By contrast, Moyet was an unknown quantity as a writer. And yet her compositions are among the album’s finest. The first one encountered is the arresting Midnight. Boldly opening with an acapella verse, the song glides on brittle synths through emotive bluesy choruses to a jazzy scat coda. Over on side 2, her compositions bring tempo and a little necessary astringency. Goodbye 70s takes aim at the ersatz punks who used the movement for fame, while Bring Your Love Down (Didn’t I) wraps up proceedings in a funky dance workout, complete with audience baiting call-and-repeat vocals. But before the listener is permitted that let-your-hair-down moment, Moyet flays and slays with the aching gothic torch song, Winter Kills. It is a remarkable piece that that brought weight and nuance to the set.
The striking artwork placed two dismembered mannequins at a table in an austere loft apartment setting. The image offers as many interpretations as the observer can invent. It became one of the era’s most iconic sleeves.
Upstairs At Eric’s took the charts and playlists by storm. Despite its very Eurocentric sound, it caught the ears of Stateside tastemakers. Over there, Only You’s B-side, the Clarke/Moyet co-write, Situation, was recognised as the pop gem it is. Dance supremo, François Kervorkian, teased out the track’s innate groove and shimmer, turning it into a sophisticated floor-filler. Without the group’s permission, it emerged as their US debut single and replaced Tuesday on the album in that territory. And while Situation might almost have been written off by its creators at first, it has found seemingly eternal sampled life on dance tracks in every subsequent decade. That gloriously throaty Moyet laugh from the intro has enriched many a track over the years.