It's been a while since I last posted and it's also been a while, nearly eight years in fact, since the Museo was last open. Eight years? There have been two Depeche Mode world tours in that time. Anyway, the Museo has been refurbished, the exhibits polished and so here we are. Rather than look at a rare release this time, I decided to have a look at a few things I have that you can't play.
As you can imagine, I've accumulated a lot of Depeche related stuff over the years and, though much of it seems fairly strange, it's nice stuff to have. Here are a few highlights. This post will feature on the usual social media places, so please feel free to add you own there. These are in date order to give the post a pleasing symmetry.
1985 - SOME GREAT REWARD US TOUR CREW T SHIRT
From the front, this looks like a perfectly ordinary Depeche Mode t-shirt from the mid 80's. However, when you turn it over....
As you'll see, it's a T-Shirt that was provided to the crew on the tour. This is the genuine article and is very rare. I've not worn, nor will I, so it stays with the other, younger DM t-shirts in the drawer they share. Yes, of course I have a specific drawer for them.
1988 - CONCERT FOR THE MASSES FLYER
This again is the genuine item. A number of flyers for the legendary Pasadena Rose Bowl gig have been kept safe fro over 30 years and I was able to get my hands on one earlier this year. It's A5 in size.
1990 - VIOLATOR HMV SHOP DISPLAY
Not a lot to say about this one really. It's from HMV and was displayed in one of their shoips.
1993 - SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION SHOP DISPLAY
You know where this one is going don't you? It's a SOFAD era cardboard display thing from a shop.
1993 - SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION CANDLE
It was the early 90's and with Depeche Mode in their Songs Of Faith And Devotion phase, promo items took on the theme of the era. The American record company released this promotional candle so that fans could recreate Dave's dressing room of the time in their own homes. The candle came wrapped in cellophane. Mine still is and I thus far resisted the urge to light it to see if it smells of as Devotional gig. Also released around this time was a roll of packing tape (France) and some Walking In My Shoes baseball boots (do you see what they did there?). There was also one other things.
1993 - SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION PROMOTIONAL INCENSE BURNER
This is another innovation by the band's American record company. The incense burner comes with a chain around it so that you can swing while performing acts of faith and devotion. There is a metal tag on it and that says Depeche Mode on one side as you can see above.
On the reverse of the tag we have the album title and the Sire and Reprise logos.
That's what it looks like when you open it up. They are near impossible to find in mint condition. If you get one of those, it should come in a box. Mine has very much been used though will polish up nicely if I ever get round to it.
1998 - THE SINGLES 86-98 PROMO CUBE
Like the shop displays, not really sure what I can add here. It's a cube and it promotes the album The Singles 86-98.
See?
2014 - DELTA MACHINE PRIVATE PLANE SEAT COVER
"What's in the package?"
"Erm..."
"Not another bloody record. Surely not. "
"NO! It isn't a record. Promise."
"It looks like one. What is it then?"
"It's really cool. It's a seat cover from the band's private plane on the Delta Machine tour. Genuine article too. There aren't too many of these. What do y....."
*other person leaves room*
2024 - MEMENTO MORI VIP GIFT BAG
For the band's Glasgow gig earlier this year, I went for VIP tickets. No idea why really as they cost money that could easily be better spent elsewhere but getting one meant I got a free gift. Exciting times. It starts with the toilet bag show above. But what is inside?
An eye mask and a candle is the answer.
That's the candle box there.
There's the candle tin. It says Depeche Mode on it as you can see. Thrilling.
And finally, the candle itself. It is cedar scented apparently.
There we are then - a trip around the stranger parts of my collection. Next time, I'll go back to looking at the band's rarer releases in worrying detail. Look out for that soon.
Ok, it's not exactly Closer by Nine Inch Nails, but you can see why people might have been offended by Blasphemous Rumours when they heard it. Even Fletch, a man who had remember recently consented to something as deviant as being whipped to be used as a sample, was "quite offended" when he first heard it.
To temper the possibility of this being their The Beatles Are Bigger Than Jesus moment, for the first time in their history, Depeche Mode released a double A-side, radically (erm...)remixing Somebody and adding it to the package. They would not release a double A side again until John The Revelator/Lilian. It is claimed that Fragile Tension was a double A side with some other song but there's no evidence to back that up.
How did it get on? What were the videos like. And why are the labels on the 7" and 12" beautiful yet illogical and frankly annoying? Let's find out shall we?
