DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 52: SOOTHE MY SOUL

 

For the second single from Delta Machine, Depeche Mode decided to go back to the formula that served them so well with Personal Jesus and released a song that attempted to sound like it and failed spectacularly.

Add to that a fairly nondescript remixes, the lack of any form of promotion and the song not even being a regular on the tour and you've got a single that was never going to do that well at really. 

I bet you're REALLY excited now. Let's take a look at it.

I'M COMING FOR YOU - SOOTHE MY SOUL

The Single

Soothe My Soul was released on several different days. It appeared digitally on 6th May 2014, on CD on either the 10th (Austria, Germany, Switzerland), 13th (nearly everywhere else) or 14th (North America) and on 12" on 10th June. 

When the album was released, Soothe My Soul picked up a few mentions. The Quietus somewhat enthusiastically said:

"Another up-beat, techno-pop number, and this one is very much like a deconstructed VCMG in feel. Gahan has adapted to this well - "I come to your house / I break down the door" he thunders, and it goes all helicopters before... rather surprisingly... a bollock-busting stomper of a chorus drops in. Dave has the horn! Here he is! See those leather trousers stretch! "I'M COMING FOR YOU! THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO SOOTHE MY SOUL" he cries, rather cheekily. All credit is due to leaving the new 'Personal Jesus' right to the penultimate track of the album. A classic, classic Depeche Mode track, this, they've really pulled it off here."

I do that wildly enthusiastic thing when I hear new Depeche material too. Ask me again years later and the enthusiasm I once displayed has diminished somewhat in a number of cases. Clash Magazine said:

"Soothe My Soul’ provides an improbable sequel to Personal Jesus"

Music OMH also liked the song:

"Forthcoming single Soothe Your Soul sounds like Personal Jesus on viagra, pairing echoey verses with a frenetic industrial beat and cascading deluges of synthesizer. Again, the VCMG influence feels at the fore here – lending the track a rubberiness that fits like a glove to the pre-established Depeche aesthetic."

Fair enough then - people liked Soothe My Soul. My own review at the time the album was released said:

"12. Soothe My Soul

Some say genius. Some say the new Personal Jesus. Some say an absolute embarrassment. Blandly enough I again say it's ok with a top notch shout along chorus. Imagine yourself with friends at a Depeche show, drunk, jumping around and singing along - of course that's going to be good. The lyrics are a bit odd as it sounds like Martin's breaking into someone's house for some nookie but let's presume it's all metaphorical as I'm sure it is."

My earlier point about album release enthusiasm stands.

The single spent a huge one week in the UK charts, entering at number 88 and then heading off again. It did however get to number one in Hungary so that is something. It was played live 59 times on the Delta Machine tour, last getting an outing on 27th November 2014 at O2 World in Berlin. I don't think we'll hear it again. As an aside, it's a crap title for a song isn't it? 

There was a B-Side of sorts too with CD 1 featuring Goodbye (Gessafelstein Remix), a semi interesting remix of the song removing all that blue guitar nonsense. This version has never been played live but Goodbye has, appearing 35 times on the Delta Machine tour. As with Soothe My Soul, Goodbye was least heard on 27th November 2013 in Berlin when it was shoehorned into the set for the DVD release. Remember Alive In Berlin? Has anyone watched that more than once?

The Video

It's hard to write much about this as it's a performance video of sorts with the bit of nudity thrown in for no purpose whatsoever. A naked woman lies in some sand while a snake slithers about her, Dave does his stage performance, Martin looks bored and Fletch fletches the fletch out of a synth.

That really is all there is to say about this - not even a Hole To Feed reference to be made. Apart from that one.

A chap called Warren Fu directed the video and he had this to say in an interview with imdv.com in April 2013 and yes I am doing this fill up the blog as there were only three formats and the remixes are mainly all a load of old tat:

Doug: How did you get involved with the project?

Warren: My rep Nicole O'Connellsent me the track and brief with the note: "It's a good one." I had been completely booked on a few projects at the time, but I had to give it a shot. Although I'm not the biggest die-hard Depeche fanatic, they were one of the first "cool" bands I had ever heard outside of mainstream pop. My older and younger brother are both super fans, so in a way, I also wanted to do this for them. (Actually, I did it for me, so I could rub it in their stupid faces.)

