DEPECHE MODE THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 - PART 34: USELESS

 

Useless was the fourth and final single from Ultra and it appeared as remixed version which is always a reasonable approach for the last single from an album I think. We got a rather cool cover, a very enjoyable video and the bold new techno world of videos on a CD single which you could watch on a computer. Remarkable times. Overall, a single that was very much the opposite of its name. Here is the story of Useless.

WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME - USELESS

The Single

Useless, BONG28, was released on 20th October 1997. Prior to that, promo postcards just like the one above started dropping through people's letterboxes. They told you all you needed to know about the forthcoming single:

We'll take a look at the formats in Format Corner (never called it that before) later but it's perhaps worth noting that this single was only released on three official formats in the UK. The last time they released a single with so few formats was when they released  A Question Of Time. Don't phone in (how on earth did you get my number?) and say "But what about Little 15 David? Call yourself a fan? THIS BLOG IS A JOKE." As we have seen in the wonderful and still in print Little 15 blog, no-one knows where that single was released. It might not even have been released at all.

There was of course no promotion for Useless in any form other than via the video which we will come onto. Reviews of the single are fairly thin on the ground but, thanks to the seemingly bottomless well of Depeche Mode information held by blog friend and huge pulsating brain at the centre of the Depeche universe Michael Rose, I have this gem. It's a review by no less an authority than the late Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate:

Picture courtesy of Michael Rose 

Not only did Errol like the song, he gave it Single Of The Week.  He even offers praise to Depeche Mode themselves which is the sort of action that got you banned from the UK music press then.

The only other review I could lay my hands on was found on the now closed by hugley enjoyable Depeche Mode Press File site. The reveiw is from that titan of the music world, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, who, on 20th October 1997, said:

"The fourth single from the chart-topping Ultra album - and the best. It's tense, pensive and torn apart by a filthy bluesy riff."

That seems fair to me.

The single didn't do a great deal in the charts in Britain. In fact, it did terribly, entering at 28 on 1st November, falling to 64 the next week and then disappearing forever. All of this despite the resolute backing of Errol Brown.

Useless is a tremendous track and one of Ultra's finest. That said, I actually prefer the remix version released as a single as it has more of an edge to it. It's a song that was played at both Ultra parties and then 64 times on The Singles Tour but, for years, Dave's pub band tour in 2003 aside, that was that. 2017 saw it return however, firstly somewhat tentatively, on 18th October, the fourth and final night of the Hollywood Bowl run. That was a real surprise and a superb one. The band seemed to enjoy it too, as they added it to the setlists starting with the first of the European indoor gigs in Dublin on 4th November and it even had a fancy new Anton video which was really rather wonderful. That gig was of course the only gig where Halo was played on the entire tour. Did I mention I was there? Oh, I did Anyway, thanks to its 2017 resurrection, Useless has been played live 122 times.

The Video

As the band chose not to tour Ultra, an annoyed Daniel Miller insisted that they make Mute some money so he sent them to work in a lead mine, specifically Cwmystwyth Lead Mine near Aberystwyth in Wales. Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group tracked down the previously top secret location a few years ago when they were sent a copy of Fletch's wage slip for his mine work by a source.

To make sure the three DM chaps weren't just sitting around idly and to make sure that they followed Daniel's orders to the letter ("Martin - do NOT wear a leather mini dress to work. They WILL kill you"), Anton was sent to the mine to film what they got up to on a day to day basis. As it turns out, all they did was sing. Honestly. You cannot trust pop stars.

The band didn't know Anton was coming. As he lay in wait, they turned up for work in their yellow Ford Granada. To avoid any nail varnish issues, the band had made Martin promise to get rid of his entire black varnish stash, but, as we can see, all he did was use it to paint an Ultra "U" on the side of the car. Reckless.

Unluckily for Anton, they spot him immediately. Incensed that their day of skiving off work has been rumbled, Dave walks straight over to him, throws his gloves down in the least threatening way possible and starts singing at him. Not exactly terrifying. Martin gets his guitar out for no reason at all so once again, it is left to Fletch to look after everyone. He wanders over, and it must be said that he looks as cool as he has ever done, and tries to calm Dave down by giving him a cup of tea. Well done Fletch.

Dave doesn't like tea though.

