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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Madison-chan, Nov 17, 2020.

  1. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    + you get See You in mono :D
    They are gorgeous sets!
     
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  2. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Another pretty cool cover from the Speak & Spell era
    Bigod 20 took a stab at Photographic in 88 -b-side to America
     
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  3. Madison-chan

    Madison-chan New Wave is Old Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.K.
    Yikes, that's crappy compared to the original; repetitive and dull. Most Vince Clarke covers in general don't do the man justice. Here's a Italo-Disco cover of Nodisco with some pretty-worse-than-Dave singing but okay I guess:
     
  4. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    When do we move on to the next song?
     
  5. Madison-chan

    Madison-chan New Wave is Old Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.K.
    I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead - this song is an odd duck. It doesn't appear on the USA and Japan LPs, and it had a very different flexidisc release coupled with a Fad Gadget track. Bouncy and catchy love song, despite the edgy title. It's a cute tune, and the "modern love" line sells the futurist feel of the album. The flexi has stripped down instrumentation that I honestly prefer. Lightweight, which is probably why it was removed in some pressings for Dreaming Of Me. 3/5 Here's the flexi mix:
     
  6. drsmuts

    drsmuts Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex
    Awful tongue in cheek title and incredibly cheesy but I still crack a little smile when this comes on in the car. 4/5.
     
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  7. markreed

    markreed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Imber
    It's very, very catchy. But its less a song, and just a collection of loads of riffs.
     
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  8. RTW

    RTW Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Agree with this. Catchy sequences and rhythms intertwined. Not really a song.

    Funny; I swear I’ve seen this as Sometimes I and other times I Sometimes. Is the flexi version one way, and the album version the other?

    I’ve also heard that the flexi version on the singles box download is not actually the flexi version but a third, different mix. Haven’t played the flexi so I can’t say.

    Interestingly this track has always struck me as one of the edgier bits on the album. It’s nowhere as good as “Shout,” however. That should have been on the album and this the b-side to “New Life.”
     
  9. Madison-chan

    Madison-chan New Wave is Old Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.K.
    The flexi is "Sometimes I" & the LP is "I Sometimes". And the singles boxes are the same as the originals, just loudness warr'd.
     
  10. Hookian

    Hookian Forever 80s

    Location:
    Texas
    'ISWIWD' is just pure fun to listen to. It's not a musical masterpiece, and definitely isn't one of Vince's best efforts during this session, but it is very catchy and perfect for those of us who enjoy mindless synth pop.

    I had the US version of Speak & Spell for years before I ever heard this song. Perhaps for that reason, it doesn't seem to me to fit in with the rest of the album tracks.
     
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  11. GLUDFSSR

    GLUDFSSR Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I Sometimes Wish 1/5
     
  12. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    I’m really liken this thread, big fan of DM starting from the early days.
    New Life 4/5
    I Sometimes Wish 3/5
     
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  13. Madison-chan

    Madison-chan New Wave is Old Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.K.
    We've moved on from New Life, but I think it's important to showcase the single art design. This is the 12" inch single. The baby photograph was later used for Black Sabbath's Born Again album in 1983:

    [​IMG]

    And the 7" single art, which is beautiful and symbolises the synth-pop era dawning:

    [​IMG]

    And the Black Sabbath version:

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Archguy

    Archguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond VA
    Someone wake me up when you get to "Get the Balance Right"
    as thanks to WLIR-FM that's where I came in :)
     
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  15. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead

    This is a track I missed. I first bought Speak and Spell on vinyl in New Zealand, and it had Dreaming of Me instead of ISWIWD. Then, I bought the CD in Japan, and it also had Dreaming of Me instead. So, for a long time I thought of this as some rare song.

    This is a decent song, with a rather unusual title given the subject matter.

    My impression of the song is affected by that history. I prefer it to Dreaming of Me which was a hit but isn't such a great song I feel. to me ISWIWD is a good song but doesn't stand out in relation to the other tracks on the album and isn't one of the highlights.

    3.3/5
     
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  16. user119861

    user119861 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Venice, Italy
    I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead

    Nothing more than a joke. A real funny joke, but that's it.

