DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 27: I FEEL YOU

 

With Violator, Depeche Mode had completed electronic music. They had taken it from their local pubs to American stadia and, frankly, there was nowhere else to go.

The band had always adapted and moved on so, after a year off that included pictures of Dave with what everyone presumed was a holiday beard in BONG magazine, Depeche Mode's return was keenly awaited to say the least.

That wasn't a holiday beard though.  This was a new bearded, inked up Dave. There was a drumkit. There was also a very loud guitar. This was not Violator.

This was the dawning of something new altogether

YOUR SUN IT SHINES - I FEEL YOU

The Single

I Feel You, BONG21, was released on 15th February 1993. This was the first new Depeche Mode material that had been released since I became a fan, so to say I was excited was an understatement. I taped the first play of the song from Simon Mayo's Radio 1 show and then played and rewound, played and rewound, played and rewound until I alienated everyone who knew me. I was in first year at University at the time and was in the very early stages of being in a band. We tried out some REM and Teenage Fanclub covers before I insisted we try I Feel You, despite not knowing the words. We broke up very shortly after that but a tape of one session does exist. It will remain buried in a lead casket until 1000 years after my death.

Anyway, I enthusiastically welcomed I Feel You. What about everyone else?

In Smash Hits, the single was reviewed by Tony Mortimer of the "tough" boy band East 17. The author of classics such as House Of Love and Deep had no time for I Feel You but then, as anyone familiar with his band's output will agree, his opinion on what is a good tune is not that important.

To make up for things, Smash Hits printed the lyrics in a slightly odd way and displayed the new, hairier Depeche Mode.

Over at Melody Maker, Jim Arundel came up with this:

"Almost as deadly as they'd love to be, I Feel You is an exercise in scaling the charts the hard way. They positively pulp a backing track while the newly grunged-up Dave Gahan has his nuts tattooed live in the studio. Synths fart, squelch and whine, amps howl, The London Symphony Dentists pop in for a few bars and the chorus goes either 'this is the dawning of Allah' or 'this is the dawning of Alan' - presumably a reference to 'new boy' Wilder bow being allowed to stay out as long as he likes without being accompanied by an adult."

Other than the suggested chorus line (A 1983 to 1993 compilation called This Is The Dawning Of Alan featuring all his songs and co-writes would be fun), that's a lot of gibberish.

Would NME look upon the song in a more favourable way? Not really, no:

"I Feel You starts off with a might elongated guitar screech before Mr Body Art starts turning the wheels of insipidness. Far more old-style white trousers and crew cuts than his new hard-rock image would indicate; powerful enough, yet desperately forgettable. Depeche Modules everywhere will be dribbling in anticipation."

On the positive side, Depeche Modules is surely something the band can use. If you are reading chaps, I want 20% of whatever reissue project takes that name. As for the review...well, there's not much to say.

Obviously, the band had no intention of appearing on Top Of The Pops. The video featured, and we'll come to that, but there was no in-studio appearance.  That didn't stop the song hitting the Top 10 however and it actually entered the charts at number 8. Surely it was time for the band's first number 1? Well, no, because it went down to 9 the next week, then 22, 39, 50, 56 and finally off to oblivion at number 75

Promotion wise there was in fact only one in-studio appearance on earth not just for this song but for the entire Songs Of Faith And Devotion campaign. Let's have a look at the band's performance on Spanish TV show Viendonos on 3rd April 1993:

Here is the new Depeche Mode in action. What the devil is all this? Firstly, and crucially, it must be noted that the band had not only packed away their synthpop selves but they had also packed away the leatherometer. There is no reading here at all, save for a few percentage points for Dave's trousers. Even Alan, the man who redefined leather, is wearing normal clothes. A shocking turn of events.

Dave is resplendent in the top half of the suit he wears in the video and his long hair billows as he mimes his way through 80% of the words. Martin is almost bent double, so I presume his guitar was just a bit too heavy for him.  Fletch prods and pulls at his keyboard and Alan bangs away on a drumkit. 

I Feel You is a bloody brilliant song and a heroically bold choice to come back with. It really was a shock at the time but a good one and the song still stands out now. It's been a mainstay of the band's live set since it was released, appearing 701 times. The Devotional version is the best version as far as I'm concerned. As more drums and more screaming/roaring by Dave come in on later versions, it dilutes the song's power.

