PRECIOUS AND FRAGILE THINGS - PLAYING THE ANGEL THE 12" BOXSET

 

Normally I'm a bit quicker off the mark with these releases, shoving them in the faces of a largely unmoved public the second a boxset, or indeed any Depeche Mode release, is out there. I've been a bit busy however so do forgive the delay. 

The next instalment of the Depeche Mode 12" celebration celebrates the superb Playing The Angel album by giving us that releases 12" singles which are of course crammed with remixes that are largely very far from superb. As I've mentioned before, once Depeche Mode handed over remix duties to people outside the Depeche Mode process (band members, producers etc), the quality dipped. That dip is perfectly demonstrated here with some notable exceptions. 

I'm not going to go into all the remixes of course as I spent most of 2021 doing that very thing. To read what I think about each single in frankly terrifying depth, have a look at these links:

Precious - http://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com/2021/10/depeche-mode-singles-1981-to-2021-part.html

A Pain That I'm Used To - http://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com/2021/10/depeche-mode-singles-1981-to-2021.html

Suffer Well - http://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com/2021/10/depeche-mode-singles-1981-to-2021-part_21.html

John The Revelatory/Lilian - http://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.com/2021/10/depeche-mode-singles-1981-to-2021_27.html

Right, enough of that. What's in the box?

Despite vinyl being as popular in 2005 as Matt Hancock is just now, Depeche Mode resolutely and quite rightly stuck with the format, releasing nine 12" singles from Playing The Angel as well as four 7" picture discs. All nine 12" releases feature here alongside a superb bonus 12".

As ever, the box (the cover of which features at the top of this post) comes with a paper sheet stuck to the back of it that flaps around annoyingly and gets bent when you put it in your shelf. Of course, that may just be me. 

The box is numbered and, behind the flapping thing, the same tracklists are printed on the box itself.

The first single from the album was Precious

12BONG35 is naturally lovingly reproduced and, as with all the records in this box, it sounds great. When I did my normal pictures of records thing on Depeche Mode collector groups on Facebook you really want no part of, my removal of the cellophane and binning of it and the sticker on it caused much consternation among fans. It seems that the stickers on the cellophane cover is highly prized and viewed by many as something almost as important as the records themselves. I had no idea. Genuinely, if those of you who follow this blog and my various other social media outlets think I am an extreme collector, I urge you to think again.  

The rear of the 12" looks all shiny and lovely.

Hot on the heels of 12BONG35, we get L12BONG35.

The labels are lovely aren't they? I'd forgotten about them until I did the single reviews last year.

Next up, A Pain That I'm Used To. Andy is the cover star here. On the front of 12BONG36, he is dark and shadowy:

On the back we see him acting all moody and cool:

On L12BONG36, Martin is the cover star:

The rear of the sleeve reveals more Gore:

He looks like he's having a lovely time there. 

The next single from the album was the Dave written Suffer Well which also featured the album's best, indeed only, good video. 12BONG37 features Dave on the front and a smartly dressed Fletch accompanying a terrifyingly dressed Martin on the label.

The rear sleeve takes the Side A label and displays it in its full "glory."

L12BONG37 really speaks for itself. Given the look on Martin's face, I imagine he wasn't terribly thrilled about the role Anton designed for him in the video.

On the rear of the 12" we see a sombre Dave, a vision of a man traumatised by the beautiful bride he's just seen.

Thrillingly, we got an XL12 for this release though it had nothing at all to do with Suffer Well, the BONG catalogue number aside.

It's an actual fact that The Darkest Star is a glorious album closer and it's an even more guaranteed solid gold fact that the Holden Remix of the song, as featured on Side A of XL12BONG37 here, is majestic.

The Holden Dub on the other side is really rather splendid too.

The last single from the album was John The Revelator/Lilian and it was only really notable for the dreadful remixes, dreadful remix names and terrible video. Still, collectors will collect and we all bought the many formats it came in. Two more feature here and within these we find our first stick on your own stickers of the boxset. 12BONG38 looks like this:

5 minutes hard work for Anton there. On the back, it's, well, all black:

The original 12BONG38 had a sticker on the front telling you what to avoid on the record. Here's what mine looks like:

Hidden with the 12" in this boxset is this sticker which you can use to replicate the original if you so wish. Oddly, for a man who shows little regard for the stickers that come on the cellophane on the box, I choose to keep my stickers safe inside the record.

L12BONG38 looks like this:

The back of it looks like this:

The wee sticker looks like this:

And finally, if you want to mimic the original, here is my original L12BONG38 fully stickered up:

Now time for the bonus round. These boxsets have been great when it comes to bonus 12" singles. Yes some purists get infuriated by the new catalogue numbers (I don't) but there have been some moments of genius in this series. The additional A Question Of Lust 12" for example is one of the most stunning Depeche releases ever, never mind in this series alone. With Playing The Angel, there were so many promo 12" singles at the time that to replicate some or all of them would have led to a boxset being produced so big that you'd have to get into your house by removing a wall just like on one of those "I Weigh 87 Stone And Can Only Leave Home By Helicopter" shows. As that was impractical, the brains behind these boxes came up with a cracking idea - a 10 track promo record, PSTUMM260. As you all know, STUMM260 is Playing The Angel's catalogue number and this promo 12" gathers together ten tracks from various releases including promos and is really rather wonderful.

