2020: Compilations, Reissues, & Boxes

Timely as ever, I just want to belatedly offer a few more thoughts on some of the releases added to the everythingsgonegreen music vaults across 2020. When it came to compilations, reissues, and box sets, it was a fairly heavyweight line-up.

Starting with perhaps the heaviest of them all, reputation-wise at least. Digging Deep: Subterranea, which offers a barely anticipated but very welcome 30-track Robert Plant solo career overview. One that sees the more obvious “hits” like ‘Big Log’, ‘Ship of Fools’, and ‘In The Mood’ sitting snuggly alongside a whole bunch of far less obvious stuff. And as any Plant fan will tell you, it’s the latter category where the real gems can be found. Digging Deep: Subterranea collects work from all but a couple of Plant’s post-Zepp solo releases across nearly four decades. The only notable absentee being work from the superb Alison Krauss collaborative effort, although Jimmy Page himself would surely argue that particular point. There’s three new (or previously unreleased) tracks to be found, the best of which is the Patty Griffin duet, ‘Too Much Alike’. More than anything, the album highlights what an exceptional career Plant has had. And still has.

In December 2020 the pop world found itself mourning all over again with the realisation that a whole 40 years had (or have) passed since John Lennon was so needlessly gunned down outside his NYC apartment. Naturally, without wishing to get too cynical about it all, a lot of fuss was centred around a new collection of Lennon post-Beatles work in the form of Gimme Some Truth. At 36 tracks in its deluxe form, it’s a balanced mix of his (and Yoko’s) best known material, alongside the not so well-kent stuff. I grabbed it, because I wanted to play the game, I like a bit of John, and of course I needed a long overdue companion set for my 2007 remastered version of Shaved Fish (1975). Apparently.

A far less-hyped late-in-the-year compilation release from a band that rarely put a foot wrong during its pomp of roughly a decade ago, was The Kills’ Little Bastards. Which is everything it promises to be on the tin. Rough, ready, raw and rudimentary rock n roll, across 20 tunes, the vast majority of which are hugely improved from their original form thanks to 2020 remastering. Highly recommended, and all that.

Speaking of rough and rudimentary, the long lost and I guess, very overdue, obligatory White Stripes Greatest Hits set was sitting in my collection before I even knew I needed it. Which I very much didn’t. I’m a Jack White fan, I don’t mind owning that … what else can I say? I’m also a bit of a Meg fan, if I’m being completely vulnerable and honest about everything. You’ll know all of these so-called greatest hits, or more shamefully, you might be someone who knows only ‘Seven Nation Army’. If you’re the latter, don’t sleep on this one, the White Stripes’ Greatest Hits album is here for you, not me.

Which brings me to a couple of compilations that aren’t really compilations because they appeal as being a little more niche or specific than that broad brush stroke might allow. New forms of old work:

Foals Collected Reworks Volumes 1, 2, & 3. More than four hours’ worth of the Oxford band’s finest moments reconfigured for what appears to be a rather large heavily lit dancefloor. Although it’s nowhere near as dubious as that may sound. Volume 1 is actually rather good, with serious producer-types, the likes of Hot Chip, Alex Metric, Purple Disco Machine, and Solomun, for starters, going mental on a career-spanning collection of Foals’ best stuff. In fact, Solomun’s edit of ‘Late Night’ is the stand-out track across the entire three volumes, which can all be picked up separately - as opposed to the full set I managed to snare. It is however a three volume set that falls slight victim to the law of diminishing returns. I felt a little jaded by the end. Volume 1 is probably quite enough techno-fried Foals, thank you very much, despite the best efforts of Jono Ma Jagwar Ma, Lindstrom, Mount Kimbie, and Trophy Wife on the second and third instalments. File this one away under: good to have, but not essential.

A little more essential for me, and another release that was both new material and yet not quite new material, was another intriguing instalment in David Bowie’s Changes series. This one - ChangesNowBowie - being specific to a radio special the great man recorded back in 1996. Featuring tunes like ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, ‘Aladdin Sane’, and Tin Machine’s ‘Shopping For Girls’. How much Bowie is too much Bowie? … wash your mouth out with soap. Reviewed here.

Reissues and deluxe sets: yet more heavyweight carry-on.

I’m probably preaching to the converted here, but New Order’s Power Corruption and Lies deluxe reissue, and Joy Division’s 40th anniversary edition of Closer proved irresistible additions, even though I’m sure I already have both albums in their original form somewhere. Maybe even on cassette. The key thing worth noting about each work is the way these albums made a mockery of the age-old “difficult second album” cliché. Of the two, I think the New Order release was the best value for money, if indeed deluxe releases are ever really value for money, with an Extras disc featuring those pesky non-album singles and previously unreleased versions of many of the album cuts.