LAUGHING/MAY EVEN BE PERVERTED - BLASPHEMOUS RUMOURS/SOMEBODY
This brave new double A format was released on 29th October 1984. just as the band were wrapping up the UK leg of the Some Great Reward tour. There was a genuine concern that Blasphemous Rumours' God questioning lyrics might see the song banned, but the BBC weren't that bothered in the end.
Initial reviews of the single were enthusiastic enough. Neil Tennant in his pre Erasure* role as a Smash Hits reviewer said that Blasphemous Rumours was "a routine slab of gloom in which God is given a severe ticking off," which is sort of complimentary I think. Number 1 magazine went all pro Depeche Mode, saying "Depeche Mode are becoming a very important band indeed," adding that the single was "thought provoking stuff." Smash Hits meanwhile deemed Somebody "a bug lush ballad with tasteful sound effects."
*I know, I know.
The band appeared on Top Of The Pops on 4th November 1984 with the song having entered the charts at number 29. The public didn't let the sight of Alan hitting a concrete block with a hammer and Martin tirelessly (ho ho) playing a bicycle wheel put them off - the single flew up the charts the next week to number 16. Sadly however, that's where the fun ended as the single then dropped one place the following week before again dropping to 32, 54 and then refusing to be tied to any charts' strings by falling to 64 then disappearing forever.
The two songs on the double A side appear in different forms to their Some Great Reward versions. Obviously, neither track was suitable for a banging club mix - David Guetta's take on Blasphemous Rumours is a horrifying prospect for example - but they felt they had to do something. Blasphemous Rumours is presented in a shorter form than on the album with the odd breathing noise section at the end removed among other things. Listening back to it just now, I'm reminded just how good a song this is. One thing I love is that, despite the gloomy lyrical concept, they just couldn't resist sticking a frankly huge pop chorus in. That's brilliant. It's worth remembering too that if we didn't have Blasphemous Rumours, we wouldn't have had a great moment in Depeche Mode history. I'll let this picture say it all:
Among the 247 times the band played Blasphemous Rumours live between 1984 and 1988, this one was surely the most memorable.
Somebody was also remixed with the band turning the album version into a nine and a half minute long sonic reinvention of the track that reminds you of Throbbing Gristle at their most industrial. Not really. It's got a bit more reverb and a few more noises and is a full 8 seconds shorter than the album mix. It's perfectly lovely of course as Somebody always is. It is of course the first Depeche Mode single not to feature the vocals of Mr Gahan and he's taken a rest to let Martin sing it 354 times between 1984 and 2018. Interestingly, it was only played once on the Black Celebration tour and never on World Violation.
The Videos
That's right - videos, not just video singular. First up, we have the Blasphemous Rumours video which the Depeche Mode Information Service Newsletter of November 1984 told us was filmed at the Birmingham Odeon on the Some Great Reward tour. Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group's legendary detective work has also found out that part of the footage was filmed at the gig at King George's Hall in Blackburn too.
The band appear on the Some Great Reward stage set and run their way through the song. Naturally, Martin has his top off and Alan is seen in full leather Mode in the man-in-leather-with-big-hair-playing-keyboards stance he maintained from this point to the end of Everything Counts at the Rosebowl. Dave is of course singing and Fletch is having a lovely time playing a classic Fletch one finger bass part. The band look serious throughout as this song is a serious one and they smash bits of metal and corrugated iron in serious manner. Less serious are the various literal interpretations of the samples, for example, the pan falling down some metal steps, the bicycle wheel and the frankly horrendous scissors that appear and snip the film at various places. Stop that.
There's not a great deal to say about it really. It's nice to see the live set up in slightly better resolution than on The World We Live In And Live In Hamburg (DVD please Mute if you're reading) and seeing Martin and Alan hit things on stage is never bad. It's basically the best video of their career to that point.
As with Blasphemous Rumours, the band went for a performance video for Somebody which was therefore good news for Dave and Andy as they got the day off. You do see them of course with the pair appearing on footage played over Martin singing at certain points. Somewhat inexplicably we also see Dave not really running down a hill at one point towards the end. It's hard to know what he's doing really - it looks like he's lost control of his legs. Anyway, over the heartbeat and gasping noises at the start we see the band outside in various locations meandering around. Martin is wearing a hat and, unusually, clothes on his top half. He and Alan are then revealed, Alan on the piano and Martin in a nifty leather dress accessorised as all dresses of the time were (?) with what looks like handcuffs. Martin had clearly got hot under the hat he was wearing at the start of the video as his hair looks like an explosion in a masrshmallow factory. It is peak mid-80's Martin Mad Hair and it's glorious. The Wilder Hair Scale also has a reading of "Dangerously High."
