A thread to talk about Depeche Mode's new album _Playing the Angel_

Or maybe I'm just cranky and it's just a song about DM wanting to take the world's sufferings on their shoulders.

"Freelove" if I'm not mistaken. I actually liked the singles from Exciter but never bought the album.

Nobody seems to be mentioning the beat much -- I find it deceptively understated and pretty damn relentless.

The idea of Gollum fronting Depeche amuses me. (Had Gahan kept on that would have come true, I think.)

what puts me off seeing them live again (and 90-93 we're talking about my favourite ever live band here pretty much) is the memory of dave gahan at glastonbury in 2004.(shudders).

-- piscesboy (piscesxx...), August 11th, 2005.

What is this memory? What happened?

YOU PEOPLE HAVE CLOTH EARS WTF THIS SONG IS FUCKING AWESOME

Gore's gone back to his Construction Time Again-era of melody writing with a dash of Ultra layered on top. The music itself is a smooth, danceable groove where the lower register synths burble along, the higher register synths ring out like bells (strong pizzicato atack followed by rounded delay) and the mid-range synths fill in all the gaps in a wash of awesomeness. For a track that's built on loungey components, it's surprisingly forthright and driving in execution. There are echoes of several past songs in the songwriting style (particularly "World In My Eyes"/"Enjoy The Silence" and "It's No Good") but it's definitely got its own identity; it certainly isn't as much of a departure from the DM sonic stereotype as "Dream On" was but it also isn't as obvious as their Some Great Reward singles.

I completely love it.

Definitely. I really noticed this second time listening to it.

i'm still not 100% sure about the actual *sound* they've used for the "ding-ding-ding-clang" bit, but that's probably partly down to the fact i'm listening to it on the powerbook speakers.

it reminds me of one of the tracks off "a broken frame".

ON THE SECOND LISTEN IT'S EVEN BETTER

wow. perhaps i should re-listen to exciter, just in case ...

I like the ding-ding-ding-clang bit. It has a nice digital filtery sound that contrasts well with the classic analog DM synth arpeggios underneath.

http://www.depechemode.com/news/gr/pta_cover_wm.jpg

I think they saw the cover to The Cure and said, "WE CAN TOP THAT".

I'm not, but I think that if the cover had included everything except for the feather doll then it would have been perfectly sufficient. They got the cover 85% right, but the final 15% ruined the whole thing, yes.

The song has grown on me steadily over the last couple of weeks, although I still find myself thinking "wait, where was the chorus?" once it's over.

:(

Am I crazy for hearing a little bit of #1 In Heaven era Sparks in the way his voice drifts up on the line "my god what have we done to you"?

One would think that drug abuse and middle age would have caught up with Dave Gahan's voice (Bono has never been a heroin addict, and he now strains to hit notes that he once reached with ease in hs youth), but Dave really is singing better than ever (or ProTools is even more powerful than I thought).

I predict that Playing the Angel will be a massive comeback/validation album for Depeche along the lines of All That You Can't Leave Behind, and that even the mainstream rock press will run cover stories grudgingly admitting that, for a bunch of synth-pop fags, Depeche Mode were actually pretty good. If anyone deserves to cash in on the current 80s revival, it's Depeche Mode.

I agree but I think the difference is this -- U2 got major publicity outside the music media world (remember the Time cover in 1987?) then and now (thus the Time cover or whatever it was -- of just Bono this time -- a couple of years back). Depeche never got that level of mainstream attention and referencing. That's why I said 'across-the-board' (you never heard of Gahan or Gore as demi-messiah in the same way/sense you did Bono; in turn of course neither Gahan nor Gore self-consciously took that role on themselves in such a public way as Bono ended up doing) -- it's a level of scope that is important to keep in mind.

This already happened circa "Songs of Faith and Devotion". To a lesser extent, it happened again circa "Ultra", since the rock press had discovered "electronica" and realized that perhaps, just perhaps, DM had been cool all along. (also, the stories about Dave Gahan almost dying were very rock and roll :) )

"Dream On" and "I Feel Loved" both have higher BPMs than "Enjoy The Silence" and "Master And Servant".

Dave's recent bid to become a songwriter in his own right does weaken this analogy somewhat. What if Daltrey had threatened to quit The Who unless he got to contibute three songs to Who Are You?

Dave's recent bid to become a songwriter in his own right does weaken this analogy somewhat. What if Daltrey had threatened to quit The Who unless he got to contribute three songs to Who Are You?

'Precious' is great. I had no real expectations, and I will have to admit that both "Ultra" and "Exciter" (more so in the case of the latter) let me down somewhat. They did have moments of greatness, but I never find myself throwing them in the CD player, which says something.

I can only hope that this album is the big 'comeback' discussed above. I really, really, want this to blow my mind. So far, I'm impressed. When Dan said There are echoes of several past songs in the songwriting style (particularly "World In My Eyes"/"Enjoy The Silence" and "It's No Good"), I couldn't agree more. After the first 20 seconds I could hear 'ETS' in my head along side it...

I also think Martin is a better singer, but only in a certain sense. He works great on the ballads, as his nasal style just wouldn't cut it on the anthems. Plus, as was said above, he's just not a good Front Man.

So yeah, I like.

I've recorded, edited, and re-tuned more singers than I care to remember, and I was listening for production tricks on Dave's voice. Other than the usual artificial sweeteners (like reverb and delay, and really, who doesn't use those?), this sounds like Dave. He has gotten remarkably better.

Actually isn't this like ten years of Dave's afterlife? Pretty good for a dead dude.

I'm hard-pressed to think of a DM single sung by Dave that doesn't have him raising his voice and belting out a chorus. "Dream On" comes closest, I think. In "Precious", he maintains a nearly identical tone when shifting between the verses and the chorus. This explains my earlier thought process, where I couldn't "place" the chorus in my mind -- because it doesn't sound like a Dave-sung chorus. The songs that require subtlety over power are usually the ones that Martin sings.

The track listing for the new album is "A Pain That I'm Used To", "John The Revelator", "Suffer Well", "The Sinner In Me", "Precious", "Macrovision", "I Want It All", "Nothing's Impossible", "Introspectre", "Damaged People", "Lillian" and "The Darkest Star"

Hmmm.

Yeah, cause Depeche NEVER have used Christian imagery in any of their songs before!

"Well I'll have references to blood and mouths --"

"OMG PERV KINKY CREEPINESS."

"..."

My two favorite DM songs!

I found it here:
http://www.junkmedia.org/?b=1&BID=52

Is anyone on this thread from Poland an no longer with us? Did Mute really have a hand in it?

Well... I guess it could suck if you have no idea what the song is about

just like how behind the wheel sucked right?
Isnt it about some girl driving a car? or maybe dead of the night being about perverted zombies?
...

Hehe. Touche. But seriously, the titles weren't this blatant since Songs Of Faith & Devotion, no?

husband and wife who are both good people but not compatible with each other. They first try to work the discrepencies out amongs them. However that doesnt work either and they break up. Well then they do feel sorry about their kid going through such adversities at an early age.
I "think" the main theme is this the gaps in between could be filled out by reading into the lyrics?

The alleged promo details, from a Servo-Croat fansite:

Black Swarm
Dark Force
(Mute Records)

01. Aggravated Condition
02. Sturm Und Drang
03. Maximum Sufferance
04. The Crucifixion of the Sinners
05. The Night of the Damaged
06. Darkness at Zethanon
07. The Final Temptation of Lucretia
08. Bloodied Soul, Crushed by the Monolith
09. Sweet Blackness of Night
10. Annihilation of the Innocent
11. Pain and Suffering in Various Tempos
12. Final Redemption: Battle the Dark Forces

(I don't know if this means it has leaked or not, just thought the track titles and the strategy were pretty funny, especially now someone has announced the details in the media)

http://www.depechemode.com/tour/

the patriot center? arg....

madison sq garden, really?

