AS YEARS GO BY, ALL THE FEELINGS INSIDE - VIOLATOR'S LEGACY

As I declared at the start of this month, Violator is my favourite Depeche Mode album and is in fact my favourite album of all time. The same applies for many Depeche Mode fans and for us, ther is no real question of what Violator's legacy is; it's been with us for thirty years and will continue to remain with us for many more.

For the band, the album changed everything. People started to talk about their influence on house music and their peers acknowledged that Violator was Depeche Mode's finest work. The music press finally took note of their huge worldwide success and belatedly, and occasionally grudgingly, noted that this was well deserved. Violator made Depeche Mode a genuine stadium band and that was all on their own terms. They didn't compromise in any way when making the album by altering their sound to make it more mainstream or stadium friendly; instead they challenged their fans by adding guitars, bringing in a new producer and adding layers to their sound to make it darker and more intense. While the album had two genuine hit singles worldwide, this was an album of a breadth and scope unlike any previous Depeche album.

Of all the things that Violator should be praised for, achieving the career defining success the band did with this album entirely on their own terms deserves the most praise. It is a remarkable achievement. With The Cure having finished The Prayer tour, R.E.M. in transition from Green's arena filling to Out Of Time's stay at home acoustic vibe and U2 still working on Achtung Baby, for most of 1990 Depeche Mode were arguably the biggest live draw in the world. That is a remarkable thing. 

The album is now spoken of in near universally reverential terms by the media and is regularly cited as Depeche Mode's best and most influential album. It's place in musical history is secure.

The band's success meant that their next album Songs Of Faith And Devotion was very much "a big thing."  The whole world was waiting for a new Depeche Mode album and the band came back in style as we all know. Their were of course other issues involved in that album's recording and touring but they're not something we need to look at now, if ever. 

Violator's succcess was the catalyst for many things - Songs Of Faith And Devotion, Alan's departure, Ultra and no tour and so on. In terms of sales, the band have not come close to matching Violator but, as the huge success of 2017/18's Global Spirit Tour shows, the band have not lost their ability to attract huge crowds wherever they go. I don't think it's much of a leap to say that, without Violator, that type of tour at this stage in their career would not have been possible. 

Ultimately, Depeche Mode's enduring appeal and success is Violator's legacy. It is a legacy that truly deserve.

Writing a month long blog is an odd experience, especially when I consider that I'm testing people's patience by popping up each day and asking them to read something new that concerns something they love and have their own opinions about. Doing that against the background of a worldwide pandemic however quickly makes you realise how irrelevant this is when compared to the very real problems millions of people are facing worldwide.

Thank you all very much then for reading everything this month. It's always very humbling to find out that one person reads anything I do, never mind the large number of people who have got in touch over the last four weeks. If nothing else, I hope it's brought a smile or two to your face during whatever period of lockdown your Government has you under. 

Thank you very much too to the guest bloggers this month - Kevin May, Michael Rose, Glen Hammarstrom, Dicken Schrader, Amanda Stock, Panos Sialakas, Matthew Wolfe, Sean Salo, Niggels Uhlenbruch and Shaun Coward a.k.a @PollicyOfTruth. I couldn't have completed a month's worth of posts without your input.

Finally....

As I might have mentioned, Kevin May and I have a book coming out - it's called Halo and it's all about Violator.  We are still aiming for a late May release but recent global events have meant that Kevin's life has been taken over by work issues, so we may be a week or two late. After a month of Violator related posts on here, you may well welcome the delay.

To conclude the month, we thought it would be interesting to let the people we've interviewed give their thoughts on Violator and its legacy. Here are some quotes to give you a taste of what is to come and who’s involved, plus the names of fans who have contributed (some of whom you will have already seen snippets during this month).

For news about Halo, and for more of the usual Depeche Mode nonsense, keep an eye on the blog and also the book’s official website 

Halo Interviewees:

Francois Kevorkian, Violator mixer

When I saw them in concert, when Martin did a song by himself, which was just an acoustic guitar and singing, it was just like: "Well, I never got to see John Lennon but I got to see you. And that's good enough for me." 

