….For most anyone born before Star Wars: Episode IV was released but after Dr. Strangelove.

Back in the heady, teal-and-turquoise, Reaganized-for-your-protection 1980s there was a short-lived yet immensely popular syntho pop band called Yazoo, known here in The States as Yaz. While the team of keyboard master Vince Clarke and church-bell-strong vocalist Alison Moyet proved capable of turning out some real hits, they parted ways after only two albums; Clarke went on to define the sound for such bands as Erasure and Depeche Mode, while Moyet had/has herself a modest-yet-distinguished career as a solo artist.

Since their breakup, Yazoo’s songs have been covered, sampled, remixed and mashed-up (mashupped?) sixty ways from late Sunday evening after the liquor stores are all closed. One of the most amazing homages to their work came in the form of DJ/Producer Paul Dakeyne’s epic remix, “Situation (Re-Situated)”, a nine minute, forty-eight second remix of Yazoo’s classic, “Situation”. Released on vinyl in 1987, the remix featured a meticulous collection of carefully matched and time-shifted snippets from a dizzying array of songs, movies, television programs and other media. It is an absolute classic.

After approximately 15 years of on-and-off searching in used record stores, modern CD compilations and on file-sharing sites, I finally found a decent copy of Re-Situated, downloaded from a BitTorrent seed. The first thing I did with the MP3 when I got it was play the whole thing through at about Level 11 on my 5.1 computer speakers.

The second thing I’m doing with it is making it available to you.

No one who is a fan of either Yazoo or DJ mixes (or the more contemporary art of mashups) should be without a copy of Re-Situated. Arr Eye Double-A be damned, I’m putting this baby up until someone in an expensive suit tells me to take it down. The world needs this song, perhaps now more than ever. So please, friends; download, partake, share and enjoy.

Situation_(Re-Situated).mp3