Yazoo - Situation (Hot Tracks Remix by Lester Temple)

This track is a remix of "Situation" by Lester Temple for Hot Tracks
© 1982 Mute
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Yazoo (known as Yaz in North America for legal reasons with Yazoo Records) were a British synth-pop duo from Basildon, Essex, England, consisting of former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke (keyboards) and Alison Moyet (vocals).They formed in 1981, after synthesizer player Clarke left Depeche Mode. Clarke had penned almost all of the band's debut album, Speak & Spell, including the Top Ten U.K. hit "I Just Can't Get Enough." Moyet, who previously played in an assortment of bands, had recently exited the Screamin' Ab Dabs and placed an ad in Melody Maker seeking new creative partners. The only reply she received was from Clarke, a fellow Basildon native. Despite growing up in the same town, Moyet and Clarke did not know each other well. Clarke was worried that by walking out of Depeche Mode he would lose his record deal with Mute Records and wanted to show the label that he still had something to offer them. The duo scored a hit right off the bat with the ballad "Only You," which hit number two on the U.K. chart in April 1982. Mute asked the duo to record the song as a single and make an album together. Clarke had already written "Don't Go" but both he and Moyet felt it was too good to be the B-side of "Only You" so they quickly wrote the song "Situation" together for the single's B-side. According to Moyet the name Yazoo was taken from the specialist blues record label, Yazoo Records. This decision led to a £3.5 million lawsuit threat by the label over the band's name and coupled with the fact that the name Yazoo was already in use by a small American rock band, the group was renamed Yaz for the North American market.
"Don't Go" was released in July 1982 as the second single in the UK and also reached the top three of the UK charts, but in North America "Situation" had been a hit in the clubs in a version remixed by New York-based DJ François Kevorkian, and against the band's wishes, it was released as their debut single in the US and Canada, where it reached number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Yazoo's commercial winning streak continued with their debut full-length, Upstairs at Eric's, which hit number two on the U.K. album chart and went platinum. Unlike their first record, the second album was made over a longer period of four months and with Clarke and Moyet rarely in the studio together at the same time: Clarke would record instrumental tracks in the morning, and Moyet would come in during the evening and record her vocals.
A single, "Nobody's Diary", was released in May 1983 ahead of the album and reached number 3 in the UK charts, but within days of the single's release, Yazoo announced that they were splitting up. The album, ironically titled You and Me Both, was released in the UK in July 1983 and reached number 1 in the album charts.. However, with no further singles or live appearances to promote it, it did not sell as well as Upstairs at Eric's, although it still achieved gold status in the UK for sales of 100,000 copies. In the US You and Me Both peaked at number 69 on the Billboard 200.
"Situation" was finally released as a single in the UK in 1990 in another remixed form, which was moderately successful, reaching number 14 on the UK singles chart. A compilation entitled Only Yazoo: The Best of was released in 1999 and was preceded by a re-release of Yazoo's debut single, "Only You", featuring a new remix of the title track and several more of "Don't Go".
Moyet launched a solo career and scored a major hit with her solo debut, 1984's Alf, while Clarke formed the Assembly and later Erasure, the latter of which with singer Andy Bell.
The comprehensive box set In Your Room appeared in 2008 and was supported by a reunion tour that visited the U.K., Europe, and North America. A double album titled Reconnected Live, featuring tracks recorded on the 'Reconnected' tour, was eventually released in September 2010.
On 14 May 2011 Moyet appeared as a guest on stage before Erasure's set on the second day of Mute Records' Short Circuit music festival at the Roundhouse in London. She performed three Yazoo songs with Clarke, "Nobody's Diary", "Ode to Boy" and "Don't Go". In an interview prior to the concert Moyet said she was "99.9% sure it's the last time" that she and Clarke would perform together as Yazoo, adding, "It was really good that Vince and I had come through the whole circle of being really angry with each other, forgetting what we'd been angry about, and forgetting that there was ever any displeasure". Wikipedia / Greg Prato, Allmusic