DEPECHE MODE - A FRAGILE TENSION - SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE and 2009

Depeche Mode's albums post Ultra had been a mix of the good (Playing The Angel) and the not so good (Exciter) but there was still much excitement when a new single and album was announced in early 2009. As with the previous campaign, the official site released in studio video snippets in the lead up to the album all of which showed the band making a serious of strange noises via Martin's increasingly gargantuan analogue synth collection. It perhaps indicated that the new songs would be electronic/analogue/synthy sounding and that Depeche would make an almost wholly electronic comeback. Those who thought that (hello) got it, if you'll pardon the rather obvious pun, wrong.

The first new Depeche song in three years physically arrived on 6 April 2009 although after a premiere on a German music awards show, Wrong had been available digitally since 24 February of that year. I mentioned in a previous blog that Precious was a stunning comeback single - Wrong was no different. It is a classic Depeche track. Driving bass, lots of noise, great lyrics and whatsmore in the era of uniformly dreadgful videos, a great video. Wrong just works on every single level. Even non Depeche fans that I know (there aren't that many - I try not to associate with people like that) loved it. When the physical formats arrived the song performed really badly in the UK reaching only number 24 which is clearly a consequence of the song having been available digitally for an age before it's physical arrival. Having just recovered from the shock of seeing a good video, I was then amazed to discover good remixes on the cd singles. CDBONG40 (above left) was a two track affair featuring Wrong and a b-side in the shape of Oh Well (Black Light Odyssey Remix) which is a great remix of the first ever song to be jointly written by Martin (music) and Dave (lyrics).

LCDBONG40 (top right) has Wrong plus 4 remixes. The best remix here is track 2 which is the Trentemoller Club Remix which is an absolute cracker of a remix. The remainder (Thin White Duke remix, Magda's Scallop Funk Mix and D.I.M v Boys Noize Mix) are all fine too and are certainly an improvement on the previous few years' bland set of mixes. There were two vinyl releases too. Firsty there is the standard 12" (12BONG40 - above right) which takes the Magda's, Trentemoller and Thin White Duke remixes from the LCD and adds the ok-ish Caspa Remix of Wrong. The highlight of the release however is the numbered limited edition 7" single (BONG40) which comes in a red with black tints vinyl and features Wrong and Oh Well (Edit). The sleeve adds the phrase "platte im mehrfarbigem vinyl" which is the phrase you'd see on the German 12" coloured vinyl series from the 80's. It roughly means "record in multicoloured vinyl" (please feel free to correct me) and to have it on the front of the record was a fanatastic thing. A picture is below in the Peace review section.

Wrong was a fantastic start to the campaign and the album Sounds Of The Universe (SOTU) quickly followed it on 17 April 2009. Impressively, it reached number 2 in the UK, Depeche's highest chart position since Ultra. The album came in the usual formats of CD (CDSTUMM300), LP (STUMM300 - double vinyl which came with a cd of the album too) and DVD (DVDSTUMM300).

The standard tracklisting is: In Chains (long start to the album and ok), Hole To Feed (Dave written, worst song title ever, poor), Wrong (yay!) Fragile Tension (I like this track - loads don't. It was leaked pre release and because it wasn't Enjoy The Disease of Truth Jesus In My Shoes people got unnecessarily angry. The part where Dave sings "through glittering galas without even trying" harmonised by Martin is a joy to the ears), Little Soul (blah), in Sympathy (just not good), Peace (hmmm), Come Back (Dave's second song of the album and the best of his lot. It's ok), Spacewalker (Hello, I am the pointless instrumental), Perfect (drippy crap), Miles Away/The Truth Is (Dave again, Elvis impressions, stupid song title so named because Martin saw that Madonna had a song called Miles Away, just bloody awful), Jezebel (ok) and Corrupt (the band remember to do something Depeche Mode-ish). Not a great album by any means unfortunately. It's too long and too bland and some of Martin's lyrics are way below the high standard he set. It's overproduced too and really sounds like they should have spent much less time fannying around on ancient Modular synths and instead focussed on sorting out a top notch album. The fact that by the time the tour ended only 4 songs from the album were regularly played (and two of them were Hole To Feed and Miles Away ffs) says a lot. The artwork is lazy too. DVDSTUMM is a black version of the standard sleeve.

The DVD version added the album on dvd for those who wanted to hear how great Spacewalker sounds in 5.1, the Electronic Press Kit, the video for Wrong and three remixes - In Chains (Minilogue's Earth Remix), Little Soul (Thomas Fehlmann Flowing Ambient Remix) and the mighty Jezebel (Six Toes Remix). The latter is fantastic and you really must hear it.

For the first time we Depeche fans were also blessed with a super duper deluxe box set. BXSTUMM300 (right) was filled with a lot of stuff, some pointless, some great. I've only put a picture of the box itself on here - for pics of the rest please visit the excellent depmod.com. As well as a cd of the album the box also conatined a poster, two badges, two books of photos, a certificate of authenticity (for those who were concerned they'd bought a fake box) an envelope containing 6 art cards of which there were 14 to collect and thankfully some fantastic additional music. Tucked away in the box are 3 cd's and a dvd. CD1 is of course the album. CD2 features 5 additional songs and 6 remixes. The hugely frustrating thing about the 5 additional songs is that, Esque apart (another instrumental), they are all the equal of if not better than most of the main album. The songs are Light (a poppy number which is great), The Sun And The Moon And The Stars (a Martin sung ballad sort of song), Ghost (this is classic Depeche Mode. WHY IS IT TUCKED AWAY ON AN EXTRA CD!!!) Esque and Oh Well. The remixes are all decent too - Corrupt (Efdemin Remix), In Chains (Minilogue's Earth Remix), Little Soul (Thomas Fehlmann Flowing Ambient Remix), Perfect (Electronic Periodic Dark Drone Remix) and Wrong (Caspa Remix). The DVD has a 5.1 version of the album and the 5 extra songs as well as two documentaries (Making The Universe and 2009: Usual Thing. Try and Get The Question in Answer), the Electronic Press Kit, the Wrong video and superbly enough 4 live in studio tracks. From SOTU we have Corrupt, Little Soul and Come Back and they are joined by a guitar based version of Stories of Old from Some Great Reward. A random but fanatstic surprise.