One sip and he throws it away in as weedy a way as he threw away his gloves. How Daniel thougth ghis lot would make any money mining is beyond comprehension. To calm everyone, Fletch takes his bass guitar out of the boot and joins Martin in playing along with Dave. That seems to annoy Dave even more however as, having told Anton off, he heads back to the car, sees th eother two playing their instruments ("That is NOT how Hole To Feed should sound - listen to the demo FFS!"), puts his head in hands and heads straight back to Anton,

The mine's foreman and his donkey arrive on the scene, but he's used to this now. There was no way musicians were going to be any use to him, so he and the donkey walk on past. Only Fletch ever listened to him and even he is now mucking about with a bass guitar, copying his friend Gore. Actual miners could have had those jobs.

Corbijn just won't listen however so Dave needs to bring out the big guns. He needs to scare Anton away so there is only one thing for - Martin? Get the  guitar. Shorn of his usual fluffy hairdo - impractical for mining - Martin waddles over and let's Anton have it. A three note guitar solo is balasted at him while Martin gives him his hardest hardman stare. Job done, he wanders off and leaves Dave to it. Dave, having been momentarily distracted by the Mute promo budget busting biplane with Ultra sign than flies over the mine, returns to business.

As he sings, a mine employee wanders over to him. He had been asked by the mine over to tell "those bloody musicians" just how useless they are and he takes his job literally. He hands Dave a leaflet which Dave simply scrunches up and throws at the camera. You can now buy that leaflet for £17,000 on Ebay.

Suddenly, all three band members walk towards the camera with wee Martin singing his heart out. It has to be said that they all look superb in this video by the way, especially Dave. They have a last go at scaring Anton off and, happy that they've got the message across, they wander back to the Granada, pack away the guitars and head off, another day's work in no way done. 

It turns out of course, that it's not Anton they've been singing at, but the mine owner's daughter. She was a huge Depeche fan and came down to the mine in the hope of getting an autograph. All she got was a cup of tea, a pair of gloves and a leaflet thrown near her and a man playing the least aggressive guitar solo of all time in her direction. 

Alternatively, this is a superb video with the band looking amazing and a wonderful song playing in the background. I'll leave you to decide which it is.

The Formats

As the promo postcard told us, there were only three formats available for Useless. There were two promos however. The promo 12" P12BONG28 is a lovey thing, as you can see above.

It features two songs. On the A-side we have the C J Bolland Funky Sub Mix of Useless.

The B-side contains another remix of Useless - The Kruder + Dorfmeister Session.

The promo CD, RCDBONG28, contains Useless (Remix) and the Barry Adamson Escape From Wherever: Parts 1 & 2! and Cosmic Blues Mix of Useless.

In official release land, 12BONG28 has a smashing sleeve and contains some really rather good remixes.

On the A-side, we have Useless - The Kruder + Dorfmeister Session which is superb, though you will have the phrase "Echoing in my mind" echoing in your mind after you listen to it. Nice Policy Of Truth sample in there too.

On the B-side we have the CJ Bolland Funky Sub Mix which may sound a bit of its time but still sounds superb, and the Air20 Mix by Carl Craig which does honestly feature some of the song it remixes if you look hard enough.

CDBONG28 comes in another back to front box/sleeve thing. Once you work out what end is what, the booklet and artwork are rather lovely.

The back/front of the box has a sticker that proudly announces that the CD contains remixes by Alan Moulder (Useless (Remix)), Barry Adamson (Escape From Wherever: Parts 1& 2!) and Cosmic Blues (Cosmic Blues Mix). Barry Adamson's remix is typically superb. Cosmic Blues' Kraftwerk sampling remix is a bit bland. The CD also contains the video for Barrel Of A Gun. All you had to do was pop it in your PC and you could watch Dave wander around Marrakesh as many times as you wanted. In 1997, this was a very cool thing indeed, believe me.

LCDBONG28, back to front again, is another nice single.

The front/back again has a sticker alerting you to the fact that you have another enhanced CD in your paws. Music wise, we have The Kruder + Dorfmeister Session and another CJ Bolland mix, the CJ Bolland Ultrasonar Mix which is another very decent remix. A live version of Useless from the Ultra part in London appears too, together with the limits of technology testing It's No Good video.

The 2004 reissue CD single is a 10 track CD featuring the 8 music tracks from the official releases plus the two videos. That makes it an enhanced CD too, but we were all well over that notion by 2004.