Another landmark album celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020 with a multiple disc deluxe edition, and yet another release I didn’t really need but couldn’t resist, was Ultravox’s Vienna, the highlight of which was the “Rarities” disc featuring early versions (‘Sleepwalk’), soundcheck versions, the single version of ‘Vienna’, the 12-inch version of ‘All Stood Still’, and a bunch of live takes (at St Albans City Hall and The Lyceum) from the year of its release. Some of this stuff is incredible to listen to again, and a timely reminder of just how special Ultravox was during its pomp.

Ditto Depeche Mode, of course, and somewhat by accident, more by crook than hook, I managed to pick up a copy of the Violator 12-inch singles box set. Multiple versions of ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Policy of Truth’, and ‘World In My Eyes’, plus all of the associated b-sides … 29 tracks all up, including a dizzying 15 and a half minute ‘The Quad: Final Mix’ version of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ (phew).

An eight-volume deluxe set of Prince’s Sign of The Times, anyone? Probably unnecessary, but wow … the quality of the material he didn’t release when he was alive is all the testimony needed, if ever needed, for indisputable proof of Prince’s sheer genius. Or his commitment to his art. Or his perfectionist stance on releasing music. I found more than a few hidden gems modestly tucked away amongst the 90-plus (count em) tracks included on this deluxe set of an album I’d always previously (wrongly) regarded as being slightly inferior to Parade. I'm quite sure Parade didn’t have this many quality cast-asides, but that may yet remain to be seen. Just wow.

Last, and probably least, to be fair, a Bandcamp name-your-price I picked up was Pitch Black’s Electronomicon Live, which was essentially a prelude to the first ever vinyl release of the duo’s fantastic second album, Electronomicon, which celebrated its 20th birthday in 2020. As difficult as it might be today to process the fact that the relatively DJ/club-friendly original album had never previously been the beneficiary of a vinyl release, the live version - with tracks sourced from hours and hours of DAT tapes/live recordings from the era - stood up pretty well I thought.

Right, we’re nearly there, albeit weeks after the fact, I’ve got just one more 2020 retrospective blogpost to come, one that looks at the best EPs I picked up during the year.

Depeche Mode's Violator Box

Keen Depeche Mode fans will have been following the band’s very methodical and expansive 12-inch singles reissue series. I use the word “following”, because only the most cash-flush fans will be buying. There’s “keen” and then there’s “keen”. And then there’s another word beyond “keen” for those fans prepared to buy stuff they probably already own in one format or another. But you know … vinyl, nostalgia, collectors, and completists, there’s really no accounting for the lengths some fans will go to in order to scratch an itch.

Basically, each single from the band’s extensive archives forms part of a vinyl box set depending on which album the single originated from. So there’s a box set for Speak & Spell singles, a box set for A Broken Frame singles, and so on and so on. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have already recognised the need to be selective about what you buy, sans a lotto win or the desire to take out another mortgage. Which brings me nicely to the Violator box which arrived in July. 

Violator is without question the band’s finest moment. Depeche Mode’s masterpiece. I’d argue it all day. And have done so many times. The singles extracted from the album were ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Policy of Truth’, and ‘World In My Eyes’. But the box contains ten 12-inch singles, because you don’t just get the four 12-inch versions and the associated b-sides, you get a whole bunch of remixed material as well … in this case, a total of 29 tracks and a full three hours of Depeche Mode (across the ten singles). 

There’s four different versions of ‘Personal Jesus’, SEVEN different versions of ‘Enjoy The Silence’ – including the 15-and-a-half-minute ‘The Quad: Final Mix’, which features a number of producers including Adrian Sherwood and Tim Simenon – four versions of ‘Policy of Truth’, and four mixes of ‘World In My Eyes’. Plus of course, those b-sides: a couple of mixes of ‘Dangerous’, and three versions of (‘World’ flip) ‘Happiest Girl’, plus many others.

Those adding additional studio fairy dust include Mute Records boss Daniel Miller (naturally), Flood, and Francois Kevorkian, to name only the most prolific among the many involved.

It begs the question – how much Depeche Mode is too much Depeche Mode? … I can’t answer that either, but if you have to be selective and have enough cash to splurge on just one box in the ongoing series, I’m fairly certain this is the one to grab.

You can have a look at what is available in the series (so far) by scrolling down on this link (click here) ... if you dare.

Here’s the ‘Dangerous’ Sensual Mix … ‘Dangerous’ being the original b-side to ‘Personal Jesus’ and an instant Mode classic in its own right:

Classic Album Review: Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame (1982)

Digging out a review written yonks ago and published elsewhere, to take a look back at an album enjoying its 35th birthday this week:

Depeche Mode’s A Broken Frame is on the whole an excellent album, and wonderful for me on a personal level for the memories it evokes, but it is probably fair to say that non-converts will find it flawed in terms of its overall consistency.

