Depeche Mode C or D/S& D

No *blu-ray*?? Baffling to issue remastered sound on a DVD.

Also no 'Halo'!

No *blu-ray*?? Baffling to issue remastered sound on a DVD.

That did make me wonder. At the same time, they might be figuring more visuals than audio.

New album and tour next year, I'm guessing? It's getting to that time again!

Yeah, definitely!

It'll be 20 years since Ultra came out, too.

This is so good. In 1982 Alyson Marlow sent the band a big list of questions:favorite color, TV show, shoe size? All on it and more. Amazingly they replied in full, really is quite sweet. I can't imagine Coldplay doing the same. https://www.facebook.com/depechemode/posts/10155932580900329:0

https://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/17795735_10155932580900329_7553565394514579705_n.jpg?oh=67dbbafeea8ca41928f9190a61db5ddf&oe=599567C8

Split Enz, eh?

Some funny answers in there in hindsight, like Fletch saying 'Leave in Silence' is his favourite video!

DM night on BBC4 tonight!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules

21:00
Depeche Mode at the BBC

Including New Life, Just Can't Get Enough, Blasphemous Rumours and Personal Jesus.
View Programme information

22:00
The 6 Music Festival 2017, Depeche Mode

Highlights from Depeche Mode's headlining performance at the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow.
View Programme information

23:00
Depeche Mode: 101

Documentary about Depeche Mode's attempts to break America in 1989.

-

appalling description of 101 aside this all looks pretty good!

Christ, has it really been five years since BBC 4 last showed 101?

I always liked Little 15.

I also like this Priku edit of it, its a little shameless but it works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlD7oRqb9DQ

Many xposts:

Fletch and Wilder both confessing to be Daily Mail readers, though... oosh!

Thought this was a nice touch.

Eighties rockers Depeche Mode recoiled when white supremacist Richard Spencer dubbed them the “official band of the alt-right.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/10/the-alt-rights-proud-boys-love-fred-perry-polo-shirts-the-feeling-is-not-mutual/?tid=hybrid_collaborative_2_na&utm_term=.de55fb3937fb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNTxn7BcfGQ

Beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-06FSk1pBo

Is there any good bio of the band? I'm pretty familiar with the 90s tale of disintegration and redemption, but not really familiar with the internal dynamics during their imperial phase.

The Steve Malins book is still considered the best iirc.

thanks - that looks perfect

The Mute Records book with all the cover art in is also pretty essential. Not just for Mode stuff but all the artwork proofs etc. gave me nerdy goosebumps. Fascinating to see how much input Dan Miller had.

The Steve Malins book is good, but Stripped is the best book on Depeche Mode so far. The only problem is that it needs a revision, because it only goes up to around the time of Gahan's first solo album, when he started implying that he wasn't interested in Depeche Mode unless he had more of a creative say. Of course, there's been about 15 years and four more albums since. Malins' book only goes up to Ultra, iirc.

Malins has put out some revised editions since.

He has? I'll have to check those out. I wasn't sure if he was still writing or not, because I know he was managing Gary Numan for a while and then John Foxx... I think he's involved with Blancmange now?

He is indeed.

Who wrote ‘Stripped’?

Jonathan Miller. I haven't read it for years, which I guess is a good excuse to re-read it!

Jeremy Deller and Nick Abrahams' doco about eastern European DM fans, Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode (aka The Posters Came From The Walls) is up on Vimeo and apparently free to view this week

Deller's blurb: http://www.jeremydeller.org/OurHobbyIsDepechMode/OurHobbyIsDepecheMode_Video.php

also western Californian, and registered Maryland drivers

Great film, that -- forgot to say so last year when we caught it!

Meantime, a bit secondary to Depeche here, I admit, but last week I interviewed Gareth Jones, ie the guy who engineered the Depeche sessions from Construction Time Again through Black Celebration among a ton of other things to the present day, about his favorite albums. Fun chat!

https://thequietus.com/articles/29883-gareth-jones-interview-favourite-albums

So not directly about DM, but I did write about this...

https://thequietus.com/articles/30108-depeche-mode-anton-corbijn-taschen-book-review

pic.twitter.com/RlB7QM6ckW

— Depeche Mode (@depechemode) May 26, 2022

wtf! awful news. RIP

God damn it. This is so sad.
And then there were two.

ah man, me happily opening this thread thinking there's maybe an announcement of a new album or something.

RIP, truly terrible.

RIP

He was the Paul English to Mart's Willie Nelson and I am not joking about that.

Yeah, this is a day.

RIP :(

everyone likes to joke that he was useless but anyone who's tried to play a synth bassline on a keyboard consistently knows how difficult his work was

Accurate:

What a shock. A very sweet man with a dry sense of humour, Martin's best friend, the least pop starry person ever to be in a global stadium band and a noun - a Fletch - for someone with an indeterminate musical role who is nonetheless essential to the whole. https://t.co/uh4xV0epJ7

— Dorian Lynskey (@Dorianlynskey) May 26, 2022

Wouldn't I love to be a Fletch in a band of Fletches.

fletch reminds me of paul morley from the art of noise anyways they dominated the 80s and lost me after violator!

Can hardly believe it ... I'm in shock. What a tragedy. RIP Fletch.

My friend's doing an all DM video TwitchStream this evening starting at 6:00 CST.

https://m.twitch.tv/VJBigSuit

Such terrible news. I've been pretty lukewarm to what the band's been doing this past decade but I hope they can still continue now, they've made it clear that he was an important part of the band. RIP Fletch

I mean I hate to be blunt but there's a part of me that feels that the band is over. The 'lukewarm water' joke from Spinal Tap has a real place in small group dynamics and he was, as a friend said, the 'peacemaker' between Gahan and Gore over time. If they do continue, well, stranger has happened -- I mean I still can't believe the Who barely skipped a beat after Entwistle died -- but personally I don't think we're seeing Depeche again, and I'm glad I have seen them so many times already.

This is a big one, RIP

RIP Fletch, a true inspiration for all of us normie goths <3

RIP Andy. I don't know much about his creative input in DM but speaking as a fan, his goofy joy up there dancing and playing keys was always an important and welcome counterweight to the earnest brooding of the rest of the band.

Also, his name was the password to my first email account

Fletchboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYg8OcT_vhc

I grew up near Basildon. It is an absolute shithole. Full of petty, mindless violence. Tories everywhere. Some of the scariest nights of my life were in my younger days when I would (stupidly) meet friends there for drinks. The fact that anything of note came out of there is truly miraculous.