ON A TRIP - WORLD IN MY EYES

The lot of the fourth and final single from an album is generally an unhappy one. Everyone's bought the album so everyone has heard the song, so are casual fans really that interested? It's been released because there's a tour still to promote or some remixes to use up. 

Usually anyway. World In My Eyes was one of Depeche Mode's most excting single packages. Two new B-sides! A fancy limited edition!! A video that showed live footage from World Violation!!! Good grief, it's a beauty. Let's use this period of isolation to celebrate this marvel.

Advert in Smash Hits, 17 September 1990

The single was released on 17th September 1990 and, as you can see from the advert above, it promised not only World In My Eyes but also Happiest Girl and Sea Of Sin. New songs! Before we look at them though, it's only fair to talk about the lead single itself.  World In My Eyes is a masterpiece of a song. It opens Violator in explosive style, the missing link between Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk circa Computer World. No Depeche fan can fail to hear the opening riff and get anything other than incredibly excited. 

The song is a band favourite too. It's Fletch's favourite Depeche Mode song and given that he is the world's biggest Depeche Mode fan, who is going to argue with that? In 2017, he told Hotmix Radio:

"For me, (World In My Eyes) really shows how we've managed to have all these different people from different countries all over the world together, liking Depeche Mode."

For once, Alan wasn't grumpy about a song in his Shunt editorials. He called the song "something of a homage to Kraftwerk" and noted that "its success exhibited one of Depeche Mode's most fundamental philosophies."

World In My Eyes is a perennial live favourite too with the band playing it 622 times since the start of World Violation. The most recent version on the Global Spirit Tour was a sensational reworking of it, second only to me to the epic Devotional version. When I first heard the Global Spirit Tour version at Glasgow Barrowlands in March 2017, it blew me away. Not only was I finally seeing Depeche Mode at the best venue on earth, but they were also playing a stunning new version of one of my all time favourite tracks. A unique experience.

Back to the two new songs. The first one that appeared on the 33 1/3 rpm b-side of the 7" was Happiest Girl (Jack Mix). It's a great B-side but very much a track suited to that role than the role of album track.  That's not to say I don't like it - far from it - I just don't think that it would have fitted on Violator. It's yet another song about sex featuring thighs, eyes, lips, hips, skin and...err...deep within, all of which clearly make the focus of the song happy. The bassline is a lovely thing and the middle "And I would have to pinch her" part a joy.

The next new track is Sea Of Sin (Tonal Mix), a real lost gem in the Depeche catalogue. Whereas Happiest Girl is a pervy pop song, Sea Of Sin is a darker track, all moody electronics and lyrics about diving into whatever a sea of sin. Whatever it is, it certainly seems to get better as it gets wetter, although I presume that the person in the sea would get wetter, not the sea itself. Anyway, that ridiculous pedantry aside, it's a bloody great track.

A couple of things to note about these tracks before we head to the video is that, while they are Happiest Girl (Jack Mix) and Sea Of Sin (Tonal Mix), these are in fact the normal what you might call 7" versions of each track. The reason the mix names were added has been lost in the mists of time. The songs were remixed for other formats of course and we'll come to those shortly.

Label on side A of the UK promo 7" BONG20R

As I mentioned in the introduction, the video to World In My Eyes was an incredible thing to see in 1990. The drive-in cinema part of the video was filmed on 26th July 1990 at the Motor Vu Theatre in Tooele, Utah which you can still visit today.  At the time, the drive-in was owned by the parents of Mistie Bradshaw Fowlks who first spoke about this to Depeche Mode Classic Photos And Videos Facebook Group. Kevin May and I have interviewed her for Halo too and you can read all about her experiences of the filming in the book. Suffice to say, she had a great time, met the band AND got free gig tickets, so not a bad experience at all.  The live footage was taken from the band's two shows at the World Music Theater in Chicago on 2nd and 3rd July 1990. The standard single version of the video is shorter than the version that appears on the video compilation Strange Too. 