The sleeve mirrors the Precious 12" promo sleeves which I find enjoyable. Here is what is on Side A:

Free and Newborn are outstanding songs and really should have been on the album. Better Days is a decent enough B-Side and the shorter versions of John The Revelator and Lilian are fine, though it could be said that any version of Lilian is too long.

There's the rear of the sleeve for completeness' sake, and here are the tracks on Side AA:

The two remixes of A Pain That I'm Used To are the stars here. The bonus 12" is a great idea all round however.

Is there a poster this time? Of course there is a poster:

I do like it though it seems odd that a single promo poster wasn't reproduced as in all boxes up to this point. 

Finally, you can download all of the music on here via the link you get on this card:

As with all other boxsets in this series, there is a lot to enjoy here. The reproduction is fantastic, the records sound great and inner sleeve issues that have cropped up a couple of times previously are nowhere to be seen this time. Playing The Angel remains a really strong Depeche album and the first three singles from it are fantastic. The B-sides were great too and it's nice to see them included here as the remixes by and large in this era were not that good at all. Still, those who recreate these boxes can only work with the material they are given and they've done a very nice job.

The next one in the series will be the Sounds Of The Universe box which will be intriguing given that there were only two 12" singles released in that period. Ok, three given that one was a double. I'm intrigued to see how that turns out and please be assured that once it is released, I will rip off its cellophane, bin that AND its sticker and tell you all about the contents.

DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 45: JOHN THE REVELATOR/LILIAN

 

The fourth and final single from Playing The Angel saw the release of Depeche Mode's second double A-Side. Blasphemous Rumours had been paired up with Somebody in 1984 to avoid any God and his sense of humour controversy and, while John The Revelator has a religious undertone, it seems unlikely that the band would fear any bad press. Adding Lilian as a double A-Side seems a bit odd then, but what do I know?

We got a video that featured hot live action, another DVD and some spellcheck unfriendly remix titles. Here is the story of John The Revelator.

Oh, and Lilian too.

WHO'S THAT SHOUTING? - JOHN THE REVELATOR/LILIAN

The Single

John The Revelator/Lilian, BONG38, was released on 5th June 2006, a couple of months before Touring The Angel came to a halt. There didn't really seem to be a need for a single to be perfectly honest but we got one anyway.

The single was reviewed in the Manchester Evening News on 2nd June 2006 (thanks to Depeche Mode Press File):

"Fuse Dave Gahan’s obvious cynicism about religion – and Christianity in particular – with a partial reinterpretation of Son House’s gospel classic, John The Revelator, and what do you get? Well, you just get Depeche Mode, really, doing the trademark brand of electronic rock that we’ve all come to expect from these electro stalwarts. There’s a few bips here and a smattering of plips there to fuel the digitised feel of everything and it scores fairly highly for Gahan’s vocal performance alone, but the tune is unlikely to win the Mode any more converts. AA-side Lilian is musically DM circa-1981 and lyrically somewhere around 1989, which makes for a curious mix that doesn’t really hit the spot."

A reasonable review although Dave gets a little more credit for the song writing than seems fair.  In their review of Playing The Angel, The Observer said:

"Depeche Mode's most satisfying songs have usually been their most direct. Those ranks are swelled by the murky gothic swing of 'John the Revelator'. It's not a straight cover of the country-blues standard, but it lets rip in a way little else does."

Q magazine felt the song mined "the gothabilly seam they invented on Personal Jesus." The Guardian said:

"There's a (Nick) Cave moment in their decision to cover a 1930s blues song, John the Revelator; true to form, however, rather than keeping it minimal, they lift it with a gospel choir that has you punching the air. Does that defeat the object? I don't know. It's good, though."

On Lilian, Graeme Thompson in the Observer Music Monthly felt it was "classic Mode" despite spelling it with two Ls. 

The band naturally did nothing whatsoever to promote the song because they were having fun playing in big open spaces around Europe. That lack of enthusiasm didn't stop it being a Top 20 smash in the UK however. It slammed into the charts at 18 and then fell to 58 and 82 before being sent home on the morning train forever.

John The Revelator is a good song and one that the band spoke about a lot when Playing The Angel was released mainly because it involved the novel concept of a song being written in a studio while the band were recording an album. To other bands this may seem normal, but not our boys who were attempting to restart the Mode mothership while trying to overlook everything Dave had said while promoting Paper Monsters.

It featured live 118 times on Touring The Angel then a further four times on the Delta Machine tour mainly where they were playing two or more nights in the one place. 

Lilian which is the album's weakest track along with the pointless I Want It All, has never been played live. It really shouldn't have been on the album either as it just seems like they're trying a bit too hard to do the synthpop thing. Newborn or Free would have been much better.

The Video

Touring The Angel was a very good thing. Lively setlists, a very odd but strangely enjoyable stage set up, big space ship like keyboard stands, Martin's hat and some great surprise songs. The DVD released after the tour is utterly dreadful however as it is filmed in the most pointless way. Just show the band playing the bloody songs.