The 5 extra songs aside, the real highlight of the boxset is cd3 which contains 14 demos. For years, Depeche demos have been sought after by the Black Swarm. Some have popped up on line (Here Is The House, Shake The Disease etc), some have had official releases albeit with the demo tidied up (Enjoy The Silence (Harmonium), To Have And To Hold (Spanish Taster) and some have been heard by only a select few of which I am sadly not a part. Here however were 15 for us to grab a hold of. They are all Martin sung unless other wise indicated - Little 15, Clean, Sweetest Perfection, Walking In My Shoes, I Feel You, Judas, Surrender, Only When I Lose Myself, Nothing's Impossible (Dave), Corrupt, Peace, Jezebel, Come Back (Dave) and In Chains. Judas is the best one here for me. It was long rumoured to have taken quite a few guises and Alan had even hinted once that it took a reggae turn at one point as the demo here actually proves. It's very far from the brooding genius thte song actually became. To be honest, the demos for the SOTU songs are the least exciting here and whilst it's easy to moan and say "Where are all the demos from everything they've ever done?" we should be pleased with what we got. As an additional cd, the demo disc is a really really good thing.

After the album, the next single to be released was, entirely perplpexingly, the dreadful Peace which slipped out almost unnoticed on 15 June 2009. I don't know what the point of this release was really. Even the band seemed to agree by failing to appear in the hideous video. The only sign of them was a poster that is briefly shown. Peace was also the first Depeche single since Dreaming of Me not to have a 12" release. The were only two things that stopped the release of Peace being wholly worthless, the first of which was the 7" coloured vinyl release (BONG41 - see below for my own Peace and Wrong 7" singles) which was on a white/grey vinyl again with a Platte Im Mehrfarbigem Vinyl on the front. The tracks were Peace (single mix) and Come Back (Jonsi Remix) which is of course a remix by Jonsi the lead singer of Sigur Ros and it's a decent enough take on the song. CDBONG41 (above left)  contained the release's other redeeming feature. Alongside the single mix of Peace we had the Six Toes remix of Peace which, like their remix of Jezebel, is a real treat and well worth grabbing. It's so refreshing to hear remixers do something entirely different apoint which is back up by the bland collection of remixes padding out LCDBONG41 (above right) - Single mix, Herve's "Warehouse Frequencies" Remix (blah), Sander Van Doorn Remix (Bleh), Japanese Popstars Remix( best one here and pretty good), Sid Le Rock Remix(Poor at best) and Justus Kohncke Extended Disco Club Vocal (like his Lilian remixes, as bad as the name suggests). Peace matched Dreaming of Me in reaching number 57 in the UK charts. A dismal performance for a dismal single and an insult to the glorious genius of Dreaming Of Me.

The final release of the campaign was a double A side of Hole To Feed and Fragile Tension which was released on 7 December 2009 and didn't chart because its releases werent eligible. There was a video made for Hole To Feed but you should never ever watch it. Ever. The single was released on a double 12", cd and digitally. The double 12" is nice to have as its packaging and artwork is cool but it really only has a couple of semi good remixes on it. The tracklisting of 12BONG42 (left) is Fragile Tension (Stephan Bodzin Remis), Fragile Tension (Kris Menace's Love on Laserdisc Remix), Hole To Feed (Popof Vocal Mix), Hole To Feed (Paul Woolford's Easy Fun Ethereal Disco Mix), Perfect (Roger Sanchez Club Mix), Perfect (Ralphi Rosario Dub), Peace (Herve's "Warehouse Frequencies" Remix) and Peace (Sander Van Doorn Remix). CDBONG42 (right) actually contains some decent listen to more than once stuff - Fragile Tension (Radio Mix), Hole To Feed (Radio Mix), Perfect (Roger Sanchez Club Mix), Come Back (Six Toes Remix - hooray!), Fragile Tension (Laidback Luke Remix), Hole To Feed (Popof Vocal Mix), Fragile Tension (Peter, Bjorn and John Remix - very good) and Hole To Feed (Joebot Remix). The digital versions add a couple more remixes but as ever I'm reporting on physical formats only.

And that was that for the SOTU releases. The Tour of The Universe went on for 102 shows over 5 legs which included a Royal Albert Hall charity show in which Alan stepped onstage to play piano on Somebody which was a lovely moment. The shows I saw were good though the setlist went from its early brave incarnation (Strangelove, Master and Servant, Fly On The Windscree, some songs from SOTU) to a fairly safe setlist by the time the European arena shows rolled around. Still, it's always good to see Depeche live whatever the setlist so no complaint from me.

I'm polishing this off on the day after the new album Delta Machine was announced so my next blog will be out very soon as it will deal with the Remixes 2 album by which point I'll be bang up to date. Thanks again to depechemode.com, depmod.com, depeche-mode.com and to the ever pulsating brain at the heart of the Depeche Mode universe Panos

DEPECHE MODE - I KNEW WHAT I WAS LETTING MYSELF IN FOR - THE BEST OF VOL I and 2006

Depeche Mode's first move post Playing The Angel was the release of a brand new single named Martyr which, like Only When I Lose Myself in 1998, was a prelude to a compilation album. The album Martyr was the single for was The Best of Volume I which I'll look at below.

Martyr was a song recorded during the Playing The Angel sessions which was rejected for the album as it was too poppy. You may recall that during the official site's pre album video teasers a version of Martyr was heard playing through the studio speakers whilst Fletch pretended to do something music related. It's a good song which whilst not really fitting for a Best Of, is better than say Lilian. Anyway, the single was released on 30 October 2006 and hit a very respectable number 13 in the UK. Following the band's rejection of the first attempt at a video for the song, an odd compilation style video accompanied the track with Dave seemingly singing the song in footage culled from live shows from the PTA era.

The single was initially released on cd and dvd. CDBONG39 (right) contained the single version of Martyr and the decent enough Booka Shade Full Vocal Mix of the same track. LCDBONG39 (left) gave us the bland Paul Van Dyk Remix Edit of Martyr, the excellent Alex Smoke Gravel Mix and the fantastic Digitalism Remix of Never Let Me Down Again. This cd is worth buying for the NLMDA remix alone. It is like an angry version of the Aggro Mix from the original NLMDA 12" single. It is easily on the of the best Depeche remixes of modern times. DVDBONG39 (below left)meanwhile has the Martyr video montage and audiof two ok-ish remixes of Martyr - Dreher & S.M. Art B.N. Reload Remix (nope, me neither) and Booka Shade Travel Mix. A slipcase is available for all three formats. A 12" (12BONG39 - same art as CDBONG39) followed on 4 December with 3 Martyr remixes - the Dreher etc one, Alex Smoke Gravel Mix and the Booka Shade Dub, the latter again an ok mix and exclusive to this release.