The video itself is incredible. It starts with typical Violator era font writing saying "Depeche Mode  World In My Eyes," before we see Dave lying around on a bed. Suddenly, we see Dave and a mystery lady driving into the Drive-In and you see that it's called Strange Too Depeche Mode, albeit in wonky writing. The sun sets and they drive up to to the screen, no doubt to watch a nice film. "What are we seeing tonight Dave? Something romantic?" she no doubt asks. "Sorry no," replies Mr Gahan "It's some snazzy live footage from the World Violation tour." The door must be locked as she doesn't leave.

Then all of a sudden, everything changes. Big DM curtains! A crowd! Dave on stage! Fletch waving! Grainy live footage is everywhere. What is this? Look - there's Martin in some inappropriate shorts! Big screens! Alan! 

Dave then whispers to the woman at the "Let me show you the world in my eyes" line at the end of verse two before we cut back to the screens to see Martin's head on them as the "woo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-oooh" noise kicks in at the end of the verse. Then more live things! Martin nodding about looking ace! Look at those films! There's Alan's head! Is that a sparkler? Why is there a sparkler? It's Alan's head on a screen again! There's a woman in a cowboy hat! There's Martin and a guitar! Fletch's head! Martin in the sunshine on the screen! A big rear view mirror and Dave clapping. WHAT IS GOING ON? THIS LOOKS LIKE THE BEST LIVE SHOW EVER AND I'M ONLY 16 AND HAVE EXAMS AND DON'T KNOW WHERE BIRMINGHAM IS WHY WON'T THEY COME TO SCOTLAND? Are they drums? DRUMS? Dave's dancing in front of Martin and Martin is wiggling his guitar at him. 

The live footage ends. Dave's passenger looks unimpressed. It's no surprise either as all of a sudden the Dave from the bed at the start picks up the car. What? Hang on, there's footage of the band leaving the stage to distract us. Dave is now playing with the car. What?

Anyway, what a bloody video. Here it is just to prove I've not made any of that up:

As ever, the public are morons. World In My Eyes entered the charts at 28, climbed to 21 then reached a chart high of 17 before dropping to 22, 46 and then 66. Ridiculous. Luckily for fans of formats there was a lot to choose from. Firstly, there were promos, starting with the 7" promo BONG20R

The sleeve is the same as the 7" showing Fletch making the World In My Eyes sign (hereafter referred to as "the sign"). The only difference between this and the standard 7" is the label on Side A. The b-side label and rear look like this:

The single features the same three tracks as the standard 7"  - World In My Eyes on the 45 rpm A-side and Happiest Girl (Jack Mix) and Sea Of Sin (Tonal Mix) on the 33 1/3 rpm B-side. There were two promo 12" singles released. P12BONG20 features World In My Eyes (Mayhem Mode) and Happiest Girl (The Pulsating Orbital Mix (Instrumental)), the latter a mix exclusive to this release. The promo is being included in the forthcoming Violator 12" Singles box which is a nice touch.

P12BONG20

There second promo 12" too is a lovely thing. It's limited to 500 copies and comes with a sticker on the front featuring Dave doing the sign, telling you which one you have. Mine is number 419 as you can see from the picture at the top of this blog. It features the same three tracks as the standard 12" - World In My Eyes (Oil Tank Mix), Happiest Girl (Kiss-A-Mix) and Sea Of Sin (Sensoria). It's one of my favourite items in my collection:

Finally on the UK promo side, there is a radio CD promo that is both lovely and hard to find. CDBONG20R features the same three tracks as the standard 7" and cassette single:

In other promo news, the German promo 7" is a nice thing:

Anyway, enough promo talk. Here is the standard UK 7" from the front

and from the back:

As you'll see, the A-side label is the only difference from the promo 7". The cassette single is a lovely looking thing, as are all the formats here.

There's Alan having a go at the sign there with a silhouette of Martin on stage that appears on every format. The back of the cassette you say? Here it is:

We then come to the standard 12" and CD singles. The 12" , 12BONG20, features the same tracks as the stickered promo. The Oil Tank Mix of World In My Eyes is an initially minimal sort of take on the track albeit in classic extended 12" remix form. You get to hear all the component parts of the album if that floats your boat, and yes it of course floats mine. It's a superb remix. Do have a listen to it to refresh your memory.

