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

Perfect timing! The next Depeche related released was the first solo EP by Martin, Counterfeit, a short 6 track EP of cover versions of songs of no small meaning to Martin. Possibly inspired by the warm reception that Route 66 received, and the 1987 Christmas Fanclub release of a Martin-only demo of Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth, which is more widely available in a re-recorded version on the Counterfeit EP. Never Turn Your Back was played live by Depeche (Martin/Alan/Fletch) 17 times at the tail end of the 1988 tour, and no live recording was ever issued. (I wish it was on 101). I rate this highly as a Depeche-related release, kind of like a cover version b-sides collection similar to Moonlight Sonata. 4/5

Speaking in 2003, Martin said "I like the idea of doing cover versions, I think it's always interesting when people from bands, or songwriters, cover songs, because it shows people some of their influences. When I was younger, I used to really like the Bryan Ferry covers records, and that gave me some insight into what inspired him. It also helped me to discover a lot of music that I wasn't aware of, so I like the idea of covered albums anyway....I think that while I'm part of Depeche Mode it's not right for me to use my own songs, because I am the main songwriter for the band and I'm not particularly prolific, so I think it creates a conflict of interest – what songs would I use for me, what would I use for the band – and it just doesn't seem right. I work in a strange way anyway when it comes to songwriting; I'm not the sort of person who writes constantly, I usually set myself writing periods, so I've just decided to do this as a project and I think it's healthy because it somehow bottles up your creativity."

The EP was released in June 1989.

01 Compulsion
02 In A Manner Of Speaking
03 Smile In The Crowd
04 Gone
05 Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
06 Motherless Child

 

Here's the Depeche version of Never Turn You Back On Mother Earth, which is a solo Martin recording.

 

I've heard the EP a few times, and while Martin does a good job vocally, it's just not compelling enough for me to invest even a few dollars to own. I appreciate that he keeps it basic and doesn't try to over-DM the sound up, and it's kinda cool to hear some of the music that influenced him. That's about all I have to offer on this project.

 

For me , the highlight is "In A Manner of Speaking". Such a cool version and very moving.

 

My interest in DM’s side projects has always been pretty limited. Now that I think of it, I’ve never bought any of them, though I ripped copies of a couple of Gahan’s solo albums that I’d given as gifts, and I’ve been able through streaming to check out some of Martin’s stuff. Afraid I can’t comment on most of them. I think I heard this….somewhere, once. It obviously didn’t stick with me.

 

When Counterfeit was released, a couple of friends told me to “just buy it.”

No. I didn’t.

Years later, having never heard it, I bought a worn mediocre US pressing used.

Despite the poor sound, I was quite surprised by the track listing.

The Durutti Column?
Tuxedomoon?
And The Comsat Angels????

Comparatively obscure bands. And all in my rotation more than Depeche Mode. And all of those bands are better than Depeche Mode. In A Manner Of Speaking is Martin’s best track here. But the original Comsat Angels’ Gone, Durutti Column’s Smile, and Tuxedomoon’s incomparable In A Manner of Speaking (with the heartache whistling) are worth checking out.

 

Counterfeit...

always liked it, the one solo CD I would revisit the most.

Japanese pressings - some came with metallic Martin Gore display.



Belgian and Czech releases.


Some other pressings, always liked the German pressing with reverse colours.

 

I will say, I respect that Martin made an effort to keep his songwriting dedicated to Depeche Mode, and that his various solo efforts were different enough not to step into DM's territory. That seems like something that tends to cause a lot of problems with bands and their breakout solo albums, and he wisely steered clear of that.

 

Personal Jesus tomorrow. Let's hope this thread gets a bit more discussion with the stadium years.

 

Counterfeit was okay...not one I revisit that often but may dig it out again.

 

15-16 year old me is about to discover DM. I’ll likely have a lot more to add, work permitting.

 

I've got a bit behind, but I see that Personal Jesus isn't until tomorrow.