More interesting vinyl was released on 11 December 2006. Firstly there was another 7" picture disc (BONG39 - left)) featuring the single version of Martyr and the outstanding Digitalism remix of NLMDA. Secondly we had a real treat. L12BONG39 (right) was a double 12" single which unlike the band's previous double 12" (It's Called a Heart) was fantastic in every respect. The artwork along makes this worth getting with nods to the band's past throughout. The tracklisting is special too. As with the earlier Remixes project, four classic Depeche tracks were given modern remixes however on this occasion every remix is a cracker. Disc 1 has the NLMDA remix by Digitalism (did I mention that I liked it?) and Personal Jesus (Boys Noize Rework) which is a great remix of a great track. Disc 2 has the epic Everything Counts (Oliver Huntemann & Stephen Bodzin Dub) and the even epic-er still People Are People (Underground Resistance Remix). Both tracks are top class examples of how to remix older songs and make them sound fantastic. Get this 12" if you can.

The Best of Volume I(right) was released on 13 November 2006 and reached number 18 in the charts. The name of the album is I guess controversial given the album's tracklisting as every Depeche fan will have their own Best Of list but for the uninitiated it's not a bad start. The tracklisting is: Personal Jesus, Just Can't Get Enough, Everything Counts, Enjoy The Silence, Shake The Disease, See You, It's No Good, Suffer Well, Dream On, People Are People, Martyr, Walking In My Shoes, I Feel You, Precious, Master & Servant, New Life and Never Let Me Down Again. No room for The Meaning of Love eh? Seriously though, where are Stripped, A Question of Time and so on? The album was released on cd (CDMUTEL15) and special edition cd plus DVD (LCDMUTEL15 - the cover is the same except the flower is red) the dvd of which contained videos for all the singles on the cd bar New Life and Martyr and rather oddly added the videos for Stripped, A Question of Time, Strangelove, Behind The Wheel, Barrel Of A Gun, Only When I Lose Myself, I Feel Loved and Enjoy The Silence 04 before finishing off the the Electronic Press Kit for the album. A triple vinyl version of the album was released on 12 February 2007

All in all, the Best of Volume I isn't an essential release for the hardcore Depeche fan but it's a nice enough item and the single release, especially L12BONG39, is well worth getting. The next thing we'd hear from Depeche was the rather marvellous Wrong and that'll be lovingly poured over next time

Thanks to depechemode.com, depmod.com, depeche-mode.com and as ever to the editorial skills of Panos.

DEPECHE MODE - FRAGILE THINGS - 2005/06 & PLAYING THE ANGEL

After the let down of Exciter, (personally speaking of course) I had a sense of trepidation about the new Depeche Mode releases. The Remix album had provided some good moments but that was only ever going to be a stop gap as the real evidence of whether Depeche still had it in them would be the new album. Things turned out just fine....

The first new Depeche music in four years (I'm not counting the remixed versions from 2004) arrived on 3 October 2005 with the release of Precious. The song had been leaked through the company in charge of making the very odd Depeche on a computerised boat video a few weeks before so we were all familiar with it but setting that aside, the release of Precious was huge as it was and still is a classic Depeche track. The melody, the music, the lyrics (Martin writing to his kids apologising for any distress caused by their parents divorce), everything - it just worked. It was instantly better than anything from Exciter and would be welcome on any modern era album prior to that. The single joined Barrel Of A Gun and People Are People as joint highest ever UK chart position holders reaching number 4 in the charts. As with all the Playing The Angel era singles a collection of mainly bland remixes popped up too. The CD and DVD singles were released on 3 October. CDBONG35 (below left) featured the album version of Precious and the Single Edit of Sasha's Spooky Mix of the same track. There's nothing spooky about it really. LCDBONG35 (above right) gave us two bits of rubbish (Precious - Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix (Edit) and Precious - Misc Full Vocal Mix) and a.......wait for it.......B SIDE(!!) in the shape of new track Free. Firstly, it's a great song and secondly, ignoring the joys of digital releases and the fact they only have one side, IT'S A B SIDE! It's not an album track (hello One Caress and Pimpf), nor is it an instrumental (hello Zenstation. Actually, piss off Zenstation) it is an actual new song. Lovely stuff. One thing does occur though - why was it not on CDBONG35? Finally, DVDBONG35 (above left) gave us the odd Precious video, a very good and indeed best of the bunch remix of Precious by Motor and the Michael Mayer Ambient Mix of Precious which is ok

The 12" singles were released on 10 October. 12BONG35 (same art as CDBONG35) has the full length Sasha mixes - Spooky Mix and Gargantuan waste of time Vocal Mix both of which are unfortunately longer than the Edits. L12BONG35 (same art as LCDBONG35) had the Misc Full Vocal Mix (meh), Michael Mayer Balearic Mix (bleh), Motor Remix (hoorah!) and Misc Crunch Mix (hmm) of Precious. Finally vinally and somewhat belatedly a 7" picture disc of Precious was released on 11 December 2006. All subsequent Playing The Angel singles had 7" picture disc releases yet no-one seemed to think that it would make sense if all 4 singles had 7" picture disc versions. Anyhoo, following sterling work by depmod.com whose members petitioned Mute  the very colourful 7" picture disc (BONG35 - right) of Precious was released which contained the Album version and Michael Mayer Ambient Mix of the track.

Rather than release a new single, the band brought Playing The Angel out next on 17 October 2005 and it reached number 6 in the UK. The Anton designed artwork features someone who is either known as Mr Feathers or Tubby Goth, the latter being the band's name for him. Wonder if Robert Smith's lawyers were ever asked to get involved? We had the usual different formats to contend with. STUMM260 was a double LP, CDSTUMM260, LCDSTUMM260 (a SACD and DVD with a red Mr Feathers/Tubby Goth on the front) and UMDSTUMM260 which is apparently a format for the Playstation Portable. Now, I am a collector of Depeche releases as you may have gathered but I've never seen this and to be honest have no need to. Does anyone have one? The tracklisting of the album is A Pain That I'm Used To, John The Revelator, Suffer Well, The Sinner In Me, Precious, Macro, I Want It All, Nothing's Impossible, Introspectre, Damaged People, Lilian and The Darkest Star. This album is the first to feature songs written by Dave. He has three in all ranging from the excellent (Nothing's Impossible) to the very good (Suffer Well) to the...er...not as good (I Want It All). The remaining tracks are Martin's and are a bit of a mixed bag. A Pain That I'm Used to is a great opener and John The Revelator follows it up nicely. After Suffer Well we have The Sinner In Me which is for me one of the strongest tracks here and has a marvellous very noisy breakdown in the middle. Precious is obviously excellent two. The two Martin sung songs are Macro and Damaged People and both are a bit crap to be honest though Macro is noteworthy for Dave's backing vocals both on the album and live which was a nice touch. The lyrics to Macro are easily amongst Martin's worst however. Lilian is a poppy effort which is a 4 or 5 out of 10 and Introspectre is one of those entirely pointless instrumental things. Finally, the album ends on The Darkest Star which I think is excellent. It's a track that tends to split the DM fan base - seems you either love it or hate it. Overall PTA has far many more high points than Exciter's many low points and is the better album of the two.