Martin pops up on the cover as you can see. The B-side remixes are ok but not really as good as the standard 7" versions. The Kiss-A-Mix of Happies Girl has a dreadful title, but an interesting breakdown from about 3 minutes 30 in. Sea Of Sin (Sensoria)  goes for a more electronic version of the original but loses the original's sense of darkness. It's fine but a bit of a chance missed.

As you can see above, the rear of the 7" again features the Martin silhouette. CDBONG20 has 4 tracks - the 7" version of World In My Eyes, the Oil Tank Mix of that song and the Kiss-A-Mix of Happiest Girl plus, oddly, Sea Of Sin (Tonal Mix). The three remixes are all shorter than the versions that appear on 12BONG20. This is because the CD single was originally planned as 3" version and, presumably because 3" is smaller than 5", the tracks were edited. The 3" plan was scrapped however but the edits were still used on the 5". The German CD single of the time uses the longer versions.

There's CDBONG20 features Dave to the best of my knowledge. I'll be frank - it's hard to tell and I've been doing this for a month. It could easily be Martin but it could equally be Dave. I don't know anymore. I've been asking friends online and no-one is certain. 26 days in though, I don't want a mistake to blight the blog. If you know for certain who is on the 12" and who is on the CD, then do let me know. I need a holiday. Let's turn to the limited editions.

L12BONG20 is an absolute masterpiece and that's before we get to the music. It is a 12" sealed inside a blue gel pack which you must cut open to access the record. It is sensational. The front has Alan and Andy doing the sign and the quite marvellous explanation of what this is i.e.

What more do you need to know? That is just brilliant. There is also a little white feature at the top showing you who is on the cover (if you're the type of moron who writes a 2000 word blog about it 30 years later, that is ideal)

It's Alan and Andy and they are in Depeche Mode. Clever. The back is equally gorgeous:

That's Martin and Dave - obviously. Neither picture helps in the "who is on the 12" and CD" thing but, dear reader, we are well beyond that by now. There is a sticker on the outside of the package confirming this is L12BONG20

That is a lovely thing in itself. The real treat though is above the small pictures of Dave and Martin that adorn the rear of the gel sleeve. Just look at this:

To open the package, you must cut it open. It tells you to "Violate Here." That is stone cold genius of the highest possible order. It's the small things, indeed the smallest thing, that makes this release worthwhile. I absolutely love it.

Obviously, as we have long since learned, I am an arse and I cut mine on the wrong place entirely but what are you going to do? I have two other sealed versions to keep me happy. I am like that.

Once you open it, it gets even lovelier:

Just. Look. At. That. 

Live shots, a luxury inner sleeve all glossy and gorgeous, a beautiful cover and a record that is stark and mesmerising in its sheer gloriousness. Wow. The other side of all three things is just as magnificent:

Sigh. They don't make them like that any more. As if it matters, there is music on there too and magical music it is as well. Side A features World In My Eyes (Dub In My Eyes) a Francois Kervorkian remix (like all remixes on the 12" and CD singles) that features the robot voices that were used so superbly on the Devotional version. A mix that demands to be played very loud indeed. The B-side features the rather nice Mode To Joy mix of World In My Eyes by Jon Marsh of The Beloved and it's accompanied by The Pulsating Orbital Mix of Happiest Girl by The Orb. I recently read an interview with them where they said their remixes were just old tracks of theirs that they handed to record companies. There is a lot of The Orb on this mix but plenty of Depeche Mode too. 

LCDBONG20 is equally beautiful. It features the live shots we see in the inner sleeve of L12BONG20 but in a different order which is nice. The back of it looks like this:

There are six tracks here, four of which we already know - the Dub In My Eyes and Mode To Joy mixes of World In My Eyes, Happiest Girl (Jack Mix) and Sea Of Sin (Sensoria). The Mayhem Mode mix of World In My Eyes is another Jon Marsh remix, more upbeat than Mode To Joy and adds a few housey pianos for good measure. The 6th track is Happiest Girl (The Pulsating Orbital Vocal Mix)  a longer and a bit more vocally version of the Pulsating Orbital Mix.