Mute CD BONG 35
(commercial CD single, release date: October 3rd, 2005)
1. Precious (Album Version) [4:10]
2. Precious (Sasha's Spooky Mix - Single Edit) [5:45]
Mute LCD BONG 35
(commercial limited CD single, release date: October 3rd, 2005)
1. Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix - Edit) [7:15]
2. Precious (Misc. Full Vocal Mix) [5:41]
3. Free [5:10]
Mute DVD BONG 35
(DVD single, release date: October 3rd, 2005)
1. Precious (Music Video)
2. Precious (Motor Remix)
3. Precious (Michael Mayer Ambient Mix)
Mute P12 BONG 35
(promotional 12 inch single, release date: 2005)
1. Precious (Sasha's Spooky Mix - Full Length) [10:32]
2. Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix - Full Length) [9:40]
Mute PL12 BONG 35
(promotional limited 12 inch single, release date: 2005)
1. Precious (Misc. Full Vocal Mix) [5:41]
2. Precious (Michael Mayer Balearic Mix) [7:18]
3. Precious (Motor Remix) [6:37]
4. Precious (Misc. Crunch Mix) [6:51]
Mute PCD BONG 35
(promotional CD single [CD club promo], release date: 2005)
1. Precious (Sasha's Spooky Mix - Edit) [7:33]
2. Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix - Edit) [7:15]
3. Precious (Michael Mayer Balaeric Mix) [7:18]
4. Precious (Misc. Full Vocal Mix) [5:41]
5. Precious (Misc. Crunch Mix) [6:51]
6. Precious (Motor Remix) [6:37]
Mute RCD BONG 35
(promotional CD single, release date: 2005)
1. Precious (Radio Version) [3:45]

Meanwhile, this about the album:

The album will be released (in the U.K. - other territory details pending) as a standard CD, as well as a "deluxe version". The deluxe version will be a CD/SACD, with an additional DVD, containing:

> Playing The Angel in 5.1 and Stereo (DTS 5.1 - 24 bit, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - 24 bit, and PCM Stereo - 24 bit)
> "Making The Angel" (8:07)
> "Precious" (music video - 4:00)
> "Clean" (Bare - 3:42) - this is a special 'exclusive studio performance'
> Ben Hillier candid studio photo gallery

A new version of "Clean," eh? That could be worth the purchase alone!

Actually that's the most subtle reference to Music for the Masses I've ever seen, congratulations!

And biz all I got is the stupid yahoo email you see here. I think it accepts up to 10mb, but maybe it'll stretch. If not, try [email protected] And thanks for the trouble.

Sasha's Spooky Mix Edit

Note that the iTunes version of the album features an exclusive "Bare Version" of "Waiting For The Night"!

An alternate cover as created by a member of the bong mailing list.

In otherwards, perfect!

What? Beat them.

No, wait, tix don't go on sale until Oct 17. We have time (but we'll talk soon).

Ned -- you're right ... I'm on it.

I love how Depeche can still annoy people. It was myself and two coworkers who bought tickets -- this came up around my boss (a music fan himself, generally with more classic rock and country leanings with the occasional surprise) and he was in absolute agonies. We're not talking just, "Yeah, never a fan," we're talking "No, NO, not Depeche Mode! HATE 'EM!"

Sire/Reprise/Mute PRO-CDR-101658
(CD maxi single - release date: 2005)
1. Precious (Calderone & Quayle Damaged Club Mix) (12:04)
2. Precious (Sasha's Spooky Mix - Edit) (5:44)
3. Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix - Edit) (7:10)
4. Precious (DJ Dan 4 A.M. Mix) (9:51)
5. Precious (Michael Mayer Balearic Mix) (7:18)
6. Precious (Misc. Full Vocal Mix) (5:41)
7. Precious (Misc. Crunch Mix) (6:51)
8. Precious (Motor Mix) (6:37)

...so pretty much everything minus Mayer's ambient mix, plus the DJ Dan and Calderone/Quayle mixes.

You say that as if it were a bad thing.

http://www.myspace.com/depechemode

That's right. Depeche is the master, and we are the servants.

Good. Very very good.

Their best album since "Violator". Maybe their best album except for "Violator".

Here is an out of left field comparison: Orbital's "Blue Album" gathered together a bunch of styles they'd used over their career and crammed them all into one album. "One Perfect Sunrise" was supposed to be "Impact", but obviously it wasn't nearly as good. The whole album was like that.

But on "Playing the Angel", everything sounds better than the original. "Construction Time Again"-era ballads weren't as good as "Damaged People". "Fly On the Windscreen" isn't as good as "Nothing's Impossible". Screw "Song of Faith and Devotion" -- you haven't heard Depeche Mode do gospel until you've heard them do it over Kraftwerk's "Numbers" ("John the Revelator").

What a masterpiece.

Nice to hear those good old-fashioned analogue synths back on a Depeche Mode album again.

Heheheheh.

Considering a couple of years ago it looked like Depeche might fall apart again, how appropriate that they should go ahead and pull it all together and then some.

During their mid 80s heyday, they were arguably the greatest singles band of all time, but were not, in my opinion, a great album band. Once you get past the godlike singles, there was some real filler on all of the 80s albums. I listen to Singles 81-85, Singles 86-98, and the three-CD remix set from last year far more often than to Violator or even to Black Celebration. However, as their powers as a singles act have declined, their albums have become more cohesive listening experiences. I would much rather listen to Ultra, Exciter, or the new album in their entirety than to Violator.

BLASPHEMER. In the sense that I actually agree with your larger point (at least if you're talking about A Broken Frame and Construction Time Again) but Violator is NOT a filler-laden album. Dammit. Grr, grr!

I just purchased Violator for the first time last week (!) and that whole album is just as brilliant as I remember it being when I first heard it in 1990 (so it isn't an 80s album, anyway). So so so so so good. Also, calling Construction Time Again "filler-laden" makes the baby Jesus cry with righteous ire.

Then how about 'Alan Wilder-written laden'? ;-)

Very cool interview, actually -- I do like the distinction he's drawing in the creation of this vs. Exciter. He is right in that the album was completed quickly, I was kinda surprised at the swift turnaround.

FWIW, i think violator (pinging noises aside) is one of the most perfect albums ever, and although construction time has its, er, idiosyncracies, i wouldn't change a note. and woah, hang on, in what way could music for the masses be seen as anything other than a cohesive work of genius? DM are a great albums band: fact.

GOD DAMN i'm excited about this.

I'm still patient. I want to hear this, like I wanted to hear The Cure last year, for the first time in full blast on my stereo system, doing my head in completely. Roll on Tuesday.

there are moments of blinding beauty but the overall impression is of weight, of suffocation ... it's the industrial album you'd expect a grown-up DM to make.

"john the revelator" is, for me, the stand-out by a country mile so far.

but more than half the album to go, woo.

(nb: have wrestled with my conscience about YSI-ing but am shit-scared of mute finding out, hunting me down with their electronic sniffer dogs and killing me. apologies.)

Oh good. :-)

i don't know if i'll ever love this album. but then i don't love the last meshuggah album, and it's one of the best things i've ever heard.

heheh: the vocal on "damaged people" sounds almost like a scary out-take from the eponymous erasure album. almost. oo, and also has a superb CTA-style bonging noise.

there is a staggering amount in that album. it's stifling, but exquisitely so.

TS: "playing the angel" v "waiting for the sirens' call" ... er, no, there's no comparison. sorry.

ah, but.. pleasure, pleasure.

I hung out with Andy and the producer and the mixer while they were in santa barbara making this album (martin was baby-sitting, dave didn't want to leave his hotel room). They seemed excited about it.

Hahahah, how typical.

Right, but in a rather different way than the rest of the album. "Precious" is by FAR the "smoothest"-sounding and most dancey track.

I was at first struck by how young he is (or looks, I don't know how old he is). I asked him about some of the details of his work -- (somewhat) detailed stuff about programs, etc. He told me about some of them, and gave me advice on what amateurs with limited resources should use.

He told me that he'd just finished the Doves album about a month before, and he was pretty excited about that. Yeah, he seemed to have experience and to be comfortable with the project.

It was a casual situation, we were drinking and playing pool at a bar (a friend of mine is friends with DM). I teamed up with Ben and we beat Andy and my friend in a game. I got lucky - I don't really care for pool and I never practice it, so I was relieved that I didn't completely flail.

The wife and I went to get this last night and I'm just floored.