Richard Smith, designer at Area

He [Anton] showed me the rose and explained his thought process behind it - about a delicate sort of object, violated, so it was a very subtle and simple nod to the title of the album. It’s painted red and it then has this kind of subtle reference to some sort of violation in a more gothic way, I suppose. The rest of the package was just me trying to sort of put my mark on my first album cover and exploring ways of treating the typography and the lyrics and using the photography. 

Andy Franks, tour manager for the World Violation Tour

There was a place – in Japan, I think – where smoke machines were banned. We weren’t sure what was going to happen but then, suddenly, we saw 200 guys outside with black bin liners that they were filling up with smoke for each machine. Then they were shaking the bags to let the smoke out into the stage - it was absolutely brilliant! 

Steve Lyon, Violator engineer in London

The tracks, before Francois mixed them - and he mixed them very well in the end - were slightly more robust and rocky. I remember the three of us - me at the helm, and then Flood and Alan telling me what to do on the desk; we did some rough mixes of the album. They were definitely rockier than the final version of Violator. 

Paul Kendall, owner Worldwide International and engineer on Enjoy The Silence (The Quad:Final Mix) 

I performed a few percussive in/out breath chugs (on my harmonica). To my absolute joy, my chug is immortalised in Personal Jesus, coming in around one minute in. It (Violator) is/was a great album and Flood succeeded in creating a new Depeche sound, aided and abetted by Alan and Daniel. 

Richard Bell, video producer and World Violation Tour stage film producer

Super 8 isn’t a slick format. It’s got a huge grain and is a non-professional format. It was designed for home use. So, they are not slick videos, generally. If you had shot Enjoy the Silence on a 35mm film, it would be completely different. And, I think that’s reflected in the music. The sound is right with Depeche. 

Pino Pischetola, Violator engineer in Milan

I remember one occasion, he [Fletch] came back from England and he had over 1,000 postcards to sign - so every bit of time off they had, it was signing postcards...forever! But it was a sign that they still wanted a great relationship with their fans. 

David Browne, engineer on Enjoy The Silence

One thing I would say about Flood is that he was very down to earth. I remember, bringing him into the control room, started to explain the desk to him, and he just stopped me half way and said: ‘Dave, it doesn’t matter. A desk is a desk.’” 

Bruce Kirkland, owner of Second Vision publicity agency

You know, not to be sort of blasé about it, but as a marketing person this [Wherehouse Records incident] was sort of what you look for you - a national event and, eventually, an international event. 

Billie Rae Martin, singer for Electribe 101

The album is what turned DM into a religion, which to this day they still are in Germany. Great songwriting and seminal production from Flood. It's sort of the ultimate DM album. 

Nils Tuxen, Danish steel guitar player and first outside musician on a Depeche Mode album

Depeche Mode is the biggest name I've worked for as a studio musician. I was free to play anything I wanted. It was only years later when my daughter found out that I was used on Clean that I became aware that Alan had used samples of my steel guitar.

Robert Baldi, Violator engineer in Milan

We saw a lot of movement, people getting the studio ready, so I assumed that it was probably a big band – someone famous. He didn’t tell us the name but I was a big fan of them, so it was shocking. When I saw Martin, I just thought: "Fuck my life - they're really here.” 

Gareth Jones, producer on Construction Time Again, Some Great Reward and Black Celebration 

There’s something about the architecture of the [Violator] album. The way the instrumentation supports the vocals, the songwriting, the power of the album. The sound of the album is very modern and contemporary and glossy, which is obviously the band, the producer, the engineers, the mixers, the whole thing - everything just kind clicked. 

Mistie Fowlks, daughter of the owners of Strange Too drive-in theatre, Salt Lake City

My brother and I snuck into one of the RVs and took some empty Corona bottles and a piece of chewed gum. We kept the bottles but my brother sold the gum to a girl at school that next school year and she put the gum in her mouth, chewed and said it was just like kissing Dave Gahan. 

