Depeche Mode - Spirit

i was going to try and see this upcoming show, but i really couldn't be bothered. don't like the new stuff.

Holy shit! Yeah, hope he's ok...

he is OK (food poisoning):

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-40643423

That's two of the last three tours he's been hospitalised on... it makes me wonder just how long Depeche would be willing to go on as a touring unit.

Anyway, the replayability of this record seems to be quite high for me, I burned out on the two records before far quicker.

OK, weeks down the line, at the right volume, in the right mood, this is hitting the spot.

Yay! This has become one of my favourite Depeche Mode albums. For real.

US tour kicking in too. Seems well timed all around.

Was mostly not feeling the show last night. I know they've been in this, er, mode for a while now, but it's just too over the top rock, not helped at all by the fucking drummer, who played like he was being paid by the fill and/or trying out for Tool.

Yeah, that's been a common complaint re: Eigner for years now. There's still folks who'd love them to return to the three keyboards + vocals set-up and get rid of the live drums and guitar, but I don't think they will.

Heard a lot of positive feedback on the US tour so far myself; honestly if anything it sounds like...what they've been generally doing. So, we'll see.

Eigner is there to stay. Dave's been vocal about the fact that he really likes having a live drummer to work with. (If they ever got in a bassist, THEN I'd worry.)

I was at the same show and enjoyed it, but it was my first time seeing live DM in person so I might be biased. I kind of take it for granted that anyone playing large arenas is going to end up with some arena rock conventions.

All credit to the lady behind me who very emotionally sung along to all of Martin’s solo vocal moments

(If they ever got in a bassist, THEN I'd worry.)

Peter did play bass for two or three songs!

I know Dave likes Eigner, and I know why they do it, and I know this is how it's been, but having seen a bazillion shows (including DM before) I also know there are different ways to approach arenas or the equivalent and DM has basically taken the laziest route. Bigger. Louder. Less dynamic. As if they're afraid to ever bring things down too much, like they think the fans need all the aggro stuff or they'll turn on them or something. Like, I've seen Sade absolutely kick ass in an arena, if you trust your fans and program a good show, the fans will dig it.

Also, and I say this with love, Martin and Dave could not have given less of a shit about playing "Everything Counts," so why do it at all? If you're going to sleepwalk through a song, that seems an ironic choice.

Peter did play bass for two or three songs!

Ha, well, that much I'll allow -- no more, though.

Hadn't realized "Everything Counts" is back! That's been some years -- though it is...appropriate to the times.

The transformation from a Einsturzende Neubauten and Fad Gadget-loving European electronic band to a Mumford & Sons-loving American blues band has been quite something.

This thread revival has got me listening to Spirit again and it's continuing to hit the spot... I fucking love 'Scum' and 'You Move' ...

get this mumford shit off the thread

martin's blues interests have expanded but there are more industrial/techno bits he's skimmed off his side projects and listening interests in there too

Gahan's the one that likes Mumford & Sons.

Depeche Mode did a track 34 years ago called 'Pipeline' which I would describe as "none more industrial" in the "old skool" sense. They also did a track 25 years ago called 'Rush' which could have fit snugly on Pretty Hate Machine. Both are more exciting than anything on Delta Machine.

Scum is a late-career highlight

it reminds me of Wrong, these one word themes

I was going to post this earlier because it really stuck in my head: the video clips for a couple new songs, which I believe are new for this tour, are really good! especially the one for In Your Room

I think I read it's all new work with Anton Corbijn

Scum is a late-career highlight

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, August 31, 2017 8:46 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I completely agree!

New video's nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8t5M9_Tvzk

I like the video - it's a bit of a strange choice of single, though.

hey, they showed part of that on the tour visuals!

The more I listen to this album, the angrier I get at that track-by-track listen published on The Quietus.

So, I'm finding myself listening to Spirit again, and... this has got to me the most I've spun a new Depeche Mode album for 12 years, possibly even 20 years. While the change in producer wasn't immediately apparent, it's definitely had an impact and it's amazing how much more fresh this sounds due to the change in producer, the change in subject matter and also the fact that it's their shortest album in a long time.

'Going Backwards', 'Where's the Revolution?', 'The Worst Crime', 'Scum', 'You Move', 'Cover Me', 'So Much Love' and 'Fail' are all some of my favourite things this band have done post-Ultra and 'No More (This Is The Last Time)' is a grower. 'Poorman' is the one song I'm not so keen on in comparison to the others, partly because it retains some of the "bluesy" ingredients that I'm fucking sick of hearing from Depeche Mode at this stage.

On the whole, it's my favourite new Depeche Mode record for a very long time and an unexpected surprise - I was all prepared to hear a tired record by a band going through the motions, but they've actually made a bit of effort this time around to change things up and maybe address some of the "problems" (for want of a better word) of the previous couple of albums. They've made one of my favourite synth albums this year - quite something for a band I'd assumed to be, while not completely creatively spent, then in serious danger of getting there.

I agree, except I also like "Poorman".

Spirit is easily their best since Playing the Angel, if not Songs of Faith and Devotion.

Wow. Well, I think it's better than the last two, I'll give it that.

Yeah, definitely their best since Playing the Angel for me, too... maybe even since Ultra. Maybe they secretly knew they'd have to try and freshen things up a bit.

I'd love to hear more stuff from them in the vein of 'You Move' ...

Fuck, 'Cover Me' is so beautiful... when the pedal steel kicks back in during the outro section it gives me proper goosebumps.

A week from tonight! This'll be fun.