The B-Side was a bit of a cheat as they rather lazily used a track from Songs Of Faith And Devotion. One Caress is of course a majestic, dark, beauty of a song but you must have had a couple more tracks lying about surely lads? You'd had a couple of years for goodness' sake. Having since released Slow on Delta Machine, a song that you can easily imagine in the SOFAD era, I wonder why it wasn't considered then. I'm rambling, One Caress is a perfect Martin song which was actually conisdered by the band to be no more than B-Side material until sense prevailed. It's been played live 74 times.

The Video

This was the moment everyone realised that someone had changed dramatically. Previously clean cut, they had become entirely different and exuded a sense of menace previously unseen. It was shocking, especially for those of us who had grown up in the UK. Like me, many of you will have watched BBC1 comedy Three Up, Two Down and the sight of Lysette Anthony in this video was far removed of the memory of her as Angie Tyler in that programme.

Ah, you thought I meant Dave. 

Anyway, laboured jokes aside, we open on a black and white shot of a rocking chair as the mad intro noise screams away and...hang on...it's the actor from Three Up, Two Down. Has Anton made a video in tribute to the show? Is Michael Elphick on the way? She shuts the door and wanders towards the camera and....

....is that Dave? 

It is. He's grown his hair and a beard and he appears to have employed the services of a blind tailor as that suit and waistcoat combo is a shocker. What on earth has happened to Dave? He jiggles away and then we see Martin. He's got a guitar and a shiny, incredibly cheap looking but inevitably expensive top on. This is strange. It pans to the whole band and the most shocking thing isn't Alan on the full drum kit or Fletch doing what Fletch does best, it's Martin, He's wearing a pair of baggy grey tracksuit bottoms. Did he know they were filming that day? Come on Martin - make an effort man

Suddenly we are in the desert, or more accurately, Red Rock Canyon Park in Nevada. Dave screams away and we see Martin, hunched against the desert breeze, wandering off with his guitar have been told to go and get some more appropriate trousers on. The first chorus arrives (the dawning of Allah?) and we see Lysette waiting for someone in her cabin. Why do most on Anton's videos feature cabins?

The band action returns and we get our first close up of the band's new drummer, Alan. This was the exact point where Depeche Mode, and more specifically Alan, put the leatherwear away and started wearing clothes normal people wear. No more big hair, no more oversized chains around the neck; a new Depeche Mode era had begun. It is of course a fact that Alan only left the band because he insisted they return to their leather and bashing bits of concrete ways. The press release announcing his departure whilst untrue was worded that way as leaving Depeche Mode because you weren't allowed to wear leather trousers sounded too silly.

We then get some desert action, more Lysette prowling around her cabin and then we're once again in the desert, this time for some five a side football. Dave was initially put in goals, but he's not having that so he removes his goalkeeper's gloves and...erm..goalkeeper's sunglasses and forces Martin to take a shot as keeper. He rather petulantly agrees but only on the strict condition that he can take his guitar with him. That doesn't work so it's Dave's turn again and he's miserable about it. The gloves go back on but he makes such a fuss that he causes the net to burst. Depeche Mode do not make a good football team.

Perhaps a magic trick might cheer everyone up? After more band action, on the "where angels sing" line, Dave magically makes a church appear. It's impressive stuff but the band just keep going. The vidoe does too and as we play out, Dave turns up in Lysette's hut and starts undressing, confident that Michael Elphick wasn't going to suddenly burst through the door, We end on a shot of a topless Dave, his new tattoos on full display as he an Lysette get down to rehearsals for the Three Up, Two Down Depeche Mode special that aired in the UK at Christmas in 1993.

We've moved on a lot from See You.

The Formats

This was the last Depeche Mode track to appear on 7" in the UK for quite some time. The cover art for the single formats features four blob like creatures. These are in fact the band members and the blob like things were turned into huge metal doll things that hung behind the Devotional stage. Martin's doll (bottom left) is easy to identify due to its hair. To allow you to work out who is who though, Anton helpfully painted their birthdays on each one. Top left is Alan, top right Dave and Fletch is below him.

The rear of the single shows Dave posing in Hamburg. The labels are hugely enjoyable and as we've already seen, the two tracks here are I Feel You and One Caress.

The same two tracks appear on the UK cassette single CBONG21 where we get an extra band picture thrown in for good measure.

A promo 12", P12BONG21 was released but there was no promo CD. It features the album versions of I Feel You and One Caress and two remixes of I Feel You - Throb Mix and Babylon Mix.