Doug: What was behind the use of the square aspect ratio and how was it executed?

Warren: I had been looking at a lot of large format film photography and glass plate negatives at the time, and I think that influenced my decision to try out something with a different aspect ratio. The song felt like a return to form for Depeche Mode, and I wanted to bring back the "sexy" aspect of their music. So it's the opposite of a wide-screen epic. It's confined, intimate, and voyeuristic, as if you're watching something you shouldn't be.

Macro photography was used in creating a visceral experience. The goal was to make you feel the sweat, tension, and hair standing on end. I also liked the idea of things becoming abstractions when they are in extreme close up, and the use of black and white also helps confuse the viewer as to what exactly they are looking at. I had the shots spinning so that the viewer loses a sense of what direction is up or down, and having the equal square aspect ratio reinforces this better than a widescreen. We actually had a super extreme close up of an "innie" belly button with shadows that created the optical illusion of a nipple poking out. It made too many people uncomfortable and I was asked to take it out. I wish I had kept it in.

Wait what were we talking about? Oh right, square aspect ratio. In order to achieve this, I invented a groundbreaking new technique called "cropping," where you cut out the excess image after you've shot it. I plan on recycling the unused image for another video called "Soothe My Sides."

Doug: How involved were Depeche Mode in the overall process? Was there a lot of discussion with them about the elements that would be in the video?

Warren: They are some of the most easy going artists I've ever worked with. We pretty much stuck exactly to the treatment I wrote and they just let me do my thing. We actually only had the band for three hours the day of the shoot. They were doing an interviews simultaneously and were allotted one hour to shoot each band member. I think we ended up with just enough footage to work with. During post, they only gave us one editorial note, and then the video was approved. I think that might be a record for me.

Doug: I've heard that Depeche Mode, when performing in their videos, is insistant on actually plugging in and playing their song. Was that the case for "Soothe My Soul"?

Warren: I got word of that too, so we brought an amp for Dave Gahan to plug his mic into. He sounded great on set, and it helped to really get him into his performance. I might have to start doing that for all future videos.

Doug: Did you guys use this effect in the video?

Warren: Yes. Cornstarch, water, and a giant subwoofer. We ran out of time at the shoot, so my brother (who happens to be a photographer) and I actually shot some pickups in my living room. It's an extremely loud and messy science experiment. It took a lot of experimenting to get the right sound frequency for the non-newtoninan fluid to react in that manner. Thank goodness the world wide web has everything. You simply Bing the words "various sound frequencies" and Bing goes to work and gets you the results you need, fast.

Doug: Depeche Mode fans seem to be vary passionate about the band, did you personally get a lot of fan feedback about the video?

Warren: Yes, most of it positive. However, there was one fan who felt the need to tweet me and tell me that I didn't "get" Depeche Mode and that she missed Anton Corbijn.

There is an extended version of the video too but let's leave it for now eh?

The Formats

The first physical release we got was CD 1. On the front we have a drawing of a house. Thrilling stuff.

The two tracks here are Soothe My Soul (Radio Edit) and Goodbye (Gesaffelstein Remix).The band feature on the back having a right laugh in front of the house we saw a drawing of on the front.

CD2's artwork is radically different from CD1 with both the house and the writing bigger on this sleeve. Come on Anton.

The CD itself is a different colour which is a real relief when you find yourself desperate to listen to a remix of the song, scrambling through your Depeche Mode CD mountain. "Phew," you cry, "it's the grey CD not the black one. Now I can get stuck into those sweet, sweet remixes."

And what of the 6 remixes? Well, I annoyed quite a few people last time by suggesting some remixes of Heaven were bad. Try this lot on for size:

1. Steve Angello vs Jacques Lu Cont Remix. How on earth did the use of "vs" become a thing? It suggests a clash of people not a collaboration. Anyway, remember the Jacques Lu Cont versions of A Pain That I'm Used To? Well this is not as good as them. It's fairly bland and nearly pointless 

2. Tom Furse - The Horrors Remix - not much happens here.

3. Billy F Gibbons and Joe Hardy Remix - Firstly note the "and" which is much better than "vs." Secondly, that is a member of ZZ Top remixing a Depeche Mode song and I think that is rather splendid. The remix itself is fine with lots of ZZ Top type guitar appearing. Very different and rather fun.