101 (Redux)

I watched the film. I feel that I prefer the album. Personally I found that I wasn't particularly interested in the kids who were following the band across the country. And, too much time was spent on them. I would have preferred a standard concert film with the story of the kids restricted to an extra I could watch once and never have to watch again.

Counterfeit E.P.

The first DM solo album I was aware of, as I didn't find out about Recoil until later. (This was all pre-WWW, and news did not travel around the world as fast as it does now.

My favourite song from the EP is Compulsion, but I now realise that I have never heard the original song. So, I looked it up. Not what I expected at all - and rather cool IMHO.



In a Manner of Speaking

Again, I wasn't aware of the original song, and looked it up here: https://youtu.be/1ak1bckaKS4 And, again, not what I was expecting. Martin knew some interesting and obscure songs. Though, I think if Alan had pitched in and arranged this in a DM style, more could have been made of the song.

Smile in the Crowd

I do find the EP a bit of a mixed bag, and this is one of the songs that I feel isn't all that wonderful. I'm not too enamoured with the original version either. https://youtu.be/3toT_Lk9lEE I can see why Martin chose it - the EP and Counterfeit 2 give us a good insight into Martin's tastes.

Gone

This song works better for me. Being a more interesting song in itself, and with a better arrangement/performance. The backing vocals are very DM, as is the middle 8 and the use of piano. Comsat Angels version is here: https://youtu.be/SQgnb_rTHTs Again a good choice of song and an interesting 'primitive DM' style arrangement and production.

Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth

Great singing by Martin on this.

Sparks are a band that I've managed to avoid a bit, but this has a very nice melody. I think the Sparks version here: https://youtu.be/4esybKKOYYo has vocals that sound a bit odd to me. Perhaps I need to listen to more Sparks. Pity the guitar solo is gone, but Martin doesn't do lead guitar that I've noticed.

Overall another interesting cover in a consistent style for the EP.

Motherless Child

My second favourite song on the album. In some ways it's a better choice and a better arrangement than 'Compulsion', but there's something catchy about 'Compulsion' that I like. This is a good choice of song, an interesting style of song to cover. The sounds and arrangement are interesting, Martin sings really well, with sympathetic phrasing. Perhaps Martin's best vocal on the album.

On previous songs I've linked to versions by the original acts, but that's not possible here. So, here's a version of Paul Robeson instead. https://youtu.be/KiJx1Hbn_KM

Overall the EP has a consistent style, the choice of songs is very 'Martin', and this is definitely worth having.

4/5

 

Never Let Me Down Again---- 5/5 an Anthem
The Things You Said -----4.5/ beautiful touching song
Strangelove----- 4.5/5
Sacred ----- 3.5/5
Little 15 ------ 4/5 wonderful ballad
Behind The Wheel ----- 5/5 Beautiful, dramatic ,hypnotic
I Want You Now ----- 3/5
To Have And To Hold---- 4/5 dark and fascinating, but too short
Nothing 3/5
Pimpf 4.5/5 ---- marvelous piece of music

 

Every once in a while, Depeche release a classic song that becomes a signature tune. A song that becomes bigger than the band, or the song itself, and becomes a song that gas a life of its own. There's a theory that once a song is released it doesn't belong to the band anymore : it belongs to the public. (Tom Robinson says that artists are merely custodians of the songs, and the owners of the songs are the listeners, with all their baggage and ideas and readings and memories that the band never intended. Personal Jesus is such a song. Simultaneously the last song of the Eighties and the first song of the Nineties, as it is the first single, and the first song completed, from what is widely regarded as Depeche's masterpiece Violator [I think they've made a better album that Violator, but darn, Violator is the type of album most bands only dream of making...], and released in August 1989, Personal Jesus holds two important places in Depeche history - this, alongside Enjoy The Silence are the only two Depeche songs that have been on the setlist for every full length concert* since it was released. Additionally, this single was, in the US, the largest selling Warner Brothers 12" single to date.