The next single release came on 12 December with A Pain That I'm Used (APTIUT) to which charted here at a respectable 15. Two cd formats and a dvd format were the first releases. CDBONG36 (left) featured APTIUT and another new B side called Newborn which, like Free, is a great tune and far stonger than a couple of the tracks on the album itself. LCDBONG36 (right) gave us five remixes of APTIUT. First up there is the Jacques Le Cont remix and Jacques Le Cont Dub with the former being more impressive than the latter though both are pretty decent. Jacques Le Cont is the alter ego of producer Stuart Price who is a huge Depeche fan but turned down the chance to produce the band on the basis that he was too big a fan to undertake the task. Track 3 is the Goldfrapp remix which is good but not up to the standard of their excellent remix of Halo for the Remixes project. The Bitstream Spansule Mix follows (again ok) before the Telex Remix rounds things off. The Telex Remix is excellent - short and to the point. It's well worth hearing.

DVDBONG36 (left) contains the utterly pointless APTIUT video, some exclusive behind the scenes footage of the video (yawn) and the audio of the Foster Remix by Kettel of Newborn which is by far the only reason to own this dvd. Vinyl releases followed a week later with two 12" singles and another 7" pciture disc. The 7" (BONG36 - see my four (!) copies right) contains the Goldfrapp remix of APTIUT and the Foster Remix by Kettel of Newborn. The picture disc itself is dark on one side and has PAIN on the other as the picture of my needlessly large collection of them shows. 12BONG36 (same art as LCDBONG36) contained the two Jacques le Cont remixes and L12BONG36 (same art as DVDBONG36) has the Bitstream Threshold Mix (again ok nothing more) and the Bitstream Spansule Mix.

The third single of the campaign was a new chapter in Depeche history as it was a single that Dave had written making it the first DM single release since Just Can't Get Enough not to have been written by Martin. Suffer Well is a great song and remains one of Dave's best. I'm not really a fan of his solo work bar the odd song (Kingdom, Saw Something (until the horror of the guitar solo)) but Suffer Well and Nothing's Impossible are really strong tracks. Another pleasing thing about Suffer Well was the video which saw Anton Corbijn return and which put Martin in a wedding dress. Whilst he may not have suited the leather skirt look in the mid 80's it's fair to say that it was far more attractive a sight than him dressed up as a bride. As well as the blushing bride the video also features Dave as a bequiffed fallen rock star (possibly the guy from the Its No Good video?) and Fletch as a preacher. Do try and see it if you haven't already. Suffer Well was released on 27 March 2006 and got to number 12 in the UK which was a strong showing for the third single from a 6 month old album. CDBONG37 (above left) contains Suffer Well and yet another new track as a bside, the short and snappy Better Days which is again a good tune. LCDBONG37 (above right) has 6 remixes of Suffer Well - Tiga Remix (a bit bland), The Narcotic Thrust Vocal Dub (nowhere near as good as its name would suggest), the Alter Ego Remix (ok), the M83 remix (hmmm....some love it but I don't), the Metope Vocal Remix and finally the Metope remix, the latter two sounding just as interesting as each other. DVDBONG37 (left) has the video (hooray!) and two audio tracks namely Suffer Well (Alter Ego Dub) and Better Days (Basteroid "Dance Is Gone" Vocal mix).

As well as the usual 12" singles there will vinyl treats in store too. 12BONG37 (same art as DVDBONG37)  had a whopping three tracks, all remixes of Suffer Well - Tiga Remix, Tiga Dub (Aren't dub versions usually just worse versions of the remix they claim to be a dub of?) and the Narcotic Thrust Vocal Dub (case in point). L12BONG37 (same art as LCDBONG37) gives us the two Metope and one M83 remix of Suffer Well and the daftly named Basteriod etc version of Better Days. the 7" picture disc (BONG37 left) has the Metope Vocal Mix of Suffer Well on the a-side and the frankly brilliant Monolake Mix of The Darkest Star on the b-side. An album track remix as a bside! We're in Higher Lover (Adrenaline Mix) territory here albeit the Monolake Mix isn't rubbish. And finally, we have our third ever XL12", XL12BONG37 (above right) which features two further remixes of The Darkest Star - the Holden Mix and the Holden Dub. Some ill advised commentators may try and tell you that a dub mix is usually just a worse version of the mix it claims to be the dub of but they clearly haven't heard these mixes. Both are great and frankly, it was nice to have an XL12 again.

The last single from Playing The Angel was a double a-side, the band's first since 1984's Blasphemous Rumours/Somebody double header. John The Revelator (JTR) and Lilian were a curious combination for a double A side as JTR is a far stronger track than Lilian although perhaps the intention was to attempt to capitalise on Lilian's poppy sound. It was released on 5 June 2006 and got to number 18 in the UK is again a pretty decent performance. There was only a video for JTR which is taken from the live performance from the Touring The Angel dvd with Mr Feathers making cartoon style appearances throughout. It's not very good. Once again we had a 7" picture disc (BONG38 - below left) which had JTR (Unkle Dub) which is ok and the frankly hideously named remix of Lilian named Robag Wrumhe Slomoschen Killer. The remix itself is as good as the name. CDBONG38 (above left) had the single versions of both tracks both of which are slight edits of the album versions.