Giving it a second listen now..."A Pain that I'm Used To," now that's an album starter, white noise feedback siren drone, snaky buildup, pure *propulsion* with the beats, Yet Another Killer Example of Gore ghosting behind Gahan on backing vocals, that fake ending only two minutes in!

"Precious" is "Precious," so read above for that. ;-) "Macro" takes a second listen to work for me, but I love the way Dave is playing with his vocals on the verses, that not-quite-falsetto, while the shift to the louder parts is more distinct now.

"Nothing's Impossible" is the least of the Dave songs but that's not a complaint about it, more that it's serviceable and enjoyable enough, but Dave's singing is the most restrained on here, a bit diffident and the music ends up drowning both him and Martin out on the chorus. Great instrumental break, though, another Hillier tour de force.

I think 'Suffer Well' is my fave so far

I'd release it as the next single if I were them! Imagine some of the remixes!

However, the dreariness of those vocals perfectly compliments the depressed, atmospheric song arrangements. I love the emptiness in his voice in "Nothing's Impossible", his voice says "I'm exhausted -- I give up" even though the lyrics are supposed to be expressing optimism. Can somebody direct me to 150 goth albums that sound exactly like "Nothing's Impossible"?

Third listen through is when "Nothing's Impossible" fully gelled for me -- very, very nice.

His songs may be easy but we're not talking the second coming of Vince Clarke here...

But there's a lot of Cocteau Twins in Lycia, and I don't hear anything similar to that on "Playing the Angel".

Correct this immediately.

! I mean I knew Depeche were huge in Eastern Europe and Russia but I wouldn't have assumed it was because of the police state and all. (Then again I suppose "Master and Servant" had more resonance than I thought!)

(Also, that's definitely Martin singing it.)

Meanwhile, here's our man Andy K with a review that SHOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHTFULLY MINE. *cries* Nah, more seriously, after I hogged all the AMG Depeche album reviews as well as most of the singles, it's good to have his takes on both this and last year's remix collection for a different though equally obsessed view. :-)

As "Precious" is soaring up the charts around Europe, preparations are under way for the next single. The single will, as reported earlier, be "A Pain That I'm Used To", the opening track on the band's new album "Playing The Angel".

The single, tentatively set for a November release, will contain an exclusive b-side track titled "Better Days" as well as the usual plethora of remixes. UK Mute label mates, Goldfrapp, as well as french electro artists Vitalic are alleged to be amongst the remixers.

Vitalic has previously remixed for Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk and Björk, and in addition to the forthcoming Depeche Mode remix, is also working on a remix for Röyksopp.

The cover for "A Pain That I'm Used To" will of course be done by Anton Corbijn. No word yet on whether Uwe Flade is back for the second video, but the odds are that he will!

--

Also, "Precious" scored a number of number one chart placements in Europe (no surprise there!) and that further dates next summer are being planned.

i like "macrovision" because it's a real change for the way martin gore usually sings and it's partially a production thing (the vocals are very much in the foreground), but he sounds much stronger whereas on past albums he was often very fragile sounding. dave gahan's voice also sounds stronger on this album so maybe they are on a parallel course.

hm, i am just listening to "macrovision" now and it brings back memories of songs of faith and devotion. maybe it's just that martin gore is singing in a lower register than he typically does.

He and Cole both appear on the extremely great and brilliant "The Bottom Line" -- it's their only appearances with Depeche.

it's a real change for the way martin gore usually sings

You know what it is -- I think it's Martin actually trying to *sound* like Dave for once. Not entirely but it's there.

"the bottom line" was one of my favorites from ultra.

looks like dm lost the literacy and great sophistication through subtle hints to elaborate on the central theme of their songs

dm was NEVER this blatant b4 when they were cracking down on christianity.

oldschool way of showing their critism towards christianity was through blasphemous rumors

j.t.r. in my eyes is a mediocre song even though dave has stellar vocals. I think dm lost the ability to use great symbols to illustrate their subtle theme of their songs in this album.
this whole album doesn't strike me as the oldschool dm would

dm seems to be greatly influennced by gahan's single that seems to be similar in style with dm's last album

its too easy to write a song about drug use/abuse
but who else could have covered this theme with a unique twist?

i mean i still meet people thinking dead of the night is about perverted zombies

or the mastermind of martin INGENIOUSLY using the analogy of "best friend" with "drug use" in never let me down

or even in Dream On which happens to be one of my all time fav dm. Even some dm fans can not get past the classical 80's SIMPLE music video and discern between simplicity and ART OF SYMBOLISM. once again i knopw too many people not seeing how the song is about drug abuse

We all saw the difference in CLASS when that german fools covered stripped. or manson covering personal jesus. Uhhhm can we say total degrading of CLASS?

I failed to see that ART applied in this album.
However, some songs may get to grow on me. I just need to get past the simplicity of christian bashing.

I got worked up when i first heard precious. I thought dm was gonna hit it big again. Well they did but but id say this album is not for the oldschool dm fans

Well, that's great, but that's not my particular reason for loving them, and while I would say first hearing them in 1985 and then really getting into them in 1988 doesn't necessarily qualify me as old-school compared to some, your rationale isn't mine, so you'll have to deal!

I see Martin much more as a unexpectedly pithy lyric writer in a self-consciously Marc Bolan vein rather than hitting key depths time and time again. And even that doesn't mean anywhere as much as the quality of his and David's voices, Martin's ear for a hook, the excellence of their various arrangers and producers, etc. etc.

Have you never heard "Blasphemous Rumours"??????

if u know what im saying
at least it is to me i should not speak for all dm fans since dm isnt a simple band
its much more complex on many levels

I'd agree with that, which is why the new album -- their most "Black Celebration"-like record (including "Black Celebration"!) -- is so good.

I read into the lyrics
to me BS greatly rags on christianity but not like say manson does

i could elaborate on my reasoning but i think that would spoil the trancendental effects of the song. if u want me to i will present u my INTERPRETATION of the song. as martin said more than one there is no one TRUE meaning of any dm song however interpreting never let me down as 2 guys driving around on one fine nnight is a product of ignorance if u ask me

I honestly thought most of dm fans were attracted to dm primarily because of this. I have couple friends that I know are sharing the same notion

I worry we won't get an official live document/film from this tour in the same way that World Violation was 'skipped' between 101 and Devotional.

But we're in the DVD era now ... I'd be shocked if there *wasn't* a live DVD.

It's especially infuriating because the post-Violator album this review actually describes is Exciter.

xpost...dan has a gigantic point.

Hugely OTM.

To elaborate ... he's right about the "band adulthood" concept, but there's a logical fallacy at work ... if "Angel" really is the best DM album since "Violator", and "Violator" won the band many accolades and new fans, then why won't "Angel" impress anyone who wasn't already a fan?

The album is great -- the problem is making people care enough to wnat to hear it. However, many people won't bother because when DM release an album, they've already made up their minds whether to seek it out or not.

Give any songwriter a couple decades, and the same things will happen-- the writing gets progressively more subtle, more sophisticated, until eventually it's curiously free of spark, always skirting the obvious old hooks in favor of something too professional to even notice.

is this actually an accepted truth?

I'm not gonna go all-out on defending this review here, partly because (a) I kinda ran up on deadline with it and don't actually think I made my point as well as I wanted to, plus (b) the whole thing is meant to be about the difference between people who stick with bands in this situation (i.e., you guys), and people who don't (i.e., the presumable bulk of readers). And I think my concept of Band Adulthood is that it's not a bad thing -- it's just something like, umm, love and dating. Given enough time, a clear divide appears between (on one hand) people who've gotten most of what they need from you already, and (on the other hand) people who are actually going to love following further and further into your subtleties and and new developments and so on. It's like an old woman getting a new haircut: most people don't really notice, but her husband of forty years may well be floored by it.

And really I do think there are signs of the sort of songwriting that emerges during those later phases, though (haha check it Dan) I suppose I had neither the time, word-count, nor full music-theory skills to start delving into precisely what those hallmarks are -- usually it's about subtle through-composed stuff (verse-chorus-verse is for new bands) that pushes around the edges of what the band members can do in terms of evocative performance, and works around subtle rearrangements of the band's long-established history and persona. And while I think that stuff can be very successful, I also think it's maybe best appreciated coming from those bands you've already decided to follow into their subtle adulthood.