Before release, Mute Records placed adverts with a premium rate phone number you could call before release to hear the song. Cheeky.



Surprisingly, this song didn't even reach the Top 10 in the UK, which is proof that the British public can be daft, and that chart positions are no guarantee of a songs place in a Depeche setlist : New Life, See You, The Meaning of Love, People Are People, Master And Servant, I Feel You, Condemnation, In Your Room, Barrel Of A Gun, It's No Good, Dream On, I Feel Loved, Precious, and Suffer Well all charted higher than Personal Jesus in the UK. Generally speaking, the song is so well known now that almost every human knows the song. Quite a feat for a song that didn't even make the Top Ten.

It's a great song, built on a pounding glam-rock rhythm, with Martin leaning fully into his T-Rex/Sweet/Slade guitar fantasies : you could almost imagine Noddy Holder belting this one out in 1974, or Robert Johnson doing a skeletal version in the 1930's. In Spin magazine, Martin said it was inspired by Elvis and Priscilla Presley. "It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis [Presley] was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way. We play these god-like parts for people but no one is perfect, and that's not a very balanced view of someone is it?"

Speaking in Bong magazine in 1998, Martin added : "We were really happy with the song and we realised that it was a potential single, but we didn’t have any idea of the mass appeal that it would have. We thought that it was the sort of thing that we liked but the radio programmers would hate, and we’d be lucky if it reached no. 25 – it was one of those sort of feelings we had in the studio about this song. "

On his website Alan wrote about the song here Shunt - the Official Recoil site - editorial - Depeche Mode - the Singles 86-98 : "By the time 'Personal Jesus' was complete, the new production partnership had settled in but during the Milan session, it was not always plain sailing. Elements that were incompatible with the compact surroundings of a studio conspired to upset the apple cart and disrupt the already delicate environment. Concentration levels were low, and in some ways the tensions were exacerbated by Alan and Flood's desire to spend more time constructing intricate sequences and involved sounds.

The track itself was a significant move forward for the group but still retained elements of [Depeche Mode's] former experimental self. For example, the main 'stomp' was a recording of 2 or 3 people jumping up and down on flight cases working alongside Martin's John Lee Hooker guitar riff and the Kraftwerk-style synth parts."

At this point, it seemed likely that Alan was starting to be the dominant musician and production ears in the band, with Fletch's role starting to diminish, and Martin and Dave sometimes deferring to Alan's musical textures and direction. I'm sure that if Martin, Dave and Fletch didn't trust Alan it wouldn't have stayed that way, but at the time, it felt that the group were all playing to their respective strengths and specialisms. Alan was also starting to expand the songs from the demos into fully fleshed out productions, often writing and adding extra parts (such as multiple, interweaving bass parts not on the demo) to complete the song and fulfil the potential of the track.

Speaking in 2011 at a Mute event, Flood said

"We started off with this particular song, this was the first song that we recorded. The demo was pretty much a smaller version of what you know and love, but everything about it was all a bit of a test.

So the first day in Milan with Depeche Mode, what are we going to do? We're going to record ourselves kicking a bit of metal in the booth, me and Fletch, while Dave Martin and Alan and the engineer, whom I'd never met, are all sitting and looking. So, that was the first I'd ever done. And that took a long time to do, which wasn't something I was expecting. A foot stomp? How hard could that be? Oh boy...

....In the end, in order to get the life out of the guitar that I thought it needed, I finally persuaded Martin to actually put in an electric guitar. Maybe the acoustic had taken half a day to record, I remember he just did the electric guitar parts in one go. He was just like 'Ah, really, is that all I've gotta do? Alright. Uh, can I go now?' Small victories!

If I had the slide guitar part here, I could show it, but I always heard that as screaming voices, and there was one evening when they're all looking at me going 'What are you talking about? It's a slide guitar.' And Dave going 'What, just screaming to something?" I go 'Yeah, just scream to anything!' He goes 'What, like this? Rahhh!' I went 'Great!' So they sampled it and put it with the guitar that slides up, and that's why it sounds — it sounds like a slide guitar, but it's not quite a slide guitar, and that's something that they'd obviously learned from Daniel, and I had learned from Daniel, this thing of meticulously crafting something and building it.

