of songs with the same title: no, I didn't strain any brain cells coming up with this one. Helped along by the words 'Don't Go' being at the end of one chorus while starting off another, it only really works when I'm singing them to myself; I never hear one "Don't Go" and end up thinking of the other.
To have the hits of Yazoo and Hothouse Flowers merge is meaningless but it's illustrative of a point I hinted at but ultimately failed to make five years ago the last time this Single of the Fortnight came up in this space. I suggested that the song sounds rushed, as if Vince Clark and Alison "Alf" Moyet had been under serious pressure to deliver a quick follow-up to their excellent debut smash "Only You". Clark had written this acclaimed hit while still a member of Depeche Mode (there's a pop music what if for you) but it is in fact "Don't Go" which is much more reminiscent of the keyboardist's previous group, even down to the ultra-repetitive chorus being not unlike that in "Just Can't Get Enough".
Clark penned ver Mode's early hits but he wouldn't really come into his own as a songwriter until he began working with Alf. Dave Gahan is a charismatic lead singer and he has the right kind of voice for a gloomy and pervy synth act but he was no Alison Moyet. (Who was?) Writing material for a such a commanding vocalist would have been a challenge, one that Clark proved up for. Yet, "Don't Go" demonstrates that she possessed the kind of cliched 'she could sing the phone book' voice that so very few have.
"Depeche Mode brought a new warmth to electronic pop," Neil Tennant observed in a May, 1982 profile. "Yazoo will give it some soulful passion". Again, this is chiefly down to what Alf was able to bring to the duo, though it's a credit to Clark that he began contributing compositions that worked along those lines as well. The pairing wouldn't last but the big beneficiaries were Clark and eventually partner Andy Bell after they formed Erasure. While both the Mode and Yazoo hit the ground running with standout singles, this third attempt at a Vince Clark project that might last (needless to say, it did) started slowly but half a decade of songwriting and recording graft would pay off with a series of good-to-great hits starting off with 1986's "Sometimes". Bell's voice proved to be almost as strong as Alf's. It was wise of Clark to start doing co-writes with his Erasure co-hort. (Last time round I argued that Yazoo was actually the best group Clark was a part of; I take it all back now)
It was probably inevitable that the Alf-Clark duo was destined to come undone in short order. His background in electro-pop clashed with her first love the blues. Ironically, the musical valley that separated them helped Yazoo stand out in a world of synth-pop duos, especially considering that most if not all of them were all male units. Clark also had this very un-rock 'n' roll lack of commitment to the bands he was in: leaving Depeche Mode after just one album, he planned to do the same with Yazoo until he was convinced to stick it out longer, only for him to form a deliberately unstable outfit called The Assembly (as well as lending his talents to a unique Anglo-Indian supergroup who also appear in this space). Once Alf was done with Clark, she went the torch song route, rather than returning to her blues roots.
I'm tempted to bemoan the wasted opportunity that was Yazoo but perhaps it's best if I just celebrate the fact that such an unlikely pair managed to find one another. "Only You" is still brilliant, "Don't Go" is all right in spite of my comments above and further hits "The Other Side of Love" and "Nobody's Diary" deserve to be much better remembered. Synth duos like Sparks, Blancmange, Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys and, yes, Erasure all had compelling lead singers with moody keyboardists all standing in the background but Yazoo managed to flout this convention. Alf happened to be a woman with a voice that could scare off a mountain lion who represented a way forward for Clark. "Synthesizer bands do get into this rut of having to look dead cool and composed," she told Tennant. "Whereas we intend to make complete idiots of ourselves". Which certainly explains the video for "Don't Go".
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Pato & Roger: "Pato and Roger a Go Talk"
Not credited to The Beat but included on their third album Special Beat Service, "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" is a platform for Ranking Roger and buddy Pato Banton to do what they were both best at. Basically, there's lots of back-and-forth toasting almost as if they're in a forties' jazz cutting session and they're Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. There's less of that dated new wavy action that The Beat had done to death by this point and all the better for it. The late Roger Charlery had always been the heartbeat of two-tone's second best group and this feels like an attempt to return them to their ska roots. Engaging, light, fun and with a dark heart. I'd say the two should've paired up more but their 1995 outing, the Top 20 hit "Bubbling Hot", proves they were probably better off leaving things alone.
(Click here to see my original review)
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