skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I think this little single was recorded after Clarke left both Depeche Mode and Yazoo. It was probably around the time he was working on The Assembly project; which he envisioned would feature a different singer on each track. I don't know much about Paul Quinn and truthfully, I haven't done any research on the guy. I felt his vocals were barely adequate. There's nothing about his voice or style that really reaches out and grabs me. Still, I'm guessing it's another one of those collaborations.
'One Day' is a decent song. It sounds a lot like Clarke's earlier material. It's got catchy melody, great rhythm for a mid-tempo ballad and interesting lyrics. Once more, Vince shows he's mastered the skill of writing pop hits. With 'Song For' I'm a little less supportive. The song's ok, but it's not nearly as interesting or diverting as 'One Day'. The lyric drags on about some girl being gone and he goes on and on about her red lips, blah blah... Really unimaginative cliche lyrics there. Quite annoying and sadly, drags the song into obscurity. Seriously, if there was a bigger project in the making with these two, I'm glad nothing became of it. Clarke does much better with highly talented vocalists. My final words: SKIP IT UNLESS YOUR COMPLETING A COLLECTION.
VINCE CLARKE/PAUL QUINN - ONE DAY
01. One Day
02. Song For
03. One Day (Extension)
04. Song For (Extension)
Back in the early 80's after Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode, he was contemplating his next move as a musician. Along with Eric Radcliffe, he came up with the idea for The Assembly. The band was going to record each song with a different vocalist. Sadly, the only officially released tracks from the project appear on this release. 'Never Never' features Feargal Sharkey on lead vocals. The single is fairly straight forward. It has the standard version of the song, standard version of the b-side and then two extended versions. Extended versions were extremely popular back then.
'Never Never' is a pleasing number. It's nothing remarkable considering Vince Clarke's body of work both to date and afterwards. And yet it possesses a tender fragility in the emotional vocal delivery by Sharkey. You can hear the resignation in his voice. A quiet defeat. It's very touching. The extended version contains additional music mostly at the beginning of the track. The introduction is quite long, yet serves to accent the message rather effectively.
'Stop/Start' is an instrumental piece. Clarke did a number of these pieces in those days. Each one of them could easily be pop songs if lyrics had been written and this one is no exception. It's got a wonderful beat and is enjoyable to listen to. The differences between the regular and extended versions are minimal, making both versions fairly similar.
Considering the enormous back catalog of Clarke compositions and his continued work in music, you have to admire these foundation tracks that even now sound lovely and inspiring. If you can locate this single, it's worth a listen. A very enjoyable piece of synthpop history! My final words: ENJOYABLE CLASSIC!
THE ASSEMBLY - NEVER NEVER
01. Never Never
02. Stop/Start
03. Never Never (Extended Version)
04. Stop/Start (Extended Version)
