Upstairs at Eric's

Upstairs at Eric's
Studio album by Yazoo
Publication (s)	23rd August 1982
Label (s)	Mute Records
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	New wave , synth pop
Title (number)	11
running time	42:31
occupation	Singing / piano: Alison Moyet Noise: Vince Clarke
production	Eric Radcliffe and Yazoo
Studio (s)	Blackwing Studios, London
chronology - Upstairs at Eric's You and Me Both (1983)
Single releases March 15, 1982 Only you 5th July 1982 Don't go November 1982 The Other Side of Love

Upstairs at Eric’s is the debut album by British synth-pop duo Yazoo , consisting of Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet . The album was recorded in London's Blackwing Studion with Eric Radcliffe as producer and released on August 23, 1982 on Mute Records . The title of the album alludes to the name of the producer. The album is assigned to the New Wave genre . It reached second place in the British Top40 and was awarded a platinum record by the BPI six months after its publication .

Origin and style

After first experiences with the Vicars and the Screaming Abdabs in the music magazine Melody Maker, Moyet was looking for a new musical partner. Clarke no longer wanted to be the nice teen from Depeche Mode and knew Moyet from their school days in Basildon and so the two formed a duo in November 1981 and initially signed up with Daniel Miller at Mute Records for a single. Miller had already released three singles with Clarke and the Depeche Mode debut album on Mute. Clarke took his Depeche Mode disdained Only You and recorded it with Eric Radcliffe at his Blackwing studio in Southwark, London. Moyet took on the vocal part that was originally intended for Dave Gahan. On the B-side, Situation, a co-production by Clarke and Moyet, has been released. The single immediately climbed to number 2 in the British Top40. In the US, Situation was released in a remix by François Kevorkian and made it to the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Charts. The collaboration between Yazoo, Miller and Radcliffe was expanded to include a full album. The album consists of seven tracks that Vince Clarke had partly written as a member of Depeche Mode and three four tracks that Alison Moyet contributed. The only situation remained a joint effort.

There are several explanations for the title Upstairs at Eric’s : One is that Clarke set up his own private studio (Splendid Studio) below the Blackwing Studio, which Radcliffe operated, but was taken upstairs. Another explanation is that the studio was occupied for the recordings of the album A Broken Frame by Depeche Mode and Radcliffe converted his private apartment into a studio to enable the recordings for the album. The album cover names Blackwing 1 & 2 as recording locations.

At the time of the recordings for the album, Clarke's instrumentation consisted of a Jupiter-4 , which he only played monophonically for the melodies, a Pro One , Arp 2600, a RSF Kobol (keyboard version) and Roland Juno 60 in conjunction with an MC 4 Microcomposer for programmed arrangements. A Roland TR-808 was used as the drum computer. However, the base drum was replaced by one generated by a synthesizer (Arp 2600). For the tour after the release, Clarke bought two Fairlight CMI systems in order to be able to do without additional keyboard players.

Track list

The European edition (MUTE - catalog number STUMM 7) contained the track Tuesday as the ninth title , while the North American version ( SIRE - catalog number 9 23737-1) contained the title Situation in the same position. Situation was only released in Europe as the B-side of the single Only You , but as an independent and very successful single in the USA, so Sire didn't want to miss the title on the North American edition.

1. Don't Go (Vince Clarke) - 3:08
2. Too Pieces (Clarke) - 3:14
3. Bad Connection (Clarke) - 3:20
4. I Before E Except After C (Clarke) - 4:36
5. Midnight (Alison Moyet) - 4:22
6. In My Room (Clarke) - 3:52
7. Only You (Clarke) - 3:14
8. Goodbye Seventies (Moyet) - 2:35
9. Tuesday (Clarke) - 3:22
10. Winter Kills (Moyet) - 4:06
11. Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I) (Moyet) - 4:40

A CD release of Mute in 1986 includes (as well as the German Intercord edition of 1990) next to the original album additionally situation in the 12 "-Remixversion of Kevorkian, while the US edition in 1987 by Sire exactly the vinyl version of 1982 corresponds to. In the European Edition I Before E Except After C was omitted and the Moyet composition Midnight was used instead. The original songs were not used until the remastered edition from 2008.

Publication and chart successes

In addition to a second place in the British album charts, the album only reached number 14 in the German-speaking countries. In Austria and Switzerland, the album could not hold its own. In the US, the album reached number 92 on the Billboard 200 .

year	title	Chart positions					annotation
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1982	Upstairs at Eric's	14 () 1982	-	-	2 (63) September 4, 1982	92 (32) 1982	Platinum in UK

The original editions of the single releases could only place themselves well in the European charts. It was not until the remix versions of Don't Go and Situation , released on a best-of album in 1999, that they also achieved good placements in the US Dance Club / Play Charts in 1999 and 2000.

year	title	Chart positions					annotation
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1982	Only you / situation	72 (2) July 12, 1982	-	-	2 (14) April 17, 1982	67 (8) 02.26.1983	Silver in UK
1982	Don't Go / Winter Kills	4 (30) 08/30/1982	6 (10) November 01, 1982	2 (8) October 03, 1982	3 (11) 07/17/1982	-	Silver in UK
1982	Situation / Situation (Dub Version)	-	-	-	-	73 (8) September 18, 1982	released in USA only
1982	The Other Side of Love / Ode to Boy	35 (14) December 20, 1982	-	-	13 (11) November 20, 1982	-

reception

The Musikexpress called Upstairs at Eric’s “one of the most exciting records of the year” in 1982. David Jefferies from allmusic compares the debut albums by Depeche Mode and Yazoo and comes to the conclusion: “While Speak & Spell is clearly the more consistent album, Upstairs at Eric’s is convincing more and beats the record by Depeche in substance and ambition, and is light years ahead in terms of feeling. "

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} BPI: Certified Awards Search. In: BPI.co.uk. Retrieved September 14, 2014 (English, keyword: Yazoo). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Interview with Vince Clarke & Eric Radcliffe, Electronic and Music Maker, March 1984 edition, pp. 46–49
3. ↑ Yazoo in the German album charts. (No longer available online.) In: Musicline.de. PhonoNet GmbH, archived from the original on December 22, 2015 ; Retrieved June 16, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ ^{a b} Yazoo in the Austrian hit parade. In: austriancharts.at. Hung Medien, accessed June 16, 2011 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Yazoo in the Swiss hit parade. In: hitparade.ch. Hung Medien, accessed June 16, 2011 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Upstairs at Eric’s in the Official UK Charts (English)
7. ↑ Upstairs at Eric's at number 92 on US Billboard 200 of November 20, 1982. In: Billboard.com. Retrieved September 3, 2016 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Yaz Singles on the US Hot 100 Charts. In: Billboard.com. Retrieved September 3, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Yazoo in the German single charts. (No longer available online.) In: Musicline.de. PhonoNet GmbH, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved June 16, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ^ Christian Graf: Rock Music Lexicon . Europe / Vol. 2, L – Z. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-922542-22-0 , p. 435-866 , p. 830 .
11. ↑ David Jeffries: Upstairs at Eric's at allmusic. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved June 16, 2011 .