4. Joris Delacroix Remix - bland, clubby nonsense. Next

5. Black Asteroid Remix - much more like it. Loud and very enjoyable

6. Gregor Thresher Soothed Remix - ok. Certainly the best Gregor Thresher remix of the song.

The 12" features four remixes of Soothe My Soul. Up there you can see Side A and its two tracks are:

1. Steven Angello vs Jacques Lu Cont Remix  - see above

2. Matador Remix - nothing really happens here

The rear sleeve once again shows the lads having a whale of a time. STOP HAVING SO MUCH FUN DEPECHE MODE. The two tracks here are:

1.  Destructo Remix - again, relatively pointless

2. Gregor Thresher Remix  - not as good as the not that good other remix on CD 2.

These formats aside, there were official releases in Taiwan, once again the standard CD 2 single with a Taiwanese sticker on it and in the US where the two CD singles appeared. There was a European CD-R promo, two US CD-Rs and two UK CD-Rs too. Finally, everything was available digitally as we've come to expect by now.

That was Soothe My Soul then, a single that arrived, left and really didn't make much of a mark. Singles weren't really the band's concern in any event as the big tour was doing all the business Depeche Mode needed.

There would be one more single from the album and we'll look at that and its practical joke of a set of remixes next time.

DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 47: WRONG

 

Following the release of The Best Of Volume 1, Depeche Mode were fairly silent with the exception of Dave's second solo album Hourglass and its remix companion. Their return in 2009 was therefore greeted with great excitement and the new single Wrong promised much.

It sounded superb, continuing the lively feel of Playing The Angel, had a remarkable video, had a B-Side co-written by Dave and Martin and had a colour vinyl 7". 

Superb then. The new album would surely follow in these footsteps and we'd have a wonderf....oh. Ah. Never mind.

Here's the story of Wrong.

BORN WITH THE WRONG SIGN - WRONG

The Single

Wrong, BONG40, was released on 6th April 2009 and was warmly received by Depeche Mode fans. By the time of its release, singles reviews were increasingly rare, so let's see what people made of Wrong when reviewing Sounds Of The Universe.

Entertainment magazine said "Lead single Wrong revisits classic black heart Mode," and Drowned In Sound noted "Wrong’ is kind of bombastic, but its obsessive litany of mistakes is clearly not meant to be taken entirely seriously, plus the music is again nothing if not reined in, an intricately buzzing sculpture."

NME called the song the album's "statutory techno spiritual stomper" and Pitchfork felt the song was "short but deliciously sour, hearkening back to the band's synthier days without losing the layer of grunge it's carefully cultivated post-Violator."

Any other mentions the song had were positive enough. Oddly, many of the album reviews mentioned Spacewalker as a standout track which is rather odd.

One great thing about Wrong was that it saw the band return to live performance on UK television. They appeared on Later...With Jools Holland for the first time on 1st May 2009 and treated us to Wrong, Walking In My Shoes and Personal Jesus.  I drove everyone I know insane by reminding them to watch this when it came on.

It's a good performance which is all the more remarkable given that Fletch and Martin were once again replaced by Elton John and Dame Barbara Cartland. Depeche Mode playing live on British televison hadn't happened since 1997 so this was a big thing, despite Martin and Fletch having better things to do.

This relentless (at least by comparison to previous singles) promotion campaign did nothing whatsoever for the single and it spent only two weeks in the UK charts. It went in at 24 and then fell to 78 before falling out of the charts completely. Normally, a Depeche Mode comeback single would do much, much better but Wrong just fell flat entirely which is a shame. It did get to Number 2 in Germany naturally but, even more thrillingly, it got to Number 1 in the Scottish charts. A number 1 single! IN SCOTLAND! That is made even more incredibly by the fact that until tonight I had no idea that (a) we had our own chart in Scotland and (b) Depeche Mode got to Number 1 in it. Still, a number 1 is a number 1, so well done boys.

Wrong is a song I love and it still sounded great on the Global Spirit Tour where it was enthusiastically welcomed back into the set. It has been played live 171 times on that tour (65 times) and, of course on the Tour Of The Universe.

