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In a business where too many bands hang on for way too long and muddy their legacies with half-assed shows, quarter-assed albums, and juvenile public spats that confirm their reputations as pampered big babies, Yaz (known as Yazoo outside America) completed the rare perfect career arc.

During an 18-month period from 1982 to 1983, the then-21-year-old duo — singer Alison Moyet and former Depeche Mode keyboardist/songwriter Vince Clarke — released two classic albums, a handful of still-stellar singles, toured the world, and then collapsed in a messy new wave heap. Hit it and quit it. Pay attention, Sir Mick, this is how it’s done.

As Moyet hits the road for a solo tour, the time seems ripe for a look back at how the electro-pop blues belter with the butter-cream-rich voice exploded onto the world scene 27 years ago and blazed a comet trail before settling into a quarter-century of wildly eclectic solo work and her eventual 2008 reunion tour with Clarke.

Moyet, who had played in a series of British blues and punk bands over the years, formed Yazoo (inspired by the name of the old blues label, Yazoo Records) with Clarke in 1981 after he split Depeche Mode just as that group was on the cusp of worldwide success. He left behind a series of indelible singles, including the incessant “Just Can’t Get Enough,” because he claimed he wasn’t getting along with the other members, and took up with then-obscure singer Moyet.

The new band avoided the often cold, clinical feel of other electro acts by singing about raw human emotions. Their music was described as “Kraftwerk through the looking glass . . . electronic pop made by humans, not machines.” They hit pay dirt immediately with the soon-to-be-classic yearning single “Only You” and the electro-pop dance-floor staple, “Don’t Go” from their 1982 debut, Upstairs At Eric’s.

 
  

 

 
The pair’s signature mix of futuristic, piston-like keyboards and Moyet’s throaty growls reached a man-machine peak on their equally popular follow-up the next year, You And Me Both, which featured the titanic bluesy synth pop anthem “Walk Away From Love.”

And then, that was it. Kaput. The duo split up after what Moyet describes on her Web site as an “intensely creative but ultimately destructive working relationship,” and she went on to a successful solo career as Clarke formed club icons Erasure with singer Andy Bell, who’ve gone on to sell 25 million albums and establish a reputation for their over-the-top stage shows.

Beginning with her solo debut in 1984, Alf, which spawned a string of smash singles in England such as “Invisible” and “All Cried Out,” Moyet released a series of seven solo albums, which sometimes found her taking a more stripped-down, bluesier direction. After a nearly eight-year battle with her former label, during which she guested on a number of tracks by everyone from Tricky to Ocean Colour Scene, Moyet released Hometime in 2002 and a covers album, Voice, two years later. Just months before the announcement of Yazoo’s reunion, Moyet released her latest effort, The Turn, which includes songs she wrote for the stage play she toured with in 2006, Smaller.

And then, just as quickly as it dissolved, Yaz was back on. The 2008 reunion tour was greeted with rapturous reviews and excitement by the band’s longtime fans, most of whom had no reason to expect they’d ever see the duo perform live together again. There’s been talk of a possible return to the studio for the now-matured ex-band mates, but if we can learn nothing else from Clarke and Moyet, it’s that sometimes less IS more.

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