Neil Ferris, promoter

Daniel always chose the singles. Funnily enough, he would play me the record, then say "take it home and play it to Gill", my wife, who was also in the record industry. And we'd go through a little scenario: that would happen on every record, where Daniel would ring and say: "Well, what do you think? No actually, what does Gill think?" Personal Jesus I knew was going to be a huge record but we also knew I was going to have problems with it on radio because of the content. 

Phil Legg, engineer on Enjoy The Silence

When I heard it on the screen with the video, I remember thinking “Wow!” All those things you try and do; I think in this digital world, we can do thinks much quicker but in those days you worked hard to get something to have some sort of flavor or appeal. We did that with Enjoy The Silence.

Angela Sheldon, actress in the video for Clean

I was a huge fan of Martin Gore and more than happy to make out with him. I was actually dating an extremely jealous guy who flipped out when I told him, so I broke up with him to do the video 

Pam Heffler, actress in the video for Halo

I am actually surprised by the video. I didn't know it was going to be so unusual - unusual in a great way! 

Contributors:
Caroline Rose, France
Chris Snodden, Northern Ireland
Emily von Spears, USA
Genevieve Munroe, USA
Niggels Uhlenbruch, Germany
Panos Sialakas, Greece
Ranjit Chal, England
Rob Rohm, USA
Michael Rose, England
Sean Salo, USA
Stephane Devillers, France

GUEST BLOG NUMBER 7 - SEAN SALO

The last time I embarked upon a month long album special. Sean Salo provided one of that month's highlights with his incredible blog about Depeche's show at Radio City Music Hall in 1986. With that in mind, and no doubt testing the limits of our friendship, I asked him if he could write something again. He came up with this article about the World Violation tour gig at Giants Stadium and it is incredible. I'm lucky in that I got to read it a few days ago and it made me feel like I was at the gig. Superb. You'll love this. Thank you Sean for the blog AND for backing up my point that U2 ripped off World Violation for ZOOTV. 

As I write this, we are living amidst the coronavirus pandemic where self-isolation is the reality for much of the world. It paints a communal event with tens of thousands of ecstatic people with rose-colored hues (pun intended). We are Depeche Mode fans -- we’ve been training for doom, gloom, and isolation our whole adolescent and adult lives! This crisis also makes me thankful for events like these upon which we can look back fondly and to which look forward after we have overcome what is hopefully a blip on our collective radars.

Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group

The price to cross the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey into New York City was $3, and the toll booths caused miles of traffic during normal rush hours. Even at midnight, crawling in 45 minutes of traffic to pay the bridge troll was not unexpected. But on that warm June night in 1990, you could hear Depeche Mode bumping from the radio or tapedecks all over the New Jersey Turnpike. From a few lanes of traffic over came a yell, “Sean! Yo, Sean! I knew I’d see someone else I knew here.” It was a frat kid from my university; Chad?... Brad? (Before 1990, Depeche Mode had largely been a cult sensation in the States. But that summer, you couldn’t throw a rock into a frat house or at a line of cheerleaders without hitting someone who owned a copy of Violator.) With nearly 80,000 other concert-goers all making their exodus from Depeche Mode’s World Violation Tour show at the old Giants Stadium back toward New York City, it was indeed a near certainty.

Photo: Malibu Sue McCann

Earlier in the day, we arrived at the stadium later than I’d hoped. Admittedly, I underestimated the time it would take to get there. That didn’t stop me from blaming everyone else in my crew who I had agreed to drive there. We parked what felt like miles away, and as we made our way toward the entry gate, I could hear the opening percussion of Nitzer Ebb’s Fun to Be Had echoing through the parking lot. I panicked and started to run, not wanting to miss a second more than I needed to, and my girlfriend at the time refused to join my trot, choosing to walk instead. (I’m not saying this was the reason we broke up, but it weighed heavily...)

Ticketmaster tickets and parking pass ticket scans

I finally arrived at my seat on the floor of the stadium for the Ebb’s third song of the set, Join in the Chant, just in time to see half of the crowd who’d been sitting or milling about feign fandom and jump to their feet for the song they knew from any of the dozens of dance clubs catering to synthpop, post-punk, and industrial music at the turn of the decade. 