LCDBONG38 (below left)  had 5 remixes of JTR:- "Dave Is In The Disco Tiefschwarz Remix, Murk Mode Remix, UNKLE Re Construction, Boosta Club remix and Tiefschwarz Dub. I know that it may be getting repetitive of me but, the UNKLE Re Construction aside, these remixes once again suffer from the curse of the bland club mix and as a result none are in any way memorable. As ever for this campaign we aslo got a dvd (DVDBONG38 - right) with the JTR video and audio of the bare version of Nothing's Impossible (the best thing on show here) and the Chab Vocal remix of Lilian. I should say at this stage that Mute made cardboard sleeves available for all single releases from PTA which were designed to house the 2 cd's and the dvd. From memory they were only available by ordering them from Mute and were fairly limited. There was vinyl here too with 12BONG38 (same art as CDBONG38) providing the two Tiefschwarz mixes above and the Chab Dub of Lilian and L12BONG38 (same art as LCDBONG38) giving us the Murk Mode Dub and Boosta Club remixes of JTR and the Chab Vocal remix of Lilian. Really one for collectors only and not in a good way.

The band toured the album fairly extensively and the shows I saw were great. There was much more life to them than the Exciter shows and the choice of songs for the set was much better especially Martin's solo versions of Blue Dress, Judas, shake The Disease and.....LEAVE IN SILENCE! I couldn't believe it when he played that - it was truly magical. A live dvd from the Milan show followed the tour but failed to capture how good the shows were due to the needlessly arty direction of it - a real shame. Overall the PTA era was a far more enjoyable era for me than Exciter mainly because the band showed that they could still put together a good album and that they were still a real live force. Next up would be another Best Of which I'll come to next time.

Finally - please let me apologise for the formatting of this blog. Google have once again pissed around with the blogger settings meaning my pictures are all over the place. I can't find an obvious cure for this at present but will sort it out once I do.

Thanks again to depechemode.com , depeche-mode.com, depmod.com and to Panos for his editorial skills and huge Depeche Mode brain.

DEPECHE MODE - ALL I EVER WANTED - 2004 & THE REMIXES 81-04

Between Exciter and Playing The Angel (see next blog whenever that appears) Depeche broke new ground for them and released a remix compilation - Remixes 81-04. As I recall at that time more and more people were speaking of Depeche Mode as an influence on all spheres of electronic music and it seems that the remix album was released with a view to capitalising on that as well as with a view to increasing a number of bank balances. It is an interesting album mixing old (some good, some bad) and new (some good, some Headcleanr Rock Mix of Nothing). Here's how it all happenned.

The first we heard of this new album was with the release of a remixed version of Enjoy The Silence. Released on 18 October 2004, the single reached number 7 in the UK which was really pretty impressive. A whole host of formats were available al featuring brand new remixes of classic Depeche tracks. The lead remix was a single edit by Mike Shinoda (Enjoy The Silence - Reinterpreted by Mike Shinoda) of shouty metal buffoons Linkin Park. I still really like this version. It adds quite a bit to the original making it a bit more grisly and adding harder electronics but it doesn't ruin the beauty of the tune. Ok, it was never going to surpass the greatest song of all time (see Violator blog) but it's not a bad effort at all. The song was released on CDBONG34 (right) along with another new remix, the Goldfrapp Remix of Halo which is a fantastic version turning what is a towering beast of a DM song into a ethereal acoustic style track with added vocals by Alison Goldfrapp. Well worth checking out unlike the video for Enjoy The Silence (Reinterpreted etc) which is utter balls. Given that the original video is one of the greatest things committed to film, you'd have thought they'd just forget a video on this occasion.

As well as CDBONG, we also had an LCD and an XLCD. LCDBONG34 (left) featured three tracks - the Timo Maas Extended Remix of Enjoy The Silence, the Ewan Pearson Remix of Enjoy The Silence and the Black Strobe Remix of Something To Do. The first is good, the second an excellent 7" style remix but the star of the show and the track that most excited me at the time is number 3 the Black Strobe Remix. The fact that one of the great DM album tracks was getting a look in was great but this mix exceeded any expectations I had. It's fantastic and I really recommend it to you all. XLCDBONG34 (released on 22 November 2004) ( above right) added 4 remixes - two of Enjoy The Silence (Richard X Extended Mix (great) and Ewan Pearson Extended Remix (good but I prefer the 7" version)) as well as the Cicada Remix of World In My Eyes and the BRAT mix of Mercy In You. The Cicada Remix is really good and can only ever be played very very loud. The mix of Mercy in You is of course by DM's webmaster BRAT and is very much in the classic 12" extended mix vein and all the better for it. All in all, XLCDBONG34 is a real treat and though hard to find is worth grabbing should you see it.

Not forgetting us vinyl addicts the band also put out three 12" singles. 12BONG34 (left) is a two track affair featuring the Timo Maas Extended and Ewan Pearson Extended Remixes of Enjoy The Silence. L12BONG34 (released 22 November 2004 - right)  contains the remixes of Something To Do and World In My Eyes by Black Strobe and Cicada but also throws in an absolutely bloody marvellous remix - the Rex The Dog Dubb mix of Photographic. Part of the beauty of the remixes put out at this time was that they were remixes made by fans of the band. The Rex The Dog mix is one of those mixes that DM fans (ok not all - I don't speak for everyone) hears and just gets because it sounds like a mix a DM fan would make. It's a brave choice too taking on what most people say is the best Speak and Spell track. Finally, vinyl wise, XLBONG34 (also released 22 November 2004 - below) gives us the Halo remix by Goldfrapp and two new mixes - Clean (Colder version) and Little 15 (Ulrich Schnauss Remix). I still don't quite get the Colder remix to be honest. It's ok but doesn't really do a lot for me. The remix of Little 15 by Ulrich Schnauss is nice though and worth hearing.

Overally, this really was an excellent release given the quality and number of remixes. What I like is that the 12" and cd singles weren't jammed up with remixes of obvious tracks with the majority of remixers going for album tracks instead. Good work all round really.

The Remixes 81-04 album followed on with the CD releases on October 25 2004 and the LP releases on December 13 2004 reaching a not that great number 18 in the UK. The album was available on a whole number of formats and rather annoyingly at the time included a download only section of remixes. I say annoyingly - what I mean is that I didn't have broadband at the time so even attempting to download them would have effectively broken the internet in Glasgow. As I have resolutely stuck to physical releases only on this blog I'm going to do that here too so I won't be covering the digital releases for the Remix album or indeed for the Playing The Angel releases especially given that I don't think anyone is 100% sure what remixes were made available digitally then as there were so many of them. (Ok, I know that some of you will not the exact number but you get my drift).

