Alison Moyet Celebrates Her 40-Year Solo Career At N.Y.C. Concert

When the British singer Alison Moyet released her debut solo album Alf in 1984, it initially appeared daunting. At the time, she had severed her musical partnership with keyboardist Vince Clarke in Yazoo, which had achieved major U.K. success with their first two synthpop albums Upstairs at Eric’s and You and Me Both and such hit singles as “Only You” and “Nobody’s Diary.” But any concerns or questions of whether Moyet could succeed on her own after Yazoo’s brief career were immediately allayed: Alf became a hit and kick-started an acclaimed career incorporating genres such as sophisticated pop, jazz and blue-eyed soul in addition to synthpop.

To commemorate her 40 years as a solo artist, Moyet released her 10th studio album, Key, last October. That record featured reworkings of her well-known songs and deep cuts as well as new material. As Moyet indicated in a press statement about Key, she wanted “to look at the trajectory of those decades and explore songs that, in their original form, were never fully realised or have had their relevance to me altered by time.”

That was also the focus of her current Key tour, which included a sold-out stop in New York City’s Webster Hall on Friday. Supported by musicians Sean McGhee and Brendan Cox, Moyet presented a satisfying 90-minute overview of her solo music and a few Yazoo classics. Die-hard fans in the audience likely recognized certain songs from her rich catalog that were reimagined, such as “Is This Love?” (which was rendered as a slow and smoldering ballad that contrasted with the very poppy original studio version from her 1987 Raindancing); “Love Resurrection” (originallly from Alf and reinterpreted as a pulsating dance number); and “It Won’t Be Long” (a standout pop track from 1991’s Hoodoo that was presented as an acoustic folk-country song). In addition to those popular songs, Moyet performed two new tracks from Key: the reflective “Such Small Ale” and the eloquent “The Impervious Me.”

Of course, the only material not reworked for this show was from her time in Yazoo; they were in their original form, from the lovely ballad “Only You” and sublime “Nobody’s Diary” to the banging hypnotic dance numbers “Situation” and “Don’t Go.” the latter closing the night on a high.

Certainly, time had not diminished Moyet’s rich and soulful voice since her Yazoo days—her performance of the anguished and haunting ballad “This House” was a showstopping moment, in particular. Overall, she was in fine and commanding form at Webster Hall for a night to celebrate one of the most durable careers in pop music.

Setlist:

Fire

More

Such Small Ale

Nobody’s Diary

The Impervious Me

So Am I

Can’t Say It Like I Mean It

This House

Changeling

Beautiful Gun

Only You

It Won’t Be Long

Dorothy

Is This Love?

All Signs of Life

Footsteps

All Cried Out

Whispering Your Name

Encore:

Situation

Love Resurrection

Don’t Go