Often overshadowed by the band’s debut, Speak & Spell, the follow-up nonetheless opens strongly enough with six of Depeche Mode’s finest, including two of their very best early singles - ‘Leave In Silence’ and ‘See You’ … but by track seven, the saccharine ‘The Meaning Of Love’, and track eight, the rather awful ‘A Photograph Of You’, the dated nature of the band’s early Eighties synth-pop sound starts to wear a little thin.

This was Depeche Mode’s first release without the band’s original driving force Vince Clarke (he of Yazoo, Assembly, and Erasure infamy) so we can probably put any gripes we have about uneven content down to the fact that this was a fledgling band enduring its first transitional period.

When they’re good though, they’re very very good - especially so during a strong mid-career period (see 1990’s Violator) - and there are a couple of real gems outwith the singles on here:

‘Satellite’ is a lovely slice of synth-induced skank, electronic ina Reggae-stylee, and the instrumental ‘Nothing To Fear’ is a personal highlight for the events it recalls from my youth - none of which can be repeated on a family-friendly blog. ‘My Secret Garden’ is also a favourite - but I’m not quite sure whether it is unrepentantly brilliant or ridiculously fey. Probably both. Ditto the closer, ‘The Sun & The Rainfall’.

Not bad. Not bad at all, in fact. Perhaps best summed up as a slightly flawed formative pop classic.

Here's 'Nothing To Fear' ...

 

Blog Update: Happy Anniversary, Depeche Mode, and other tidbits …

It's three years today since everythingsgonegreen took its first tentative steps online. It’s fair to say I had no idea at all where the blog would go, or how often it would go there. I didn’t even know if I had much to say (and still don’t) … or how long it would take for the novelty of blogging to wear thin (and still don’t).

But I’m still here, and if anything, the blog has been gathering some momentum over the past year – a very quiet January period excepted. It remains very much a hobby blog, a place to dump stuff, a place to rave or vent about the small – mostly music-related – things that make up my world. I’m not the greatest or most entertaining writer in the world, I get that much … but I write about this stuff purely for me. To help satisfy my near OCD-level of obsession to document shit. And if others come to visit and want to read it, well, I like that too.

If I’m learning anything it’s that the key to getting others over for a visit is to keep the content consistent and fresh. Weeks and weeks without posting not only defeats the purpose of having the blog, it also kills the prospect of repeat visits. I’d still like a few more comments I suppose, but feedback has increased markedly over the past 12 months so I can’t really moan.

Some statto tidbits (for posterity, of course!):

It took everythingsgonegreen two years to achieve the 10k “page hit” mark – something it managed around a year ago, but only another 10 months to pass the 30k “hits”, a threshold passed in December. When I’m blogging regularly with two or three posts per week, the blog consistently surpasses 100 hits per day. When I’m not, it sits at around 40-50 per day. Not big numbers, and I won’t be giving up my day job anytime soon!

But I did blog a lot more during 2013, more than doubling the number of posts across the calendar year at a rate of more than two posts per week. So increase in output = big increase in traffic volume. It isn’t exactly rocket science.

Of those 30k hits over the life of the blog (190 posts) – one blogpost is now responsible for nearly 10% of them … the classic album review for Depeche Mode’s Violator, published in April of last year. Any keyword combination of Depeche, Mode, and Violator also account for the three most common searches directing traffic to the blog.

NZ-based readers account for 40% of page hits, with the USA at nearly 21%. Visits from Germany increased noticeably over the past 12 months (are Depeche Mode big in Germany?) to the extent that it now accounts for more hits than the UK – which surprises me a little, given how UK-centric some of the blog’s content has been.

Internet Explorer is the browser of preference at 36%, followed by Safari (21%), Firefox (19%), and Chrome (17%) … and yep, I have been very bored today …

So anyway, happy birthday to everythingsgonegreen, and happy anniversary to us, dear reader.

Let’s celebrate with something relevant, something Depeche Mode … here’s Policy of Truth, off Violator …

 

 

 

 

 

Album Review: Depeche Mode – Delta Machine (2013)

Given that Depeche Mode have been at the very heart of the synthpop scene for the vast majority of my music listening lifetime (40 years), it was something of a surprise to learn that Delta Machine is just the thirteenth full-length studio release of the band’s career.

I know Depeche Mode have not had their problems to seek over the years (health issues, personnel changes etc) but I’d always thought of the group as one of the most prolific of all the early Eighties pop survivalists. Apparently not, a grand total of a baker’s dozen worth of albums over a span of 30 years offers us a somewhat different perspective.

