Battle of Vince Clarke's vocalists

Alf

That's where I'm falling, too. Her voice seems tailor-made to undercut the preciousness in Clarke's sound palette and makes the songs cohere better to my ears, whereas Gahan was often overwhelmed and Bell amplified the stuff that bothered me up to 11 (aside from a few notable, amazing exceptions).

That said, now that Dave has come more into his own as a singer, I'd like to hear the three of them together on the same song. Hell, let's get a "New Life"/"Situation"/"Chorus" mashup or something.

Gahan got better as a vocalist after Clarke's stint in the band, then got worse at some point in the early 21st century.

Moyet would be my favourite vocalist here, but in terms of her work with Vince, I love her voice on stuff like 'Midnight' and 'Winter Kills', but her vocal approach works less well on other tracks.

Bell sounded a bit ropey on Wonderland but blossomed into a powerful vocalist with a great range, and his approach to backing vocals can be inspired (e.g. like on 'Joan' or the Erasure album) - I'd say Bell's peak as a singer was 1988-1997, and I notice a deterioration from about 2005 onwards.

Hmm. Bell it is.

Feargal Sharkey

ha I knew someone would say that

Alf but my absolute favourite Clarke tunes are probly Erasure's

"Never Never" is great tho

Her voice seems tailor-made to undercut the preciousness in Clarke's sound palette and makes the songs cohere better to my ears, whereas Gahan was often overwhelmed and Bell amplified the stuff that bothered me up to 11 (aside from a few notable, amazing exceptions)

otm. She's a more interesting writer than Bell too.

I wish that he'd done more stuff with Sharkey, but 'Never Never' is def. a great one-off.

There wasn't just The Assembly, there was also that Robert Marlow LP that Vince produced (i.e. did all the backing tracks for) that was meant to come out in '84, but didn't come out 'til years later. Marlow was another Basildonian along with Depeche and Moyet etc. He'd easily rank as the worst singer out of all of 'em, though.

There was also 'One Day', that one-off single he did with Paul Quinn.

Moyet worked better on the mid-tempo tracks and the ballads, but generally less well on the upbeat tracks. Bell was great at both.

Counterpoint: "Situation" is a jam and a half

Yup, that and 'Don't Go' work superbly.

Oh yeah, let's not forget Vince himself on 'Happy People'(!)

This thread has got me listening to the second Yazoo album, and it's sounding pretty good to me right now. Of all Vince's '80s work, this one seems to be a bit of a grower.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well, that was predictable.

Missed the poll, but that's the order I'd place them. Upstairs at Eric's, especially when it was new, had mystery and subtlety that his DM and Erasure stuff just didn't, and that was all down to Alf. BUT -- if I had to pick just one Vince Clarke song, "A Little Respect" would be in the running.

Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I Didn't I

ALL NIGHT

^ That's actually one of the tracks I think would be more suited to Bell than Moyet.

in part because Bell would've emulated her

xpost:

and I say that knowing full well that Moyet wrote the song.

'Midnight' and 'Winter Kills' are the kind of tracks where Yazoo had the edge over Erasure, IMO.

No vocals on the new solo album. Drone-y. I really like it. Concerning that the closing song is named "Last Transmission", though.