Elsewhere in Europe, the single appeared mainly on CD with only Germany and Italy releasing 12" singles, neither of which I have my hands on yet. Two track card sleeve CD singles can be found in Benelux and Spain, the latter being a promo only.

Finally, we head to America. Like Home, Useless wasn't released as a single in its own right in the United States. A promo CD and two promo CD-Rs appeared but nothing else. This blog is really only about the UK singles only but I'll make an exception for the curious release that appeared in the US and Canada on 18th November 1997 called Home/Useless.

The front cover used the Home artwork with the Useless artwork on the rear. There were three US CD singles. The one above features the Single Version and Air "Around The Golf " Remix of Home and the CJ Bolland Ultrasonar Edit of Useless, a four minute 6 second edit of the 12" track previously available on the US promo CD-R. A four track CD single featuring both CJ Bolland remixes from the UK formats together with two remixes of Home - The Noodles & The Damage Done Edit and  LFO Meant To Be is available too.

The third and final US CD is a 12 track beast. It contains four mixes of Home (Single Version, Grantby Mix, LFO Meant To Be, The Noodles & The Damage Done Edit), four mixes of Useless (CJ Bolland Ultrasonar Mix, CJ Bolland Funky Sub Mix, The Kruder + Dorfmeister Session and Escape From Wherever: Parts 1&2!) and the videos for all four singles from Ultra. The Canadians only released on CD single and it was the same as this US version.

And with that, the Ultra era was over. Useless was a nice way to end it with a fresh new take on the album track and a video that showed the band in fine form and having fun. Against all the odds, Depeche Mode had come back and they had done so impressively with an album that has more than stood the test of time.

What would be next though? Could they tour again? Would we even hear from them again?

Thankfully we would. Next time, we will look at the song that ended this phase of Depeche Mode and kicked off the next one.

DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 16: STRIPPED

It's Called A Heart was released on 16th September 1985. Only five months later, Depeche Mode released a single that sounded unlike anything the band had ever done before. It set a new benchmark - this was the new Depeche Mode sound and this is what their future would sound like.

It's hard not to talk about that new single in anything other than reverential terms. This was no longer synthpop - this was something very different indeed, something darker, something ominous yet utterly thrilling. This new single was the point Depeche Mode grew up and it set them on the road to fame the likes of which scarcely seemed thinkable prior to its release.

The single was Stripped. Come with me then, into the blog and let's see how once again the British public failed to spot something quite brilliant in their cloth eared midst.

TAKE MY HAND - STRIPPED

The Single

The February 1986 Depeche Mode Information Service newsletter bore brief but factual news about the new record:

"New single entitled "Stripped" c/w "But Not Tonight." Release date 10th February."

Fair enough. Reviews of the single were more effusive than the band's own newsletter. Number 1 magazine loved the song, saying:

"Depeche Mode must rate as one of the most consistent if not one of the best pop bands of the 80s. They have a distinctive sound, but not so much so that each release sounds like the last one. Their lyrics actually mean something without being pretentious and over the top. Yet they never seem to get the adulation that their competitors get. Strange that. Let’s hope that the haunting stillness of ‘Stripped’ puts them up where they belong, before Frankie and Spandau reappear."

Pretty much spot on really. A shame to see Spandau Ballet mentioned there however as that's never a good thing.

Smash Hits again proved to Depeche friendly:

"Depeche Mode were becoming very predictable but this is the best thing they've done in ages. "Let me see you stripped," sings Dave Gahan and bang goes their appearance on Saturday Superstore. Actually, I think it's all about going back to nature and "discovering yourself". Slow and atmospheric, even though you can't work out what he's going on about."

They even announced the record in a typically Smash Hits way in their 12th February edition:

The advert at the start of this section above and the single review appeared in the same edition.

Finally, Stripped was so good that it even won over Melody Maker as they called it "a real crackerette." NME disagreed, reviewer Cath Carroll saying the song was "morose" adding that it was however "perversely soothing."

After that decent enough set of reviews, how would BONG10 do? Well, it entered at number 23 on 22nd February, a number I imagine the band were disappointed with. The band appeared on the 19th February episode of Top Of The Pops with a view to getting the song flying up the charts.