I was actually tempted to spend a bunch of time talking about how the discourse around bands changes at this point in the career -- nuanced talk about which member is responsible for what, nuanced talk about performance abilities, nuanced talk about periods and key songs in group's catalog and which of them are reflected in any given moment of new material -- but then I realized I'd be taking most of my examples from here and worried it would sound like I was making fun.

And in the end, to be completely honest, the fact is that the bulk of this just didn't grab me: it felt like that proverbial "return to form" in terms of its sound and style, but over a whole lot of listens the songs themselves just never blew up for me. Engine running perfectly, but just not in gear yet.

I should stop now before I start feeling like I'm expressing myself better here than in review.

I think that's natural given how people will respond to this album over the next few months. Right now, it feels like a big deal because Depeche are a big name and the album has been so well received, but four months from now, in all likelihood, most of the people talking about it will be pre-existing DM fans, including the same dozen of us on this thread. That would still be the case even if the album was shit.

From a reviewers' standpoint, you already know this and I can see how it would dampen one's enthusiasm for the album. It's a lot easier for casual or non-fans to get excited about something that you know is going to get hyped and talked about endlessly for the next twelve months.

TOM: "So I went to get the new Depeche at Westminster Best Buy last night."
ME: "Yeah?"
TOM: "Looked around, couldn't see it anywhere, finally asked a guy working there -- told me they were totally sold out after a day and were waiting on the next shipment."
ME: *quietly, thoroughly pleased*

I'll go out on a limb a bit and predict a top five placement in the US charts for first week.

This was my experience.

I live in Alabama, and it's the same here. Both local music stores were sold out within two days of release (well, maybe not FYE, but it's a hellhole that sells everything for $18+ and wasn't worth checking). It's apparently selling like mad on iTunes as well. I'm betting on a top ten placement.

Don't get me wrong - I think this is a good, solid Depeche Mode album, and I like it more than Ultra or Exciter. However, I think 'Precious' might have built up my expectations a little TOO much (like "It's No Good" did to me on Ultra). I think there are great moments on the album - I love "Nothing's Impossible" and also "Lillian" (which has only been mentioned once here so far), but other than that, I'm left searching for songs and hooks, which seem to be buried somewhat. I do love the production, but I was hoping for a different experience when I listened to the album as a whole - something that would give me a pause, put a grin on my face... and it didn't come. Am I jaded? Were my expectations to high? Perhaps. And maybe an album of Precious/Violater-era clones would have been the wrong thing for the band to do artistically, but sadly, this is what I was hoping for. I suppose I'm too hooked on the DM I grew up with (accepting of course that everyone has their own personal take on what DM means to them), which was about great songs - song subtle, some HUGE. "But Not Tonight", "See You", "Everything Counts", "Shake the Disease", "Enjoy the Silence" and so on...

I really really wanted to LOVE this album and tell all my casual-DM-fan friends that "they're back, baby - you MUST hear it!" and all that, but I just can't do it. I actually find myself agreeing with a lot of Nabisco's Pfork review. Look, I'm a DM fanboy like you wouldn't believe, and I'm giddy with excitement about the show here in Toronto, but after a few listens, I just don't find myself rushing to put it on, or thinking about it at random times in my day, which great albums do for me.

Perhaps I'm just feeling a little unfairly pissy about it - I'll revisit the album in a few days and give it a fresh listen. And mind you, I haven't given it the full treatment on headphones, which is usually how I like to properly assess music, so I won't turn my back on it yet... But that's my gut feeling so far.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=30445

sample:

Though the men of Depeche Mode certainly know their way around a recording both, "Playing the Angel" lacks both the aesthetic beauty of Enigma and the innovative gut-punch of the Chemical Brothers.

Dan will not be surprised, I'm sure, at the fact that this is from Yale. ;-)

(The review does touch on an issue I've been thinking about, namely how Depeche have *always* seemed to fall down between a variety of critical stools at any one time -- they are one of the few well-known bands [but by no means not the only one] simultaneously derided for being 'too weird' and 'not adventurous enough,' to oversimplify.)

Rob's post above is a good one though of course I don't agree with it. ;-) More thoughts later though.

And, btw, I don't like the dissing of Wilder's "Construction Time Again" songs up there ("The Landscape Is Changing" is actually my all time favourite DM track, while "Fools" is in my Top 5), but I guess let's just keep discussing "Playing The Angel" here instead :)

Just learned that there is this industy-friendly Warming Up the Angel at the Bowery Ballroom; no fair.

I liked Nitsuh's review. Increasing "subtleties" is not how I would describe the work of the adult band, but I understand your point, to the die-hards these subtleties of execution take on gigantic proportions. I would tend to think of "subtle" as having a more artistic quality--rather than just minor, which is I think the sense of the word I got from your review.

I don't find Playing the Angel to be any better than Exciter - both are solid latter-day Depeche albums. The difference in their reception comes down to the fact that the times are right for a Depeche "comeback" narrative, with the popularity of keyboard-heavy synthpop at the moment (The Killers, The Bravery, Ladytron, Annie, Rachel Stevens, Joy Division/New Order's simultaneous rehabilitation, etc.) and the "how-I-overcame-my-drug-hell-to-become-a-songwriter-in-my-own-right" Dave Gahan story, which is an idea that is very attractive to the traditional rockist worldview.

Gotta call bullshit there, because people have been saying this for 15 years. For "Violator", they said it was the "alternative becoming mainstream". For "SOFAD", they said "you gotta respect these guys for being around for over a decade", and "the gospel confessional style meshes well with the honesty of the post-grunge climate". For "Ultra", it was "electronica is the hot new thing, which means DM are finally cool".

As an addendum to my last post, I have since listened to the album a couple of times on headphones, and I am feeling much less pissy about it! There was so much more going on compared to what I noticed my previous listens, which, sadly, took place in my office on computer speakers (I know, I know). So, yeah, I really like it.

That said, I'm now wondering if I'm colouring the album through Sennheiser-tinted glasses. I think I need to do an experiment and get out Exciter and Ultra just to get a feel for the progression...

I don't see how Violator could fit into a "comeback" narrative. Violator was a career peak, a la The Joshua Tree or Automatic for the People, and SOFAD was an immediate post-career peak debacle, a la Rattle & Hum or Monster (although like those two albums, SOFAD went to number one at the time of its release solely on the basis of career momentum). Ultra was the first album where the whole "is this their best album since Exile on Main Street?" narrative began to kick in.

Debacle for you, maybe. I absolutely adore it, it's Wilder and Flood hammering together an album from fraught sessions that becomes a masterpiece of baroque. The original album take of "In Your Room" is transcendent beyond measure.

I personally don't find SOFAD to be a debacle. I agree that there are great moments scattered throughout the album, although I much prefer the single mix of In Your Room to the original album track. And Walking in My Shoes may be the ultimate Depeche Mode song, both musically and lyrically. However, I do think that, like R.E.M.'s Monster, SOFAD was perceived to be a debacle for two reasons:

1) The perception that R.E.M. and Depeche Mode had abandoned their respective signature sounds (moody acoustic folk-rock and moody synthesizer dance pop) for an unsuccessful attempt at "rocking out" in the immediate post-grunge era.

2) The medical issues (Dave Gahan's drug addiction, Fletch's nervous breakdown, Bill Berry's aneurysm) and subsequent departures from the band (Berry and Wilder) that plagued the tours for each album.

Fuck this, fuck that, Depeche Mode is the Greatest Band on Earth and "Playing the Angel" kicks my ass.

Both albums were well-received at the time. REM were used to receiving critical adulations, and although "Monster" doesn't measure up to its two predecessors (in most people's eyes), I think it's been assigned a lot of retrospective hate. REM hadn't toured in five years (despite reaching their commercial peak during that time), they wrote an album of rock songs that would sound huge in stadiums, and for the most part, people were fine with that. In contrast, DM were certainly not a critical fave, and I think the "Violator" phenomenon took a lot of them by surprise, causing many people to retroactively give DM their props for being a great band rather than an 80's relic. "SOFAD" was their first album to be widely reviewed in mainstream music mags with the perspective of a "real" band making a "real" artistic statement (rather than a bunch of kooky guys with keyboards banging out dated synth-pop for wierdos).