Initial pressings of 12BONG21 came in a matt card sleeve (above) with later pressings in a glossy sleeve. The tracklisting of the 12" is the same as the P12BONG21

Both I Feel You remixes are great although I think I am a bit too biased given the effect this song had on me at the time. In 1993, we were still in the era of outsiders remixing Depeche tracks and making them sound good so we should be happy about that.

CDBONG21 features the same four tracks as 12BONG21. I was waiting outside HMV in Aberdeen when it opened on the day this was released. No-one else was.

Dave features on the back.

The single came in a digipack so, in addition to the band picture we saw on the CBONG21, we slso get a dM and a purple blob.

L12BONG21 is a lovely thing. It comes in a gatefold sleeve with a "deluxe" inner sleeve.

Fletch and Dave are the cover stars. The A-Side features two remixes by ambient pioneering synth goblin Brian Eno - Life's Too Short Mix and Swamp Mix. They sound just as you would imagine. I'm a bit of an Eno fan so they do the job for me.

The B-side features two more reasonable remixes of I Feel You - Afghan Surgey Mix and Helmet At The Helm Mix. Martin and Alan appear on the back. Later pressings of this 12" don't feature the band's birthdays.

Inside the gatefold we find the band band having a great laugh and Dave and Alan hanging around in Hamburg like a pair of dirty old men.

LCDBONG21 is another digipack and features the same four tracks as L12BONG21

The cover stars remain in the same order as on the 12"

The same pictures as on the L12 sleeve pop up too.

The 2004 reissue CD features the 8 tracks spread across the 1993 formats.

I don't have too many copies of  I Feel You so this section is a bit shorter than normal. I obviously have more copies than anyone could reasonably need of the single but you are all the same as me, so you get it. As ever, refer to depmod.com for all your release info. The picture above shows the German 7" single.

That's the back and B-Side of the same thing.

The one track US promo CD is a nice thing.

The US 12" looks the same as 12BONG21 but features a whopping seven tracks. Three remixes of I Feel You (Babylon Mix, Helmet At The Helm Mix, Afghan Surgery Mix) accompany One Caress on the A-side.

Brian Eno's mixes and the Throb Mix pop up on the B-side.

We end in Japan, The CD single has the same four tracks as CDBONG21 but it also has nice OBI strip and a poster. 

It's more of a leaflet than a poster really.

There we are then. Depeche Mode were back. They looked and sounded very different and, as the year went on, we'd discover that almost everything about them had changed. What a single though. 

Next time, we'll talk B-sides, odd looking people and try to immediately gloss over the words grungy and gonads.

MY JOY - DEPECHE MODE: SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION: THE 12" SINGLES

 

When Songs Of Faith And Devotion was released, any lingering perceptions people held of them being a weedy electronic act were finally and permanently dispelled. Despite Violator's all conquering performance, Depeche Mode were still viewed with suspicion in their homeland and when I Feel You first appeared, it shocked not only Depeche Mode fans but also everyone else who heard it and was told it was Depeche Mode. While Songs Of Faith And Devotion is not as universally acclaimed as Violator is, it is still a hugely important album and one that is still an enthralling album from start to finish. The album's singles were all wonderful and three of them even charted in the Top Ten in Britain, their best singles-from-an-album chart performance ever.

The newest boxset in the Depeche Mode 12" reissues is the Songs Of Faith And Devotion one and that has been released today. Let's see what's inside.

As with the previous 12" boxsets, it recreates and celebrates the era quite marvellously. The front of the box (above) is a new take on I Feel You's iconic artwork.  Martin is on the left and Dave on the right (more of how we know this below) and Alan (beside Martin) and Fletch have been decapitated for some reason. Harsh. The back of the box looks like this:

As ever, it comes with one of those pointless paper menu things which acts like a picture menu in a restaurant where you don't speak the language? "How do you say play the limited edition 12" of Walking In My Shoes?" "I don't know - just point to it."

"No I said CONDEMNATION. God, don't these people speak (insert language?)"

The 12" singles are, as ever, beautifully and faithfully (lolz etc) reproduced. When I Feel You came out I was in my first year at Aberdeen University. The song debuted on Simon Mayo's Breakfast Show on Radio 1 and I recorded it and then played and rewound the tape (ask your grandparents) endlessly and much to the increasing distress of those who could still bear to hang around with me. When the singles came out, I bought and played them endlessly too, all the time wearing a selection of Depeche Mode t-shirts and being known as "Depeche Mode Dave" to some because I wasn't mature enough to wear actual adult clothes.