Don't they seem more grown up than they did only a few months before when they were gooning around with high rise xylophones and tribal drums? OK, the motorbike is taking the "look we sampled this" approach slightly too far and it does look rather odd on stage with them, but this is a decent TOTP performance. Martin has started wearing clothes again and has tamed the Exploding Gore-do and Fletch is having as lovely a time as ever, battering the crap out of his wee drum kit, and Alan is by this stage 83% leather. What matters though is the music - just listen to that song.

In a move that should have told us once and for all that the British public have no taste, Stripped did climb up the charts the following week, but only as far as Number 15. From there, it went to 22, 40 and then 56 before falling out of the charts forever. 5 bloody weeks on the chart. 5. In the week Stripped hit its chart peak, the top 10 featured a song by Sue Pollard. Now, I appreciate I have many readers who aren't from Britain, so you are to be forgiven for thinking "Wer ist Sue Pollard?" She was an actress famous for playing  a poor character in a very poor comedy basically. She was more musically appealing to Britain than Depeche Mode however.

Stripped is a staggering song and if you're a regular reader of this blog, you don't need me to tell you that. It has been a permanent fixture in my own Depeche Mode Top 5, just squeezing out Hole To Feed, for as long as I can remember. Since its release it has thrilled gig goers at every Depeche tour with the exception of the Exciter tour for some reason. It has been played 751 times, probably most memorably at the Rosebowl with the 101 version one of their most spine tingling live moments. That metal bashing....perfection. The Devotional version is obviously stunning too and the last version I saw live at Waldbuhne in July 2018 was incredible. What a song.

The B-Side  is of course jaunty pop number But Not Tonight. Famously and, of course, oddly, the  band's US record label Sire chose that as the A-side due to its appearance on the soundtrack of, erm, legendary film Modern Girls. Rather beautifully, Martin brought But Not Tonight back to live in his solo set during the Delta Machine tour and it was a magical moment, one that brought me to Guinness fuelled tears at the Dublin gig on that tour. It was played 59 times on that tour and appeared once more on the Global Spirit Tour at the Hollywood Bowl on 18th October 2017. I wrote a bit more about the song during 2016's Black Celebration special. Read it until your eyes go red here - click not tonight.

The Video

Sound the Good Video Klaxon! In fact, break out the Very Good Video Klaxon!

Peter Care was forgiven for the It's Called A Corncob shambles and was summoned to Berlin in January 1986 to make a video for Stripped, filming it around the corner from Hansa Studios. Famously, the engine we hear being turned on at the start of the song is Dave's Porsche of the time but here we see a much less ostentatious car providing the soundtrack as the video opens. The literal interpretation of the lyrics continues as Dave sings the first line literally standing among some trees. It looks more like he's going to murder you than anything else. Perhaps "Let me see you stripped/down to the bone" is actually a lot more sinister than we've ever thought, meaning more Jeremy Dahmer than pervy love song. Good Lord - Martin is a serial killer.

Perhaps not. We then see grass when he sings "grass," Dave's hands when he sings "hand" and off we go. Curiously, Alan then appears, slowly waving an exhaust pipe around. What on earth is going on? Oh hang on, he's repairing the car we saw at the start. The now fixed exhaust pipe smokes away before Fletch tempts us in with a bunch of flowers. But then, all of a sudden, after the first time we hear Martin sing "Boooooooooonnnnnne," we see Alan smashing a car with a hammer and, to be quite honest, from this point on it's bloody brilliant. The other three members of Depeche Mode Autos & Repairs join Alan in not doing a very good job at all of fixing a car.

The band then turn their attention from car mechanics to ending the Cold War as Martin and Alan carry a huge projector screen featuring Fletch up some steps to the Berlin Wall. Quite what the Border Guards made of it we will never know. Images of gig crowds and band members flicker here and there before a fully leathered Dave standing in front of the car the band have redesigned once again asks us to take his hand, raising of course, his hand in case we didn't understand the line.

Fletch's image had failed to bring about the collapse of Communism, so he's sacked from the projector screen and we instead see Alan on it, this time being carried about by Martin and Fletch. Dave doesn't shirk his duties and we soon see he and Fletch carrying the projector screen right into the path of oncoming traffic as a bewildered Martin half grins on it. Alan is by this time busy blowtorching a television just as, that's right, the word "television" is mentioned in the song. 