If you can get either limited edition, get them. They're great.

As I mentioned way back at the start, the version of World In My Eyes used on the Global Spirit Tour was incredible. As the tour developed, the visuals did too and we ended up with the sight above which is my picture from the Paris gig in December 2017. On the right, we see Dave taken from the sticker on the limited edition promo from 1990 and on the left, Dave from 2017.

It's the attention to detail that makes it glorious. That attention to detail runs all the way from 1990 to the present day with World In My Eyes. What a trip.

SOMETHING TO HIDE - POLICY OF TRUTH

Policy Of Truth was the third single released from Violator. It was released on 7th May 1990, three weeks before the World Violation Tour kicked off. It's a funny one really. It's not as obvious a single choice as Halo, and it's a song that many people don't particularly like. On recent tours for example, its return to the setlist has been used by many as a chance to take another bathroom break or refresh their beer. I've always liked it (surprisingly enough) and, like all Violator releases, the attention to detail in the artwork, video and even the labels on the records are all marvellous. It seems to me that Policy Of Truth is seen by many as the least loved of the Violator singles and possibly even the least loved track on the album. Martin loves it mind you, telling BONG in 1998 that "It has been one of my all-time favourite songs that we've recorded." I'm with Martin - it deserves a lot more love than it gets.

Original UK subway advert

The video for the single was filmed in New York between 10th and 14th March while the band, Anton and his crew were conducting photoshoots and filming the footage to be used on the screens on the World Violation Tour. Various photos, including the one below, taken at the shoot were used in the World Violation Tour tourbook and in Anton's Strangers book. 

The video itself is a tale of Depeche Mode getting the brush off from a couple of women who ultimately have a good laugh about mucking the band around. The band are all hanging around New York, dressed in leather and moodily lit. We see each of them getting off with one of the women only to be suddenly abandoned. Dave looks annoyed, slapping a wall and then randomly singing whereas Martin just looks sad. Look at his little face at 1 minute 2 seconds in. Fletch and Alan on the other hand both just look bemused. To get over his wall slapping anger, Dave jumps in a car and drives around New York, eventually arriving back at his flat where colour footage of the two women is rather bizarrely playing on the wall. It transpires that he shares a flat with his bandmates and they all sit around looking gloomy while Dave keeps singing. It doesn't look like a happy living arrangement. Anyway, the video plays out with Dave back in his car while the rest of them are all hanging out in the same places they were abandoned, each like a slightly like synthesised, leather clad Greyfriar's Bobby. We see two girls leave a bar chuckling doubtless discussing the fact they've made Depeche Mode look like a bunch of lovesick teenagers.

That's my interpretation anyway. Judge for yourselves here:

I really do like the video. As I've inevitably said too many times already, every aspect of the Violator era artwork and filmed footage is exceptional. 

The single's release was preceded by the release of the usual promos. The promo 7" single R7BONG19 looks the same as the standard 7" but has the Radio Edit of the track on its A-side. Like the 7", it has the single version of Kaleid on the reverse. The record also has the R 7 BONG 19 etched on the inner groove if you want to check your copy. Here is the front of the promo:

and here, thrillingly, is the back:

The promo CD features the same two tracks:

As you'll see, it says it fetaures the 7" version of Policy Of Truth. That's not actually the case. A promo 12" was released too featuring four tracks.

Their names and the remixers are revealed on closer inspection of the label (told you we'd talk about labels). We'll look at the remixes shortly:

The standard releases all have gorgeous sleeves. The cassette single insert shows four pictures of the cover model all of which are used on various sleeves over the release:

The front sleeve mirrors the promo poster above as you will see. There are two tracks on the cassette with both appearing on each side. They are the single versions of Policy Of Truth (about 1 minute longer than the Radio version) and Kaleid. Kaleid (pronounced the same way as the first two syllables of the word "kaleidoscope") is an instrumental track that is thrillingly good. Clearly drawing influence from the prevailing acid style at the time, Kaleid is just magical. This version is the best of the three available across the formats.