Similarly, viewing those tours as anything other than tremendous successes is revisionism. They were the most ambitious and financially successful tours either band has ever done. Since it was all downhill from there (commercially speaking), a notion that the tours were failures has developed. But there's no causal link between the tours and the bands dipping below their commercial peak.

I was there during the 80s, and I don't remember Violator somehow legitimizing Depeche Mode. Their success steadily built over the decade, and they started receiving saturation airplay on MTV with Music for the Massses, not Violator. I can't begin to count the number of times I saw the videos for Never Let Me Down Again and Behind the Wheel. To continue the R.E.M. analogy, Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence were Depeche's Losing My Religion, the songs that transformed them from a sucessful band into a very succesful band, but it's not like they were unknown before Violator. And I don't recall too much prejudice against kooky guys with keyboards banging out synth-pop for weirdos - the Cure and other eyeliner-wearing, sexually ambiguous British bands such as Love and Rockets regularly scored hits during the era.

As the Depeche feature in this month's MOJO notes, perhaps the strongest parallel between Depeche and R.E.M. is each group's decision to continue as a trio following the departures of Berry and Wilder. With the seemingly universal praise for Playing the Angel, it appears that Depeche have finally gotten this monkey off of their backs, while every new R.E.M. album is still greeted with the question: "where's Bill Berry?"

"Sorry ossifer, we were just testing out the security systems. Uh, yeah."

http://www.depechemode.com/news/gr/20051018_instore/gr/4.jpg

Lyrically, though, it's as depressive as ever, despite the odd nod to hope in songs like "Precious," a moving prayer Gore wrote for his kids about the protracted divorce he's currently caught up in.

I admit I don't follow their personal lives to a great degree but that was news to me -- how very Martin-like to sublimate something into a brilliant song.

I always thought that Achtung Baby and Zooropa were U2 pretending to be Depeche Mode for just two albums.

xpost -- You must excuse me -- I have long felt that around that time U2 were desperately trying to be Depeche in turn. No surprise as to who I felt came out better in that matchup.

listening to "precious" in the light of that EW comment is revealing; it makes sense of the "both of us" line that had puzzled me too.

I had wondered if it was a wish for the narrator and the person he's in a rough spot with to aim for finding their balance again, but it does make more immediate sense in light of this comment.

And yes, relistening just makes me adore it all the more.

either way, it's wonderful.

I am so ridiculously psyched to hear that one live. "Nothing's Impossible" is now spectacular beyond belief.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I remember my entire dorm going nuts when DM toured behind "SOFAD." I'm unclear who considers that disc a failure of any sort?

I agree. JTR ought to be the second single. It might even be rock enough to get some U.S. airplay.

the album grew a lot on me and if i can get over the simplicity of jtr ill be an ecstatic customer :)

DOES NOBODY READ WHAT I POST. You don't have to be pretty sure that "A Pain That I'm Used To" will be the next single, it IS the next single!

Sorry, Ned, I must have missed your post somewhere among the other three hundred posts in this thread. I won't let it happen again, I promise. And the choice of "A Pain That I'm Used To" over "John the Revelator" as the next single is just plain stupid, imho.

now tell me just ONE VERSE of BR defiying god? and or saying the bible is FAKE or made up of buncha lies like they say in the jtr "book of LIES" and thats just one of the obvious hate xpressed throughout the song

STRAIGHT FORWARD, no interpretation needed. in BR Gore is just sounding his own OPINIONS. He never goes out and says christianity is bull
he does it in a much more eloborate way, a way that could not be thought of by simple minded xtian bashers/haters
thats what the beauty of DM is if u ask me.
i said this b4, and will say it again JTR is no different than marilyn manson personal jesus. Yeah i said MM personal jesus, NOT DEPECHE MODE personal jesus where the charecter jesus is not necessarily used as the real JESUS himself but as a SYMBOL "someone who looks out for ya, someone who u trust and bla bla" i dont know if u know this, but just like how pricilla presley said elvis was his PERSONAL jesus.
in my opinion the most obvious difference between MM and dm is the complexity of the songwriting (well thats just ONE of the many differences" And i am not excluding mm from any other simple minded xtian bashers. He is one of the best examples to what im trying to say.

IMO MACROVISION oughta be the next single
see compare that to JTR

both of the songs are pretty much insuniating the same thing
"THAT THERE IS NO SPECIFIC GOD out there whether it be jesus, allah or jahova"
see its so brilliant and so DM like
macrovision is already one of my all time fav dm tunes

thats like if u say jesus or mohammed being lyers. in both case it doesnt just affect them and their characters but also the almighty himself if there is such a thing

did u start to understandand where im coming from

The answer is clearly Deef, the Wonder Horse.

Given some of the hoohah going around these days on the political sites I trawl through, "John the Revelator"'s release couldn't be better timed.

HE IS EVEN IN THE BIBLE and has his own CHAPTER. "if u believe in jesus then ur guaranteed a spot in heaven"
now think

if john is a lier (imo very likely to be so since i dont believe in talking in absolute certainties) then so is the bible proclaiming john's role in the christian mythology

now lets meditate on this notion a bit more

to me the xtian bashing nature of this song should be extremely obvious to the most casual observer

replace some of the lyrics with marilyn manson's fight song and enjoy the sophisitication of the end result

"im not a slave to ur god that doesnt exist, and im not a slave to ur world that doesnt give a shit"
well we can all rally around to that song since most of us seem to agree with the things he says

now COMPARE that to the synical nature of Blasphrumors

it is cracking down on many sanctions of xtianity
like after her daughter tries to commit suicide what does the mother do?

she goes down on her knees and prays

and from the TONE of the song u can pretty much safely ASSUME that dm is making an ASS out of the christian belief system
now that s CLASS
not directly saying bible is full of lies
seeing the difference now?
i didnt want to xplain this to the t but u asked for me to handfeed u with information

By and by
By and by
By and by
By and by

jesus christ died on the cross to forgive us of our sins. and guess what, that passage is taken from JOHN THE REVELATOR'S section FROM THE BIBLE itself. well there is no thee bible, but mostly all denominations follow that even some none xtian denominations such as mormanism. yes it doesnt matter if their church is called jesus christ laterday saints or whatever. Them believing in joseph smith the way do does not go parallel with the christian mytth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus#Resurrection_and_Ascension

if u dont know anything about john, sure u can say "this song is just about him, aint no xtian bashin here" but unfortunatelly i cant simply accept that by saying something cliche like "ignorance is bliss!!!" unfortunatelly i am educated on this and its nothing but blissful to me

lemme share with u one example of how i do it

my girlfriends pastor was blowing smoke off his ass by sayin "all denomination of xtianity believe in the same things its just that wording may be different

well unfortunatelly for him he ddidnt know i was well informed on xtianity and its denominations

i said "oh yeah? i have heard that the policy of sin is different among denominations"

well i knew the marked differences between them denominations. such as all sins being equal in gods eyes in protestanism and xclusive relationship with god (no confessions needed to be facilitated by a 3rd person such as priests

it was toroughly entertaining to be hearin the pastor changing his stories. the most entertaining aspect of this was me proving my points with the passages from his book
the bible

im sorry if i gave u that impression what i intended to say was john was no nobody. he is one of the most important charecters in the bible. i may even go as far as saying john comes right after jesus the protogonist of xtian myth

besides there are some chronological errors in the song
no john didnt steal from em muslims. Israilites sure but with muslims its the other way around. i read the quran and read enough on the bible to come to the conclusion that they r VERY similar with some marked differences such as the trinity

"John The Revelator" is not blanket-bashing Christianity; I suspect that you have to have some exposure to hardcore Baptists and Evangelicals to see where that particular dagger is pointing (one of the best quotes I ever heard from my father was "I can't stand Christians who are more enamored of John than they are of Jesus").

