|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yazoo bowed out with superb second offering, 29 Mar 2006
Releasing a follow-up to any huge album is a big challenge to any band. Think of Ultravox and Rage In Eden: three months on a German farm crafting the sequel to Vienna only to have it slagged badly upon release. Likewise OMD's follow-up to 1981's masterpiece Architecture & Morality, Dazzle Ships. Being seen to live up to and maybe even top your biggest work is no small feat.Did Yazoo do that with You & Me Both? By and large, yes, but the contrasts between this album and the stunning debut of 'Upstairs at Eric's' also bear exploration. 'You & Me Both' is a typically 'difficult' second album: Yazoo were slowly disintegrating during its writing and recording; neither Clarke nor Moyet could further reconcile their divergent musical passions, Moyet being all about the feeling and Clarke being captivated by the sound. This is an album born of dissent and frustration: the mood in the studio was indeed tense at times by all accounts. Two Essex musicians shouting at each other as the project they founded...err founded amid acrimony. So what are the songs like? From the excellent final single 'Nobody's Diary' through 'Softly Over' to the conclusive, funeral-themed 'And On', the lyrical content is dominated by the break-up. It's amazing how such intense emotions can be framed so exquisitely by brilliantly-programmed electronics but such was the essence of Yazoo. Highlights for me: 'Mr Blue', the acute anti-war 'Unmarked' (written in the wake of the Falklands War the year before) and 'Anyone', a song about holding onto your self-worth when things are bleak. It's a song I've often related to: "And in my darkest hour, when I can find no light/My goals are out of sight and nothing warms the night/I close my eyes and with such sweet surprise/I can be anywhere/I can be anything/I can be...anyone." It's powerfully delivered and totally disproves those who believed then (and maybe still do) that synth-based musics are cold and emotionless. Buy this and contrast it with 'Upstairs...'. It's a pity they didn't stick around to produce more but we must be grateful they did create the two albums they did. Since the dark days of 1983, Vince and Alison are no longer at loggerheads. I'd love to see a Yazoo reunion...
|