Each part of that track is very, very crafted, and it was just trying to enhance effectively what was there ... It's a fantastic piece of music, but it was only a better version of the demo. "

Touching upon religious imagery could be controversial in the US, and there were concerns that the song would be seen negatively, but it was embraced by some. Johnny Cash recorded a version for his American album series and said "It's a very fine, fine evangelical song, probably the most evangelical gospel song I ever recorded, although I don't know if the writer meant it to be that, but that's what it is. It's where you find your comfort, your counsel, your shoulder to lean on, your hand to hold on to your Personal Jesus." Much like his cover of Hurt, maybe Martin Gore wrote a Johnny Cash song but didn't realise it.

You could almost say that this was the first original Depeche song that opened their particular, and now very prolific, genre of electronic blues. It's a seam they are still mining up to 2017's Spirit, and most obviously on Delta Machine.

What else is there to say about the song you undoubtedly already know? There's a lot of 1989-era remixes, 7 in total, as well as 3 mixes of the B-side (including various edits on various formats).

When Violator was released in 1990, two different mixes of Personal Jesus were used : the CD contained an extended ending compared to the 7" mix (3.46), and the initial vinyl editions of Violator contained a unique edit of the CD mix to reduce the running time on Side 1 of the album (4.17). At some point the vinyl only edit was replaced by the CD mix, so early vinyl copies of Violator contain an otherwise unavailable edit of the song. The CD branches off into an extended ending that runs to 4.55m.

There were also 2 7" editions, 2 12" editions, 2 CD singles, alongside far too many promos. The 7" was backed with Dangerous (more of which in a couple of days), and the 2nd 7" contained a Hazshemix Edit of Dangerous, and an acoustic recording of Personal Jesus. The standard 12" had a Holier Than Thou Approach mix and the acoustic version, as well as the Sensual Mix of Dangerous. These are standard and oft-the-time extended 12" mixes., The remix 12" contains Telephone Stomp and Pump mixes of Personal Jesus, and the full length Hazchemix of Dangerous. An otherwise unreleased Kazan Cathedral remix was also on a Sire promo CD.

Here's the silly, fun video, complete with rocking house and interesting clientele. No reservations about this song, it's a dead cert 5/5 classic and in their Top 10 songs without a doubt.



[* though neither were performed in New Orleans in 1993, which was cut short due a heart attack. More of this in a few years/songs/albums time! ]

 

Here's the 12" b-side Acoustic Version :

 

Here's the Kazan Cathedral mix, remixed by Francois Kervorkian, and this remix was the inspiration for the often extended ending / live arrangement of the song on tours from 1998 onwards.

 

Personal Jesus

This for me was a bit of an ear opener when I first heard it, and rather unexpected. I can't remember if I heard the song before I heard the album. It's such a simple track in some ways, with the simple chord progression and guitar figure, but in a very Depeche Mode way there is so much detail added to it.

The acoustic version also shows the quality of the song - great songs will sound great whether they are given a sophisticated production or presented acoustically, and this song really shows that.

Martin hit a home run writing this, Dave does similar, and Alan and others excel with the arrangement and production. Anton made a great video, and I note that Dave seems far more at home in his stetson (?) than the other members of the band. Good to hear of Fletch being involved in the production as often we don't hear what he contributed.

If I don't give it a 5, it's because I'm reserving that number for a couple of Violator songs coming up.

4.8/5

 

If you are talking about PJ with unique edit, it was available on CD.
Exclusive to Czech CD.

Depeche Mode - Violator (1991, CD) | Discogs

 

Two of my favourites....

Australian Blue 12"
Censored 3"








And some rare Aussie releases.