So, the physical formats of the album were a limited edition 6LP version (MUTEL8), a double CD (CDMUTEL8), a single CD (LCDMUTEL8) and a triple CD (XLCDMUTEL8) which came in a cardboard box with the three cd's inside. Here is the tracklist for the 3cd version:

Disc 1
Never Let Me Down Again (Split Mix)
Policy of Truth (Capitol Mix)
Shout! (Rio Mix)
Home (Air "Around The Golf" Remix)
Strangelove (Blind Mix)
Rush (Spiritual Guidance Mix)
I Feel You (Renegade Soundwave Afghan Surgery Mix)
Barrel Of A Gun (Underworld Hard Mix)
Route 66 (Beatmasters Mix)
Freelove (DJ Muggs' Remix)
I Feel Loved (Chambers Remix)
Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)

Disc 2
Personal Jesus (Pump Mix)
World In My Eyes (Mode To Joy)
Get The Balance Right! (Combination Mix)
Everything Counts (Absolut Mix)
Breathing In Fumes
Painkiller (Kill The Pain - DJ Shadow vs Depeche Mode)
Useless (The Kruder and Dorfmeister Session)
In Your Room (The Jeep Rock Mix)
Dream On (Dave Clarke Acoustic Version)
It's No Good (Speedy J Mix)
Master & Servant (An ON-USound Science Fiction Dance Hall Classic)
Enjoy The Silence (Timo Maas Extended Remix)

Disc 3
A Question Of Lust (Flood Remix)
Walking In My Shoes (Random Carpet Mix (Full Length)
Are People People?
World In My Eyes (Daniel Miller Mix)
I Feel Loved (Danny Tenaglia's Labor of Love Dub (edit))
It's No Good (Club 69 Future Mix)
Photographic (Rexx The Dog Dubb Mix)
Little 15 (Ulrich Schnauss Remix)
Nothing (Headcleanr Rock Mix)
Lie To Me ("The Pleasure of Her Private Shame" Remix by LFO)
Clean (Colder Version)
Halo (Goldfrapp Remix)
Enjoy The Silence (Reinterpreted by Mike Shinoda)

The same tracks appear on the triple album. The remaining two cd versions have selections from the above tracklist on them but don't feature tracks 1-11 from disc 3. The covers were all the same - see right  In all honesty, the LP or 3CD version was the only version worth having here given that it contained the remixes exclusive to this release. The A Question Of Lust remix is a rare one and was previously only available in the UK on the 1986 AQOL cassette single or on the French cd edition of the single. It's a rather decent mix too. Track 2 is an extended version of the WIMS remix from the single. We know all about track 3 already. The Daniel Miller remix of World In My Eyes is great. It's a bit less Kraftwerk than the original song and features different and harder sounding drum sounds. Passing by the overlong Tenaglia mix we come to the Club 69 Future Mix of Its No Good which was originally a promo mix given unncessary legitimacy here. The remix of Nothing somehow manages to make me yearn for the original version of Nothing which is quite a feat. The LFO mix is pretty cool though I've always felt a bit let down by it but only because I had high expectations of LFO remixing such a good song.

And that was that - he Remixes 81-04 campaign over and done with a a matter of months. It was an interesting experiment that threw up a number of very good new takes on classic Depeche songs so for me it was worthwhile. Ultimately, the later Remixes compilation would be more interesting given the remixers involved but that's a tale for another day.

Next time - Playing The Angel featuring classic DM tracks, actual b sides (woohoo!) and as much as we can try and ignore it, I Want It All.

Thanks as ever for reading and thank you to depechemode.com, depeche-mode.com and depmod.com

DEPECHE MODE - WITH SELF INFLICTED WOUNDS - 2001 and EXCITER

As you'll realise from the majority of my blog posts I really rather like Depeche Mode. As far as I am concerned they are the greatest band I have ever heard and seen live. For me, there is very little they can do wrong. Occasionally however even I have to admit that I don't like something be it as insignificant a track as It's Called A Heart or something that I just don't get like others do such as Nothing. I've never disliked an album before though but showing that they can still surprise Depeche managed to persuade me to do that when they released Exciter. This album contains without doubt the worst Depeche Mode song in history and for that reason alone I have to rank Exciter as the worst Depeche Mode album. I'll explain more below...

The first new Depeche music in 3 years arrived on 23 April 2001 when they released Dream On which got to a very decent number 6 in the UK despite a bizarre and frankly crap video. Dream On is a good song propelled along by a nice guitar line from Martin. The first hints of the electronics that the album would contain are to the fore too making Dream On a good single and a good tune. It's certainly more subdued than previous first singles but that's fine. We only got three formats this time round. Firstly CDBONG30 (above left) which, like all (at least UK) cd singles from Exciter came in cardboard sleeves containing an envelope inside which housed the cd. The artwork is lazy from Anton but for the 2001 period that was not unsual. The cd itself has three tracks. Firstly we have the Single Version of Dream On which I like. Next we have the b-side which is the instrumental Easy Tiger (Full Version). I don't know what the point of this track is really. It starts off fine I guess but then Martin puts the drum machine on the Jazz setting and the song meanders pointlessly for its remaining 3 minutes. The final track is the God awful Bertrand Burgalat and AS Dragon Version of Easy Tiger. It seems to be two people covering Easy Tiger but doing it really REALLY badly. I have no idea at all how the band or Mute thought this would be a good idea. LCDBONG30 (below left) was an all black sleeve with a different coloured version of the CDBONG cover on the inner envelope. It contains 4 tracks in all, all remixes of Dream On. Firstly we have the Bushwacka Tough Guy mix which is fine albeit a bit bland. Track 2 is the star of the show here - the Dave Clarke Acoustic mix. It's a nice gentle version focussing on the guitar line and some synth parts. Martin played this as an intro to the era's shows. He would waddle onstage in an odd way looking around the arena playing on his acoustic guitar. Strange but quite charming really. Next up we have the Octagon Man Mix which tries to be a bit different but fails. Finally the Kid 606 Mix gives Dream On the full Kid A treatment which is ok but no more than that. 12BONG30 (same sleeve as CDBONG30) added two new mixes to the Bushwacka Tough Guy Mix. Firstly there is the Dave Clarke Remix (aka Dave Clarke Club Mix) which is a bit bland on the whole. There's then the Bushwacka Blunt Mix which is pretty much as its name describes. All in all, a fairly poor standard of remixes which you might listen to once or twice with the exception of the horror show that is the remix of Easy Tiger.