As the song ends, Dave sings in front of the projector screen which is showing Alan and Martin then sings his lines in front of the screen this time showing Dave. Fletch has a go at Dave's lines in front of the screen now showing Martin and then Alan takes the next Dave line, this time the deliberate lead singer as opposed to the accidental one we saw on Get The Balance Right.  The song plays out with Depeche Mode Autos & Repairs once again smashing the bejesus out of another poor customer's car.

For the first time, we have a hugely enjoyable video. The sheer quality of the song no doubt helps, but the Stripped video is the first Depeche video in their career with no moment where you shudder and think "Oh lads...what are you doing?"

The Formats

7BONG10 is a lovey thing. The band logo and the big DM are great and the megaphone with a red arrow coming out of it inside a triangle thing a baffling but iconic logo. The cover art is great though I have no idea what it means. But that's the thing about art isn't it?

The B-side is a simper affair, the label containing the on fire hooter getting fired out of a bow from the front sleeve.

A 12" promo was released prior to the single's release and oddly its lead track was Breathing In Fumes, more of which in a minute. The B-Side which we'll also come to was the Highland Mix of Stripped. RRBONG10 comes with a hand stamped label. Mine is a bit faded but you get the idea.

The actual 12", 12BONG10, is a work of genius from top to toe. As you'll have seen on the advert at the top of this blog, it was IMPORTANT to note that NO FURTHER EDITIONS OF THIS SINGLE WILL BE RELEASED. Crikey - the 12" was all we were going to get. The advert also curiously says that a 5 track, 25 minute 12" would be released and the front sleeve (above) repeats this and I love that. What a bloody weird but quite brilliant thing to do. Initial pressings of the single came in an embossed sleeve showing the megaphone thing and I've done what I can with my limited photographic talents to show you that above. I take pictures, poorly posed pictures.

Later pressings of the 12" didn't have the embossed business as you can hopefully make out above. The art on the cover looks a bit like an extended version of the 7" art and the title of the Stripped remix, the Highland Mix, perhaps gives a clue what it's meant to look like? I've never seen hills like that in Scotland but who knows? Anyway, the Highland Mix is by Flood and it's great, a highland touch added by the very, very vaguely bagpipe sounding noise we hear at the start. The second track on the A side is the Extended Remix of But Not Tonight which is really rather lovely. 

We were promised 5 tracks and we get out remaining three on the B-side. First up is Breathing In Fumes which is of course a riotous deconstruction of Stripped that is first class in every respect. It's also the name of the best Depeche Mode podcast there is and one that you really should check out if you haven't already. The next track is another remix of Fly On The Windscreen - the Quiet Mix. It lives up to its title too and it's really rather good. Finally,  Alan reappears as a songwriter on the fifth and final track Black Day joined by Martin and Daniel. The three of them muck around with a verse from Black Celebration and what sounds like a harmonica but is no doubt a lump of concrete being hit by the roof of a shed sampled backwards through a synclavier so that it is made to sound like a harmonica. It's a curious track but oddly enjoyable.

The band then made fools of everyone who believed there would be no more formats of Stripped made available. Ok, it was released 5 years after the single and, ok, it was part of a reissue campaign, but the existence of CDBONG10 makes liars of them all. It contains all 7 tracks that feature on 7BONG10 and 12BONG10.

We begin the rest of the world section where we always begin it - Germany. There's the standard red vinyl 7" first of all.

It features the same two tracks as 7BONG10.

We then have the first of two coloured vinyl versions of 12BONG10. This blue and white splatter vinyl one is the easier of the two to get hold of.

It features the same tracks as 12BONG10.

Those same tracks also feature on the second colour vinyl 12".

This is the rarer of the two 12" singles and it can command mad prices. According to Popsike, a verison sold for £650 on 1st February this year. On Discogs just now, you can grab one for "only" £527. Do keep an eye out though as it doesn't always sell for such bizarre prices.

The German blue stripe CD features all 5 tracks from the 12"

The French CD single does too. It also has a rather nice inner sleeve.

There's a French cassette single too.

In Poland, the Tonpress label released the single on 12" (above) and 7" (not pictured as I forgot to do that). There is also a lovely Japanese 7" which I once again forgot to photograph. Amateur hour.

As ever, let depmod.com guide you through the many other releases available. They range from Australia to the Philippines, to New Zealand and Japan and beyond. 