The rear insert of the cassette single

The 7" single is identical to the promo 7" in every aspect other than the inner groove which doesn't say R 7 BONG 19. It also features the single version of Policy Of Truth with the single version of Kaleid on the reverse

There's the front. And here is the back:

The 12" is a three track affair, featuring three superb remixes.

On the A-side of 12BONG19, we find the Beat Box mix of Policy Of Truth by Francois Kervorkian. It's like an extended version of the track with Dave's vocals given more space than in the Single versions. If you love classic Depeche Mode remixes, you'll love this. The Beat Box mix is in fact an edit of the full mix. The full version appears on the 2004 reissued CD single and the US CD single from 1990.

12BONG19 - rear and b-side

The first track on the B-side is the Captiol Mix of Policy Of Truth, again by Francois. It features a sample saying "I want to tell you my side of the case"  that is taken from Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech. Go to 58 seconds in below:

The remix itself is really cool. It's less of a 12 remix than Beat Box and is more experimental, pulling parts of the track here and there and highlighting some of the cool noises that you might not otherwise notice or enjoy. The When Worlds Mix...erm...mix of Kaleid completes the 12" with a noisier version of the original B-side by Daniel Miller and George Holt.

CDBONG19

CDBONG19 features the two Policy Of Truth remixes from the 12" and adds Kaleid (Remix)by Bruce Smith and Sean Oliver, a dancier version of the track with a the acid style bass line an enjoyable prominent feature throughout.

There were of course also limited editions available too as we can see advertised above in Record Mirror. The advert promised a version of Policy Of Truth remixed and remodelled by The KLF and that's what we got.

L12BONG19

L12BONG19 is a glorious thing. It's a glossy gatefold sleeve with a gorgeous all black equally glossy inner sleeve. The Trancentral Mix is exactly what you'd expect from The KLF - a slightly sinister partly ambient track that takes Policy Of Truth in an unexpected but quite brilliant direction. There's a sample again too, this time from Bob Hoskins' speech in The Long Good Friday. Listen here, 4 seconds in:

The B-side features the Remix of Kaleid found on CDBONG19 plus the Pavlov's Dub version of Policy Of Truth, another Kervorkian remix.

Gatefold unfolded

It's a decent enough remix that again features the voice of Richard Nixon but adds Winston Churchill for good measure ("I must not conceal from you tonight...the truth as I see it") from his speech to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on March 31st 1949. If you want to hear that in full, click here

L12BONG19 rear featuring all sorts of glossiness

Finally, we had a limited edition, 5 track CD single.

LCDBONG19 features the two Policy Of Truth remixes from L12BONG19, adds in the When Worlds Mix of Kaleid then somewhat needlessly throws in the single versions of both songs to round it all off. It's a nice package with a cool sleeve and a rather lovely shiny CD.

Policy Of Truth entered the UK charts on 28th May at number 28, peaking the following week at number 16. It then went to 18, 30, 51 and 70 before heading off in to the sunset. It's a single that underperformed for the band in the UK, perhaps because of the combination of the relatively recently released album and no UK tour for another 6 months. It's a single that shouldn't be overlooked though, as it is a solid track. Next time you hear it live, remember this blog and, instead of getting that next beer, sing along. You'll enjoy it.

ALL I EVER WANTED - ENJOY THE SILENCE

It feels as if I have written this blog several times before, so please bear with me if it feels like this is a repeat. It is no exaggeration to say that Enjoy The Silence was a song that changed my life. When I first heard it playing on my Mum's car radio, everything stood still and I was captivated by what I heard, a feeling that I still get when I hear the song. Without that song, it's unlikely I would have embraced Violator and, without that, you wouldn't be reading this as I don't think my Depeche Mode fandom would have reached the clearly problematic levels it has currently reached. In other words, blame Enjoy The Silence for the existence of this blog. I will never tire of it. How can anyone not love a song that says so much, so simply:

"All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here in my arms."

