Depeche Mode - Song By Song/Album By Album Discussion Thread.

They can make announcements at any point in the process. They may have started recording. They may just have a bunch of songs ready but not recorded. Or who knows what. I had a look at the rumours, and they look quite rumourish. I'm a bit worried that there's an article on the satirical site mediamass Depeche Mode: new Album for 2023 ? (and Comeback Tour) - Mediamass . It's not uncommon for their articles to be spread as if they are fact.

We will find out in due course.

 

Saw them as a 4-piece in '84 on the Some Great Reward tour in Böblingen and subsequently from Black Celebration, Music For The Masses to Violator in Stuttgart. So four people on stage at a DM concert is what I'm used to.

Only saw one show post-Violator (Delta Machine Tour at München, Olympic Stadium 2013) and did not particularly enjoy that one.

 

I've also seen a list of dates/venues that was posted up very briefly on one of the ticket sites for European cities in May-July. Generally the band haven't announced anything historically unless it's very near the end of the process and the tour dates are locked in.

 

My girlfriend just messaged me to say she heard on the radio the announcement of a new album and tour was a hoax

 

It was always obviously fake. But why? What motivates someone to spread fake stuff like that?

That said, there may well be a new album and tour next year anyhow.

 

My bank account has just breathed a sigh of relief! There's a lot of shows next year.

 

Track 10 on Sounds Of The Universe is another divisive song - some people like it (me), some people really don't. Miles Away / The Truth Is. It's another Gahan / Eigner / Philpott co-write, and again, probably one of the songs that out of what Gahan has written, could be most obviously Depechey in the way that say, Deeper And Deeper couldn't be a Depeche song from any angle. This song runs at a midpaced, restrained clip, unhurried and precise, anchored around a repetitive, basic guitar motif added by Martin, and seems to be a song about presence and absence - the moment where you feel someone is slipping away from you, such as the start of the end of a relationship, or when someone's on drugs. They're there, but they're not there at the same time.

"This song is about someone whose thoughts are somewhere far away. About someone who hides behind a facade of a mask he has put on. And tries to hide it. This song about my friend. I knew that when I was with him and said something to him, he was actually mentally absent. Even though he tried to convince me that he was not. 'Miles Away / The Truth Is' is not entirely about drugs, but they are always present somewhere in the songs. All my life, I tried to escape from myself. Also with drugs. Until it finally became clear to me that it was not bad to be myself. This song was made quite quickly. When I wrote the lyrics of this song, the vocal part was circling in my head. This song is inspired by my friend. In the studio, Martin played a fantastic guitar part around it, with which we built the rest of the song, as was the case with 'Come Back'. We also recorded great vocal parts - Martin stepped in and sang in the background. 'Miles Away' is a dirty, nasty, grinding song. It reminds me a bit of a modern version of 'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones. It has something of that in it." - Dave, ( http://muzyka.interia.pl/raport/dep...s/nie-jest-zle-byc-davem-gahanem,1288785,5996 )

Why does it have the subtitle (The Truth Is)? "Martin does [change song titles]. He's very particular about his song titles. At the last minute he'll change the title and he worries I think if there's another song with the same name. I imagine him Googling it. For instance Miles Away/The Truth Is on this album was just Miles Away. Then Martin said, 'You know there's a Madonna song called Miles Away?' So it was changed."" (Peter Robinson picks soundtracks with Depeche Mode )

It was played live 67 times, and, like almost every Depeche song recorded after 1994, only on the tour to support the album it came from. Which is a shame. I liked how it worked onstage and fit well into the setlist when I saw them play it. It rotated spots with Come Back as the first song from the post-Martin element of the set. I'll give this a solid 3.5/5, though it is most definitely one of the most pedestrian productions Depeche have released.

 

Another one I'm not a fan of. The song isn't bad (no modern day Gimme Shelter though Dave!) but the production ruins it for me. It's far too harsh on the ears with that metallic grinding scrape in the background.

2/5.

 

Miles Away/The Truth Is

There's nothing wrong with this song. The guitar riff is good (and if the song was built around it, shouldn't Martin get a credit?). It has all the ingredients of a good DM song. The production, the mixture of electronics and guitar, Dave's very good vocal performance and a quite prominent Martin backing vocal. The lyrics suit DM.

I don't mind the metallic sounds at all. While the overall effect is maybe a bit harsh, I think it works for DM.