Next up we got the album itself. Exciter arrived on 14 May 2001 and reached number 9 in the UK album charts. I remember at the time that depechemode.com trailed the album's release by putting 30 second samples up on the site. That was rather exciting and I used to go to EasyInternet every lunchtime to catch the newest sample. The one that stood out the most for me was Shine - the sample started at "You've been hanging from a rope of mediocrity" with the hard sounding synth parts in the background. I was excite(r)ed. It sounded like Depeche were back in a big electronically marvellous way. Hmmm.

Exciter (left)  appeared on double LP (STUMM190), cassette (CSTUMM190), CD (CDSTUMM190) and mini disc (MDSTUMM190) each containing thirteen tracks. The focus of the album seems to be moody electronics with quite a bit of influence from producer Mark Bell. The production is fairly cold however and to be perfectly honest fairly bland. The whole thing never really gets going sonically and it really lacks something for that.  Kicking off with Dream On (see above), we then moved onto Shine. It's a decent track but not spectacular. I'd like to have seen them at least try it out live but that wasn't to be. Track 3 is The Sweetest Condition which is a great song and one which did work live despite Dave's Elvis-isms. Next up we have When The Body Speaks which is nice enough. So far so ok - the first four tracks don't compare to the first 4 on Some Great Reward, Black Celebration, MTFM, Violator, SOFAD or Ultra but fair enough. Next up though, Depeche give us something that none of those albums gave us.

The worst Depeche Mode song ever.

"We are the dead of night/We're in the Zombie room"

What is a Zombie room? What the hell's going on? Why does this song exist? I will NEVER understand it. Anyway - moving on track 6 was Lovetheme a wholly pointless instrumental that despite that is still not as bad as The Dead of Night. Freelove is track 7 (see below for single review) followed by the first Martin song of the album, Comatose. It's not very good really. Track 9 is the second single, the Dad goes to the disco sounds of I Feel Loved (again, see below) and then we have another Martin song Breathe. I don't mind Breathe but it does somewhat overdo the Biblical theme. Easy Tiger (AGAIN? SERIOUSLY?) is next before I Am You which I feel the same way about as I do Shine. Sounds ok but I'd really have liked to have seen it played live. We then end on a high with the fantastic Goodnight Lovers (originally entitled Born A Lover). It's a great closing track and I love it.  The Exciter artwork was another three minute job from Anton albeit with some decent band shots in the inner sleeve/booklet. And that was that. Easily, at least in my view, the band's weakest album to date with some really awful moments on it. After the magic of Ultra it was a real shame. Happily we got a tour this time and whilst it had some odd moments (The Dead of F****** Night opening shows, the bizarre versions of Black Celebration and Condemnation) it was a fairly joyous affair. Pleasingly, on the shows I saw Fad Gadget opened which was a real treat. RIP Frank :(

The album was followed on 30 July 2001 by the next single I Feel Loved which got to number 12 in the UK. I Feel Loved is a Depeche go dance track which is a bit flat really and one that is ok and no more. It seemed a little odd for Depeche to be going down this route at the time as they appeared to be attempting to appeal to clubbes when they had no real need to do so. As well as the usual formats, the Exciter singles produced a ton of promo 12"'s and cd's which I'm not dealing with here as I don't own them. I'm sticking to general release formats only so forgive me if this blog seems short on remixes, especially where I Feel Loved is concerned. 12BONG31 (left) contained two remixes - Danny Tengalia's Labour of Love Edit and Danny Tengalia's Labor of Love Dub. They're both ok and use some interesting DM samples but I wouldn't rush out to get them if you don't already have them. L12BONG31 (above right) added three remixes - Umek Mix, Thomas Brinkmann mix and Chamber's mix all of which are much the same really. CDBONG31 (same art as 12BONG31) gave us a b-side which was a cover of Dirt by The Stooges. As well as that we had the single version of I Feel Loved and an Extended Instrumental version which is fairly pointless without vocals. LCDBONG31 (left) was a fancy enhanced cd. It had music (Danny Tengalia's Labor of Love Edit, Thomas Brinkmann Mix and Chamber's Mix), videos (four clips of the band doing things) and wallpaper for your PC. The video for the song features the band playing in a nightclub sometimes surrounded by angry dogs who had no doubt just heard The Dead of Night.

The next single was Freelove which hit number 19 on its release on 11 November 2001. The artwork whilst as minimal as the rest of this project's artwork is much more appealing which is nice. The video is odd however involving the band going about on a truck playing the song.  I find the album version of Freelove a bit bland really. It's a good enough track but it lacks something. CDBONG32 (left) kicked off with Flood's Mix of Freelove which I much prefer to the version. It's much livelier sounding and really works. Hooray for Flood as ever. We then get an instumental b-side named Zenstation which is pretty average but not as average as track 3 which is a remix of Zenstation named Atom's Stereonerd remix. LCDBONG32 (above right) gives us three remxies of Freelove. We have the Bertrand Burgalat remix which is ok, the Schlammpeitziger "Little Rocking Suction Pump" version which is as bad as its name is long and then the frankly shambolic DJ Muggs Remix which is not as much a remix as a downright insult. Awful. In a first for Depeche we also got a DVD single (DVDBONG32 - top left ) which has a "Live Bootleg" video of Freelove which is of little interest. There's also audio of live versions of Breathe and The Dead of Night (STOP IT FFS!) all from the Phildelphia show of the tour. There are also 4 short clips including a clip of Black Celebration live. Finally, a 12" (12BONG32 - same art as CDBONG32) is available too taking the DJ Muggs, Schlammpeitziger and Burgalat mixes of Freelove, the Stereonerd version of Zenstation from the formats above and adding the Console Mix of Freelove which I'm pleased to say is a fairly decent remix.

To end the Exciter promotion Goodnight Lovers was sort of released on 11 February 2002 although it didn't chart in the UK as the cd format didn't count for the charts due to the number of tracks it contained (CDBONG33 - right) We had Goodnight Lovers, the Acoustic version of When The Body Speaks (a great remix), the Electronicat Remix of ...yes you guessed it...the Dead of Night (ARGH!) and finally the marvellous and probably best remix of the whole campaign Isan Falling Leaf Mix of Goodnight Lovers. The lovely Germans released a great red vinyl 12" which came with a poster of the cd cover. A very nice release notwithstanding the remix of THAT song that appeared.

