The Assembly were a British

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

project formed in 1983 in Basildon, England, by Vince Clarke (songwriting, keyboards, backing vocals) and

Eric Radcliffe Eric Charles Radcliffe (often credited as E.C. Radcliffe - born 3 December 1950) is an English recording engineer and producer who worked with new wave and synthpop bands in the early 1980s in Basildon, England. He later became owner of Blackw ...

(songwriting, production). Feargal Sharkey was hired as a guest vocalist for the A-side of the duo's only single, " Never Never". Clarke and Radcliffe had planned to use a different singer on each track the duo recorded, but the duo disbanded after the release of "Never Never".

Band history

Clarke founded The Assembly shortly after disbanding Yazoo (featuring vocalist

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard ( ; born 18 June 1961) is an English singer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo (also known as Yaz), but has since mainly worked as a solo artist. Her ...

), upon completion and distribution of Yazoo's 1983 album, ''

You and Me Both ''You and Me Both'' is the second and final studio album by English synth-pop duo Yazoo (known in North America as Yaz), released on 4 July 1983 in the United Kingdom by Mute Records and in North America by Sire Records. The album's title was ...

''. The Assembly marked the most involved phase of Clarke's long-term professional relationship with sound engineer Radcliffe, who had contributed significant influences to the

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

of Clarke's previous bands,

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

and Yazoo. However, the Assembly project never became a full-fledged band and resulted in only one single release, the UK hit " Never Never". It featured a sampled guitar track triggered note for note on a Fairlight CMI. The sound was augmented by

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Clem Clempson on electric guitar. Former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey was hired to sing on this track. Clarke and Radcliffe had planned to use a different singer on each track the group recorded, but none were released after "Never Never". The other track on the single, "Stop/Start," was an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

, featuring Clarke's signature songwriting style with

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

that gradually became the

downbeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

of the musical phrase. Despite the commercial success of the single, The Assembly was no longer a functioning entity by the end of 1984. Clarke went on to form Erasure with vocalist and co-songwriter Andy Bell in 1985. Although Erasure worked with Radcliffe on some of their early work, they eventually began working with other producers and engineers, including

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

. Sharkey, for his part, began a successful solo career in 1984, and achieved his only UK number one single in 1985 with "

A Good Heart "A Good Heart" is a song by Northern Irish singer Feargal Sharkey, released as the first single from his self-titled debut album. It was released in 1985 on Virgin Records. Background Written by then-Lone Justice frontwoman Maria McKee about h ...

". "Never Never" was re-released on CD single in 1996 with four tracks, containing both the normal and extended versions of both the title song, and "Stop/Start". The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Never Never", filmed at

Upminster Windmill Upminster Windmill is a Grade II* listed smock mill located in Upminster in the London Borough of Havering, England. It was formerly known as Abraham's Mill and was in Essex when built. It has been restored and is a museum open to the public at s ...

in the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...

, was featured on the first '' Now That's What I Call Music!'' video in 1983, though it did not feature on the corresponding

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

Reunion

In May 2011, Sharkey appeared on stage during the Erasure set at Mute Records' Short Circuit music festival for a one-off performance of "Never, Never" with Clarke.

Discography

* " Never Never" – b/w "Stop/Start" (instrumental) – 1983 –

Mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

TINY1 – No. 4 UK – BPI: Silver

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assembly, The English electronic music duos English synth-pop groups English new wave musical groups Male musical duos New wave duos New wave supergroups Electronic music supergroups British synth-pop new wave groups British supergroups Mute Records artists

Band history

Reunion

Discography

See also

References