And also with this bit:

besides there are some chronological errors in the song

...You're kidding now, right?

roach, dude, if you're so knowledgeable, you'd know that the lyrically target here is the Book of Revelation, not Christianity writ large. The identity of its author is debated, it's doubtful it's by John the apostle, most likely another John given the difference in tone. While wikipedia isn't exactly ecclesiastically authoritative, check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

Saying that one highly historically-contested religious work is crap is not the same as dumping on an entire religion.

plot thickens when the same story takes place in kuran with minor changes. well i guess that could be understood on the basis of believing quran being an updated message from god

ok so be a muslim and start some cihad and take over the world?

uhhhmmm and no iim not kidding, islam started way after xtianity did
the loci was close to where xtianity started but MUCH later
at the time started there were only idol worshippers and thats backed by the holy book bible itself

"Roach has chosen...poorly."

Yeah, I was about to say!

(This is actually one of the best discussions about religion in a pop context in a while, or would be if the argument was solid all around...)

if john is phonny then there is no xtianity

u oughta be thinking more or A LOT MORE critically

now I KNOW THAT JOHN AINT JESUS

such comparison could only be made by ignorant people that do not discern between facts an uhhhmmm child stories?

look at the xtian world now

LOOK AT WHAT THE PASTORS are saying when it comes to john

and im not basing my arguements on one pastor's interpretation of the literature. it is thee PROTESTANT belief do some research if u dont believe me
protestanism is solo scripture
it aint matter if u do good and be the nicest person, u still aint seein no heaven if u dont believe in what john said

and sure he wasnt the only one but when clergy figures are quotting that line, WHO GETS THE CREDIT? Mathew?
ask a protestant clergy what the most imp core belief of the bible is
and tell me if u hear anything other than JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS TO FORGIVE US OF OUR SINS

ask this to a LITERATE clergy

This is blatantly stupid.

Come back when you can construct a coherent/sensible argument.

im curious of ur knowledge of the bible

do u know why gos let jesus die on the cross?

and just saying to save us of our sins aint cutting it

I'll state it a little easier: roach, are you assuming John the apostle and the one that wrote the book of revelation are the same? That seems pretty key.

OK

John the apostle WAS THE AUTHOR 0F BOOK OF REVELATIONS HENCE THE NAME

JOHN THE REVELATOR

John the Evangelist (? - c. 110; יוחנן "The LORD is merciful", Standard Hebrew Yoḥanan, Tiberian Hebrew Yôḥānān) is presumed to be the author of the Gospel of John. Tradition has identified him with John the Apostle, although numerous modern scholars dispute that they are the same person (see authorship of the Johannine works). Either way, the author of this Gospel is also presumed to be the author of other books in the New Testament: 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and the Book of Revelation. There are also schools of thought which attribute some of these five works (always including The Gospel of John) to John the Apostle and others (usually including the 2nd and 3rd epistles) to another John. Collectively, these books are known as Johannine literature, and there is internal textual evidence that they were authored by the same person (see textual criticism).

in the old testimant (also called jewish tora) THERE WAS SOMETHING CALLED SACRIFICING SHEEP EVERY YEAR and giving "kurban" to god
kurban simply means the the one being sacrificed)
and to this day muslims still do this every year

but xtianity took a turn from the other mainstream momotheistic religions (islam, jewism)

the phenomenal "trinity" is not included in any other mainstream belief systems.

and xtians became so wicked that sacrificing sheep was no longer adequate for being forgiven
sounds like a child story? well b4 u bash on me ignorantly CHECK WITH THE BIBLE or any of ur clergy figures

so where were we? oh yeah god then said "TO SAVE ALL OF YA, I WILL SACRIFICE MY OWN SON" hence jesus was sacrificed and thats why only thing u oughta do to go to heaaven is just believing in this historical fact. oh one more thing u oughta be a protestant because anything else is simp,lly UNACCEPTABLE
why?
well because salvation is NOT earned, its GIVEN. u can check on that if u dont believe me

cathalosism gets a little tricker. u dont necessarily need to believe in jesus but have to FOLLOW HIS WAY

like its standing on 2 pillars
faith and scripture where the "TRADITION" seems to be more imp than just reading the book. Critical thinking HAS TO BE APPLIED

this was my arguement when i was "challenging" the authority wit5h their own rules
i didnt create annything
just sounded the blatant difference

where u seem to be CHOOSING to neglecting the historical FACTS coinsiding with the logical explanations of things

but sure ill drop this since u seem to be happy with how OTHERS explaining to u how things came to pass.

one suggestion though read up on different interpretations of hhow things are and DONT just depend on one source of information ie the bible or ur clergy

THINK FOR YOURSELF
QUESTION AUTHORITY

no worries i aint no damn parrot quoting other people
Timothy leary beat me to sounding that quote of his

now, as i said in the very beginning, it is my OPINION that JTR is a no good xtian basher
u may choose to have ur own interpretation juustt like any other dm songs
AND NO i sure aint belittliing xtianity i just opt to NOT BELIEVE IIN THE VALIDITY of it

ive been to many sermons and telling u what i heard and no i havent only been to protestant churches otherwise my arguement would have no value to it.

I AM TELLING U PASSAGES thats directly taken from the bible

saying that john who wrote the book of revelations is not JOHN THE REVELATOR is simply outregous
u only need to know english to figure that out
but hey it aint all looking bad for u. I AM SURE U CAN FIND MANY TYPO'S and bag on that to form an impeccible come back

see i may have spelled that wrongly too

ooooh is wrongly a word? u can pick on that too

well its been fun...
gotta go.... class is out

It provides good loam, though.

That little extra bit of percussion *right* before the verses start on "Suffer Will" is so frickin' killer.

You are also a gigantic idiot because you cannot express your argument in a manner approaching coherence, yet still you are completely convinced of your brilliance and incisive wit that blatant cultural differences and differences between different schools of theological thought are things to be pooh-poohed and ignored because they don't match the amazing theological scheme you've built for yourself.

Another way in which you are a gigantic idiot is in that you can't get simple facts right, like this belief that Depeche Mode has built a reputation on lyrical nuance; if you actually look at and listen to the songs, you will see that Depeche Mode has actually built their entire career on lyrical and musical bombast and excess, as evidenced by every single song they've released except MAYBE "The Things You Said". It isn't fair of me to call you an idiot for that, though, because English isn't your first language and as such you haven't grown up with all of the idioms and expressions and, as evidenced by your arguments on this thread, you don't see how obvious and transparent the DM narrative and evocative style is, so I apologize and retract that particular instance of calling you an idiot.

Finally, you are an idiot you are constructing an argument that boils down to "I am not regurgitating the words of clergymen, I am regurgitating the words of THE BIBLE" and waving it around as if it was 1) new, 2) shocking, 3) clever. It fails on all three. Furthermore, it isn't even internally consistent and it shows very little evidence of being an argument that's been fleshed out, reasoned, or supported by sources; you've said, "This is what I think and you're stupid because this didn't occur to you" and when we said in response "The last time I came with an argument that laughable, I was 12" you act like you've scored a point.

On one of our car rides this weekend my wife sleepily said, "Wow, this album is really good," so that's the fervent pop lover's POV covered.

"JTR" could be a single and I would love it. "Suffer Well" HAS to be a single if they'll actually let one of the Dave songs be one.

Actually "I Want It All" would be an excellent single! At least, the chorus would be an excellent single.

i dont want to waste my time on this
i am not out to convince u that xtianty is phony or anything
i simmply told u that was my own belief

now u can get even more pissed off about this and call me some more names if u want to

I WAS NOT the one getting into all this

i said "it seems to me that dm composed a very poor song"

and from then on u seem to have defended ur opposing view to the death while stepping over many folklores.

I will not however lower my standarts to a sailor and belittle any of ur beliefs.
u may think however u like and say whatever u want
oh and one last thing, u may ENJOY THE SILENCE

hahahah great, now ill have ets playing in my head for hours

I think this is a sentiment we can all agree on.