Fast forward 27 years and I'm currently listening to I Feel You on 12" while wearing a Depeche Mode t-shirt and relaying that anecdote to a bunch of people who know me as the bloke who writes a Depeche Mode blog. That's progress. I think.

Anyway, I'm not reviewing me thank God, I'm reviewing the singles. Future blog episodes will look at each single in turn (wait...come back) so I'm not going to review all the remixes today. Here's the I Feel You 12":

The cover shows the drawings of the band that would become the terrifying large metal things that hung behind the Devotional stage. Top left we have Alan with Dave to his right. Andy is below Dave and Martin bottom left under Alan. How do I know this? Well, other than Martin's picture having something like his hair, each drawing has the band member's birthday in the bottom right. Presumably Anton did this so that the permanently drunk band would be able to remember birthdays on the Devotional tour - either their own or everyone else's. The back of the 12" features Dave looking moody in Hamburg:

There is no inner sleeve here, just a paper one. Here's Side A of the record:

Even though that is just a big purple blob, I do like that. Side B  has another lovely label and tells us the tracks:

The Throb Mix is the standout for me here. The Babylon Mix is good but has a daft name. Not as daft as others in this box however. There was of course a limited edition 12" and it is a lovely looking gatefold. Here's the cover:

Alan and Dave minding their own business there while Martin and Fletch slope off to chat all things Basildon on the back:

The gatefold inner features two pictures:

On the left we see Alan and Dave back in Hamburg with a lifesize topless cartoon and on the right, all four lads together, all clearly hungover and with Martin standing in a very odd way. The front of the inner sleeve is wonderful:

It's a lovely thing. The other side of it is, well, black:

I show that for completeness sake and nothing else. The labels are again fantastic - here is Side A:

As you can see, it mirrors the image on the inner sleeve. Things like that probably shouldn't make me happy, but they do. If you are reading this then you are likely nodding in agreement. The B-Side label is below:

Fantastic. These 12" singles were easy to get at the time, unlike the In Your Room ones and the recreations here are spot on. There are two Brian Eno remixes on this 12" by the way which are quite interesting. They Eno here and there, burbling and glugging around in that Eno-y way but are pretty decent if you like that sort of thing.

The second single, and the only one to fail to crack the UK Top Ten fact fans, is the godlike genius of Walking In My Shoes. The standard 12" has a lovely shiny sleeve:

As you can see, it features the topless, terrifying part woman part demonic hellbird that featured on the live footage accompanying the song. The same beast features all over this single. Here she is on the back sleeve too:

The original pressing of the singles had a matt cover with spot gloss (thanks Scott) parts such as the barcode section above and the repressing didn't. The boxset version is a recreation of the original pressing. There is no inner sleeve here, just a paper one and Side A's label looks like this:

Side B lets Side A take the arty glory and instead shoulders the burden of displaying actual information:

On the music side of things, for this is after all about a band who play music, the b-side My Joy is a track you don't want to miss. It's a hidden Depeche classic. There is only one remix of the title track here and that is the Grungy Gonads Mix.

That name doesn't improve with age.

The limited 12" is another wonderful thing and I had, and still have, a T-shirt with this cover:

The back is another matt/spot gloss affair:

Like I Feel You, this is a gatefold 12":

The Page 3 with a demonic bird head theme continues on the inner sleeve:

The other side of the inner sleeve is nudity free; in fact it's free of anything other than the catalogue number - L12BONG22:

I really like that. Side A of the actual record continues the label theme from the standard 12":

Again, Side B tells you everything you need to know:

There are four remixes of Walking In My Shoes on the record and they are all great although the Ambient Whale Mix is a bit bland.

The next single was the much heralded Depeche Mode Do Gospel Condemnation and this release introduced us to the Devotional tour which the band had already kicked off by the time the single came out. The sleeve takes a still from the film used when the song played on the tour:

The rear prints the lyrics which look like they've been drawn by someone holding a pencil between their toes rather than their fingers:

The original issue of the single featured a deluxe inner sleeve and that's what we get here. "Deluxe" seems an odd word to use as it's not as if it gets you access to a lounge or free booze, but its a nice thing anyway. It uses another still from the tour film:

The word "deluxe" is further tested by the rear of the inner sleeve whihc is once again just black:

Perhaps its shiny nature gives the additonal luxury purchasers of the re-pressed version missed out on thus ruining their lives. The record features 5 tracks including the Paris Mix of Condemnation, so called because the remix was finished off in a studio in Dusseldorf (hilarious), the at-that-point unreleased Jazz Mix of Death's Door and three remixes of Rush. The first two tracks appear on Side A

and in a move that will surprise nobody, the other three feature on Side B:

The limited edition 12" was a real thrill when it was released. Instead of being called Condemnation, it's called Depeche Mode Live and it features four tracks, Condemnation, Personal Jesus, Enjoy The Silence and Halo, all live from the gig at Forum in Milan on 4th June 1993.

