Yazoo

Basildon

Yazoo was Vince Clarke on keyboards and Alison Moyet on vocals, with Moyet also playing piano on the first album. The name came from Yazoo Records, a blues label, and in North America the duo was known as Yaz. They released records on Mute in Britain and Sire and Reprise in North America between 1981 and 1983, reunited in 2008 and played one more date in 2011.

Upstairs at Eric's came out on August 20, 1982 on Mute (Sire in the US). It was recorded in 1982 at Blackwing Studios in south-east London, in a former church where Clarke had earlier recorded Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell, with Daniel Miller unavailable as the first-choice producer. When Blackwing became too booked, the producer Eric Radcliffe built a studio at his house in about ten days to finish the album, linking two Soundcraft 16-track machines for 32 tracks. The title honors Radcliffe. Clarke's gear included a Roland Jupiter 4.