    2/5
     
  17. Orino

    Orino Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead

    Not even the most lightweight thing on the album, but still pretty frothy, and why not? Again Vince's lyrics seem like random phrases to hang a tune on, but he does like to combine the trite and the edgy. "Dancing with you all the time /and don't you think that it's a crime?" Plus the title of the song itself..

    I also like the weird off-key edge to the synth sound that plays the main riff. These little production touches here and there are neat on S&S. None of them particularly sophisticated, but usually effective, and a hint of innovations to come.
     
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  18. 33andathird

    33andathird keep em spinning

    Location:
    ireland
    Have been waiting for this thread :p
    Should be no problem filling numbers up as there's plenty of DM fans on here.

    OK, like a few others I'll admit to being a 'plastic' DM fan lol...I care little for their stuff after 1990 and especially after '95 when Wilder left the band.

    Having said that about Alan Wilder, Speak & Spell has to be my favourite DM album albeit by a small margin. Probably because it's the album that introduced me to the band. I heard 'New Life' and was hooked.
    I may get my throat eaten out by some fans for saying this but I'm a big fan of Vince Clarke's more 'poppy' sound on this album. Sometimes being light-hearted and upbeat doesn't equate to low quality of music and that's certainly true for this album. That said, I don't see why people normally describe this album entirely as so. Songs like 'Puppets', 'Photographic' and ' Tora' are a hint at a darker sound which would slowly become their forte over the next few albums.
    I don't know why but I feel it often gets overlooked as one of the classic early 80s British synth albums and deserves its place.

    By the way I agree with one or two posters- why wasn't 'Dreaning of Me' the first song in the discussion? I guess we're going by the tracklist of the remastered album by leaving them till the end, fallacy!! :D
     
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  19. markreed

    markreed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Imber
    Good points! By any standard, the earlier DM stuff is really good for what it is and what its trying to be : certainly has aged far far better than many of their then peers. For me, it's not my preferred era of DM at all, so I'm trying not to say too many negatives here - Speak & Spell is a classic early synth album, and that has perhaps been overshadowed by what DM did after Vince left.
     
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  20. realmdemagic

    realmdemagic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    I'm a little late to thread, so I'll add my two cents for both tracks.

    New Life
    Catchy song, but not the best on the album. The lead synths sound like the electronic beep you hear at super markets when you scan items. (although the song predates that technology)

    I Sometimes Wish I Were Dead
    Another catchy song, no chorus which is strange. The mood of the song definitely doesn't match the title. Criminally absent from the US pressings. Being a fan pre-internet it took about a decade before I finally heard it.
     
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  21. Madison-chan

    Madison-chan New Wave is Old Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.K.
    Well, the video of the flexi was deleted. Here's another one:

     
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  22. Madison-chan

    Madison-chan New Wave is Old Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.K.
    I think as far as 1981 synth-pop goes, Dare! by the Human League holds up far better.
     
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  23. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead:

    How is this not a song? Absolutely love this, it's another prime example of the youthful energy of the young band. But keep in mind that "Speak & Spell" is sometimes my favourite DM album. It's not as spectacular or well written as "Dare!", I wouldn't call it an essential early 80's album. But I love it to death.
     
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  24. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead

    I wasn’t aware of this song until a few years back. I got Speak and Spell in the 80s but it was not on there, so I didn’t know it existed. I bought many but not all singles and somehow missed this one.

    The song is ridiculously poppy which is a bit comical. It sounds almost cartoonish. The high synth sound is iconically toy like, so it is entertaining on that basis. I do really like the rhythm of the bass notes, which is sixteenth note, sixteenth rest, two sixteenth notes, and repeat, on the same note per full beat (and often per full measure). The bass pattern that made Motiv8 famous!

    All that said, 1 equals bad song and 5 equals masterpiece so I have to leave room at the top for the obvious jump in quality to come.

    2/5
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2020
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  25. Electric Sydney

    Electric Sydney Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scarsdale, NY
    Not to interrupt this thread, but “A Question Of Lust” is an amazing song.
     
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