The B-Side, Oh Well, originally entitled Das Toe Stub and featuring music by Martin and lyrics by Dave is a cracking tune and, much like all of the non-album tracks produced in this period, would have made a good addition to Sounds Of The Universe. Instead, it's a B-side here and has never been played live. Remember, Peace and In Sympathy have been played live. There is no justice.

The Video

Well, this is a bit different.

Directed by Patrick Daughters, the video depicts a seemingly driverless Ford Crown Victoria rolling backwards down a street in Los Angeles. 50 seconds pass before we see inside the car and, when we do, we see someone lying, seemingly unconscious on the front seat. Around one minute in, the car bumps into a parked car and the body is jerked awake. He sits up and we see that his hands are tied and he's wearing a rubber mask. All very odd.

This video was actually live footage. Determined to ensure that Hole To Feed didn't appear on the forthcoming album, Martin and Fletch kidnapped the Sony A&R man who was really pushing the song and attempted to make sure he was never heard of again.

"If we get rid of him, we get rid of Hole To Feed Fletch. Do that and we can then include Peace on the album." 

"Are you sure Mart?" 

"Just trust me Fletch."

The luckless A&R man, trapped in a car with Peace playing on a loop seems doomed. He continues rolling backwards and then...help is at hand. At 1 minute 39 he sees Depeche Mode on the pavement, out for an evening stroll before heading to McDonalds for their dinner.

"'Ere Mart, ain't that Bobby Tuppence, that A&R geezer who said Hole To Feed was one of the best songs on the album?"

"Don't think so Dave. "

"It IS him Mart. It's Bobby Tuppence. He seems to be trapped in that car. And what the hell is that music? Poor guy. We have to help him. If he dies as seems inevitable in this remarkable series of events, Hole To Feed won't make the album."

" It's not him Dave. I saw him earlier playing in the room I have that's filled with synths that none of us use. Let's go to McDonalds."

"If you're sure Mart. You like Hole To Feed don't you?"

"All I know Dave is that I want a feed. Let's eat."

Poor Bobby Tuppence. Things get worse for him as he hits a man. He can't even hear him scream as Peace continues its ear melting loop. He continues to struggle and eventually gets his mask off but it's all too late. He's struck by a pick up truck and seemingly killed. 

NEVER mess with Martin Gore.

The Formats

Mercifully for the wallets of collectors, there wasn't much promo action this time round, in Europe and the UK at least. There was no 12" promo which is a pity but there were two promo CDs, the first of which is RCDBONG40 (above).

The sticker on the back makes a number of claims, some true ("Wrong grabs the listener's attention") and some not so true ("a great album to come.")

There is only one track and that's the Radio Version of Wrong. I do like the cover art and the CD design.

The next promo CD is PCDBONG40, the "Club Promo."

It's a nine track CD as you can see.

Nice cover and CD again. The original version of the track aside, only the Trentemoller Club Remix is worth bothering with. The Thin White Duke Remix is ok too.

Onto the official releases then. 12BONG40 comes in a semi glossy sleeve with a glossy logo on both sides. Side A (above) contains the Album Version of Wrong and the Thin White Duke Remix of the track.

Side B features two more Wrong remixes - Trentemoller Club Remix and Caspa Remix.

There were two CD singles. CDBONG40 (above) is a two track release.

It features the Album Version of Wrong and the superb Black Light Odyssey Remix of Oh Well.

LCDBONG40 promises remixes on its cover and that's what we get.

There are five versions of Wrong - Album Version, Trentemoller Club Remix, Thing White Duke Remix, Magda's Scallop Funk Remix and D.I.M. vs Boys Noize Remix.

The 7" is the star here. On the bottom of the front sleeve, the words "platte in mehrfarbigem vinyl" appear. This takes us back to the West Germany of the 1980's when many splendid Depeche Mode singles were released with those words appearing on a sticker on the sleeve. Roughly translated, it means that the record inside the sleeve appears in multicoloured vinyl. Crikey.

And that is exactly what BONG40 does. The 7" is a red and black record albeit more red than black with the latter swirling through the red. On Side A we have the Album Version of Wrong.

Side B features Oh Well (Edit). As you'll see, the single is numbered too.

In the UK, the digital release of the single took the tracks from LCDBONG40 and added the Thin White Duke Dub too. A couple of promo CD-Rs and a promo DVD-R are available somewhere. In Europe, Germany released a version of LCDBONG40.

