Depeche Mode Depeche Mode (Spiral Scratch, 1990)

Depeche Mode
[Spiral Scratch, April 1990, Words: Uncredited. Pictures: Uncredited.]

" Their movement from teeny, synth pop through a mild industrialism into thought provoking, synth layered, textual sound was now complete... Their image had been set, these guys were no longer boys, but mature men taking on the world in the way they knew how. "
Run-of-the-mill and uninspired article for collectors, detailing the various formats and contents of Depeche Mode releases throughout the Eighties. The accuracy is a bit off the mark and the proofreader needed shooting, so while there are some interesting tidbits, a new reader would do well to try the much better Record Collector articles for similar information.

In this feature we take a look at one of the UK’s most popular “Synthesiser” bands. It was early 1981 when synthesisers were at last being appreciated (and affordable) and synthetic pop was taking the public and the clubs by storm. Whereas artists like Gary Numan had hard-hitting bass synths, Jean Michel Jarre played synths like an orchestra and where Kraftwerk were purely ‘electronic’, Depeche Mode had a synthetic pop sound that was for teenagers and for dancing to. Of course this was just the surface, as time and the odd track proved, they also had all the other styles of synth music woven into the paths of their tunes and that there was more meaning to the tracks than just teeny-pop.

They were formed in 1980 and consisted of Vince Clarke, Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore. At this point they left their guitars behind them and entered the world of synthesisers and this is when they found vocalist David Gahan. The band was complete and ready to hit the country. They were eventually signed by Daniel Miller the head of Mute records with not much more than a handshake and an honest word or two. He said “I haven’t got much money but I will do the best I can for you,” whereas all the other companies just promised “loads of money”. The band agreed Daniel was the most honest and forthright person they had met in the music industry so far and signed to his label.

Daniel Miller (aka “The Normal” and “Robert Rental”) started up Mute Records in 1978 with his own single T.V.O.D. and ever since has always expressed a preference for electronic / synthesiser music as long as it was something special. To date only two artists on his label have struck commercial gold, Depeche Mode and Erasure. The label itself has a fair few releases in its pocket – having just passed the “Mute 100” prefix – and each artist seems to have some following somewhere along the line. Usually you find that if you like one artist on Mute you’ll like a couple of others too. Mute have generally been kind to the collector in both its releases and music content. Most Mute artists extend both the A and B sides on their 12” singles and when a remix comes out they remix both the A and B sides again and give you another (usually new or remixed) track as an extra track. If this isn’t the case there’s probably a live track (or two, or three) to be found on the disc.

Depeche Mode’s first single Dreaming Of Me only saw a 7” release and this only reached number 57. It is the most collectable standard 7” release by them usually because of the B-side Ice Machine. But with reissue CDs, a CD single from West Germany and the CD album in the UK, this track is now available elsewhere in its original form.

Depeche Mode moved on releasing another single New Life which had a 12” release, as did all their following singles, and fared a lot better in the charts by reaching number 11. They had finally arrived. Their first album Speak And Spell charted in the top ten and another single Just Can’t Get Enough confirmed their status by getting to number 6. [1] During 1981 they contributed to two things. The first was a track, Photographic, used on the Some Bizzare album which is now fairly rare. The second is one side of a red Flexipop flexidisc which had the track I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead on it.

It was at the end of 1981 when the shock departure of Vince Clarke stunned the public. In fact he was to do this several more times with other artists before finally settling with Andy Bell of Erasure.

He was replaced by Alan Wilder, although at first this was only for live work, and their next album was recorded only as a trio and produced three singles: See You, The Meaning Of Love and Leave In Silence. The first two singles had non-album tracks on the B-side while the third had an excerpt from one of the album tracks. This third single was also the start of the “BONG” code. Most Mute singles have a “Mute” prefix but Depeche Mode were given their own. This treatment has only been given to Vince Clarke and Depeche Mode who of course Vince was originally a member. All three singles managed to reach the top twenty.

[1] - Just Can't Get Enough in fact reached number 8.

 

[demoderus]

After this Alan Wilder became a full time member of the group and they released a new single which was their first A side not to feature on the current or next album. It was Get The Balance Right and with it came Depeche Mode’s first limited edition. This numbered 12” single came in a completely different sleeve and contained four live tracks from a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon on the 25th of October 1982. In fact this style of 12” was to follow for [Everything Counts] and Love In Itself. These two tracks coming from the Construction Time Again album. Each single had a 7”, 12” and limited edition numbered 12” (each in a different colour sleeve) which contained live tracks. These live 12” tracks can be found on CD by looking to the continent. Both West Germany and France released special live CD sets which included these three 12” singles on compact disc. The French ones come in pouches and are numbered whereas the German ones are in cases and aren’t numbered. France also released the set on cassette.