And that was that. Exciter is not very exciting in fact it's too bland and mainly not very good with the odd exception. Whether that was a symptom of the band still not getting on too well (Martin's refusal to consider Dave's songs etc) I don't know but when your album is worse than A Broken Frame you really have to take a long hard look at yourself. Mercifully they got it together on Playing The Angel which I'll write about next time

Thanks as ever to all of you, to depechemode.com, to depmod.com, to depeche-mode.com and to anyone else I should have credited. I hope you enjoy this blog and I'm sorry if it seems harsh on Exciter but there you go. I can't love EVERYTHING they do. Please feel free to stick any comments here or even to shout at me on my Twitter page.

Finally, let me apologise for the slightly odd formatting of this blog. For some reason Google keep mucking up my pictures

I'm off to the Zombie room.....

DEPECHE MODE - A FEELING OF CONTENTMENT - 1998, ONLY WHEN I LOSE MYSELF & THE SINGLES 86-98

Given the circumstances, not touring Ultra was a wise decision. The band were fragile at best so focussing on staying alive was rightly considered more important than a 9 month trek around the globe. Rather than follow that with another album the band (or perhaps more accurately the label) decided that the time was right for the much anticipted follow up to The Singles 81-85 so we got The Singles 86-98 a compilation of all DM's singles from...well...1986 to..er...1998.

Prior to the release of the album we were treated to a new single named Only When I Lose Myself (OWILM). I still like the song and think it's a decent single. It didn't really work live on the Singles Tour however I'd like to see them have another go at it someday.  The single was released in the UK on 7 September 1998 reaching a pretty poor number 17 in the charts. The video was an arty affair featuring dancing twins, dancing men, car crashes and occasional shots of the band. Not really a great addition to the DM visual catalogue. There were a number of formats for us to buy. The standard cd single release CDBONG29 (left) featured three tracks - OWILM, Surrender and Headstar. The latter track is an instrumental which is perfectly fine but is no Kaleid. Surrender is the standout track on this release however. It's a typical Martin love song featuring holy beds, temptation and of course chains and whilst some might criticise it for being a bit too jazzy I think it's cool. Martin's live version is worth hearing too. Here's a random fact for you - the song was originally called Tempt.

The twelve inch release (12BONG29 - same art as LCDBONG29) featured three remixes. First up we have the Subsonic Legacy Remix of OWILM. It's ok I guess - not good, not bad. Track 2 is the Dan The Automator remix of OWILM which is very odd but pretty cool featuring a lot of strings. Finally we get the Luke Slater remix of Headstar which does absolutely nothing for me. LCDBONG29 shares not only the 12BONG29's artwork tracklist but also its' tracklist

To confuse matters further L12BONG29  features tracks that feature on XLCDBONG29. Blogging about DM was simpler when CD mirrored 12, LCD mirrored L12 etc. Anyway, I'll focus on the XLCDBONG release as it is the pick of the bunch here. I remember trying to track this cd down in Glasgow upon its release. I went to a now closed record shop in the city's West end and asked the chap behind the counter of he had the new Depeche Mode cd single. Barely looking up from his copy of Hipster Monthly he snorted "No mate...what's on it?" to which I replied "A few remixes. There's one by DJ Shadow on there." This caused him to look up - "DJ Shadow? Aye right. Like he'd touch Depeche Mode." What marvellous customer service. Anyway, once I tracked the XLCD down it turned out that lifelong Depeche Mode fan DJ Shadow HAD touched the band and had provided a remix after all.

The XLCD (cover left) features five tracks in all. First up we have the 10 minute plus Gus Gus Long Play mix of OWILM. It's ok but it really is too long. The Gus Gus Short Play mix (track 4) is much better and is a really decent remix. It's also my wife's favourite DM remix. Track 2 is the fantastic Painkiller ( Kill The Pain- DJ Shadow vs Depeche Mode) a storming remix of the b side of Barrel Of A Gun by none other than Depeche Mode hating ;) DJ Shadow. I love this mix and have done since I first heard it. My friend Dom has this on a rare Mo' Wax 12" which he refuses to give me. You can click on his name there to be taken to his Twitter page where you can harrass him until he gives me the record. Track 3 is a remix of Surrender named the Catalan FC Out of Reach remix. It's ok but doesn't beat the original. Finally, we have World In My Eyes (Safar Mix). This was a bootleg mix which had been kicking around for a while which was then pleasingly added to this release. It's an excellent remix of an excellent song, featuring a clearly tired and emotinal Dave drawling "Goood evening San Franciscooooo" at the start which is sampled from the soundboard recording of the US94 San Francisco gig (get that if you haven't by the way). All in all, XLCDBONG29 is a real treat and a must have for Depeche fans. L12BONG29 lifted the Gus Gus Long Play, Painkiller and Catalan FC mixes from the cd and had the same artwork as the cd.

The Singles 86 - 98 (MUTEL5) (art right) was released on 28 September 1998 reaching a respectable 5 in the UK album charts. It was available on number of formats - Triple LP (MUTEL5), cassette (CMUTEL5), double cd (CDMUTEL5) and minidisc (ask your parents!) (MDMUTEL5). The tracklisting on all was the same with all the singles in date order bar the "Wait....What?" moment of finding Everything Counts (Live) and Little 15 at the end of the tracklist. Now I can sort of understand Little 15 as it was a Euorpean release only but Everything Counts (Live) was an actual single (see blog here) and should have slotted in between Behind The Wheel (7" remix - boooo) and Personal Jesus. Grrrr. Pedantry aside it's a good if inessential release for DM fans. The Singles 81-85 was re-released with a fancy new cover at the same time. I covered that on the Singles 81-85 blog which you can find here if you wish.

Pleasingly, Depeche also hit the road for a world tour where they played most of the singles and the odd older tune such as Somebody. The gigs were good but fairly restrained certainly when compared to the SOFAD era shows. The only downsides were the failure to translate OWILM and Barrel of A Gun into decent live versions. Oh and the support band I saw (Purity) were the worst support band I've ever seen.

And that's that. The Singles 86-98 closed a chapter on the band and opened a new one where they were back to a three piece. Would the next release be A Broken Frame part 2? No - it would be Exciter. I'll write about that next time but I should be warn you of something.

I really don't like Exciter........


Thanks for reading and thank you to depechemode.com, depeche-mode.com (the new revamped Home. Go and check it out and while you're at it check out its Facebook page too) and depmod.com who helped me with the pictures as well as everyone else in the Depeche Mode world.