It's not just me that feels like that. Many members of the Depeche Mode fanbase first discovered the band having heard Enjoy The Silence. It's a song that piqued the interest of casual fans, becoming a genuine crossover hit, and it's a song that has influenced numerous musicians and bands - see Coldplay's video tribute to it with their Viva La Vida video.

What is it about this track then? What made Enjoy The Silence so special? At the risk of setting off an "Alan is the best" debate, we first must look at Mr Wilder's contribution to the track.

Martin had turned up at PUK studios in Denmark with a demo version that bore no resemblance to the final version we all know. His demo was more along the lines of the Harmonium version that can be found on L12BONG18 and LCDBONG18. Famously, Alan insisted on adding his glittery disco ball to the mix and he was right to do so, noting that it would be criminal to pass on the song's "massive commercial potential." Alan and Flood sent everyone away and got to work on Martin's demo, ending up with a version the band loved. Daniel Miller was unhappy with the band and Francois Kervorkian's mix of the track however, and so his mix was ultimately released as the 7" version.

The first the world heard of Enjoy The Silence was in Dortmund on 18th November 1989, when the band performed the song on Peter's Pop Show. Here it is in all its glorious "video mix" version glory:




At this point, the single was just under three months from release. As YouTube didn't exist then, it's quite remarkable to think that only those who were able to access the broadcast at the time were the only people that could actually see this. I imagine that video tapes of the show would have been in heavy demand. The song was so new that the iconic video had not yet been filmed and, in fact, the song would not be performed again on television until after the single's release.

Ah, the video. As beautiful as the song itself is captivating, Anton Corbijn's majestic video is one of those Violator era moments where Depeche Mode's music and Corbijn's vision blend perfectly, creating an astonishing accompaniment to the single. The video famously features very little of the band but wall-to-wall Dave Gahan. The band shots were filmed in London on 28 November 1989. The opening 17 seconds of the video are wonderful. The band are naturally shot in black and white with Dave putting on his hard man look again, disappearing one by one until only Dave is left. The video proper then begins, Anton's first colour video for the band. This is Depeche Mode looking their coolest and the opening section of the video mix, a mix that has criminally never had an official audio release, is incredible.

In December 1989, the video shoot proper kicked off with Dave and Anton's crew heading to the Balmoral Estate in the North East of Scotland.  There was a brief article about the video in Bong 8, the much-missed Depeche Mode Fanclub magazine, talking about Dave's 8 hour shoot in freezing conditions. It mentioned that, after the shoot, Dave remained in his robe and crown and waved to inevitably bemused passers-by as he and the crew left the shoot. 

Dave at Balmoral, picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group

The video shoot carried on in January 1990 when Dave, Anton and co headed to the Algarve in Portugal and a place called Alvor at Praihna Beach, Here, a number of the video's most striking moments were shot, including the section where Dave stares out to sea which, the opening aside, is my favourite part of the video. This was of course also the time where Dave was sporting a daring new haircut that featured a tree on top of his usual hairdo. We can see it here, captured by Anton in his Strangers book:

Filming concluded a week or so later in the Swiss Alps where the video's iconic snowy scenes were filmed. It was at this shoot that Dave famously sent Anton's assistant Richard Bell out into the snowy wilds to star in one scene that featured the video's King very, very far away. He'd had enough of the cold and who can blame him?

Dave reacting to Anton suggesting he go very far away for the last shot

And that was that. The greatest Depeche Mode video and, yes, I'll say it, the greatest video of all time, was complete. Here are all 4 minutes 40 seconds of this most wonderful film:

How can anyone ever grow tired of that? Sigh. Anyway....

The band started releasing promos for the single, most of which now sell for very high prices online. A promotional postcard was sent out to Fanclub members when the single was released on 5th February 1990, showing off the iconic single art for the first time:

It told you what initial formats were released initially which was handy:

A 7 inch promo was sent out. The only difference between it and the standard 7" is the size of the A on the A-Side of the record. If yours looks like this, you have a nice asset. I saw one sell for £5 or so on eBay last year - the seller clearly had no idea what they had.