 

Part of the reason, of course, that Depeche Mode have managed to remain at the forefront of our collective consciousness throughout that period is to do with the fact that so much of the band’s output has always been ripe for remixing; seldom do we get just one released version of any given DM track. And I don’t know how many different dance versions of ‘World In My Eyes’ or ‘Enjoy The Silence’ I’ve heard over the years, but there’s been a few – most of them pretty decent too. That, aligned with regular tours, has ensured the band’s profile remains sufficiently high, and “new product” regularly available regardless of whether or not the band have a new album out.

Over the years I don’t believe I’ve come across any flop or “bad” DM albums, just varying levels of “good”, ranging from mediocre to excellent, or in the case of Violator, excellent verging on the truly exceptional. So perhaps another factor in the band’s relatively light album output is the small matter of quality control … they’re either perfectionists to the point of pedantry, or they simply refuse to compromise, opting for craft (or should that be art?) over timeliness. Or to put it another way – nothing ever feels too rushed.

My download of Delta Machine is the deluxe edition; that means the standard 13-track album, and an extra “disc” of five additional tracks, including a second and “live” studio version of the fair-to-middling lead single ‘Heaven’.

What we get on Delta Machine is classic Depeche Mode – state-of-the-art production, occasionally iffy songwriting, Gahan and Gore sharing vocals, and the requisite number of a top drawer synthpop gems. And doubtlessly, plenty of source material just waiting to be plucked for another round of remixing.

In calling it “classic” however, I’m not necessarily saying it is one of DM’s best, because in all honesty, it isn’t. It offers snippets of what the band does best, crossing over into the murky waters of dark pop, without ever really presenting us with a single moment, or track, where they truly nail it.

So it’s classic in the sense that all of the band’s traditional boxes are ticked. If anything, Delta Machine, much like its predecessor Sounds Of The Universe, represents a return to older style elements of the band’s sound; a move away from the harder edged guitar-infused stuff of a decade ago, with an evident willingness to embrace synth-orientated pop first and foremost.

Not bad for a bunch of old blokes …

Highlights: the opener ‘Welcome To My World’, the single ‘Heaven’, ‘My Little Universe’, ‘Soothe My Soul’, and from the bonus disc, ‘All That’s Mine’ (see clip).

 

Classic Album Review: Depeche Mode - Violator (1990)

I’ve just downloaded a (deluxe) copy of the brand new Depeche Mode album, Delta Machine. I hope to have a review of that release up on everythingsgonegreen sometime in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, in anticipation of that, I thought I’d revisit a review I wrote a while back looking at arguably the band’s finest moment: the Violator album of 1990 …

*

More often than not considered little more than singles-orientated chart fodder for much of the Eighties, the Depeche Mode brand was generally viewed as being largely irrelevant by 1990. Broadly thought of (by then) as fairly one dimensional and deeply unfashionable, synthpop had long since been closing in on its own use-by date, and it was going to take something extra special for DM to survive as a going concern heading into a brave new decade. And this time it was going to take something rather more tangible than new haircuts for Messrs Gahan, Gore, and co …

What Depeche Mode came up with is Violator, an album now widely regarded as the band’s masterpiece. Certainly it is the album most universally acknowledged as the one that thrust the band beyond the realm of the singles charts, and into the far more challenging and credible world of the album market. This was achieved not by abandoning its core strengths (or those glossy synths), but by developing upon them.

 

Violator is the sound of a band arriving at the crossroads and embracing the task at hand by adopting a darker, much harder edge to its trademark sound. Lyrically too, DM seemed more assured than they’d ever been before, the tunes this time around supplemented by a far stronger set of words than fans had been used to on previous efforts. Although, it has to be said, there are a couple of junctures on Violator still prone to induce the odd bout of cringing.

Even the more casual observer will recognise this album's best moments – ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, and ‘World In My Eyes’ (to name only the most obvious tracks) have all been remixed, reconfigured, and regurgitated in so many different forms over the past two decades and that in itself is perhaps the ultimate testimony to the quality and longevity of Violator. The original versions as found on here remain just as essential, and along with ‘Policy Of Truth’, ‘Halo’, and the rather ironic* ‘Clean’, they form the core of Violator, and indeed all rate right up there as genuine synthpop classics.

(*ironic mainly because – allegedly – Gahan himself was about to enter a prolonged period of heroin addiction. I’ve seen it stated that ‘Clean’ is possibly about something other than hard drug use, but I very much doubt it).

It hardly comes as any great surprise that the release of Violator also coincided with DM finally achieving a modicum of respectability in the US – specifically as pre-eminent purveyors of dark pop within the still fledgling alt-goth genre. And although it would take a couple of post-Violator full-length efforts to really cement that status, this album essentially provided the coveted breakthrough.

So yep, Violator is quite probably the best Depeche Mode album of all, and something of a major return to form at the time.

 

Here's 'World In My Eyes':