It comes in a jewel box rather than a cardboard sleeve and, delightfully, its catalogue number is GLCDBONG40. Lovely stuff. The only other releases were in Taiwan where they popped a Taiwanese sticker on LCDBONG40 and an Israeli one on CDBONG40. Promos were released in Colombia (that's a first) and Denmark. A promo CD-R appeared in Japan and they released a version of RCDBONG40 with a Japanese sticker on the front too.

In the US, the song was released digitally only though there is a promo CD and three promo CD-Rs exist too.

Wrong really is an odd release. It's not that representative of Sounds Of The Universe so doesn't give much of a taste of what's to come. It's a cracking song with a critically acclaimed video but did very badly in the UK charts despite having some decent formats

It did get to Number 1 in Scotland though. You can always trust us.

Next up it's Peace and, despite the regular go I have at Hole To Feed, I can say one thing for certain. Peace is easily the worst single Depeche Mode have released.

That will be fun then.

DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 38: I FEEL LOVED

 

Following Exciter's release in May 2001, Depeche Mode embarked upon a lengthy world tour in support of the album. The second single from the album, I Feel Loved was released on 30th July 2001 as the tour wandered through America. 

The song was stood out among Exciter's sparse electronica (I'm ignoring The Dead Of Night - I always do) and was perhaps the more obvious choice for "comeback" single but Depeche Mode don't do obvious do they? 

With I Feel Loved, we got BIG NAME remixes, a questionable video and more promos than anyone knew what to do with. This is the story of I Feel Loved.

A FEELING OF INNER BLISS - I FEEL LOVED

The Single

Picture courtesy of depmod.com

BONG48 confirmed that I Feel Loved would be the second single from Exciter and told us it would be released on 16th July 2001. It wasn't of course and instead I Feel Loved, BONG31, came out two weeks later on 30th July.

In his review of Exciter, the NME's Stephen Dalton said of I Feel Loved:

"Gore's songwriting (veers) off into diverse and occasionally sublime directions. Hence the cheekily titled pop trifle I Feel Loved, a blast of shameless disco hedonism with a side order of existential ennui."

Fair enough. The NME's Single review took a different path:

"Post-drugs contentment may have given the Mode their best album in years but there is still a vague air of mid-life drift about tracks like this - plush, polished, executive-class disco pastiche full of expensive noises but not much passion. Still, it certainly exudes more authentic dancefloor zing than superstar DJ Danny Tenaglia's flaccid house mix, which reeks of a lazy contractual obligation bashed out on the way to catch a flight to Ibiza. Iggy's 'Dirt' is also here, reworked into a slo-mo gothcore stomp. Trent Reznor must be spinning in his grave. You know, the one where he sleeps."

To promote the song, Depeche Mode appeared on UK programme CD:UK, a show that was meant for kids but firmly aimed at adults. It was presented by Ant & Dec who for those of you outside the UK were two notorious Newcastle based rappers, very much the Ice-T and Eazy E of their day, who were tamed and turned to TV work. If you don't believe me, look for Let's Get Ready To Rumble which is very much their equivalent of Fuck Tha Police. Anyway, Depeche recorded this performance on 24 March 2001 and it was later broadcast in May that year.

As Ant or possibly Dec notes, one of the biggest bands in America there. Not the world mind, just America. It's a fairly standard performance really. The music is from playback but Dave's vocals are live which is nice although as we can hear has already replaced the "I" in the title with "Ahhhhhhhh." That apart, Christian is now fully in place, Martin will not feel the benefit of that coat when he gets out and Fletch, well, Fletch gives a stellar performance of knob twiddlery. One day they should turn all the keyboards on and see what noises he is making. It may well be art.

There was a Top Of The Pops appearance too on. Like the CD:UK one, it was filmed in March and was then broadcast on 4th May, Sophie Ellis-Bextor introduces the band and, once again, we have a live vocal. As it was recorded at the same time as Dream On (see last blog), Martin is wearing his penis t-shirt again. Stop it Martin.

The band also appeared on the Jay Leno show on 7th August 2001 but that video isn't available just now. It's a live take so it means that there are backing singers, more tom-toms than one ever needs (i.e. more than 0) and Dave fairly screaming out the lyrics. All a bit odd really.

