Yaz

Image: Neil Vance

Vince Clarke with his Yamaha DX7 in 1984.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

“When Alison first approached me, I was quite flabbergasted,” said Vince Clarke. “I’m pretty much married to Andy [in Erasure], and it’s like you and an old girlfriend going out on a date. But we met and we spoke, and it’s been 25 years between then and now. A lot has gone on — mostly children. We’re very different people, and we ended up kind of feeling anxious about the idea, but very excited.”

As Clarke tells it, their unforgettable sound was pretty much an accident.

“When Alison and myself were recording, we were both pretty naive about the whole process. The arrangements may have been unique, but it’s not so much that we planned to do that as that when you’re first in the studio, everything you do sounds great, because it’s all fresh to you.

“When I approached Alison, I already knew she could sing really well, and I think that my songwriting was probably getting a little more romantic as I was getting older. I wanted to work with someone who could express that feeling, but it never occurred to me that her singing was really soulful or ‘bluesy.’ She was just someone who could sing with emotion and bring out those emotions in the songs I was writing.”

“At the end of the day, you don’t listen to a record and go ‘that was great’ because of the sound; you would never remember the chorus when singing in the shower if it wasn’t for the song, and that’s my thing.” Read more…

There’s a nice Flickr set of Yaz, performing at the Paramount Theater.

Let me know if you caught the show.

Yaz was only around for two years (82-83), but it the music it made in that short time period has had a huge impact on synth pop.

Now, Yaz is on tour for the first time in 25 years and getting good reviews:

Moyet’s deep, husky and sensual voice seems, at least on paper, an unlikely companion to Clarke’s cool electro blizzard. Yet, the two ended up meshing so perfectly on record, combining at times to create a sound best described as techno blues. Moyet, however, was in her early 20s when Yaz made its two albums and there were legitimate concerns that the vocalist, now 47, wouldn’t be able to handle her signature vocal parts as convincingly in 2008.

Although she has lost some of her range, Moyet still managed to impress in Oakland as she soared through “Goodbye ’70s,” “In My Room” and “Walk Away From Love.”

The bald-headed Clarke was robotically business-like, never addressing the crowd and rarely looking up from his expensive gadgets. Moyet showed more life, especially toward the end of the concert as she danced about the front of the stage. The real show, however, was in the crowd, as fans gyrated exuberantly to the two songs that everyone was waiting to hear: “Don’t Go” and “Situation.”

This could be your only chance to see Yaz perform. If you catch the show, let me know your thoughts in the comments. Read more…

The video quality is pretty poor, but these fan videos show that Vince Clarke & Alison Moyet are staying true to their sound with their live version of their Yaz electropop classics.

Here are the remaining dates for their tour:

07 July    Oakland, CA    Paramount Theatre [sold out]
08 July    Los Angeles, CA    Orpheum Theatre
10 July    Los Angeles, CA    Orpheum Theatre [sold out]
11 July    Los Angeles, CA    Orpheum Theatre [sold out]
14 July    Chicago, IL    Chicago Theater
16 July    New York, NYC    Terminal 5 [sold out]
17 July    New York, NYC    Terminal 5 [sold out]
19 July    New York, NYC    Beacon Theatre
20 July    Washington, DC    9:30 Club
22 July    Dallas, TX    Lakewood Theatre
24 July    Cosra Mesca, CA    OC Fair / Pacific Amphitheater Read more…