DEPECHE MODE - GHOSTS AGAIN

 

Ghosts Again, the first single from Memento Mori has just been released after weeks of anticipation and a day of fanbase frustration last Friday.

I think the song is fantastic and, for me, it's their best since Wrong. It's certainly their poppiest song probably since Precious and that is very much welcome as far as I'm concerned. Ghosts Again certainly leans toward the band's mots lauded era and that cannot be a bad thing at all can it?

The press release for the single says:

Depeche Mode has confirmed the release date of its eagerly anticipated new album, Memento Mori, which will be released March 24 via Columbia Records.

Memento Mori’s arrival is heralded by today’s release of first single “Ghosts Again.” Having been stealthily previewed in Berlin in October at the Memento Mori launch event, “Ghosts Again” is nothing short of classic Depeche Mode: Evocative Dave Gahan lyrical imagery including “wasted feelings, broken meanings… a place to hide the tears we cry” and a hypnotic Martin Gore guitar figure atop an uplifting, optimistic groove. “Ghosts Again” is available now across digital platforms, and as an instant grat with pre-saves and pre-orders of Memento Mori - which is available for pre-order now on 2LP vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital.

“To me, ‘Ghosts Again’ just captures this perfect balance of melancholy and joy,” commented Gahan. Gore added, “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to – I’m excited to be able to share it.”

There is also a new Anton picture of Dave and Martin accompanying it:

The video is really very good though I must say I felt a real sadness watching it given Fletch's absence. Seeing the band without Andy felt very strange indeed and it made me realise how very different a Depeche Mode campaign without him will be. Dave and Martin both look great and Dave, at least for now, is not bothering with the pencil moustache which is no bad thing.

It really is great to have them back.

The Memento Mori tracklist has been revealed too and it does indeed feature a song called Caroline's Monkey which I'm choosing to believe is a Small Faces knockabout romp of a tune. Perhaps. Here is the official news:

Release Date: 24th March 2023

Memento Mori is Depeche Mode's 15th studio album and its first as a two-piece lineup of Gahan and Gore, following co-founder Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher’s tragic passing in 2022. Produced by James Ford, with additional production work by Marta Salogni, Memento Mori's gestation took place during the early stages of the Covid pandemic, resulting in themes inspired directly by that period. The album’s 12 tracks chart a vast expanse of moods and textures, from its ominous opening to its closing resolve—running the gamut from paranoia and obsession to catharsis and joy, and hitting myriad points between. The complete track listing for Memento Mori is:

My Cosmos Is Mine
Wagging Tongue
Ghosts Again
Don’t Say You Love Me
My Favourite Stranger
Soul With Me
Caroline’s Monkey
Before We Drown
People Are Good
Always You
Never Let Me Go
Speak To Me

The album can be ordered from various places. Mute are selling the black vinyl and both hardcover book and standard CD versions. Their email asks us to raise a glass to Fletch which I'm sure we all will do.

On the official site, you can get the red vinyl, red cassette and CD versions. The initial batch of red vinyl with signed insert have gone already and, no, I didn't get one.

So there we have it - Depeche Mode are back. If Ghosts Again is a hint of what is to come with Memento Mori, then I for one am very much looking forward to it.

A MEMENTO - A DEPECHE MODE TOUR PROJECT

 

In 2017, I had an idea. "What if I managed to get a fan to review every one of the first leg gigs for the blog?" I thought. That quickly evolved into trying to cover every gig and it worked - The Global Spirit Tour Project saw every single gig on the tour from Stockholm in May 2017 to Berlin in July 2018 reviewed by fans who kindly gave up their time to help this blog out.

It was a slog though and I swore I wouldn't do it again, partly because I didn't imagine Depeche would tour again, or at least not to any great extent.

Here we are then, nearly five years after Berlin and a new tour is about to start which is of course a wonderful thing. It's going to be strange of course as we'll be seeing Depeche Mode as a duo and we will all be thinking of Andy at every gig.