After this it was the turn of remix 12” singles to take over. They were People Are People and Master And Servant. People Are People reached Depeche Mode’s highest chart position for a single reaching number 4 but both singles were highly popular even with the almost controversial Master And Servant. The two limited editions were numbered and were mixed by ON-USound Adrian Sherwood, both had different sleeves to their original counterparts. In fact Master And Servant was very popular state side and this led to a Black And Blue mix of the A side being released in the US but remaining unissued in the UK. Depeche Mode were now in full swing and at possibly the highest point in their career regarding chart popularity.

Their next single, also from Some Great Reward, was Blasphemous Rumours, another controversial song, but it was coupled as a double A side with Somebody (Remix). Martin Gore took over on vocals for this melodic swayer. In fact he went all the way to get the right effects for this vocal performance while recording it in the nude. This wasn’t that much of a surprise though as Martin had already shown some of his personality by appearing many times in leather and other, perhaps more interesting clothing. This single had two 7” releases, the first a double A side, the second a four track EP with two live tracks taken from the Empire Theatre, Liverpool concert on the 29th of September 1984. The 12” tracks for this single appear as another of the compact discs in the continent’s live CD sets.

Depeche Mode’s industrial like sound, approved of due to an interest in German bands and such like, led their music to be accepted on the continent and this proved to be another prosperous market for them. Shake The Disease was released in April 1985 and even though the standard 12” only had extended mixes of the A and B sides the remix 12” more than made up for it. This limited edition had four tracks, all of them never issued before. There were three remixes: Edit The Shake (a remix of the A-side), Flexible (Pre-Deportation Mix) (a remix of the B-side) and Something To Do (Metal Mix) (a remix of a popular track from the Some Great Reward album). The final track was a live recording of The Master And Servant recorded at Basle in Switzerland on the 30th November 1984. It’s Called A Heart was released in September and had its two limited editions released on exactly the same day of the normal releases. They were a 7” with a small poster and a double pack 12” which had a free 12” containing remixes of the A and B-sides. More collectable is the French poster sleeve 7” which is becoming rather hard to find now. These two singles were not used for a new material album but instead were included on a compilation, The Singles 81-85, along with the A-sides to all their other singles. Due to reasons of length the LP didn’t include the two singles that had fared worst in the charts but these appear on both the cassette and compact disc versions of the album. [2] Along with Some Great Reward this LP appeared on grey vinyl pressed in Germany, a source of many coloured vinyl pressings especially of Mute label releases.

Very soon after this compilation a new album was released in March 1986. This one was probably the most involved to date and was recorded on 36 track. Their movement from teeny, synth pop through a mild industrialism into thought provoking, synth layered, textual sound was now complete. A vast following had been gained and respect from record collector and music collector alike had [been] earned. Their image had been set, these guys were no longer boys, but mature men taking on the world in the way they knew how.

Stripped was the first offering as a single. No limited editions here but the B-side, But Not Tonight, had its own release in the States. The 12” was nicely packaged as a five track, 25 minute disc. All of it either remixed or unheard before. A Question Of Lust was the second single and with it came a new limited edition. The packaged cassette single came with a free lyric booklet and a badge. Surprisingly this limited edition has been repressed several times and was available in your shops for £2.99 recently. Try ordering it if you haven’t got it (the code being “CBONG11”). This cassingle from the concert in Basle, Switzerland [sic]. Again the standard 12” offered five tracks and again all of it unheard before. The third single was a remixed A Question Of Time with a live Black Celebration from the Birmingham N.E.C. (April 14th 1986) on the B side. The 12” had two more live tracks Stripped and Something To Do. This 12” makes up the final CD in the French and German CD sets. A remix 12” was issued with four tracks and each track in the Mute tradition had not been heard before. There were two remixes and two lives. One remix and live of the A side while the B side of the 12” consisted of a Black Tulip Mix of Black Celebration and a live version of More Than A Party. The lives also coming from the Birmingham N.E.C. [sic]

[2] - The two tracks omitted on the vinyl are The Meaning Of Love and Somebody , peaking at 12 and 16 respectively. The reason given for their omission is incorrect as they were far from being the lowest achievers chartwise. Less successful were Dreaming Of Me (57), Leave In Silence (18), and Love In Itself (21), while the two 1985 singles just mentioned both stalled at a humble 18.