BONG18 promo 7" - a-side

The b-side of the promo 7" looks no different to the standard 7":

BONG18 promo 7" - b-side

A 12" promo was released in one of those wonderful Mute promo sleeves of the time:

P12BONG18

It features three tracks, all remixes of Enjoy The Silence: Bass Line, Ricki Tik Tik Mix and Single Version. The Ricki Tik Tik Mix on the promo 12" is different to the commercially released mix that appears on the limited edition 12" and CD single, as it features additional keyboard sounds. That version was released commercially when the Depeche Mode Singles Box Set featuring Enjoy The Silence was released in 2004. There was also a 3" promotional CD single:

CDBONG18R and more of my carpet than is necessary

It features the same tracks as the promotional 7".

Promotional items aside, eight different versions of Enjoy The Silence were released. First of all, the standard 7" which featured the Single versions of Enjoy The Silence and spooky but gorgeous instrumental track Memphisto. Martin says that the b-side is the name of an imaginary film he created where Elvis featured as the devil. Of course.

BONG18

As you can see, the big A from the promo is not there. As you can also see below, the b-side is identical to the promo 7" b-side:

BONG18

Let's pause this format nonsense briefly to look at the cover art. The 7", cassette, standard CD single and standard 12" all had the same front sleeve and it is stunning. Simple, but quite beautiful, it is one of Anton's finest. The rear of the 7" and CD/12" also feature the same art as the 7" above and, again, and no doubt to the surprise of no-one, I love it. The rose motif appears again, and the simple DM accompanies it perfectly. D and M are also my initials - Anton was clearly sending me a message. Right?

Anyway, the cassette single has the same tracklisting as the 7":

CBONG18

The rose and DM logo appears there too as you can see. 12BONG18 features four tracks and is a beauty.

12BONG18 - a-side

The a-side features the Single Mix and Hands And Feet Mix of Enjoy The Silence. The latter is a classic 12" style remix that has featured prominently in live versions since 1990. 

12BONG18 - b-side

The b-side features the Ecstatic Dub version of Enjoy The Silence, a really cool remix that shows off the track's harsher side, focussing on the bass and percussion side of things. Sibeling is the second track on the b-side, another instrumental, more piano led than Memphisto. It's a lovely thing. Both the Hands And Feet Mix and Ecstatic Dub are Francois Kervorkian remixes.

CDBONG18

The standard CD single, CDBONG18 pictured above, is a 3" cd featuring the same four tracks as the 12" albeit the Hands And Feet Mix is in an edited form due to the capacity of the CD. It is 37 seconds shorter than the 12" version.  So there you go. 

L12BONG18 - a-side

There were limited edition formats too starting with L12BONG18, the limited edition 12". This is my favourite Depeche Mode record of all time. The record above was the first Depeche record I ever bought while in London on a family holiday in 1990. My Mum won't fly, so getting to our ultimate holiday destination of Livorno in Italy was hard enough. We started off driving to Dumfries then getting a train first to Carlisle and then to London where we spent a night. I managed to go record shopping and bought this record. I subsequently carried it with me from London to Dover (train), Dover to Calais (hovercraft) and then from Calais to Livorno. Going home, I carried it all the way back, finally playing it at home in Castle Douglas having been a pain in the arse and added unnecessary hassle to a family holiday (Dad - "Would you put that bloody record down?"). Those memories however, and the memories of 1990's Depeche Mode discovery, make me very happy indeed.

L12BONG18 - b-side.

