The Official Sequential/Oberheim Forum
OTHER DISCUSSIONS => General Synthesis => Off Topic => Topic started by: LPF83 on March 05, 2021, 07:07:36 PM
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Espen's channel is always fun, I recommend it. This tour of Keyboard mag, circa 1986 has an article on Depeche Mode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t04yIUXBY5A
Interesting tidbits:
- Alan used a Korg Poly-800 on tour (budget analog synth) in addition to the Emulator II.
- Not much live tweaking of sounds going on, most things were pre-prepared (understandable.. mostly samples and tape anyway)
- There was an undercurrent that Fletch didn't contribute proportionately, but Alan is diplomatic :)
You can tell that Alan, in his role at the time, was sowing the seeds of disenchantment with regard to the disproportionate effort he was putting in compared to the rest of the band. The fact that Martin and Fletch had nothing to say to Keyboard magazine (and used fear-of-endorsement-confusion as an cop out) says a lot about where their skills were from a technical standpoint at the time. They were extremely lucky to have found Alan, both his musicianship and technical skills.....originally lucky to have Vince Clark and then later Alan, yet not able to retain either. Martin is very talented in his own right and Dave's voice does not need to be promoted here, but the bottom line is that Alan was hugely responsible for DM's golden years. They did make some good music even after his departure, but they should have righted the situation and kept him.
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Maybe old news for some, but I don't recall ever noticing Alan playing a Prophet5 on stage before I saw this video:
https://youtu.be/N2rxfzLQg2Y
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First new music since Fletch's death... full album due in March '23
https://youtu.be/iIyrLRixMs8
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In typical DM fashion, depressing as hell. I love it!
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In typical DM fashion, depressing as hell. I love it!
I think what is missing from a lot of modern music is a direct intention from the artist to invoke a specific, targeted emotion from the audience. A lot of it seems to fly out the door because the mix came out well, with a focus on how the sounds hit the ear rather than how the melodies hit the heart.
This is what Depeche Mode was always good at. They always transferred their emotions into the track, and continued to refine it until they were sure the listening audience was going to experience those emotions whether they like it or not.
Oddly it seems like over time, people remember and respect the more complex, deep, darker stuff that DM did than the cheerful synth pop. I guess it strikes a nerve in all of us? No doubt this round of DM music is heavily influenced by the loss of Fletch.
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I remember someone saying - it may have been Thom Yorke in an interview from memory - that Depeche Mode always sound like Depeche Mode (meant as a compliment of course), and I thought this summed things up pretty perfectly for me.
I think they are one of those bands who had a unique voice with what they did. That golden era when Alan Wilder was with them truly was an incredible output. They have hit some heights since, and some of their later stuff I love, but that period was really special.
I agree with you about emotional impact - i think this is the ultimate thing that has driven Martin Gore's songwriting. Mix that with the band's electronic exploration, expansion of their instrumentation, having a great ear for what works, and Dave Gahan's voice and showmanship, and it's a magic cocktail.
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I remember someone saying - it may have been Thom Yorke in an interview from memory - that Depeche Mode always sound like Depeche Mode (meant as a compliment of course), and I thought this summed things up pretty perfectly for me.
I think they are one of those bands who had a unique voice with what they did. That golden era when Alan Wilder was with them truly was an incredible output. They have hit some heights since, and some of their later stuff I love, but that period was really special.
I agree with you about emotional impact - i think this is the ultimate thing that has driven Martin Gore's songwriting. Mix that with the band's electronic exploration, expansion of their instrumentation, having a great ear for what works, and Dave Gahan's voice and showmanship, and it's a magic cocktail.
The Alan Wilder time period is indeed the golden era of Depeche Mode, and I can't help but continue to think that a reunion would be a mind-blowing success for them. Despite Alan's departure, they've still made some great tunes since, and I think that is a testament to what you've said above about the combination of Martin and Dave.
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There's an issue from Tape Op magazine from 2015 (I don't have the mag handy to identify specific month) featuring interviews with Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller, amongst others of that era. Lots f talk of recording Depeche Mode. I found a copy of the magazine at my dad's recently and brought it home with me. Not sure how easy to find old Tape Op issues online, but if you can track it down, this issue gives good insight into what went into the albums back when.
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There's an issue from Tape Op magazine from 2015 (I don't have the mag handy to identify specific month) featuring interviews with Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller, amongst others of that era. Lots f talk of recording Depeche Mode. I found a copy of the magazine at my dad's recently and brought it home with me. Not sure how easy to find old Tape Op issues online, but if you can track it down, this issue gives good insight into what went into the albums back when.
Thanks for this! I love these kinds of finds. I did a quick search and it is the Nov-Dev 2015 issue, and back issues can be purchased and downloaded as .pdfs so I will definitely give it a read. I wasn't even aware of this magazine. Both of those guys contributed hugely to the sound of Depeche Mode (and Erasure)
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I was just listening to some old DM this morning, "But Not Tonight" from my USB playlist:
Oh God, it's raining, but I'm not complaining
It's filling me up with new life
The stars in the sky bring tears to my eyes
They're lighting my way tonight
I mean... that's some weird weather phenomenon, cloudy with bright stars, but still one of my favorite songs.