It's another gatefold too. On the cover (above) we have Dave in action and on the back, with another matt/spot gloss effort, we see Martin belting his way through Condemnation:

The gatefold shows all four band members in hot live action on the left and Dave captured wonderfully by Anton in full rock star mode on the right:

Wonderful. The deluxe inner sleeve was again only available with the first pressing of the 12". If you bought later pressings, the record was thrown into the street and you were made to pick it up while people laughed at you outside HMV. Thankfully, the boxset reproduces the deluxe version although is it REALLY deluxe if it's just the same as the standard 12"?

The same question applies to the other side of the inner sleeve:

Side A features Condemnation and Personal Jesus

and, ever the traditionalists, the other two songs pop up on Side B:

The final single from the album was In Your Room, released in its Zephyr Mix form, a mix that would haunt live versions of the song for years after Devotional until they saw sense on the last tour. It featured on the 12" in 7" and Extended form along with two other In Your Room remixes and a comically bad remix of Higher Love, the ironically titled Adrenaline Mix. The cover uses the light bulb motif from the Devotional tour film and the song's video:

Here's the rear:

Again, lucky purchasers of the first pressing could bask in the glow of having a deluxe inner sleeve, reproduced here. It looks like this:

"Where's the luxury," you scream, "It must be on the other side. SHOW US DAVID." 

No, it's black too. At this point, I should let you all know that I'm veery much aware that I'm posting pictures of black inner sleeves. It's clearly a very odd thing to do, but I've started down this road and it would actually annoy me now if I knew I didn't have a photo of every sleeve, no matter how black they are. And yes, I have taken a picture of every one. I've not just taken on and re-used it. I am one of you remember and I know what you/we are like. Depeche Mode fans are very, VERY strange people and they'd complain if I tried anything on here. 

Side A of the record looks like this:

Side B is equally straightforward:

The limited edition 12" and final release from Songs Of Faith And Devotion, is a wonderful 6 track affair featuring six superb live tracks - In Your Room, Policy Of Truth, World In My Eyes, Fly On The Windscreen, Never Let Me Down Again and Death's Door. They are all bloody brilliant - the Devotional version of World In My Eyes is one of the band's finest live arrangements of all time and the live version of In Your Room makes your body shiver for hours after hearing it. Incredible. Depeche Mode are hugely underrated as a live band. This record shows just how good they were then. The cover is all lightbulbs, all the time. Here's the front:

Here is the back:

The really quite lovely cover art is one thing, but can you cope with ANOTHER deluxe inner sleeve? You can? Ok, here's one side of it

and here's the other:

The inner sleeve equivalent of a 5 night all inclusive break in a 7 star Dubai hotel. The labels on the record are gorgeous. Here's Side A:

and here is Side B:

Beautiful. As with the Violator singles' cover art, everything about the Songs Of Faith And Devotion cover art is superb with so much thought being given to every aspect of it, deluxe sleeves aside. The recreation of every aspect in this boxset is tremendous work.

I should say that the records sound superb too.

As with other boxsets there is an extra but, sadly, the only extra here is an admittedly lovely reproduction of a promo poster for Walking In My Shoes:

Perhaps we were spoiled with the incredible extras with the Violator boxset, and I'm perhaps being a bit too greedy, but an additional record such as a reproduction of the Rush  12" promo would have been a cool addition. It's a nice rarity from the era like the World In My Eyes promo reproduced last time, The lack of an other extras doesn't detract from how fantastic this boxset is mind you. I think if anything we may have been too spoiled by the last box.

Finally, there's a download card. 

The whole 12" reissue series has been incredible and a real joy throughout. The Violator box was going to be a hard act to follow, but this boxset is very much up to the task. It recreates the original releases perfectly and, when enjoyed and appreciated as a whole, it reminds us just how good Depeche Mode were in 1993.