Photo: Malibu Sue McCann

It was still bright as day when The Jesus and Mary Chain sauntered on stage with their set of fuzzy, feedback-laden noise. One might think this might be why they were gazing at their shoes throughout their set, but they were just staying true to form. For the first half of 1990, they’d been playing largely in clubs and medium-sized venues, so the bright sun and open-air stadium was an atypical setting for them. While JAMC certainly had the catalog and the name recognition, there was a noticeable drop in stage and crowd energy from NEP’s set just prior, even as the stadium continued to fill. 

Many of us take for granted the experience of seeing Depeche in a stadium setting now, but in 1990 North America, Depeche Mode had yet to host audiences that large east the Los Angeles Basin. Giants Stadium, home to American football’s New York Giants and New York Jets, hadn’t hosted many concerts up to that point, save for some stadium rock giants like Aerosmith, U2, and the hometown Jersey boy, Bruce Springsteen. As a sign of the changing musical tastes of American young people, the last concert held before DM’s World Violation Tour stop there was a bit of a stunner, as well, with Love and Rockets, Pixies, and Shellyan Orphan providing support for DM’s contemporary, The Cure, on the 1989 Prayer Tour for their masterpiece, Disintegration. Still, The Cure required a mini-festival lineup to fill the stadium. Depeche Mode was largely carrying this show on their own, as JAMC and Nitzer Ebb only attracted a very niche lineup. Proving they warranted the booking, 42,000 tickets sold on just the first day of sale, in an era where fans still had to queue up -- many overnight -- for hard tickets to be sold and printed at box offices and ticket selling locations.

The near-endless chatter and advertising created the feel of a not-to-be-missed event. Radio station 92.7 WDRE (aka WLIR) was an exclusive media promoter of the gig, and they broadcasted live from the venue throughout the afternoon leading up to the show, interviewing all three bands and highlighting their music throughout the day. As I detailed in an interview with WDRE on-air presenter, Malibu Sue for the Home site in 2006, her quick thinking saved half of the duo. “Nitzer Ebb opened the show – personally chosen by Depeche. I ended up saving one of the guy’s necks -- can’t remember [if it was Bon or Doug] now -- as he decided to crawl out the open window of the press box we were watching Depeche from and almost fell to his death! I grabbed him and pulled him back into the window!” Sue’s personal connection to the Giants Stadium show runs even deeper. “One of the fondest [memories] of my career was when the band only allowed me to go on-stage to intro them at Giants Stadium. The reception I got from our beloved listeners brought tears to my eyes. Looking out over a crowd of about 80,000 was daunting, to say the least, and I was very grateful to the band for the opportunity! I was so touched and overwhelmed, I barely choked out ‘I love you’ to the crowd. It was exhilarating.”

Malibu Sue and Denis McNamara with Depeche Mode
Photo: Malibu Sue McCann

Nitzer Ebb with Denis McNamara of WDRE-FM
Photo: Malibu Sue McCann

The Giants Stadium show was certainly momentous for Depeche Mode and their fans. It also proved monumental in shaping other bands’ histories. Violator producer, Flood, was introduced by Anton Corbijn to Bono and Adam Clayton in the press box, which led to Flood’s production of U2’s iconic Achtung Baby album. 

Flood recalled the meeting for U2.com: “Depeche Mode were playing Giants Stadium (after we’d recorded Violator together) and I was sitting on my high throne in the press box, getting absolutely mullered, thinking, 'How good does this get?', when Anton Corbjin says, 'Flood, I have a couple of people to see you.' These two scruff-bags with hoodies and a beard walk through the door, and it’s Bono and Adam, in disguise. So we were all there, having a few jars, and they said, 'We want to blow up the old U2, and go to Berlin to make a new record. Are you interested?' 

“The band [U2] couldn’t go back to where they were - that was the overriding philosophy. They were saying to me, 'Be as free as you want to be. Try everything!' I’d been working with Depeche and Nine Inch Nails, so they were looking for some of that ‘industrial’ input.”