That will be the next big battle between Dave and Martin, I'm sure. First they argue about how many songs Dave gets on the album, then they argue about whether of Dave's songs is good enough to be a single.

to him the song is not about christianity but ONLY concerns a specific figure from the christian mythology who happens to be a leading name well espeacially in the bible.
however Ghost seems to be quite convinced that the song is NOT about the John who composed the book of revolutions. (no just because he wrote the book of revolutions, why would he be called the revelator right? that seems to be so unreasonabole of a thing to understand for him. since he is better off hanging on the any prior information he gathered on the topic and turns a blind eye to the new information he comes across and start cussing and cursing
its ur call bro, just an advice

1: Ashlee Simpson, I Am Me
2: Rod Stewart, Thanks For The Memory... The Great American Songbook Vol. IV
3: Martina McBride, Timeless
4 Nickelback, All The Right Reasons
5: Stevie Wonder, A Time To Love
6: Bun-B, Trill
7: Depeche Mode, Playing The Angel
8: The Black Eyed Peas, Monkey Business
9: Alicia Keys, Unplugged
10: Kanye West, Late Registration

"I'm sadder that someone named Nickelback has beaten them, mostly because I know what Nickelback sounds like."

son you may want to revise that to:

I feel sad because I THINK dm is a lot grander than nickleback, yet nisckeback seems to have a better standing in the top 10 chart.

allow me to explain myself a bit more:

just because you MAY think that nickelback does not deserve to be there doesnt mean that they are not worthy of being there.

nickelback hath released a multi platinum album in the past, that to me suggests that there are other people out there digging their music. sounds like a sound argument?

do i think they are better than dm? heck no but I WILL NOT BELITTLE ANYONE BECAUSE THEY SIMPLY DONT SHARE THE SAME BELIEF I do. Dunno... that sounds like an EDUCATED thing to be doing.

Well it seems to me that you have adopted the notion of "my way is the best way and everyone MUST share that, otherwise ill just call them idiots for not agreeing with me."

I dont want to be too condescending because I fancy you may not have had the chance to go to a college to learn all this. Not knowing is not anything to be ashamed off, NOT ATTEMPTING TO LEARN is though.

Please don't.

seriously, roach, your ideas are intriguing to me and i wish to subscribe to your newsletter

Alan never got any of his songs released as singles, although some of them were clearly good enough. For instance, the two songs he wrote for "Construction Time Again" would both have been better singles than "Love In Itself".

Something tells me that Martin is not going to give up his monopoly on the singles without a fight. It's one thing to humour Dave with a few album tracks . . .

he also happened to send a photo of the setlist, which i will assume is the semi-fixed setlist for the tour. i will NOT post it now, since that is a massive SPOILER for those excited about the upcoming tour (like me). however, if you would like to know this kind of information (i personally wish i didn't see it), i can post it if noone objects, or email it...

they boys looked great, although martin did look a little rough...

I will not sully this thread by posting such a major spoiler.

However, for those interested in the setlist, a link.

Please don't comment on it, so Ned (and others) can enjoy the surprises of the live show. Who knows, they might mix it up when they hit the road anyway...

*disappears into the shadows*

I'm sorry. Really I am. But what's the big deal about this record again? I listened to it about three times (yes, in a row, but idly), and then when I was appropriately in the Depeche mood I put on Violator, which I actually like.

It's great.

...until I see them that is. :-)

Word is from friends who saw the Seattle and San Jose shows that Depeche are so on form it's indescribable. I am a happy Ned.

Yesterday I relistened to the first few albums (currently on Music for the Masses here at work) and I admit, coming back to them all collectively after a few years of giving them a proper listen was actually fairly revelatory. The Broken Frame/Construction/Reward troika has so many unexpected moments throughout where you audibly hear them inventing an aesthetic, and where the relentless desire for funky-as-hell basslines and beats combined with Gore's eternal pop core allowed them to get away with all *kinds* of insane arrangements, queasy synth swells, sampling overload.

More when I'm more coherent but for those who want to know, tracklist.

All in all, pretty much a total success.

My department just did the worst possible thing and scheduled my Ph.D. defense for the day after the Toronto DM concert.

IT BETTER BE A DAMN GOOD CONCERT!

(Can you ask them to schedule it one day earlier? Plead reasons of mental stability.)

"it" = the defense or the concert? :)

Unfortunately, having had experience scheduling these types of meetings in the past (this is the first one that has been scheduled for me), it may actually be easier to reschedule a DM concert than it is to find another suitable time for the defense when all necessary parties are able to attend.

Instead, I will have to SUFFER WELL.

Dan is massively OTM

And for those who care... Everything Counts from Toronto:
http://s65.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=02I77R41Q5GN81OPEVBAKZ94L2

Sounds about right -- he didn't perform with them in LA. And I thought the 2nd encore ending was lovely, ya freak!

The Toronto crowd seemed a little burned out during both encores.

Yeah, the Martin/Raveonettes thing was awesome. Don't even know what song it was. Very Elvis-like ballad. Hmmm...

So, we're punks and freaks here, eh? That sounds about right ;)

My Ph.D. oral went fine. It was incredibly quick, and almost all of my thesis corrections are grammatical. I do wish the concert and the defense had happened in reverse order, though. During the slow parts when Martin sang, I did think about my work a little bit, but otherwise hardly at all :)

http://tinyurl.com/btjlt

Oh man, it's good. It's GOOD.

People have been posting live recordings on the Tour Forum on DM's web site (http://forums.depechemode.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14) ... sound quality varies, as you'd expect, but fans will certainly enjoy them (I've only heard Toronto and Anaheim, Toronto = meh, Anaheim = pretty decent).

* An opening 1-2-3 of "Personal Jesus," "Walking in My Shoes" and "Precious" with predominantly acoustic arrangements

* The false starts for "I Feel You" leading into one of the best performances of the song I've ever heard.

* "John the Revelator" kicking MAJOR ass

* "Enjoy the Silence" with the current tour version massive drum breakdown/funky guitar extended coda -- and even a synth riff on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (repeated later in "Never Let Me Down Again")

* Martin. Piano. "Shake the Disease." Oh man.

That version of "I Feel You" was BEASTLY.

And yes, that version of "I Feel You," goldang.

I'm surprised they didn't play Boston, Dan. Usually DC is the city bands treat like the plague.

Hey, I liked that! Besides, it works given the title, and at least out here it was very winningly done.

That said, you are right in that I would kill to finally hear "Insight" live.

Plus there's the fact that I treat the song about the same way Dan treats "See You".

p.s. is just speculation but perhaps Dave sounds breathless because he's compensating for poor acoustics with extra energetic ass shaking?

haha sorry for turning this discussion into tech support! I just really wanted to get the @#&%$! file.

I can create a ysi link if all else fails.

x-post thanks barry

"Shake The Disease" kind of highlights Martin's old lady vibrato, doesn't it? Still love the song but seriously he should stick to things like "Shake The Disease" where he can really bloom into notes and the melody works with his voice rather than against it.

rob/anyone: don't suppose you could re-YSI the toronto "everything counts", could you? :)

either way: fact is they sound absolutely astonishing. just incredible.

Last year was busy for Depeche Mode, and 2006 is shaping up to be just as busy, with a massive tour already booked, more shows being added all the time and... get this... another album!

Don't expect a full length album of new material, however. It's a compilation - a "Best Of" of sorts - that will be in stores in time for Xmas 2006. The "Best Of" will top off a year chuck full of Depeche Mode releases.

Simon Heyworth, a UK based mastering legend, is currently working on a complete remastering of Depeche Mode's entire album backcatalogue. These will be released in batches of three every few months beginning from March. Each disc will feature 5.1 remastered sound and as yet undisclosed bonus content.

As "Touring The Angel" draws to a close some time in August, the concert experience will be heading to stores on DVD. The live DVD is tentatively set for a September release. No word yet on whether the DVD will be accompanied by a CD release, but here's hoping it will.

The next single, "Suffer Well", will be with us as soon as February... featuring remixes by, amongst others, Alter Ego. The fourth single, "John The Revelator", should be with us by late April/early May.