Australian promo poster

The, erm, blizzard of publicity in the UK saw the single not do that well at all really. It entered the charts at Number 12 but instead of going up it fell, firstly to 31 then 43, 54, 69, 72 and 77. A disappointing showing really.

 I Feel Loved is a funny one really. At the time it felt as if the band were trying a little too hard to tap into the dancier side of the market (God, I sound old) and, as I mentioned earlier, it stood out on Exciter as being rather against the grain of the album. As a Depeche Mode-do-pop type thing it's fine and certainly better than later attempts at the same such as Lilian, but I wouldn't call it classic Depeche Mode. It was only played at 50 of the 84 Exciter tour shows because it put too much strain on Dave's voice and was last played live on 8th September 2001.  The fact is, it didn't really work live and that will be why we've never heard it since.

Joyously, we also had a non-instrumental B-Side this time. Dirt by The Stooges from their legendary 1970 album Fun House was covered for the B-Side and it is really rather good and far more Depeche sounding than the A-Side. It's never been played live however.

The Video

February 2001 - Depeche Mode HQ, Basildon:

"Hello is that John Hillcoat?"

"Yes."

"Hi, it's Depeche Mode here. We're on speakerphone. Do you know who we are?"

"Tainted Love right?"

"Close enough. We have a new single coming out a.."

"Really? I thought you guys stopped after A Little Respect."

"Ah..erm...no, that was Erasure. Same label but different band. We're Depeche Mode - you know Enjoy The Silence, Personal Jesus and all that?"

"The horses video and the one with the man dressed as the King?"

"YES! That's it John."

"Right ok, cool. Hello Depeche Mode - how can I help you."

"Well, as we said John, we have a new single coming out. We're rehearsing for our tour just now so we don't have a lot of time but we'd like you to direct the video for us."

"Oh right..."

"Are you up for that?"

"Why not. Anything I should know?"

"Well, to give you a bit of history, we originally made very bad videos, then they got slightly better, then Anton Corbijn came onboard and made us artistically credible. We really want to carry on down that road to be honest."

"I know Anton's stuff. All monochrome and random images of priests and women in underwear. Is that what you're after?"

"No, not really John. Just something that looks decent and fits the song really."

"Ok, grand. I think I can do that."

"See you in California in April then John? Would that work?"

"Ok. That sounds fine. Tell me, do any of you know any dog handlers? Or people that own attack dogs?"

"Not really John, no. Why?"

"Never mind, Depeche Mode, never mind. See you soon."

April 27th 2001, Hollywood, California

"Martin, are they real police?"

"Looks like it Dave."

"And the dogs?"

"Definitely real, Dave."

"No! Are they police attack dogs?"

"That Hillcoat chap mentioned dogs didn't he?"

"He did Andy and yes Dave, they look very much like police attack dogs."

"I don't want to get bitten Mart. They might damage my keyboard hand. I won't be able to play if that happens."

"Don't worry Fletch. I'll see if I can find Jo...ah there he is. John! John!"

" Ah hello Marvin. "

"it's Martin."

"Undoubtedly so. I've been working very hard on the video for I Felt Love you know. There's a whole concept that will blow your minds."

"What do we need to do?"

"Nothing Malcolm. Just go in there and play. You, the singer and that tall chap with the dark glasses hiding behind that skip. Does he not like dogs?"

"Not really, no."

"Ok, off you go. We'll get this very Depeche Mode like video filmed and that'll be that. And don't worry - it's NOTHING like an Anton Corbijn video."

May 2001, Depeche Mode HQ, Basildon

"No answer Dave. That's the third message we've left him."

"Well, it's too late to do anything now Martin as we need to go on tour. We'll just have to leave it."
"I know Dave, I know. It's a shame that it's a shoddy shambles of a video that makes literally no sense and just sees us playing in a club while dogs wander about. Future reviews on smartarse blogs won't like it. "

"No-one will read that Martin, don't worry."

June 2001, behind a skip, Hollywood

"Have the dogs gone? Can I come out now? Martin? Dave?......"

The Single

This release was promo-tastic. Let's have a look at the UK promos first.

Firstly, we have the promo CD, RCDBONG31. It features two remixes of I Feel Loved: Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Radio Edit and Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Edit, the radio getting no look in on the latter. 