And that's really it for the Somebody video too. It's fine, it does what it needs to and is short of comedy/terrifying moments. I guess that spacehoppers and milkmen would have really been a bad idea for this song.
The Formats
Normally I give you a quick run through of what's what with the single releases at this point but today we need to talk about a serious issue. Before I go on, I want you to answer this question:
When you think of the double A side single Blasphemous Rumours/Somebody which song do you think of first?
(Insert answers)
That's right - Blasphemous Rumours. It's obviously the true A side here as the front cover shows an image depicting the song (I think - more on that in a second) and the band played it on Top Of The Pops. Why then, does the label on the 7" (7BONG7 - above) have AA beside the song title?
The B-side label (above) has A beside Somebody which would suggest to me that Somebody was thought of as the true A-side but that can't be right can it? The rear of the 7" is clearly the Somebody side as you can see from the track order in the top right and the imagery. It's the lyrics to the song so it has to be meant to have been the second track of the double A side and thus should have been AA. Right?
Now, these things are NOT important in real life and it may be that having realised I still have 38 of these blogs to go that I am having a nervous breakdown, but I'm sure I'm right here. Alternatively of course, as I have just realised, it could be that AA in music business speak for the lead track on a double A-side single in which case I've just wasted a lot of your time and I'm sorry. I'm not going to check as that will lead to me deleting all this blog and starting again. I'm sure someone will point it out.
Still, intriguing eh? The UK 7" above by the way features two tracks both of which I've mentioned and, misplacement of the letter A aside, the labels are beautiful.
As well as the band's first double A side, we also got the first ever e.p. I was obsessed with hunting this down when I first read about it in 1990 and I love it. It's not that rare of course, it's just a great release. 7BONG7E features the two 7" tracks (the A and AA issue is there again) plus two live tracks from the Liverpool Empire Theatre gig on 29 September 1984
On the Blasphemous Rumours and thus THE ACTUAL A-SIDE there is a riotous version of Told You So and a tremendous Everything Count accompanies Somebody on the flip, other, alternative and very much B-Side.
12BONG7 is on my side. The A-Side features one track and that is the album version of Blasphemous Rumours. As you can see from the picture above, it says A on the label and the front cover is an extended version of the 7" cover. I rest my case.
The B-side features four live tracks from the Liverpool show. As well as the 2 from 7BONG7E, it features a live version of Somebody and a huge sounding and quite magnificent Ice Machine.
The 1991 CD features the same 4 songs as 7BONG7E.
It's a Depeche Mode single from the 1980's so that can only mean German coloured vinyl. We of course have a red 7" which is great but reignites all the AA/A arguments that I am the only person on earth having just now.
That's the Somebody side above.
There are two colour vinyl versions to collect. Firstly, the rather ominous looking grey one.
It features the same tracks as 12BONG7.
There's a yellow vinyl version too which brings some sunshine to proceedings.
Again, it has the same songs on it as 12BONG7 and it's grumpy grey brother.
The blue stripe CD comes in a jewel box this time rather than the thin style of CD box and features the 12" tracks.
There are a number of French formats. My favourite is the thin card numbered sleeve version which features the 12" tracks. When I say favourite, I really mean "the only French format I actually own."
Finally in the European section, here is the Belgian CD release. It's lovely beacuse it's yellow.
To end, we venture to America and ask exactly what the fuck is that? A promo 12" for Blasphemous Rumours was released by Sire and it's baffling on many levels. Firstly, the tracklist. It features the single version of Blasphemous Rumours, the album mix of Something To Do and the single version of (Set Me Free) Remotivate Me. That's an odd bunch. Secondly, we have the cover. In these Covid ridden times, seeing someone breathe into someone else's face is enough to worry you. Presumably however, the person on the right is whispering rumours which may or may not be blasphemous into the ear of the person on the left who has an extremely long head. It's very, very odd and makes Anton's sleeve for Spirit look positively Michelangelo like by comparison.
With this single, phase 1 of Depeche Mode was over. The next album would be a phase 1 summing up compilation and it would feature two new tracks both of which would be released as singles. One is a poppy, fairly lightweight one which sounds like the last track phase 1 DM recorded.
The other is a dark, masterful love song so epic and glorious that it was surely bound to capture the heart of everyone who heard it on its unstoppable run to the top of the charts. All it needed was a title that wouldn't put people off. Yes, write a darker, brooding love song, but don't give it a name that makes you sound like you are ill.