Tentative release schedule:

February 20th:
Suffer Well (CDS, CDM, DVD Single)

March 2nd:
Speak & Spell (SACD)
Music For The Masses (SACD)
Violator (SACD)

April 13th:
A Broken Frame (SACD)
Construction Time Again (SACD)
Some Great Reward (SACD)

April/May:
John The Revelator (CDS, CDM, DVD single) TBC

June 15th
Black Celebration (SACD)
Songs Of Faith & Devotion (SACD)
Songs Of Faith & Devotion Live (SACD)

August 10th:
Ultra (SACD)
Exciter (SACD)

September 29th:
Playing The Angel Live (DVD - title not finalized)

November 2nd:
Best Of Depeche Mode (CD, DVD - title not finalized)

Very good news about the Playing the Angel Live DVD, of course, and nice to hear about the upcoming singles being what they are. :-) But I'd like to see what the bonus content turns out to be first for these remasters...

Oh, and I just noticed that the first batch of remasters comes out on my birthday, it seems. WHAT A GIFT. :-)

"Bonus Content" = B-SIDE COLLECTIONS, PERHAPS?

But! Forget B-sides, what if we get MARTIN'S ORIGINAL DEMOS? ;-)

---

Depeche Mode's two shows the weekend of February 18 at Milan's Filaforum were recorded for a live DVD that is expected to be released in September.

"We're quite excited, because the audience went absolutely bananas," drummer Andrew Fletcher told Billboard.com. "We did Paris (for the last DVD), and we thought we'd do Milan since we work there a lot, and it worked out really well."

The DVD was directed by Blue Leach, who has been traveling with the band since the start of the world tour in support of last year's "Playing the Angel" (Reprise). "He's been on the road with us so he seemed like the obvious choice," Fletcher said. "He's been doing loads of offstage stuff throughout the whole tour, so there will be all that too."

Depeche Mode is enjoying its most successful tour ever in Europe, which plays Paris Tuesday night (February 21) and runs through April 3 in London. A second North American leg kicks off April 27 outside San Francisco and includes a previously announced April 29 headlining appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

"We know how popular it is in the States, and I think the bill looks very interesting," Fletcher said of Coachella. "California is probably our biggest market in the States, so we're looking forward to that."

The subsequent tour is expected to include about 20 dates in North America, including a visit to Mexico. From there, Depeche Mode has more international shows on tap through August 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel. "We're absolutely huge in Israel, and we've never made it over there," Fletcher said. "When we just played in Prague, the Israeli fan club chartered a massive plane with 300-400 people to come over. That will be a really good place to finish."

Afterward, the band is considering shows in South America and Australia, but as Fletcher notes, "We have no plans further than that, apart from having a really good holiday!"

"Playing the Angel" has reinvigorated Depeche Mode's diehard fan base, having spawned the No. 1 Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart hit "Precious" as well as "A Pain That I'm Used To," which peaked at No. 6 on that tally. A new single, "Suffer Well," has just begun to make an impact on radio.

"We realize this album is more tuned in to playing live, more so than 'Exciter' or 'Ultra,"' Fletcher said. "People who have seen us say the new songs don't sound misplaced in the set list." Still, for the summer shows, Depeche Mode will "probably drop a couple of those and add in a couple of old hits."

And how are relations between Fletcher, Martin Gore and David Gahan at this stage of the oft-feuding band's career? "I think they have been good throughout the making of the album and it has sort of continued onwards," Fletcher said. "It's a very good time to be in Depeche Mode at the moment."

Robert Smith vs. Depeche Mode: FITE!

(April 1st?)

http://www.depechemodelive.com/

And why not?

http://depechemode.com/gr/splashes/sufferwell_video/14.jpg

Touring The Angel 2005/2006 - Pre-Show Music

After the opening act, but before the band take the stage, the venue has been filled with a special pre-show DJ set recorded by Martin. Due to numerous requests, here is the track listing of the mix set.

01 - "Vegetables" - Audion, SuckFish
02 - "Winter Green" - Lawrence, The Absence Of Blight
03 - "Rebird" - Metope, Kobol
04 - "Hot Sugar Candy Apple Taffy" - Heartthrob, Minimize to Maximize
05 - "Lost In Sound" - Alex Smoke, Incommunicado
06 - "Sinsentrikken Ut I 2 Spor" - Woody McBride, Demosessions May 2002
07 - "Cooling The Plasma" - Rene Breitbarth, With A Little Luck
08 - "33" - Metope, Kobol
09 - "Yak" - Motor, Sweatbox
10 - "The Dancing Box" - James T Cotton, The Dancing Box
11 - "An Army Of Watt" - T. Raumschmiere, Blitzkrieg Pop

"Touring The Angel: Live In Milan" live DCD/CD set due September 25th!
post date: June 28th, 2006 (updated July 18th, 2006)
DEPECHE MODE
Touring The Angel: Live in Milan
Double DVD & CD Set Released September 25th

"The most popular electronic band the world has ever known" - Q
"One of the greatest British pop groups of all time" - Sunday Telegraph

Depeche Mode's 'Touring The Angel' was one of the most successful, highly grossing and critically acclaimed tours of the last year. Hailed as the greatest live performances of their career, it can be re-lived from September 25th when it's released as a special edition 3-disc set, featuring the full-length live show and a host of exclusive extras on two DVDs and a live audio CD.

Directed by Blue Leach, who has previously worked with R.E.M, it was recorded at Milan's Fila Forum on February 18th and 19th 2006 and sees the band at their live best with a pulsing sound, electric stage presence and ecstatic audience.

"Touring the Angel was probably the most enjoyable, rewarding live show we've ever done", says Dave Gahan. "The new material was just waiting to be played live. It took on a life of its own. With the energy of the crowds, it just came to life"

"It had been four years since the last tour, so we were ready to take the album on the road" adds Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher. "For us, everything came together - it was one of our definitive live moments, especially as we got to perform older, equally special tracks."

The first DVD features over 20 stunning live songs, including the recent hit singles 'Precious', 'A Pain That I'm Used To', 'Suffer Well' and 'John The Revelator' plus the definitive 'Just Can't Get Enough', 'I Feel You', 'Enjoy The Silence' and many more.

DVD2 features a range of exclusive extras, including: two bonus live songs - 1986's smash-hit 'A Question of Lust' and 'Playing The Angel's 'Damaged People' - plus a 20-minute documentary featuring Anton Corbijn, who directed the video for 'Suffer Well' and created the tour's six stage screens, which also appear here.

"We worked with Anton Corbijn on the stage designs, which gave a continuity from the videos" adds Dave Gahan. "It was definitely felt like one of our strongest tours - both musically and visually"

Additionally, the DVD boasts the official tour announcement from Germany, summer 2005, and the previously unreleased 'Playing The Angel' electronic press kit. Meanwhile, the audio CD features over thirty minutes of stunning live tracks from the concert.

The European leg of the world tour followed 24 American dates and featured four UK shows - including two at London's Wembley Arena. It sold-out 69 arena dates throughout 30 countries, with 800,000 tickets sold in Europe alone, and was their first since 2001's 'Exciter', where they played to nearly two million people. In total, Depeche Mode played to 2.5 million people across 31 countries this year.

International sales of 'Playing The Angel' have surpassed two million, seeing them reach Number 1 in eighteen countries, plus Top Ten in the UK, US and Canada. The album has been certified multiple platinum and gold in 20 countries.

Depeche Mode are: Dave Gahan, Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher and Martin Gore.

THE DVD TRACKLISTING IS:
A Pain That I'm Used To
John The Revelator
A Question of Time
Policy of Truth
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Suffer Well
Macro
Home
I Want It All
The Sinner In Me
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence
Shake The Disease
Just Can't Get Enough
Everything Counts
Never Let Me Down Again
Goodnight Lovers
PLUS
A Question of Lust
Damaged People

THE AUDIO TRACKLISTING IS:
A Pain That I'm Used To
John The Revelator
Precious
Suffer Well
Macro
I Want It All
The Sinner In Me
Damaged People

omg

Is it just me, or does "Precious" sound like it came straight off the Smashing Pumpkins' Adore album? Mind you that's a good thing, Adore is excellent and underrated (as is Playing the Angel).

_Adore_ and the solo album are Corgan's two biggest Depeche tributes so it's not surprising there's been a bit of back and forth. (See also the new album's "Fragile Tension" and, of course, "Perfect.")