Depeche Mode -- Sounds of the Universe

Ah.

man, this cat gahan really does have nine lives!

whew. glad to hear this.

Couple of "Peace" remixes have surfaced via the iTunes Pass -- Herve's 'Warehouse Frequenices' mix is a good 'un.

More iTunes Pass stuff, a couple of live tracks from Israel, "In Sympathy" and "Walking In My Shoes." And of course include a classic Dave "GOOD EVENING TEL AVIV!"

This just isn't Dave's year:

Depeche Mode regret to announce that the following performances will be cancelled due to a calf muscle tear Dave Gahan suffered during the band's show in Bilbao on July 9th.

* Saturday, July 11th at Super Bock Super Rock Festival in Porto

* Sunday, July 12th at Olympic Stadium, Sevilla

Dave Gahan has been instructed by doctors to stay off his injured leg in order for it to heal and to prevent any further injury. Dave will be unable to perform during this recovery period and he and the Band regret that they must cancel these final two shows of their European tour.

Depeche Mode apologize to their fans for these cancellations.

This was probably stated upthread but the sonic details revealed when listening to this album on headphones are staggering.

The show last night could have been a little sharper (still, Hollywood Bowl acoustics are their own problem) and I would have liked more songs from Sounds (no "Fragile Tension," WTF), but I ain't complaining, especially after all the other California show cancellations. Dave sounded pretty good, Martin's vibrato seems to have settled a bit, etc.

Best reworkings: piano/vocal only for "Home," the new piano-led rearrangement of "Waiting For the Night" and a take on "In Your Room" that mostly jettisoned the Butch Vig remix take they've been doing for years in favor of something closer to the original album version, though different in its own right.

Best Corbijn video backdrops: the three of them in astronaut suits against a blue screen shuffling around and looking a little downbeat during "Enjoy the Silence," the slow motion silhouettes of band and dancer for "Personal Jesus," all the live camera footage one-upping last tour's more fixed shots (brings all the performances fully to the back row, a lot more active and tracking shots)

Most 'Wait did he really film that' Corbijn video backdrop -- "Strangelove." Foot fetishists ahoy.

I happened to think all the projections looked cheap and boring. I can't believe people are going ZOMG apeshit over them. Pretty poor quality in my opinion.

They're not all that far removed from the Violator era ones, though definitely the most expensive/indulgent remain the Songs of Faith and Devotion projections. And the Playing the Angel ones were barely there!

I've never seen DM live before this tour so I have no prior projection knowledge to compare to, but compared to other large projections i've seen, these were easily the most boring i've ever seen. That orb thing hanging was terrible too. Meh, worse than the projections was the fact that the first hour of the show seemed to be performed about 2-5bpms slower than the studio versions and filled with boring newer tracks. Nobody wants an hour of dirge at the beginning of a DM show. They should compact their post-Violator set inclusions to only 3 or 4 songs. I Feel You, Walking In My Shoes and Precious are really all you need to hear from DM after 1990. Anyway, I'll never pay to see them again but I didn't hate the show. The 2nd hour was pretty decent.

I Feel You, Walking In My Shoes and Precious are really all you need to hear from DM after 1990.

...I see we will have to agree to disagree here.

the highlight of my saturday night was overhearing a very young bartender at a wedding hitting on a girl. he was talking about going to lollapalooza and twice mentioned seeing "day-peh-shay mode".

Maybe he was secretly a Dead Milkmen fan.

I think it would be great to see DM and have them rely less on all of the big hits. Or even do a show of all post-SOFAD material.

I figure there's always five songs they'll play no matter what -- "Never Let Me Down Again," "Personal Jesus," "Enjoy the Silence," "I Feel You," "Walking In My Shoes." After that, whatever they want to do. I was actually surprised at the inclusion of "It's No Good" but not as surprised as seeing how huge a reaction it got, given that Ultra feels like a bit of a lost album due to the lack of tour for it.

Also a little surprising -- the only song from either Exciter or Playing the Angel was "Precious."

I recently rediscovered Ultra and I think it's one of their best: song for song it just works, and given the stress under which it was made that makes it all the more impressive.

Surprised they didn't at least play "Suffer Well".

Anyway, sister of a friend took some *really* good shots at the show.

Great photos, Ned's friend's sister!

I only picked up SotU about a month ago, because my initial listen was so disappointing, especially after the excellent last album. I almost considered making it the first DM album I wouldn't purchase, but I ended up finding it for cheap, and I don't regret buying it. I felt (and still feel) like not a one of these songs sounds like a single; instead they're a compelling group of album tracks with some interesting songwriting here and there. That probably sounds awful to some people, haha. I'd say it's on par with Exciter, but not as high highs and not as low lows.

OH FUCK YES

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63278919

these guys are really winning the "effortlessly disturbing" video stakes

I like how it just keeps getting more...wrong.

lol@mustard kiss

Make-out song of the year?

But really, what am I supposed to make of this video? Ideas?

this fucking album.

<3 eric wareheim's videos.

People better not forget about this album when compiling their end of year list...

saw them live tonight. never really paid attention to them save for three singles. will give this new one a serious listen, then consider what earlier stuff to tackle first.

Grimly Fiendish supposedly caught them tonight as well so I await his thoughts.

Just barely got the deluxe boxset & i'm blown away by the books and remix postcards. Now desperate to collect them all.

Hello:

Alan Wilder's playing piano for the encore. First time he's been on stage with Depeche Mode in 16 years.

Shot of same.

Holy shit.

oh shiiiiiii

Here's hoping for a tour with only Alan Wilder-era stuff being played.

We have video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2umJr_dGpw

Sing-along cameraman?

Only at the start, thankfully.

This concert is going to be up there with the Rose Bowl.

Shot from further back so you can both Alan and Martin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_9EK6BK9ws

(And a different angle, more accurately! The HD focus helps a lot when the closeup section begins.)

I had no idea that Liars' Julian Gross was passenger in the "wrong" video.

Would be great if he'd actually rejoin the band. He's like the great dark horse of the band, and his input in terms of arranging was very important. After he left, their producers have had more power.

Julian Gross was in Depeche Mode?

Does Dave say 'charlie's good tonight' at the end of that clip?

It's kind of heartbreaking how patchy this album is. Half of it approaches career-defining brilliance (first 4 songs, "Come Back", "Corrupt") and the rest is kind of this big pile of anonymous filler that could have been put out by a competent Depeche Mode tribute band.

Which makes it really no different than any Depeche Mode album since, but obviously not including, Violator.

Eh, not really. Both Ultra and Playing the Angel are much stronger.