John The Revelator's uses footage from the live shows but as it is directed by Blue Leach, the creative "genius" behind the DVD, the footage is spoiled by the crappy effects. 

It is of course great to see the band going through their live paces and the energy of that era's shows comes across ok, but you end up longing for something that is either a live video or a standard video, not this pointless hybrid. Even Hole To Feed tried to be a video albeit with no real success.

It's just annoying really.

Lilian didn't even get a video. Poor Lilian.

The Formats

The tried and tested Playing The Angel formula was followed again with promos, a box of CDs and a DVD and a 7" picture disc available. The first promo is P12BONG38 the A-side and front cover of which you can see above.

The three tracks on it (one on the A, two on the B (above)) are the same three tracks as appear on 12BONG35, more of which shortly.

There is a second 12" promo, PL12BONG38.

Mine came with an info sheet which you can see in full at the start of this post. I wonder if anyone did "hit" the author "up" for copies.

Three tracks are featured - one on the A-Side and two on the B-Side (above), identical to the tracklisting of L12BONG38.

RCDBONG38 is the first of two promo CDs. It features the two single versions of the double A Side tracks and four edits of remixes found elsewhere on the release. They are four mixes of John The Revelator - Tiefschwarz Edit, UNKLE Edit, Bill Hamel's Audio Magnetics Edit and Boosta Edit. The full versions of the mixes are a bit more interesting than the edits but, the Tiefschwarz Edit aside there's really not much quality here at all, with only the UNKLE Edit getting a pass. I'm sure there must be a second hand television shop somewhere called Bill Hamel's Audio Magnetics.

The second promo CD, PCDBONG38 (the Club Promo), is 77 minutes long and most of those are wasted. The good bits - the dreadfully named mix of John The Revelator called Dave Is In The Disco Tiefschwarz Mix. The OK bits - UNKLE Re-Construction mix of John The Revelator. The other six versions of that song and the three versions of Lilian are really not that good at all. Let's be quite honest about that. There are four additional CD-Rs and a test pressing of the 7" we are about to look at if you want to be the kind of person who has everything that the words Depeche and Mode have ever appeared on.

In official news, we got another 7" picture disc, BONG38. It comes in a sealed, numbered plastic sleeve. On the A-Side, we have John The Revelator (UNKLE Dub).

The colourful B-Side contains a remix of Lilian. It is called Robag Wruhme Slomoschen Kikker. No-one has ever heard it as if the did they would want to Kikk the remixer and not in a way that could at all be described as Slomoschen.

The first 12", 12BONG28, features John The Revelator (Dave Is In The Disco Tiefschwarz Mix). Despite its title, it is rather good.

On the B-Side, we have John The Revelator (Tiefschwarz Dub) and Lilian (Chab Dub), a remix that sends you scurrying for the audio joy of the single version of the song.

L12BONG38 is a colourful affair. On the A-Side, it features John The Revelator (Murk Mode Dub) which I have genuinely just listened to and forgotten already.

The B-Side has the Boosta Club Remix of John The Revelator which makes you want to club innocent animals rather than actually attend a club and Lilian (Chab Vocal Remix) which can only really be called utter nonsense.

For the 2 CDs and DVD, you once again had the chance to get a box to hold them in by writing to Mute.

The rear of the box helpfully lists what is inside it so that you know never to take any of the contents out.

If you do remove the contents, they look like that.

CDBONG38 features two tracks - the Single Versions of John The Revelator and Lilian.

LCDBONG38 has five remixes of John The Revelator. We get the two from 12BONG38, the UNKLE Reconstruction, Murk Mode Remix and Boosta Club Remix.

Finally, DVDBONG38 has the video of John The Revelator on the visual side of things and two audio tracks. The second of those is Lilian (Chab Vocal Remix) so we can ignore that. The first of them however is the wonderful Nothing's Impossible (Bare) which is the best track on the whole release. all of the Bare tracks from that period should have had actual official releases. A waste.

You could get a whole lot of digital remixes too - John The Revelator had several: Bill Hamel's Audio Magnetics Buy One Get One Half Price...sorry...Bill Hamel's Audio Magnetics Club Remix, Dub Mix and Edit, James T Cotton Dub, Live From Milan, Murk Miami Remix, Murk Mode Dub UNKLE Dub, Edit and Instrumental, Boosta Edit and Tiefschwarz Edit.

As this was a Europe-wide release, there were very few other notable formats. Promo CD-Rs were released in Greece and Denmark with the two Greek ones limited to 100 each, both with unique sleeves. Taiwan released LCDBONG38 and DVDBONG38 with Taiwanese stickers on the front and that was that.

In the US, there is one promo CD and six different CD-Rs for completists to hunt down. The single was released digitally only in the US.

And with that, the Playing The Angel campaign was over. Depeche Mode had come back in fine style and the album, an album which still sounds superb today, and tour had been almost universally praised. As is now the norm, it would be another four years until we got a new album, but a curious Best Of would pop up before that.

That contained a new song too, one recorded during the Playing The Angel sessions. That song was Martyr and we'll look at that next time.