As soon as the first leg of the tour was announced, I was asked if I was doing a project again and I didn't commit to anything but, in the last couple of days I've cracked and so A Memento is now a thing.

The plan for A Memento is slightly different to The Global Spirit Tour Project. Every single gig on the tour will be reviewed, but this time, reviewers will submit either video or written reviews. Video reviews will be hosted on the Almost Predictable Almost YouTube channel (presuming I can work it) and will also appear here. I will try to include some more detail than last time such as setlist pictures, merchandise images and attendances etc. At the moment though, this is all in the planning stage so don't hold me to that.

I have already lined up a few reviewers and they along with the tour dates they are reviewing will be released soon.

More news about this inevitably bad decision will follow in the next few days.

DEPECHE MODE ANNOUNCE AN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Oh, Depeche Mode. 

For what seems like the last ten years, the online Depeche fanbase has been going crackers. Murals have been under 24 hour Black Swarm surveillance, posters have been given scrutiny usually reserved only for documents of historical import, lyrics have been imagined, tracklistings dreamt up and, frankly, many people have lost their minds all because the band's social media channels have had a countdown running, leading to 5pm UK time today.

5PM duly arrived and.....

....the band took to Instagram to announce that the new single, Ghosts Again, will be available on 9th February at 5pm UK time.

So that was that. It is of course great news that Depeche Mode are back and we are all looking forward to seeing them live again and hearing what Memento Mori has to offer, but this was a bit of an anti- climax really. 

Much has been written in the last week by people who suggest they know what they're talking about and today's announcement has shown that they really knew nothing at all. The fact is that there is now only 6 days until we hear new Depeche Mode music and that is no bad thing.

At least we know something now then. Bring on the new single. 

And welcome back Depeche Mode.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The first single from the album was Precious

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

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

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

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

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

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

On L12BONG36, Martin is the cover star:

The rear of the sleeve reveals more Gore:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

L12BONG38 looks like this:

The back of it looks like this:

The wee sticker looks like this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A MOMENTO-OUS WEEK - AND MUCH MORI TO COME

 

It's been quite a week.

Last Thursday (29th September), Halo - The Story Behind Depeche Mode's Classic Album Violator, the book I have written with Kevin May finally came out. It was a surreal day which was spent receiving lots of good luck messages from around the globe and seeing photographs of the book actually in people's hands. It was a real thing at last and the day was a remarkable experience. Thank you to everyone who asked about it, shared info and bought the book. You are all lovely. Kevin and I can't thank you enough.

One of the most surprising things about the book has been the requests for a signed copy. It's not something I've ever bothered with so I suppose I didn't think anyone else would. Loads of people have got in touch about one which is superb though the limited stock Kevin and I have only went so far. Rough Trade advertised the book on their social media and promised signed copies. When they told us they'd sold 51 and needed 100 in total, that presented something of an issue as we didn't have anywhere near that may books. We also live around 400 miles apart so that meant we couldn't just pop next door to sign things. There was only one thing for it - a trip to Newcastle....

Kevin and his daughter Ella had gone to Newcastle to have a look at the University so I headed down from Glasgow. We met up in a pub, signed 30 books plus 100 bookplates for Rough Trade, posed for Ella to take the first official author photo and then we went our separate ways. 

Oddly, no-one in the pub batted an eyelid. If this had been Glasgow, we'd still be there answering questions now.

Becky from our Publishers got in touch on Monday to confirm that sales since release had already exceeded 1000. By this point, everything seemed surreal really.

Then this happened:

Here we go again then.

Seeing Martin and Dave at the press conference was cool though it delivered far less than it promised really. That said, hearing them talk about Andy then and in the subsequent interviews released since was genuinely moving. We'll all miss his presence on the tour, but not as much as Martin and Dave will.

Memento Mori will be out in March next year and we will all then start heading around Europe and the US taking in the gigs. It's been fun watching the various stresses, strains and joys people have gone through over the last few days and I'm really looking forward to my Dublin, London and Berlin trips next Summer. It seems there will be a further leg or two to follow so I imagine those three are only the start as far as my next tour is concerned.