Megafan Christian Montone shared this encounter from earlier in the evening: “That June, friends and I (and seemingly the ENTIRE New York / New Jersey area) descended upon a packed Giants Stadium to see Depeche Mode, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Nitzer Ebb on what was called The World Violation Tour. Bono from U2 was in the lighting booth behind [our floor seats]. Those of us nearby in the crowd sang [the “how long to sing this song?” chorus of] U2’s “40” to him and well, he wasn’t thrilled. He nodded at us with a withering smirk and was spirited away by security.”

VIP Patch for the gig - picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos And Videos Facebook Group

Picture courtesy of Elsa Trillat

Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos And Videos Facebook Group

Having already seen Depeche Mode on the Black Celebration and Music for the Masses Tours, I wasn’t prepared for the spectacle of seeing them in a stadium setting. The 50-foot-high stage rigging dangled similarly gargantuan roses flanking stage left and right. The sun was still setting in the early summer sky as the opening house music thumps of Kaleid began pulsating, sending the crowd into a frenzy. It was the perfect intro to prep the crowd for the bass-heavy World In My Eyes show opener. This and the five tunes that followed (Halo, Shake the Disease, Master And Servant, and Never Let Me Down Again) could’ve stood on their own as a perfect intro to DM mixtape. Waiting For The Night gave us our first chance to catch our collective breaths and take in the vocal duo of Dave Gahan and Martin Gore. The acoustic set of I Want You Now and World Full of Nothing followed. (IWYN had actually received steady airplay on 92.7 WDRE-FM for years, so it was greeted rapturously by the tens of thousands of us hanging on every note.) Clean bookended the acoustic set, and provided the last chance for any butts-in-seats for the evening. The setlist for this tour has been obsessed over, especially in the absence of an official live recording release. But the remainder of the set that evening was all-killer/no filler. (I’ll leave my current feelings on Policy Of Truth out of this, as I recall it being the only tour I enjoyed hearing it.) 

As my friends and I made our way back to my car, drenched in sweat from the second encore’s one-two punch of Behind The Wheel and Route 66, we were still in awe of what we’d just witnessed. Happily, I’d have another opportunity a couple of nights later to see Nitzer Ebb’s full set with their only theater show of the North American leg, at Radio City Music Hall. (But we can revisit that show at some other Violator anniversary milestone.) (APA: 45th anniversary anyone? Nooooooooooo)

Ironically, Violator and the World Violation Tour marked both the height and the end of the era for synth-pop in America as the Madchester genre became the flavor of the year on alternative radio, which had long been the home for all things-Depeche. Just over a year after the Giants Stadium show, grunge rock started to make the technical and songwriting brilliance of Violator seem increasingly out-of-place on the radio format DM helped build. (And as we know, the grunge era heavily influenced at least Dave’s outlook on the band starting with Songs of Faith And Devotion.) The show at Giants Stadium, however, will always stand out as a pinnacle event in my decades of fandom.

Custom commemorative hoodie sweatshirt created by New York show presenter John Scher - picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group

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.

MAKING US BELIEVERS - PERSONAL JESUS

Some of my Persnonal Jesus collection

These days, it seems a surprise to see Martin standing behind his keyboards such is the prevalence of the guitar in the modern Depeche Mode sound. Until Personal Jesus was released, the guitar in Depeche Mode had been either a surprise accompaniment (Love In Itself), a sample that featured prominently in a song (Strangelove, Never Let Me Down Again) or a fairly restrained sounding instrument, adding texture to songs more than anything else (Behind The Wheel, Nothing). Personal Jesus introduced us all to the notion of a Depeche Mode song being dominated by the instrument and it was a pretty good way to break us in to this, generally speaking, new sound in a Depeche Mode song.