I did pre-order Memento Mori on vinyl.
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There's an issue from Tape Op magazine from 2015 (I don't have the mag handy to identify specific month) featuring interviews with Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller, amongst others of that era. Lots f talk of recording Depeche Mode. I found a copy of the magazine at my dad's recently and brought it home with me. Not sure how easy to find old Tape Op issues online, but if you can track it down, this issue gives good insight into what went into the albums back when.
Thanks for this! I love these kinds of finds. I did a quick search and it is the Nov-Dev 2015 issue, and back issues can be purchased and downloaded as .pdfs so I will definitely give it a read. I wasn't even aware of this magazine. Both of those guys contributed hugely to the sound of Depeche Mode (and Erasure)
It's a great magazine - and subscriptions (in the US, at least) are FREE! The publisher, John Botch, was the first guy to stick me in a proper studio and the early days of the magazine were cranked out down the hall from the main room we recorded in.
I was mainly a fan of the very first DM stuff - I had Speak and Spell and a 12" EP. The really poppy material was as far as I went, but I was working at a dance club (in the same building that became Tape Op HQ years later) and "People Are People" was THE song on any given night. People in the lounge would put out the clove cigs and race back to the dance floor for it!
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There's an issue from Tape Op magazine from 2015 (I don't have the mag handy to identify specific month) featuring interviews with Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller, amongst others of that era. Lots f talk of recording Depeche Mode. I found a copy of the magazine at my dad's recently and brought it home with me. Not sure how easy to find old Tape Op issues online, but if you can track it down, this issue gives good insight into what went into the albums back when.
Thanks for this! I love these kinds of finds. I did a quick search and it is the Nov-Dev 2015 issue, and back issues can be purchased and downloaded as .pdfs so I will definitely give it a read. I wasn't even aware of this magazine. Both of those guys contributed hugely to the sound of Depeche Mode (and Erasure)
It's a great magazine - and subscriptions (in the US, at least) are FREE! The publisher, John Botch, was the first guy to stick me in a proper studio and the early days of the magazine were cranked out down the hall from the main room we recorded in.
I was mainly a fan of the very first DM stuff - I had Speak and Spell and a 12" EP. The really poppy material was as far as I went, but I was working at a dance club (in the same building that became Tape Op HQ years later) and "People Are People" was THE song on any given night. People in the lounge would put out the clove cigs and race back to the dance floor for it!
"People Are People" was one of those songs that when it hit the mainstream airwaves, I didn't know who DM was and I wasn't heavily smitten by that particular track. I was into car stereo gear at the time, and ended up buying the "Some Great Reward" cassette simply because I bought anything that sounded good (from a production standpoint) on the Alpine system I had installed in my car. I always liked listening to tracks not only for the overall vibe but for the detail within, which is why having a decent custom car stereo was important to me at the time -- it revealed both synthesis approach and production technique at the same time. Anyway, purchase of that cassette and repetitive listening led to me discovering tracks like "Stories of Old" and "Blasphemous Rumours", and then realizing the combination of depth, originality, and raw talent this band had... I then started accumulating their other works.
As I kept peeling back the wrapper on their older works (Speak and Spell, A Broken Frame, Construction Time Again), I would play them for friends to hear whenever we rode around in my car. What still amazes me to this day is that just about every one of my close friends ended up becoming huge DM fans. There was something infectious about their music.
I can remember back in the pre-napster days when "record stores" existed. I was already into software development at the time but the average American didn't even own a computer... very different times and mainstream access to the Internet was non existent. Friends and I used to frequent one record store in particular which was large with a "social vibe" (it was meant to be kind of a gathering place in addition to a place to buy music)... The clerks would play pretty much anything you asked them to even if it meant tearing the wrapper off a CD they had not yet played. Sometimes we would go in there and first thing ask them to play a few lesser-known tracks from a DM CD, and what amazed me is that it almost always changed the vibe. More than once I saw some reaction from someone else in the store, in some cases walking up to the clerk and asking who that band is, etc. DM just always had a way of reaching people and inciting some reaction. Maybe sometimes the reaction is an emotion the listener didn't particularly want to deal with, but in some cases it made them say "hey.... who just woke up that part of me that I wasn't ready for?". I think this ability they've always had is probably why I have so much respect for them.
I personally never considered any of their music depressing or dark, but I know a lot of people do. The same is true for The Cure... the first time I had a highschool friend listen to a tape I gave him of The Cure, he said "I instantly wanted to slash my wrists, but at the same time could not put it down". lol..
I don't know I guess I see music as an expression of emotion, and the more intensely emotion is expressed the more it's going to strike me as a piece of work where the artist invested themselves? Maybe?
But I do know that when I first started buying my own synths in the mid-late 80s, doing cheesy covers of DM tracks was literally one of the first things I did, and for that reason they have been a massive musical influence on me.