The Depeche Mode machine has started up again the but this time agains the personal background of having released a book about the band. That has made the week even more unusual as Kevin and I find ourselves in a Depeche spotlight of our own making just when the band return. 

What's next then? Well, more book promotion with apologies to those already bombarded with it on social media and the preparation of tour plans.  Until this week, Kevin and I were regularly asked what the next book will be. That has temporarily changed to questions about whether or not I will replicate the Global Spirit Tour Project on this blog and a lot of people have already very kindly volunteered for the role of reviewer.

On the basis that a review project has to be easier than another book, it's time to say yes. The Memento Mori Tour Project will start next March.

What have I done.....

To order Halo, go here for a list of all online worldwide retailers:

https://halotheviolatorbook.com/buy/

DEPECHE MODE ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM AND TOUR

 

After a few weeks of speculation culminating in a frankly frenzied 24 hours when Clash magazine went a day too early with an online article, Depeche Mode have now confirmed some details about their new album and the tour in support of it.

This afternoon in Berlin, Martin and Dave appeared at a press conference moderated by Barbara Charone. Sadly, she didn't do a very good job of it but we got plenty of new information anyway.

It opened with video of various pieces of equipment and Martin and Dave bobbing about in the studio with what appeared to be two new pieces of music soundtracking it. The first was a very electronic track with layers of processed Gore sounds swarming over it. Very nice. The second was a new song featuring the lyrics "Heaven's dreaming" and, I think, "We all end up ghosts" sung by Dave. The music was a combination of the usual Martin guitar twang and very poppy electronics.

When the boys appeared, they both looked and sounded fairly sad as you would expect. They mentioned Andy of course, talking about how much they miss him and how they keep expecting to see him. Martin mentioned walking past the hotel bar in Berlin when they arrived in the city and looking in there fully imagining he would see Andy there with a beer.  It must be very hard for them to do this without him.

The album is called Memento Mori and will come out in late March 2023. They didn't use the word "produced" but talked about James Ford being involved so we can I think presume he has produced it once again. They have recorded at Martin's studio in Santa Barbara and at Rick Rubin's studio albeit without his involvement. The band will now return to New York to finish the album.

The album was planned and started before Fletch died and that includes its title which Martin selected.

The tour dates have been announced too and most go on sale at the end of this week - check depechemode.com for details.

It's great to see them back and I really hope the album is a cracker. I'm pleased that they have finished off the plans they made when Andy was still alive as not only will the album and tour be a tribute to the great man but it will also allow fans to get together and properly celebrate his life. I'm looking forward to doing that and I look forward to meeting up with you all at a few gigs next summer.

Welcome back Depeche Mode.

HALO - THE STORY BEHIND DEPECHE MODE'S CLASSIC ALBUM VIOLATOR. NEW PUBLICATION DATE 29th SEPTEMBER 2022

 

A quick update from David and Kevin on the release of Halo:

As Depeche Mode fans will acknowledge, it’s been a sad and unsettling time over the last few months, especially for the family and friends of keyboardist and founding member Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, who passed away suddenly in May.

We were in the process of working through the final edits of ‘Halo’ when the news emerged that week – a massive high for us, which turned very quickly into a shocking and very sad low.

The story behind Depeche Mode’s classic album Violator doesn’t change as a result of Fletch’s untimely death (in fact, many parts in our book that feature him have a certain poignancy now) but we wanted to ensure we respectively give some distance between the grieving among family, friends, the band and fans with the book’s release.

As we write this post, we are also reading proofs from our publisher and getting excited once again about its release.

‘Halo’ will be available from all the usual online retail outlets from Thursday, September 29, via Grosvenor House Publishing in paperback and e-book.

We’re expecting a final pre-order date almost any time soon and a full list of retailers, too. We’ll share that information ASAP!