Stripped was something new. It was darker than Depeche Mode had ever gone before and its richer, compelling sound seemed destined to be played and heard in the biggest of venues. From this point, Depeche Mode started becoming a very big deal indeed. Ok, they were ignored in their homeland to a great extent, but the rest of the world was ready for them.

And no wonder. Stripped is one of their greatest tracks, If this was how Depeche Mode were now destined to sound, who couldn't fail to fall in love with them?

YEASAYER ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM AND RELEASE NEW VIDEO

Yeasayer are back which is very good news. Their fourth album Amen & Goodbye is due for release on Mute on 1 April. They've released the video today for I Am Chemistry, the first track from the album and it's a typically superb psychedelic electronic skewed pop stew.

As a taster for the album, I Am Chemistry certainly whets the appetite and I can't wait to hear it. Promising a collection of "strange fables from the Bible of a universe that does not yet exist," it's bound to be one of the most intriguing listens of the year.

Pre orders for the cd and limited edition coloured vinyl, normal vinyl and cd are open here http://yeasayer.shopfirebrand.com/

DEPECHE MODE - LIKE A CAT DRAGGED IN FROM THE RAIN - 1997 AND ULTRA

Songs of Faith and Devotion was a huge success for Depeche Mode but it came at a cost. Dave descended into a drugs hell, Martin was drinking more and more, Fletch had a form of breakdown and Alan was left doing all the actual musical work. Come the end of the USA 94 tour, the band was in a mes and 1995 wasn't really a lot better. Dave had many well publicised drug problems ending with a near fatal overdose in LA, meaning that any studio work in 1996 was a struggle as he could barely sing at times. Alan meanwhile shocked the DM world by leaving on 1 June 1995. He felt that his work within the band wasn't appreciated enough and that he couldn't go on - understandable given his incredible contributions to the likes of Violator and SOFAD. All this meant that when Martin finally got some songs together the band went into the studio as a three piece as they did in 1982 for A Broken Frame following Vince's departure albeit this time they had a barely functioning lead singer, a songwriter on whose shoulders the entire musical burden had been placed and no See You type song for Fletch to at least play bass. Surely this couldn't end well....

Well it did end well. It gave us Ultra, an in places sparse, in others majestic album that is essentially the sound of a hangover and here's how it all came about.

The first sniff of what was to come came on 3 February 1997 when the band's comeback single Barrel of A Gun was released. This was quite an ear opener (is that a phrase?). The song starts with some electronic pulsing and whirring and then the drums blast in. Dave starts snarling, Martin plays a wah-wah ish guitar line and we're off. It's an incredibly striking, hard sounding song with lyrics that Martin insists weren't written with Dave in mind but you have to doubt that. Tim Simenon's production really suits the track too as does Anton's wonderful, colourful in places video (below) which, as ever, seems to bare no relation to the song. I still remember hearing BOAG for the first time with a mixture of sheer joy (DM are back! Woohoo) and surprise (how heavy does that sound?). The song reached number 4 in the UK equaling DM's best ever chart showing (People Are People 1984). Format wise we had a standard 12" and cd single (right - 12BONG25 and CDBONG25 each having the same artwork) each featuring a mixture of tracks. The 12" comes in a marvellous glossy gatefold and has 5 versions of the title track. In order we have the standard version (great - see above), Underworld Hard Mix (No. Seriously. No. Why? I mean WHY??), 3 Phase Mix (rather nice), One Inch Punch Mix (Version 2)(good - why not version one though?) and the Underworld Soft Mix (much better). The Underworld Hard Mix is a crime, it really is. The CD single for BOAG, as with all other Ultra single releases came in a bizarre back to front box which is really hard to describe as I don't have it in front of me at the moment. Looking at the picture above, you would think that the case would open to the right as usual. It didn't however - you had to turn it over to open it or something. Wierd. Anyway, we had 4 tracks on the CD - Barrel of A Gun in its standard, Underworld Soft and One Inch Punch (version 1) guises and a new b-side called Painkiller. It's a beast of a track running to around 7 minutes. It's instrumental but really really good.