Personal Jesus was recorded in Milan with Flood and was the first finished Violator track. The Anton Corbijn photoshoot for the single artwork (more of which to come) also took place in Milan in May 1989. They even found time to take a few photos not involving a naked 17 year such as this one that was used in Spin magazine:

The first of Dave's "Look how hard I am" Violator era poses, you have no doubt noted. There were also some pictures taken that hinted at what was shortly to come for the Personal Jesus video:

Almost as soon as the photo session was done, in June 1989 the band and Anton headed to the Texas Hollywood Theme Park in the Tabernas Desert, Almeria, Spain to film the quite stupendous video for the single, no doubt bringing their already broken in cowboy hats with them. If you want to commemorate Violator's 30th birthday in way this blog would heartily endorse, you could recreate the video - you can still hire the set here (click here and touch faith).

One thing you will hear a lot of over this month is me endlessly going on about how incredible every single piece of the Violator era is. Everything about this period clicked for the band from the music, to their Anton assisted image, to the monumental World Violation tour and the band had never looked cooler. The grainy theme Anton started with the Music For The Masses videos continued and his video for Personal Jesus complimented the mood of the song perfectly. His photos from the shoot are wonderful too, for example:

Remember, this is only 4 years after they were running about like sun tanned buffoons in the It's Called A Heart video.  The Personal Jesus video is a masterpiece, an iconic Depeche Mode moment that manages to be moody and serious while still having some fun, for example, where a horse's arse pops up just as the sampled breathing part in the middle of the song arrives. Fletch on a rocking horse is a moment not to be missed too.

(As an aside, if I ever do get a chance to ask Martin about his songwriting, in among the 5000 other questions will be "What is that breathing thing in Personal Jesus all about? What prompted that)

Here is the video in all its dark glory:

With the video in the bag, the Violator recording sessions continued. An odd thing to note is that while Personal Jesus was being recorded, the band were finishing off their 101 promotion and Martin was preparing for the 12th June release of the wonderful Counterfeit e.p. Remember that 101 had only come out in March 1989 and it was preceded by Everything Counts (Live) on 13th February. 1989 was an incredibly busy year for the band and it feels like the year that the old shy, synthesiser led, accidental stadium filling Depeche Mode said goodbye, making way for the new confident, quite deliberately stadium filling Depeche Mode. The difference between the band we see in the Everything Counts (Live) and Personal Jesus videos is quite stark.

The single was released on 29 August 1989 after an interesting promotional campaign. Adverts started to appear in British newspapers. All they said was "Your own Personal Jesus." A week after this, adverts like this appeared in the press and on London Underground adverts:

Picture courtesy of Depmod.com

When you dialled the number, instead of hearing the soothing voice of someone who you no doubt considered your saviour, you instead heard a new Depeche Mode track. For people like you and I dear reader, that would inevitably be a good thing. For anyone seeking salvation however...

The advert caused some controversy apparently. How odd. 

The Tube advert - courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group

Controversy was also caused by the photographs that appeared on the various formats that were released. As we will see, the band featured in various pictures with a naked 17 year old (as least according to Alan - see Shunt ) Italian model. The standard 7" single features a normal front cover:

and, on the back, we find Martin with the model:

To avoid any further controversy or to avoid radio stations refusing to play the record, the band released a promo 7" single with a normal cover:

and with a Martin and model free rear cover:

They did the same with the CD single too. I don't yet have the censored one however, so you'll just have to believe me there. If you have it and if you don't want it, feel free to get in touch...

The promotional whirlwind was completed by the release of a promotional 12", P12BONG17 which featured two mixes from the commercial limited 12" and limited CD singles, namely the Pump Mix of Personal Jesus and the Hazchemix of Dangerous, the single's excellent b-side.

A couple of promotional cassettes are available too, but, like the censored cd, they continue to elude me.

Enough collector nonsense about promos however. What about the single itself? BONG17 was released on 29th August 1989 and reached a disappointing number 13 in the UK charts. It was top 5 in Germany and Italy and, for a time, was Warner Brothers' biggest selling 12" in the US. On the UK format side of things, the 7" pictured above featured the single edit of Personal Jesus and a new track called Dangerous. The cassette single featured the same two tracks:

The cassette is where we see Fletch's picture with the model. Unlike the other three who all appear to embracing her, this picture seems to show the girl shouting at or at least berating  Fletch. Alternatively, perhaps neither of them wanted to be there which may well be the case:

Dangerous really is a great track and is the first in a line of quite brilliant Violator era b-sides. It is perhaps a bit too old style Depeche to have featured on the album, as it lacks an edge the nine songs that feature do, but that is not to detract from it. It acts like a bridge between the Music For The Masses era band and the Violator era in a way and that's no bad thing.