It's a good solid DM song which could work well on an album as filler (I don't mean that as a criticism) between some of the highlight songs.

The main problem I have with this song is that it's on SOtU, an album which (to me lacks those highlights). Like a number of songs on this album, listening to it in isolation it's not bad at all. It's just that the album doesn't grab me and I don't suddenly think one day that I'd like to play SOtU right now. That's a comment on the album, but I typically hear the songs in the context of the album.

I think this is a song which could improve greatly with a remix. Are there many?

3.6/5

EDIT: Reaps Remix perhaps an improvement, but not by a huge amount. (I think this one's not official.) FDieu RmX different, more dance orientated. Not better or worse. Kaiser Planet Reaps Remix - not wonderful. OK. DJ Dave-G mix, mostly just longer. Bit clearer maybe.

EDIT 2: While I'm going through what seem to be unofficial remixes, I think this 'SoFaD restyle' is at least interesting. It removes some of the harder edges, and puts an effect on Dave's voice.



I think what I'm getting from these remixes is that the basic song itself, particularly the vocal melody, is strong. It just needs a bit of a better environment (production + context on the album) to shine.

 

Reaps, FDieu etc are all unofficial but their remixes do sometimes hit the spot.

The original I have hardly played but the remixes certainly indicate this song had the bones to have been potentially better.

 

Miles Away / The Truth Is

This Gahan/Eigner/Philpott contribution is close enough to what I liked about Depeche Mode.
To me it is not really on par with 'deep cuts' on albums prior to Ultra but quite enjoyable.
The guitar motif and Martin's backing vocals add a nice touch but calling it 'a bit of a modern version of 'Gimme Shelter' seems too much.

2,75/5

Regarding song and album - same here.

 

I've deliberately stayed away from fan mixes because there are so very, very many of them. Including some I've made myself.

 

Have you made any of 'Miles Away/The Truth Is'?

I don't usually look around for random mixes, but I felt that this song might benefit from a remix and that sparked me to look.

 

By pure coincidence, Miles Away/The Truth Is came up on Apple Music yesterday. I can’t say I love this song. The melody and lyrics are fine, but it kind of seems like every decision from there just kind of makes it more annoying. Not least of which is Dave really playing up his Elvis impression every time he gets to singing “the truth is”. Maybe there’s a germ of a good idea there, but the end result is a fairly sub-par DM song.

 

I like “Miles Away / The Truth Is” as it’s the best of the Dave songs from the album, but I only just like it. I actually don’t mind the production, and it does provide a bit of a nice boost of energy this late in the album’s tracklist, but it still comes off as just okay.

I don’t usually invest any time in fan mixes, but that SOFAD remake was interesting to me. On the one hand it shows that some more classic Depeche sounds and production, maybe from you-know-who, might’ve had some seriously positive impact on so many of this album’s tracks. However, it also made me wonder if we’d just be complaining instead that DM was repeating themselves in a vain attempt to recapture their old sound. I dunno. Even if the results aren’t always great, maybe it’s best Depeche kept pushing forward they way they did after all.

 

For me, it was part of my early DM collecting, buying the Strike series as they came out, getting random remix cd's and live bootlegs on CD to get the mixes, good and bad.

I still buy them now.

 

Some of them are atrocious - though maybe not quite as bad as some of the official mixes. I've tended not to touch anything after Alan left for my own, because the remixes are so different from the originals at that point it's impossible for me to find anything interesting to do with them. Though I'd love to get my hands on the multitracks of much of it.

 

Hmm. So the official FB posted what looks like an old studio pic with the October 4th 2022 date on it today. So something is happening. I've read that it's the studio where A Broken Frame was recorded and it so happens to be that album's 40th anniversary today... The plot thickens!

 

I don't know if I'll post any fan mixes in my posts in the future. But, if I do I'll try and implement some quality control

 

By the look of it, a new album, called Memento Mori, and a European Stadium Tour will be announced tomorrow.

 

Twickenham stadium...place is an absolute nightmare to get out of. People got stranded after The Rolling Stones a few years ago etc.

 

Easily my least favourite venue in the whole of London.

 

Sounds like some select US dates before the European tour as well. So happy this rumor turned out to be true.

But it's also jarring seeing Martin and Dave without Fletch in that poster.

 

Yeah, turns out they needed him just for visual balance.

 

Yep, feels weird not seeing Fletch there. Such a shame.