Depeche Mode -- Delta Machine

also I love the love affair with 6/8 and 3/4 on this album

I cordially invite you to eat me because I won't be able to see them on this tour

*I* can't help that. I told you to set up the Ponzi scheme among your hapless coworkers but no.

2nd fave is "Alone"

it's very weird to me that on more recent efforts I've started enjoying Gahan as a songwriter more than Gore

Fresher toolkit given late start? Not that he's been 100% but he seems to have come at this whole thing with some unexpected angles, also he seems to have a good sense on how to collaborate with the hired hands. (Who at this point have been with the band LONGER than Alan Wilder, believe it or not...)

you know what would be awesome, is an album done by Uber Depeche Mode with Wilder and Clarke back in the group for the one-off

"Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen. And now, eighteen versions of 'New Life.'"

The album sounds better than everything they've done since Ultra - which is comforting, because I was expecting a production job more along the lines of the preceding two. Song-wise? Highlights for me: 'Welcome To My World', 'Secret To The End' and 'Soft Touch/Raw Nerve' are standing out in particular. I don't think there's anything here as good as 'Home', 'It's No Good' or 'Precious', though. About 6/10 for me so far, may improve on subsequent listens, but right now I'm enjoying the new OMD album more (which is something I don't think I could have ever said during the '90s, and I'm a fan of both bands).

haven't heard the new OMD yet, but they were always a band where I enjoyed isolated songs way more than I ever enjoyed any of their albums

you know what would be awesome, is an album done by Uber Depeche Mode with Wilder and Clarke back in the group for the one-off

A few years ago for an April Fools press release they announced their new album would have Clarke and Wilder back with everyone (even Andy) writing songs except Martin. Needless to say I was let down when I noticed the date.

opening bands: Crystal Castles, Bar For Lashes

GOD DAMMIT WHY CAN'T I GO

Who has tickets and is a smugfuck? Hi there! Now Dan will kill me.

DEATH TO SMUGFUCK

ow

My first reaction was "Enough of the blues dirges already"

Well, it _is_ called "Delta Machine"

Yeah im still very ambivalent about the heavy blues bent of this record. I somehow miss the icy precision that was usually paired with it in the past

Well, it _is_ called "Delta Machine"

I just thought it was gonna have a lot of samples of table saws and planers, tbh.

I thought it was going to be about incremental changes

Burnt a CD for myself with the album in this configuration...

1. Welcome To My World
2. Angel
3. Heaven
4. Secret To The End
5. My Little Universe
6. Soft Touch/Raw Nerve
7. Should Be Higher
8. Broken
9. Soothe My Soul

Ah, that's better.

Don't know the album enough to see what you've changed but i'm surprised you took out Goodbye which is one of teh tracks that stood out on my first listen

Basically kept the first five songs the same and re-jigged the second half, cut down the length to about 40 minutes. I'm not a big fan of 'Goodbye' to be honest, but I love the way that 'Soothe My Soul' ends.

This album, like the last one, is the audio equivalent of tl;dr.

I think I actually prefer this one over Sounds Of The Universe, and definitely over Exciter.

You guys are pretty tough on Exciter

Exciter is mad underrated

It's a slow burner for sure - also it's got one of their best singles ('Dream On')

This is definitely better than SOTU and Exciter but yes, too long

I'm pondering who I'd like them to work with as producer for their next album.

That dude behind Recoil would be a good match, I reckon.

Trentemoller

the end of "Goodbye" has started reminding me of "Porpoise Song"

re new production directions :

trentmoller vs dm = more of the same surely ..

i mean a lot of trentmoller stuff is very dm-esque ...

obv Dave "Rave" Ogilvie

ummm .. 10 years ago maybe.

is he still involved and producing ?

not seen his name in credit lists for a long time .. but that could be cos i am not picking up the relevant stuff ...

he engineered "Call Me Maybe"

In 2011, Dave Ogilvie produced the instrumental mix for Call Me Maybe, the world-wide hit by Carly Rae Jepsen.

thanking u wikipedia

as much as some people would hate it due to the sonic brickwalling that he is known for, i would actually like to hear a collab between DM and jacknife lee.

the last jacknife lee 'solo' album (which i have never seen in a shop - despite it being a major record label release) was a bit of a slept on gem of noise based electro.

can definitely see the two making something of interest.

re dave : well i never ... from one extreme ..

ok so they played *But Not Tonight* for the first time EVER last night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh4WHM_m2C8

with MG on vocals!

!

See this is why I should have been there, but they sadly did not select me as a winner, so.

Meantime, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top in the latest Record Collector says this:

I took a shine to Depeche Mode. I went to see them and it was SO heavy…it was rewarding to me as seeing James Brown in 1965….That inspired me and I was able to lightly steer the band.

Hero.

ZZ Top were inspired by OMD, too (as were Depeche Mode, funnily enough, although you'd never catch any former or current member that isn't Vince Clarke admitting to it).

So it would seem like they're playing 'Barrel Of A Gun', 'Black Celebration' and 'Higher Love' on this tour!

http://25.media.tumblr.com/7f52bbe0b9d397430e4ea51283b1dd19/tumblr_mmakuvXn9Y1qcoqfio1_1280.jpg

Setlist spread:

Speak & Spell = 1
A Broken Frame = 0
Construction Time Again = 0
Some Great Reward = 0
Black Celebration = 3
Music For The Masses = 1
Violator = 4
Songs Of Faith & Devotion = 3
Ultra = 1
Exciter = 0
Playing The Angel = 2
Sounds Of The Universe = 0
Delta Machine = 8

woah Higher Love..

Meantime a new remix surfacing for "Soothe My Soul" via Jacques Lu Cont

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/depeche-mode-rage-anew-in-soothe-my-soul-steve-angello-vs-jacques-lu-cont-remix-song-premiere-20130503

Incredible show tonight, much better than the one I saw in '09. In the past the live instruments seemed like embellishments (not a criticism) on top of the synth and other pre-programmed components. Now they sound much less constrained and freer with what they can play and how they can play it. Anyhow, it was awesome.

Slightly underwhelming O2 show last night. Dave was great as usual and the highs were spectacular - World in My Eyes, Behind the Wheel, Enjoy the Silence, Personal Jesus, Never Let Me Down Again, I Feel You, Halo - but it was a strange setlist, very heavy on the last decade, and some of the Delta Machine songs sound stolid live. Doubly annoying because the night before they played Walking in My Shoes (my favourite Depeche song), Policy of Truth, Question of Time and Black Celebration.

Annoyingly rockist too, thanks to the bloody drummer. Enjoy the Silence does not require a drum solo nor Just Can't Get Enough a latin beat,and I prefer Gore's guitar when it's providing precise embellishments rather than heavy riffs. I still had fun but, y'know.

This band is a long way - decades, really - away from three dudes standing behind synths and a twirling Dave. They have so many hits and iconic songs there's simply no way to do them all and satisfy everyone. The closest they came, really, was their hits tour some years back.