Limited editions were soon to follow with a 12" (L12BONG25 - left) and CD single. The 12" comes in a lovely silver cover and runs with Painkiller as its' A side which was a first for Depeche not to be repeated until The Darkest Star remixes were released on their own as part of the Suffer Well single campaign (see future blog which at my rate will be around 2013). The four tracks on the record are Painkiller (Plastikman Mix), Painkiller, Barrel of A Gun (One Inch Punch Mix (v1)) and Barrel of A Gun (United Mix). Both new mixes here are good - Plastikman has a nice take on Painkiller, which formed the basis of the walk on music on the 1998 Singles Tour, and the United Mix of BOAG may well be my favourite mix of the BOAG lot. The Limited CD (LCDBONG25 - right) gave us the Plastikman mix of Painkiller and the United and Underworld Hard mixes of BOAG. All in all a decent enough batch of mixes but the less said about the Underworld attempts the better really. The band even hated the Hard mix at first and had Underworld re-do it. I dread to think what the first attempt sounded like. Fans of facts will be delighted to learn that the L12 here was the only L12 of the Ultra campaign. Fancy that. Actually, here's another fact for you - when they played on Top of The Pops, Anton played drums on stage.

After the sonic slap in the chops of Barrel of a Gun we were then treated to what can only be described as one of the all time great Depeche Mode singles It's No Good. As well as having all the elements of a classic DM (the bass line, the melody, the genius lyrics) it also came with one of their best ever videos (below) with Anton setting the band up as a hotel bar band down on their luck playing for cash. You have to see it. In my perpetually changing All Time Depeche Mode Top Ten, It's No Good will always be top 5 - it's just bloody brilliant (which would have been a more accurate title). The song reached number 5 in the UK on its release on 31 March 1997 which was a really good effort giving DM four UK top ten songs in a row (Condemnation, In Your Room, BOAG and ING) for the first time ever.

We had four formats to play with this time including the first cassette single of the Ultra campaign, CBONG26 (right) which featured two tracks - It's No Good and Slowblow. The latter is a slowish instrumental which never really goes anywhere or does anything. It's not in the same league as Painkiller put it that way. The 12" contains 5 remixes of It's No Good with none of them at all coming close to the brilliance of the original version of the song. 12BONG26 (left) offers us the Hardfloor, Speedy J, Motor Bass, Andrea Parker and Dom T mixes of the songs. Only the Andrea Parker and Speedy J mixes work for me really. The rest are all a bit bland and do nothing for me at all. We had two cd's too - CDBONG26 (same cover as 12BONG) and LCDBONG26 (left) both of which came in the frustrating cd cases. The standard CD had the standard version of It's No Good together with the Speedy J mix, the Bass Bounce mix (one of the better mixes here) and a Darren Price remix of Slowblow which again is pretty poor. LCDBONG had the Hardfloor, Andrea Parker and Motor bass mixes from 12BONG and the original mix of Slowblow. All in all fairly unsatisfactory which is really disappointing when you consider the quality of It's No Good.

As good as the singles were the real interest was in the album and whether or not Depeche could pull off an album in keeping with their usual quality without Alan's input and despite their by now well publicised issues (see all the press from that time and from then until now). Ultra was released on 14 April 1997 and did not disappoint. Brilliantly produced by Tim Simenon and released on LP (STUMM148), cassette (CSTUMM148) and CD (CDSTUMM148 - all sleeves the same and on the left) the album reached number 1 in the UK and an equally impressive number 5 in the US. Depeche were clearly still a very big band. The album's tracks are - Barrel of A Gun, The Love Thieves, Home, It's No Good, Uselink, Useless, Sister of Night, Jazz Thieves, Freestate, The Bottom Line, Insight and Junior Painkiller. Three of these are instrumental link things - Uselink (featuring Daniel Miller on System 100M modular synth), Jazz Thieves (Christ - why?) and Junior Painkiller which is just a snippet of Painkiller.

Singles aside (see above and below) their are some amazing and frankly classic Depeche songs here. The Bottom Line is one of the greatest Martin sung songs ever, if only for its rather marvellous DM take on country music. Sister Of Night is phenomenal and features some fantastic noise in its middle section. Insight is a beautiful song and was hugely welcome when Martin added to his "Songs that ever Peter Gordeno's piano twattery can't ruin" section on the SOTU tour. Then we have The Love Thieves which slightly nonsensical lyrics aside is a great track. Oh yeah - finally there is Freestate a song so erm...not very good that it would have sounded fine on Exciter. I don't like, never have and never will. That apart though Ultra is a fantastic album. I would love to have seen it without Freestate, Jazz Thieves and Junior Painkiller as that would have made for a nigh on perfect release but what can you do?