There were three promo 12" singles each housed in lovely sleeves with the labels matching the sleeve colour. They don't make them like than anymore. P12BONG31 features all 14 minutes 12 seconds of Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Mix. It's very good fun and features a snippet of Excerpts From: My Secret Garden which is rather random but very enjoyable.

On the AA Side, we have not only a snazzy label but also Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Instrumental which is a full 29 seconds shorter than the A-Side.

PL12BONG31 has Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Dub on Side A.

The AA Side features the Desert After Hours Dub which is the only place we'll find that and Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Edit.

Finally in promo land, we have PXL12BONG31. On the A-Side we have the Umek Remix.

The AA Side has the Thomas Brinkmann Mix and Chamber's Remix on its gorgeously labelled side.

There are promo CD-Rs too but that's a level of madness to which I will not descend. To the official releases then, starting with CDBONG31:

As with Dream On, the single came in a cardboard sleeve which housed another cardboard sleeve containing the CD. Dave's arm and hand appears on it.

The rear of both sleeves is far less colourful. The CD contains three tracks in all: I Feel Loved (Single Version), Dirt and I Feel Loved (Extended Instrumental). The title of the latter tells you all you need to know.

LCDBONG31 is an interesting thing. There's a nice inner sleeve there for example. There are three remixes of I Feel Loved to listen to - Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Edit, Thomas Brinkmann Mix and Chamber's Remix. The latter two are fine, but the Tenaglia one is the winner here.

On the other side of the CD sleeves, it's all black again. Even Dave's arm is in black and white. The exciting thing here though is the Enhanced element. This was 2001 when the world was still fresh and innocent and things like small films on CDs blew everyone's minds. Here, there are four 30 second long videos: In the studio with Mark Bell and Gareth Jones, the first Exciter photoshoot with Anton, the second Exciter photoshoot with Anton and At The Video Shoot with Stephane Sedoui. There are also 9 exclusive images and a downloadable wallpaper. For your computer, not your house.

12BONG31 features Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Edit, an 8 minute long edit of the full remix on Side A.

Side AA contains Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Dub.

We got an L12 this time too. L12BONG31 has the enjoyable enough Umek Remix on Side A.

Side AA houses the Thomas Brinkmann Remix and Chamber's Remix. It has a lovely label too. These are of course the same three tracks we saw on PXL12BONG31. If you look closely enough, and if this is what your life has come to then welcome to the club, PXL12BONG31 is etched on the inner groove with the "PX" part scored out. Admit it, this is what you come here for.

Before we look at the 14,000 or so different things that popped up in America, let's look at what France did. They released 2 CDs like the UK ones and a promo 12" featuring two mixes you couldn't get anywhere else: Laurent F. Remix and Fafa "Superfunk" Monteco Remix -Club Version. The BONGFAN2 CD that came with BONG52 features the former remix and Fafa Monteco Mix - Edit Version. 

In the US then, there were 15 different CD-Rs. 15! They feature a whole lot of remixes that I frankly can't be bothered listing here. As ever, depmod.com will look after you there.

There is a US promo CD in a jewel case.

Dave's arm appears on the inner sleeve and the CD contains three versions of  I Feel Loved - Remix, Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Edit and Album Edit.

As well as a 7" and a CD single (neither pictured because I don't have them), there is a double 12". On disc 1, we have Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Edit on Side A and Thomas Brinkmann Mix and Chamber's Remix on Side B.

Disc 2 has Danny Tenaglia's Labor Of Love Instrumental on Side C and I Feel Loved (Extended Instrumental) and Dirt on Side D. There are also two promo 12" singles.

I Feel Loved came out, Depeche Mode found favour with clubbers for the first time in a while and the band's 84 date Exciter tour was well underway. All was well in Depeche Mode world.

Perhaps I Feel Loved didn't perform as well as the band thought it might, but it did have a longer shelf life than you might imagine as it ended up nominated for two Grammys in 2002. Sadly, it lost out in the Best Dance Recording category to Janet Jackson's impressively bland All For You and in the Best Remixed Recording, Danny Tenaglia's Labour Of Love Mix lost out to the Deep Dish mix of the even blander Thank You by Dido.

The next time we saw Depeche Mode, they would have moved beyond feeling loved to Freelove. We'll look at that next time.