A thread for the Depeche Mode reissues

you know what is an underrated album, is Exciter

slowly but surely i am getting the basic single cd remastered editions.
today i found remastered edition of 'violater' for a coin in a charity shop.
not so sure i need 'ultra' to be replaced as i think the original sounds perfectly fine, but should the chance arise then of course i will succumb.
the only other remastered edition i really need of the cds i already have is 'black celebration', however, the edition i have has extra tracks on it (breathing in fumes, but not tonight(ext), black day).
such a shame they did not add extras to the remasters.
that said, i kind of like the fact they stuck to the original albums.
i mean my first exposure to MFTM was on cassette, which had a ton of extras, and what i would give to have that edition available on remastered cd now.

black celebration dvd is a thing of beauty and a joy forever; the docu is *an hour* long and features among other treats; The Cure and the the Mode hiding in a van during a riot.

ultra came out during a period when CDs sounded pretty good, i think. pre-loudness wars, post-"oops got rid of the hi hat". like those great sounding byrds reissues that came around 97/98, i kind of remember those being the first 60s rock reissues that sounded really great and were inexpensive + easy to get. maybe i'm wrong/too young, tho

The original CD issue of Music for the Masses had bonus tracks too, if I recall ('Agent Orange', 'To Have and To Hold (Spanish Taster)', 'Never Let Me Down (Aggro Mix)', a remix of 'Pleasure, Little Treasure' etc.) - I think it was a bit of a ploy by Mute to get people to buy the CD version... same with Erasure's The Innocents which had a couple of bonus tracks on both the cassette and CD versions ('When I Needed You (Melancholy Mix)' and their version of 'River Deep, Mountain High') ...

ultra came out during a period when CDs sounded pretty good, i think. pre-loudness wars, post-"oops got rid of the hi hat"

yeah otm. I mean, I figure it's partially based on what age I was at the time (imagine it sounds dated to a lot of people younger than me), but I love a lot of the way late 90's stuff was produced, before all the squashing. really crisp and clear. Ultra is one of the best-produced albums ever imo

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pSozvePvdek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2G7YY8Zr88

Start the tape!

Love the modernized trailer.

I've been watching the various documentaries that came out with the 2006 reissues and occasionally Fletch comes across as the most colossal POS, I don't know much about the inner dynamics of the band, does he have that reputation?

I remember hearing that what eventually drove Alan Wilder out of the band was his indignation that Fletch took the same share of the band's profits, while making no musical contribution whatsoever

Definitely part of it. Fletch seems to mostly function as their internal BS detector when it comes to whether the songs work, as I recall right. Combine that with the fact that he was the de facto manager for almost two decades until Kessler finally took the reins and he's part of the story of the band as unit if not necessarily as creative force.

Yeah, I think he's kind of an important neutral component of the band dynamic.

My Depeche Mode fan friend used as shorthand for Wilder and Fletcher "the one who does everything" and "the one who does nothing".

internal BS detector

That's what Billy Corgan said about D'Arcy.

Lol, clearly even when she was in the band she was only modestly effective. At least Fletch has kept DM from ever embarrassing themselves, imo, but that could be as simple as Gore and Gahan lacking the sheer relentless ego of Corgan.

They had a very unusual band dynamic until Wilder left. Very rare that the lead singer did not really contribute to songwriting, while the songwriter wrote the songs and then left the arrangements up to other people! They really needed each other, I guess even Fletch

That's what Billy Corgan said about D'Arcy.

Bez’s role in the Happy Mondays and Black Grape was described as being “Shaun’s ears.”

Belatedly caught their HOF acceptance speech - highly charming stuff, especially when they pay tribute to their influences, hah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7teQR3B-z8

"...the Eagles."

But yeah, while it's hard to say one should have COVID-era highlights, this was actually one of them.

https://www.rhino.com/article/depeche-mode-detail-strangestrange-too-dvdblu-ray-collection

Previously available as individual titles in VHS and Laserdisc formats (now out-of-print and highly collectible), Strange (1988) and Strange Too (1990) are compilations of the provocative and visionary short films lensed by master photographer/director Anton Corbijn, in collaboration with Depeche Mode, to create a new visual iconography for the band and their music.

Available for the first time in DVD and Blu-ray configurations and as a single collection, Strange/Strange Too presents 11 Anton Corbijn/Depeche Mode music films, newly restored from original Super 8mm sources, alongside six previously unseen outtake "vignettes" from the DM archives.