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One of only two appearances from the former Yazoo singer in the series, presumably because CBS preferred to save her biggest songs for their own Hits series. And somehow we end up dealing with a song not often mentioned, though it is her first hit of the 1990s; the song itself, however, doesn't originate in the decade but is a re-recorded version of a B-side from her 1987 non-album single 'Love Letters' (the original version can be heard here). The decision paid off to the extent that this outcharted the first two singles from her comeback album Hoodoo, though this still remains possibly the least-known phase of her career.
More's the pity, because much as I like some of her earlier solo work, it suffers often from heavy-handed production and a slight lack of personality. Whilst I wouldn't exactly call the soundscape of 'This House' subtle, it's a lot easier on the drum machines and fretless bass and is rightly constructed as a space for her voice to work in. And it's a brilliant voice, but you knew that - what works especially well here is that she was (by her own telling) allowed for the first time to work up to the most powerful parts of the performance rather than going at it full-tilt, which is devastatingly effective in this epic of loss. The wordless start to the chorus sounds as if she's literally speechless, and even the verses are satistfyingly haunting. Though I have wondered whether the opening lyric "Whose sticky hands are these" is a reference to what the protagonist might have been doing in her vanished lover's absence, and that's no joke. She certainly isn't laughing. We never know where he's gone or why, although it doesn't matter: it really doesn't sound like he's coming back.
I don't know, and wouldn't necessarily want to know, whether there's any basis in personal experience for this song, but either way it's in a different universe from the competent but rather anonymous performance of Cathy Dennis and the sort of record that leaves me a bit overawed (hence the late post): there's nothing really complex about it but it's so powerful it hardly seems possible.
Also appearing on: Now 3
Available on: The Best Of...
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