 

Personal Jesus was most likely the first DM song I ever heard, and the first I’d ever heard of DM. (I remember misreading the credit on MTV as “Depethe Mode”.) It was, however, NOT the song that made me a lifelong fan...that’s coming up next. It’s probably the most iconic song they have, but while I never actively disliked the song, it was never my absolute favorite, either. Part of that may be due to the single mix omitting my favorite part of the song—that extended instrumental synth breakdown/outro, which suddenly makes an almost novelty song into a sprawling synth symphony, with endless rhythms on top of one another, vying for your attention. It’s meticulously detailed, and I could practically “sing” that whole part despite there being practically no lyrics except the title refrain. For me, the whole song builds up to that part. Without it, it’s fine, but kind of pointless.

Live, I’m afraid this has become an obligatory encore song that I no longer have any use for. I know it’s coming at every show, and I endure it, but I could happily never hear it again—or would at least stand to appreciate it more after skipping it a tour or two. If there’s a version I like best, it must be from the Devotional tour, but it’s been pretty stagnant since then.

 

Personal Jesus

What a way to kick off the band's return. Just like Dave Bascombe was a good choice to give MFTM a fresh sound after 3 Gareth Jones productions, Flood was a genius pick to help with this record. As good as the last album was, I like the (temporary) return to more danceable music. It is a little ironic that the man at the helm for what is considered DM's finest album was also the man responsible for what many consider to be Erasure's biggest dud, Loveboat (although I actually liked that one a lot).

On to the song. Having discovered DM in the SOFAD era, I discovered a lot of their music out of order. To this day, I have never heard this song on the radio or anywhere else like a mall or store playlist. While the single version of this song is good, the album cut is perfect. Everyone is hitting on all cylinders here, Martin with his writing, Dave with his singing, Alan with his arrangements and if you listen closely you'll hear that Fletch's boots are the ones really making that stomp effect happen.

There's so much happening in this tune, its almost impossible to break it all down, but my biggest takeaway from this song and album in general is how the low end is mixed much better while not sacrificing the other elements of the recording. You definitely don't feel cheated by the bass coming out of your sound system.

While I take nothing away from the influence and recognizability of this song, I've always thought Enjoy the Silence was more of a signature tune for them. I'd know that song even if I'd never heard of these boys, while I am not exaggerating in saying that I would not even know PJ exists without following the band. At any rate, it's a testament to how good this album is as much as I love it and think it's a masterpiece, it's only my 6th favorite track.

 

I loved Violator, probably their best album objectively, though personally, I'd put Black Celebration (the version ending with But not Tonight) just ahead of it. Putting the Violator vinyl on tonight, and cranking it!

 

Flipside of Personal Jesus, is Dangerous. I love this song but it's both too good to be a B-side, and doesn't quite fit on Violator. (Where would I put it? After Policy Of Truth, of course). There's two core versions of the song - the "Sensual Mix" on the 12"/CD and the Hazchemix, on the 2nd 12" and 2nd CD, which effectively junks the whole original track and presents a completely new, mostly instrumental track. Prescient of the Junk-everything-but-the-vocal-and-even-then-only-keep-one-word-of-it approach to remixes that is quite popular from 2000 or so onwards.

This is a fantastic track, absolutely superior B-side material. Of course, the band haven't played it live, because they had too many good songs that have to be in the setlist. If the band had a song that was going to be held back from album sessions for a Greatest Hits Best Of as fanbait, this would be the song. It's a great song, but it's not quite at the level of the album songs, and if it was on the album, no doubt some of us would be "Shoulda-Been-A-B-Side". 4/5 for me, as I think it's better that some of the album songs, but it doesn't fit the mood of the album.

The 7" version seems like an edit of the Sensual Mix, so I'm posting that full length mix below.

 

Here's the Hazchemix, and it makes the Slow Mix of It's Called A Heart seem like Enjoy The Silence. -5/5 for this mix.

 

Dangerous is a great song—nearly album-worthy, but so are two more of Violator’s b-sides, too. Heck, it’s almost a-side worthy.