 

[demoderus]

Depeche Mode fans had to wait almost a year for the next release. It was a new single called Strangelove. It was another new style of synth sound which so far has stayed with them. The single had the usual limited edition 12” which featured two remixes and an extra track Agent Orange. The normal single was backed by a haunting piano tune called Pimpf. Depeche Mode had their first UK CD single released in the form of a 5 track CD. It contained three mixes of the A side (one of which was stated as an LP mix but in fact was not the version used on the forthcoming LP), the B side and Agent Orange. The video was filmed by Anton Corbijn who also filmed the videos for the next two singles and these along with a video of Pimpf were to appear later on a video called Strange. The cover was an introduction to the Depeche Mode fluorescent orange megaphone, a symbol which became a cult symbol for the hordes of Depeche Mode fans. [1] The next single to come out was Never Let Me Down Again which had Pleasure, Little Treasure as a B-side and this single offered limited editions in the form of a cassette single, CD single, and a remix 12”. The remix offered a Tsangarides Mix of the A side along with a Join Mix of Pleasure, Little Treasure and a Spanish Taster of To Have And To Hold, a track destined to appear on the forthcoming LP. The cassingle followed the standard 12” single’s tracks whereas the CD, which as the rarest of the releases had a mixture of tracks from both 12” singles. It should be noted here that the UK CD of this single came in a pouch while the German import came in a very thin case which stated Maxi-Single on it. The UK CD single was pressed in very small quantities and may even be a promo although it is not stated as such on the disc or the packaging.

In September the long awaited new album appeared. It was called Music For The Masses and was welcomed with outstretched arms. There was usual gathering of different types of songs which their fans had grown to love. From the danceable singles and forthcoming singles to the slow, melodic and enchanting Things You Said and Sacred to the upward blasting, almost pleading, Nothing. Surprisingly it only reached number 10 which is their lowest position for a Depeche Mode album. The album was backed by HMV who sold their initial copies with a free promo 12” (HMV 1) that combined the 12” A sides of the last two singles. Dealers have however split these packages and will sell the 12” on its own quite openly. Mute also released the LP on clear vinyl which is finally becoming quite scarce. The compact disc included four extra tracks and finally a double play cassette is available which has Black Celebration on one side.

It was around this time the US released a remix of Strangelove: some of the mixes contained on it have not been issued over here. There were remixes of Strangelove, the main one being titled Hijack Mix [sic] along with remixes of the track Nothing, the main one being called the Zip Hop Mix. They turned up on the usual US formats with the 12” and promo CD being the most collectable.

For Christmas Depeche Mode released a remix of Behind The Wheel with its popular B-side Route 66. This had a CD and cassette single released with it. After Christmas, as they started on a world tour [2], a remix 12” came out and their record company in Germany released a 3” CD single which had the 12” remix version on it. In the US a remixed and megamixed A and B-side were released in the form of a six track 12” and promo CD. The tour opened up in Newport Leisure Centre and during the UK leg were supported by Hard-Corps, a highly collectable group in themselves due to a Kraftwerk based sound. Their performance on the first night did not go unnoticed as the lead singer sang half their set topless. From then on the offending objects of desire were censored with a strip of paper. Because of the backing slot, Hard-Corps released a single through Mute’s association with the new dance label Rhythm King where Bomb The Bass and S-Express are to be found. The single had a 7” and 12” release and there are also white label 12” singles around. The code for the single is TYPE3.

It was in May that a strange thing happened. Suddenly with no warning, no advertising, and no press coverage Little 15 was released in the UK whilst imported copies flooded in from abroad. Nobody quite knew what was going on. The single charted at number 60 under Import by the code was UK (the code “Little15” strange in itself) and UK copies do exist. So it is now probably one of their rarest normal 7” releases along with Dreaming Of Me. Germany produced two CD singles; one mimicking the 7”, the other mimicking the 12”.