The artwork on this and the equivalent CD single is magical too. A simple re-telling of the standard release covers with a copy of the rear art and it compliments them perfectly. Here's LCDBONG18:

LCDBONG18

Both releases feature the same four tracks: the Bass Line, Harmonium and Ricki Tik Tik versions of Enjoy The Silence and Memphisto. Harmonium is a version that is very close to Martin's original demo and is hauntingly beautiful. I used to put it on mixtapes thinking I was being really clever when, in fact and bloody obviously when you think about it, all people wanted to do was hear the actual song and not some obscure remix. The things you do when you are young. Both Bass Line and Ricki Tik Tik Mix are wonderful remixes. Bass Line  is a curiously intriguing mix that mixes distorted vocals with all sorts of stuff to quite wonderful effect.  The Ricki Tik Tik Mix is another superb deconstruction of Enjoy The Silence with interesting acid like squiggles at points throughout. All three remixes on the limited releases are credited to Depeche Mode and Flood.

Picture courtesy of depmod.com

All of a sudden, adverts like the one featured in Record Mirror above appeared, A 15 minute non stop mix of Enjoy The Silence? Mixed by Tim Simenon, Holger Hiller, Gareth Jones and Adrian Sherwood? One sided etched 12"? What did any of this mean?

It meant this gorgeous beast:

XLBONG18 front cover and inner sleeve

Now, we (and by "we," I automatically exclude any normal people) had been used to L12's and LCD's in the Depeche Mode release world, but what wizardry was an XL12 and XLCD? Well, it was apparently an extra limited release featuring a mix in four parts called The Quad: Final Mix, a 15 minute (actually 15 minutes 27 seconds) remix of Enjoy The Silence. Nearly as mad as the legendary Everything Counts Filofax pack, this was a truly odd yet marvellous way to round off the multi format madness of Enjoy The Silence.

XL12BONG18 - a-side

Before we get to the remix and etched b-side, let's just appreciate that artwork. The DM and rose we'd seen on the rear of the releases above features on both the cover and the printed inner sleeve. Add to that the fact the cover is black and you have a something incredibly special. How bloody lovely.

XLBONG18 - etched b-side

The rear cover is wonderful too, echoing both standard 12" and CD singles PLUS the postcard I showed you earlier. If you are like me, and I presume most of you reading this are indeed that or even worse, then this can never fail to make you smile. The etching on the unplayable b-side is beautiful too as I hope the picture above shows. In many ways, this is an almost pointless, vanity release, but to be perfectly honest, I'd have bought it even if it didn't include a record.

And then there's The Quad:Final Mix itself. 4 remixers take charge and remix the single as they see fit, with Paul Kendall having the job of putting all four together. It's not a mix you would put on at a party, but it's still something quite remarkable. The first part is along the lines of the 12" mixes already released and is quite brilliant. At 3 minutes 26 seconds, an alarm clock sounds and the song takes off in a different direction entirely, experimental but interesting and then, all of a sudden, 6 minutes 28 seconds in, everything slows down and the song becomes an orchestral piece. It is beautiful. The orchestral section mixed by Gareth Jones and Mimi Kobayashi was actually released on its own on a Mute compilation album called International : Compilation Mute in 1993. The fourth part of The Quad begins at 10 minutes 41 seconds and ends on a high with a booming final section. What an odd but fantastic release. 

XLCDBONG18

There was also a CD release too with no etched b-side, but with a black 3" CD as you can see above. If you'll permit me one last wander down memory lane, this CD single is a wonderful example of how not to collect any band, let alone Depeche Mode. Back in 1990, I would go into Dumfries with my friends Stuart, Jamie and John and we'd trawl the record shops. At the end of one of these days, we went to Domino Records next to our bus stop. Both the XL12 and XLCD were on sale in that shop for 99p each. Rather than buy both, I bought the 12" and some chips. Many years later, I paid around £30 for the CD. Ok, at the age of 16, collecting was hardly at the forefront of my mind, but the chips instead of XLCDBONG18 decision remains one of my worst of all times, at least from an economic point of view.

Ultimately though, I have no Enjoy The Silence regrets. If I could only ever listen to one song for the rest of my life, it would be this one. I have experienced so many things in my life as a result of being a Depeche Mode fan, and none of that would have happened without hearing Enjoy The Silence for that first time in early 1990. It changed everything for me and I can't ever forget that.

It didn't do too badly for Depeche Mode either. As we'll see tomorrow, even the music press liked it.

Thanks to Thomas and Julien for fact checking.