When mixing Construction Time Again there, Berlin made such an impression on Depeche Mode that they decided to record its follow up Some Great Reward in Hansa Studios. The band, Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones headed to Berlin and used Hansa's space to create a booming album that improved upon and crystalised the Industrial meets Pop sound of its predecessor.
The first song the world heard from the album was People Are People, a song that would not only give Depeche Mode their highest UK chart placing but one that woud also conquer Germany and hit a suprisingly high number in the US Billboard chart.
Let's get our heads, and fists, round People Are People.
COMMMON DECENCY - PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE
The Single
People Are People (BONG 5) is arguably one of Depeche Mode's biggest ever singles, yet it's a song the band have ignored since the Rosebowl gig in June 1988. They seem to be embarrassed about it, no doubt due to its fairly simple lyrics, but who can't say that when People Are People starts on 101 they don't get a shiver down the spine in anticipation of the song blasting into life? We don't go to a Depeche Mode gig to analyse the lyrics (blogs are for that...), we go to jump around, sing and have fun. People Are People would have been a welcome addition to recent set lists.
The single was released on 12th March 1984 and it was the perfect taster for what lay ahead with Some Great Reward. Almost everything on the single was sampled and played via a Synclavier, including a sample of Martin doing the "ugh-ugh-ugh" noise that you are currently all singing - admit it, you are aren't you? This was the point where Depeche Mode started to leave the pop world behind although as the album demonstrated, they still knew their way around a poppy chorus. They had played with the notion of sampling on Construction Time Again and then Black Celebration saw them develop their glorious. dark, unique sound but Some Great Reward was where they distilled the best parts of both those albums. It was the point phase 1 of Depeche Mode handed over to phase 2.
Initial reviews of People Are People were, as we've all now come to expect, mixed. Roy Hay from hilarious novelty band Culture Club, a band whose entire career contains not a single second of anything of any merit whatsoever, said in Record Mirror "I really laughed the first time it came on." Only seven months after People Are People, Culture Club released The War Song. Mr Hay clearly has no grasp of irony. Smash Hits were much more positive saying the song was "Easily their best yet and this harder direction is bound to spawn bags of imitators."
The single entered the UK charts at number 29 on 24th March and the above performance on 22nd March marked that event. There are a few things to note from the performance. Unusually, Martin has a top on but it's only a vest and the addition of leather trousers and braces both at least two sizes to big for him help regain some valuable Martin points. He is also alternatively banging bits of metal and an odd drum with a hammer. Alan has started to develop the tall hairdo beloved of peak era Wilderphiles and he is hitting a bit of corrugated iron that, for some reason, says PUS on it. He at least has a synthesizer though. Dave and Andy clearly couldn't be trusted with bits of metal or iron though - they just have a drumstick and cymbal each.
The UK pop pickers clearly loved this performance and the following week, People Are People zoomed into the Top 10, landing at 9. It went up again the following week to number 5 - the band's highest ever UK chart position. But wait! The next week, it went up again, this time to number 4. Depeche Mode had once again taken to the Top Ten but sadly number 4 was as good as it got. Industrial action at the BBC meant that the band could not play the song on Top Of The Pops again and so sadly, the song's momentum stalled. Instead of climbing higher, possibly even to Number 1, the next week it went down to 6. The following week, it fell 9 before one more week in the Top 20 at number 20, finally leaving the charts punching and kicking and shouting via numbers 36, 50 and 74.
This hugely impressive performance was bettered in Germany where the song was Number 1 for three weeks and, for the first time, America fell for Depeche Mode's charms with the song reaching a remarkable number 13. They had a genuine worldwide hit on their hands.
As I mentioned earlier, the song has been ignored by the band in live sets for 30 years now. It has featured 226 times however and it would be great to hear it again.
As with Love In Itself, the B-Side to People Are People was another Alan Wilder composition In Your Memory. Originally announced by the Depeche Mode Information Service in its March 1983 newsletter as Place It In Your Memory, the song is, like Fools, another great Alan penned track. It's a catchy, clanging track full of the bleeps and bashes of this era's Depeche Mode but it's one that's never seen the light of day live
The Video
The video is not bad while never quite managing to be that good. The live action scenes of the band hitting things, sliding down other things, turning handles, pulling levers and pushing stuff are mixed with actual singing scenes, all of which were filmed on HMS Belfast which is a ship that you can visit if anyone is ever allowed to travel to London again,
Luckily, the boat isn't in active service anymore. If it was, then Dave dancing rather than steering the thing 57 seconds in could have led to something awful happening. Amidst the Depeche Mode Attempt To Steal A Royal Navy Boat And Do It Badly scenes, there is lots of stock footage of soldiers, weapons, war and so on because, let's be honest, can any of us really understand what makes a man hate another man? It's deep stuff. Dave's Everything Counts trick of dancing while being interposed over the video makes a return for the second verse and Martin likes it so much that he joins in for his solo lines.