The band chose not to tour Ultra which was wise given the fun and games of 1993/94 although they did play release parties in Los Angeles and London where they played the album's four singles and Never Let Me Down Again with Dave Clayton on keyboards. The lack of a tour meant that album and its singles lost some impetus which explains why Home, the third single from Ultra reached a poor UK number 23 on its release on 16 June 1997. Home is a Martin sung song and is easily one of his best. It's almost perfection and no matter what version he plays live (full, remixed or piano) it's always a highlight of a set. It's one of the songs that I've discovered is liked by a lot of people who don't really know or like much DM. It really should have done better on release.

The single came in four formats all featuring artwork by Anton's daughter who was 5 or so at the time. I presume he shared his fee with her. The cassette single (CBONG27 - right) featured

the standard version of Home and a decent live version of It's No Good from the London Ultra Party on 10 April 1997. Two CD singles were again available in the same oddball cases. CDBONG27 (left) featured 4 versions of Home. The standard one we all know. Next we have Air "Around The Golf" Remix a remix by the then fashionable French retrochaps Air. It's a brilliant 7" length remix which is a joy to hear. DM liked it so much that Martin incorporated it into the version of Home on the Touring The Angel tour. Track 3 is the LFO Meant To Be mix by LFO. It's fine but is a bit tinny really. Finally we have The Noodles and The Damage Done of which the title is the best thing. It's pretty crap. LCDBONG27 (right) kicked off with the Jedi Knights Remix (Drowning in Time) which is quite cool and has loads of neighbour annoying noises. Next up we have the Grantby Mix which is again fairly short but isn't too bad. Barrel of a Gun (excellent) and It's No Good from the Ultra party end proceedings. The 12" (12BONG27 -same sleeve as CDBONG) had 4 mixes - Jedi Knights, Air, LFO and Grantby. All in all a more satisfying package than the It's No Good one. The video (below) features the band hanging around hotel rooms looking moody whilst various other people mooch about. Not a classic.

The final single was Useless which arrived on 20 October 1997 stalling at a poor number 28 in the UK. The video (below) is great. It features the band hanging around in a disused quarry shouting a the poor woman who is apparently filming them. Martin has a rather odd haircut in it. We only got three formats this time. First up we had CDBONG28 (Left) which had three tracks and, embracing technology like they always had done, the Barrel of a Gun video. Stick the cd into your PC and there it is. This was something quite fancy at the time. The main track and indeed the version that was infrequently played on the radio is Useless (remix) a much improved version of the album track. It's just feels faster and louder though it probably isn't. Track two is Useless (Escape from Wherever: Parts 1 & 2) which is 7 minutes 17 seconds of tedium really. The final mix on the package is the Cosmic Blues Mix which is ok. LCDBONG27 (right) gave us two remixes, a live track and another video this time for It's No Good. The live version of Useless from the Ultra party featured and is again pretty good. Remix wise, the real winner here is The Kruder and Dorfmeister Session which comes in around 9 minutes long. It's a totally new take on the song featuring samples from the likes of Policy of Truth and is well worth hearing. Finally we have CJ Bolland's Ultrasonar mix which is very good but not quite as good as the K&D mix.

The 12" (12BONG27 - left) adds two new mixes. Firstly there's another CJ Bolland mix this time called the Funky Sub Mix. It's a bit more jungly/drum and bassy than the other mix as was the musical fashion at the time. Certainly seems like that to me anyway. Next is the Air 20 Mix which starts off like Erasure but develops into something pretty decent. The K&D Session rounds off the 12". Overall the mixes here are really interesting as the band let the artists remix the tracks how they wanted and that paid off.

So that was that. A band that many people thought they wouldnt see again came back with an album of excellent quality and a number of songs that have become Depeche Mode classics. No doubt delighted with the results the band would reconvene in 1998 for a Singles compilation and their first world tour in four years. Once I get Christmas out of the way I'll write about that. Thank you once again to depechemode.com , depeche-mode.com and depechemode.tv for information and pictures and thank you for reading. Have a good Christmas and I'll see you in 2012.