'In Your Room' by Yazoo

The new boxset from Yazoo, 'In Your Room' was released on Monday. It comprises the remastered 'Upstairs At Eric's' and 'You And Me Both' plus another CD of non-album tracks and remixes and a DVD with a documentary and videos. I haven't been into town so far this week so I haven't seen a physical copy yet but I downloaded the audio today and have been happily bopping along to it all afternoon. I wouldn't say I was a great fan of Yazoo but I got both albums on vinyl when they came out and have enjoyed Alison's music ever since (I never got into Erasure). I'm looking forward to seeing them live in concert in a few weeks time.

'Upstairs At Eric's' is a great album, one of those landmarks when suddenly you hear something new. Listen to it now and, without the history, it doesn't stand out the way it did back when it was first released. But listening to it today and I keep hearing hooks and sequences that seem to be the bedrock of so much dance music - it tapped into something that has now become mainstream but you can trace it back to Yazoo, Vince's electronic wizardry and Alison's vocals.

Although I had the albums on vinyl I've only ever had a 'best of' CD that includes less than half of the album so it's been great to hear the album in full again. Fab tunes like 'Bad Connection', 'Goodbye 70s', 'Midnight' (which allows Alison to show off her voice), 'In My Room', 'Tuesday' (with the drear line of 'Woman of 30...' sung as if 30 is ancient and at the end of life [sigh]) and 'Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)' as well the obvious 'Don't Go' and 'Only You'. Mind you, it also reminded me of my pet hate of the waste of space 'I Before E Except After C' in which the best part is Alison's stoned laughter (I've deleted it from my iPod already for it's sheer annoyance factor).

'You And Me Both' was Yazoo's second and final album and I think they split the week it was released or something like that. I bought it. 'Upstairs' is the better album since it was ground-breaking and, by the second one, we had a good idea of what to expect, but it's a good album nonetheless. Highlights for me are 'Mr Blue', 'Nobody's Diary', 'Sweet Thing', 'Good Times' and 'Ode To Boy' (although I prefer Alison's solo version).

The third disc is remixes and a few non-album songs and rareties. It's nice to have the bonus tracks, but they're extras really. I decided to download the three audio discs rather than buy the full boxset largely because of the price - £10.99 for 3 CDs compared to £35.99 for 3 CDs + 1 DVD + the packaging. I suspect I'd only watch the DVD once and not look at the packaging after the first time, so £25 isn't a bad saving and shows what the retail and record company mark-up really is. My music-listening habits have changed over the years but that's for another blog.

Anyway, I've enjoyed listening to it, the sound quality is great, nice and clean, and I'm looking forward to seeing Yazoo on 19 June - not long now!