And that's how it carries on really. More boat, more bewildering stock footage and more shots of Martin and Dave singing. Not much happens really.
The Formats
7BONG5 features the A-Side and B-Side we've covered above. A fun fact however is that the cover (above) features a famous hand. One of the two hands above belongs to English actor Hugh Grant in what is surely one of his most convincing performances. As far as I know, and if I am wrong I have no doubt you'll tell me, this is the only Hollywood star to feature on the front of a Depeche Mode records.
The rear of the single contains information but no A-list celebrities. In needless interest in things news, I again love the font and the labels. Very, very nice.
The 12" single, 12BONG5, is a wonderful thing for many reasons but one key one - the track on the A-A-side, People Are People (Different Mix). The literal title aside, this is a stunning remix. The first minute or so sounds like the noise you would get if you turned on a switch that activated a factory and from there it thuds majestically, all 7 plus minutes a joyous reinterpretation of the song. It is fantastic. God, I really wish Depeche Mode still did their own remixes.
The B-Side features the Slik Mix of In Your Memory, so called because Alan's nickname at the time was Slik in honour of his increasingly tall and slicked back hairdo. I don't know whether this really cool remix is also called that because the band left Alan to it in the studio. Depeche Mode leaving Alan alone in a studio to do all the work? Well, if it happened then, it would certainly never happen again....
The March 1984 Depeche Mode Information Service newsletter said "There will NOT be a limited edition 12" " of People Are People but quickly contradicted itself the following month, announcing that there would be a limited edition 12" featuring "A Special Club Mix by Adrian Sherwood," adding, somewhat mysteriously, that it was "recorded purely for clubs." If you try to listen to it in your home, your speakers explode and the police arrest you. L12BONG5 is a numbered release in a glossy sleeve and it's a lovely thing from its cover all the way to its labels. The A-Side, the ON-Usound Remix is great and clangs along pleasingly in the same way the Different Mix does.
The B-Side features the single versions of People Are People and In Your Memory.
Once again, the song appeared on CD in the UK in 1991 with the tracks from the 7" and 12" present.
Once again, Intercord broke out the coloured vinyl box and once again the 7" was released with its erstauflage in rotem vinyl which I am assured means "first edition in red vinyl."
The single features the same two tracks as the UK 7".
The coloured vinyl 12" is a STUNNER. Look at that - magical, marbled vinyl.
The B-side above is equally gorgeous. The record features the same tracks as boring black vinyl 12BONG5.
Hang on. The German L12 equivalent is MORE STUNNING! Look at that beauty! Quite superb and limited edition too. You can't quite see in that picture, but in the bottom right it sais "Limited Edition No." and a number. Mine? It's number 46,975. Highly limited stuff.
I discovered that I had one of the three variations of the German black vinyl L12 when I was digging out records for these photographs. There it is above.
The German blue stripe CD single is a three track affair, featuring the two standard 12" tracks and the single version of People Are People.
The French CD single features the same tracks. France and Spain also released versions of the L12, the French one saying "Limited Edition" on the front and the Spanish one "Edicion Limitada" which is pleasing if you like that sort of thing. I seem ot have created a rule for these posts where I only post pictures of things I have, so to see that sleeve, head to depmod.com
Away from Europe, there was a Japanese 7" which is nice thing. It uses the picture that would form the cover of the North American album People Are People. For those who don't know, and to be honest why would normal people know this, the sleeve is a shiny piece of paper and the record is housed in the blue inner sleeve above. The shiny paper sits on top of that.
People Are People's lyrics feature on the reverse of the shiny paper thing.
Finally, the US 12" features three tracks, namely the Different Mix, the On-UsoundRemix and a track called In Your Memory (Slik Mix Edit) on the sleeve. It is in fact the single mix of In Your Memory, but I guess that is actually an edit of the Slik Mix so fair's fair.
People Are People was Depeche Mode's first big global breakthrough single and it really is a fine track. It started off a new level of fame for the band, one that would grow and grow over the next few years. Suddenly, Depeche Mode weren't just a synth band from the UK. They were a band with a German number 1 and a Billboard Top 20 smash hit.
They seemed unstoppable. All they had to do now was avoid controversy and not release a song about bondage sex or one criticising God and a UK number one would surely be theirs.