Then came the long wait while they toured. When they finally finished the world tour it became apparent that they would be using live material as their next release. The material would come from their huge concert at the Rosebowl, Pasadena in California. The long established live favourite Everything Counts was used as the A-side of the new single and the B-side was Nothing. The 12” added Sacred and A Question Of Lust. A second 12” came out which had a new Bomb The Bass remix of Everything Counts coupled with the US Hijack Mix of Strangelove. A numbered 10” single came out with free postcards and a window sticker and this included another new mix of Everything Counts called the Absolut Mix, the original 1983 12” mix and finally the US 7” mix of Nothing. Two 3” CD singles were released, one of which was [as the standard] 12” the other as the remix 12” which came in a neat filofax sleeve which had room for the first CD also. The US released a 6 track 12” and the remixes appear on the US promo CD.

[1] - Just to clarify, the author has returned to talking about Strangelove here.
[2] - The world tour promoting Music For The Masses had in fact begun in October 1987.

 

[demoderus]

To coincide with the release of the whole concert on cassette, double LP and double CD a video was also released, some having autographed inlays. This video was shot by D. A. Pennebaker and interleaved the concert with footage of the band and also of a group of fans as they followed Depeche Mode around the USA.

It wasn’t until August 1989 that new material appeared. A new single titled Personal Jesus was released and was an instant hit in the clubs. The single fared well in the charts and Depeche Mode’s following was still there. The single had several limited editions. There was a remix 12”, a cassingle and two CD singles, following the standard and remix 12” singles. A booklet sleeve three track 7” appeared later with an exclusive edit of one of the remixed tracks. The USA got in on the act again by releasing a five track 12” and an incredible eight track CD which featured all the mixes except the edited mix on the three track 7”.

Just recently they have released their latest single which is a teaser for their new album Violator which by the time you are reading this will be out on general release. The single is causing concern in the collector’s market already, due to the three 12” singles and CD single equivalents. There are the normal 12” and CD with blue covers, the first remix with yellow covers and the extremely rare The Quad: Final Mix which is housed in a black cover. The 12” is a one sided laser etched affair and the single mix runs in at 15.30 minutes. Quite impressive. If it goes by collectors' and dealer’s prophecies this item will have around 5000 12” singles and 5000 CD singles. These will sell out in one day in most places and if at the time of writing it is as rare as believed and you haven’t got it, expect to pay quite a lot of money for it.

West Germany is the source of many a collectable and this holds true in Depeche Mode’s case. Germany has pressed up nearly all of their 12” singles on coloured vinyl and almost all the 7” singles have had a red vinyl pressing. The 12” singles have been pressed many times but the 7” singles are much, much harder to find. [3] Germany is also the source of back catalogue CD singles which usually mimic the standard 12” tracks while adding the A-side 7” version. These CDs have German codes and UK codes but are imports. In Germany Some Great Reward, The Singles 81-85 and Black Celebration were pressed on grey vinyl and Music For The Masses was pressed on marble blue vinyl. [4]

The US have released two different albums, the first, Catching Up With Depeche Mode, is basically the same as The Singles but with a couple of B-sides on it. The second is called People Are People and includes most of the singles and B-sides from around the era of the People Are People and Master And Servant singles.

Depeche Mode haven’t had many related releases but Martin Gore has done a solo album titled The Counterfeit EP which has six tracks all of which are cover versions. Alan Wilder has done two solo albums under the name Recoil. The first two tracks both of which are made up of samples and sounds used by Depeche Mode but put to good use by Alan Wilder himself [sic]. The second album Hydrology has three tracks and are synth / sample based tracks. The best buy here is the CD album of Hydrology as it includes Recoil 1 & 2 and runs in at over 74 minutes.

Over the last decade Depeche Mode have had over twenty singles and eight albums, all of which have charted. Their discography is full of extended mixes and remixes which collectors have been grateful for because they haven’t been conned. However they are probably annoyed if they haven’t got the item already as it will probably cost them a fair price to get it now. This is unlike the big business multi-releases that other larger companies practise. Mute has been favourable with the collectors so far and we hope they will continue to be such kind hearted souls. Depeche Mode have kept going and now the nineties are here everyone hopes they will continue to thrive and produce great music. We have no doubt they will. As they do, you can be sure that we will keep you informed.

[3] - From personal experience I would say the writer has exaggerated the relative rarity of the red 7" singles. Like the coloured 12" releases, some particular singles are harder to find than others, but generally you can pick them up pretty easily for £10-£20, perhaps less on eBay if you're lucky.
[4] - Music For The Masses was issued on translucent blue vinyl and is reasonably common for a coloured vinyl. The only marbled blue release was for Stripped, and is far less common.