GBONG17

The band's first ever gatefold single appeared too (front cover above). It's a lovely package, a limited edition featuring a mini booklet inside a gatefold sleeve and a three track 7" single. The front cover mirrors the limited edition 12" and CD single covers as does the rear cover. As you'll see below, the rear cover also features a picture of all four band members with the model. The a-side is unsurprisingly the single mix of Personal Jesus. 

GBONG 17 rear sleeve

The first b-side is the Hazcemix Edit of Dangerous, a mainly instrumental version of the b-side with a thrilling number of beeps, beeps and acid type squiggles.

GBONG17 inner

The other track is something very, or at least mainly new for Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Acoustic). This is just Dave and Martin and it is really rather special. Put it this way, it is truly an acoustic take on the track rather than the lounge like Love In Itself 4 or clearly drunk ending to the Slavery Whip Mix of Master & Servant, the band's two previous acoustic(ish) efforts.

GBONG17 inner middle

It's a really interesting release and a nice package. 

GBONG17 rear inner

The Personal Jesus artwork is a glorious thing, The front covers are stark but quite beautiful and that together the font used on the inner sleeve of GBONG17 and the labels of the various vinyl releases seem to match the song perfectly.

12BONG17

The standard 12" and CD single each contain the same three tracks - Personal Jesus (Holier Than Thou Approach), Dangerous (Sensual Mix) and Personal Jesus (Acoustic). The 12" was originally issued with black labels as above. Later re-presses had red labels instead.

12BONG17 rear sleeve

The Holier Than Thou Approach mix is a remix by Francois Kervorkian and it focusses on the track's glam rock feel to excellent effect. The last 1 minute 32 seconds of the mix feature on the Violator version of Personal Jesus.

CDBONG17

The Sensual Mix of Dangerous and the Acoustic Mix of Personal Jesus are both mixed by Flood. The Sensual Mix is a marvellous extended remix like version of the song and one you must hear.

CDBONG17 rear

As you can see, Dave gets to star on the 12" cover and Alan on the CD single.

L12BONG17 front

As it is Depeche Mode, you are almost guaranteed a limited edition remix package and there were two for Personal Jesus on 12" and CD. Some copies of the 12" and CD featured a sticker on the cover saying "Depeche Mode Limited Edition Remix" as can be seen on my 12" above.

L12BONG17 - rear

There are three tracks on both the 12" and CD. They are: Personal Jesus (Pump Mix), Personal Jesus (Telephone Stomp Mix) and  Dangerous (Hazcehmix). The Pump Mix is another Kervorkian remix and is the stand-out remix across all formats. Simply brilliant.

LCDBONG17

The Telephone Stomp Mix is a remix by Flood and, like his Sensual Mix of Dangerous, is a great take on the track. Finally, the Hazchemix of Dangerous is by Mute boss Daniel Miller as, unsurprisingly, is the edit of that track on the gatefold 7".

LCDBONG17 - rear

The quality of the remixes across all seven formats is impressively strong. The Japanese cd single of the time or the later 2004 reissue CD are worth listening to as stand alone albums if that's your sort of thing such is the quality here.

Personal Jesus was the world's taster for what was to come with Violator. It was released seven months before the album and it was a brave choice for a comeback single. It has endured as a song, as is shown both by the fact huge crowds still go crazy for it at Depeche gigs and by the fact that it has been covered on numerous occasions by artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Marilyn Manson and Def Leppard among others. 

Personal Jesus is a remarkable track in the history of Depeche Mode. This was only seven and a half years after The Meaning Of Love remember. The band had made many leaps in the period 1981 to 1987, but the leap they made from the end of the Music For The Masses campaign to releasing Personal Jesus was one nobody saw coming. From this point on, Depeche Mode were an entirely different proposition.