I love 'Corrupt', but 'Fail' just ends this album so perfectly and is, for me, up there with 'Insight' and 'Clean' ...

Okay, last night! Some thoughts:

* A good show for sure, and unique for me because after nine previous times dating back to 1990, this was the first time I'd seen them outside of SoCal. Also the closest to the stage I'd ever been, which provided a nice to way to really look at the band up close and see how they play off each other. Arguably all the broad gestures are just that, but even so there's sometimes some odd, fun little subtleties that happen between all five of them.

* The slight downside to being so close was being among a number of people who mmmmaybe were more there for a perceived cachet/'going out for a show' than the band in question. It was unclear -- it's not that there weren't fans but there was a little less buzz or excitement in comparison to some batshit level reactions with a surrounding audience in the past. Easily part of this is age and nostalgia and distance (on everyone's part!) but maybe it really is that difference between up here and down south.

* Basically it's the well-seasoned unit now -- no lineup change in 20 years -- doing its thing. Only five Spirit songs but by kicking off with "Going Backwards" and "So Much Love" they made a strong start of it -- really good versions live, maybe even stronger than on record. So that was good.

* Some of the setlist had been spoiled for me but not all so there were some interesting surprises. The biggest for me -- no "Precious"! I honestly thought this had become pretty much *the* new anthem for them over the past decade -- it remains one of their strongest songs -- so it not being there was almost a head-scratcher. Other real absence was "Just Can't Get Enough," if only because they had seemed to make that a pretty regular thing since 20 years back as well.

* In terms of what they did play, it was nice to see them start to work Sounds of the Universe back in after mostly ignoring it in 2013 -- "Wrong" and "Corrupt" took a bow -- as well as the remix/revamp version of "A Pain That I'm Used To" they've done before. They pulled some interesting headfakes too -- the intro to "World In My Eyes" was new (and very good) and similarly I didn't recognize "Everything Counts" at all from its intro until the familiar horn/scrape rhythm that starts it off hit the mix.

* The Big Five standards were all there -- "Never Let Me Down Again," "I Feel You," "Walking In My Shoes," "Enjoy the Silence" and "Personal Jesus" -- while Martin did a one-two with his solo spots doing "A Question of Lust" and "Somebody" among others. Sometimes it's all about the usual.

* I really did like the version of "Heroes"! I know some don't but I'd avoided listening to it until last night, and while it's nowhere near as 'huge' as the original, its sweeter feeling and lower-key impact is quite lovely.

* As I mentioned last night, Dave constantly seems ready to shed all his clothes and when he took his jacket off after the first song I figured the vest would soon follow -- but nope, kept in on the whole time, another mild surprise. But he and Martin are in fine voice still (Martin actually sounding a little better than last time -- I wonder if he's figured out how to adjust for time/age more now).

* Fletch is Fletch. God bless him. Raising his hands to get the audience going here and there and otherwise just Fletch.

* Some good Corbijn films this time out, whether animation or actual films -- I remember thinking as "Enjoy the Silence" was building up that there had to be another strange film for that one and behold, we got just that with the various animal shots (thus my alternate title for it, "Enjoy the Bunnies").

* And finally a confession and realization. So during one of the intros of all the band members, Pete and Christian were both mentioned of course, and Pete I think is just ageless and will stay that way. But they showed Christian and...well here's the thing. I've been a fan for so long now that I pretty am still in the "Oh yeah, Christian, the young drummer they added in 1997 or so" mode whenever I think about him. And he's very clearly middle aged now, and I went "FUUUUUCK it's that long too." I mean, Depeche being in their late fifties, yeah, I get that, but when your later members are starting to show the years...yeah, time has passed.

Anyway. We had a great time. I am still very very tired though.

I liked the version of "Heroes" because it was actually kind of spare and chill and gave my ears a break. Nice surprise for such an anthem.

sorry I missed you! I did run into Chaki in the hallway though.

I liked the show. I was in the 100s sections, so back of the floor on the risers; tix were expensive as fuck, and the only downside to the night to me was the cost. 2 tix plus parking plus babysitting pushed this well over $400 total for the evening which I don't really like to think about as it wasn't a $400 experience for me. I was next to a really annoying superfan who bellowed the words to every song while filming the whole thing on his phone and passing his beer back and forth to his wife who was spilling over her seat into mine and held a smelly plate of nachos on her lap all night. So it was hard to get into the show. That said: this was the first time I'd seen DM ever, and they were pretty good. I could have done with fewer of the newer tracks and a few more older tracks (would have liked 'behind the wheel', 'policy of truth', 'precious'....I guess they never do blasphemous rumors anymore sadly) but that is probably just telling my age.

I still don't really accept these new guys in the band.

but I'll also say: IMO the OMD show earlier this summer was way better.

But oh, the Corbjin videos were wonderful; the dance to In Your Room; the animals; the drag queen. they should reissue those as official videos.

glad to see other people saw the show and came to a lot of the same conclusions!

sorry I missed you! I did run into Chaki in the hallway though.

Yeah we ran into a couple of friends of Kate's along the way -- big venue, can't see everything!

2 tix plus parking plus babysitting pushed this well over $400 total for the evening which I don't really like to think about as it wasn't a $400 experience for me. I was next to a really annoying superfan who bellowed the words to every song while filming the whole thing on his phone and passing his beer back and forth to his wife who was spilling over her seat into mine and held a smelly plate of nachos on her lap all night.

Oh Jesus Christ. Yeah I'll take our slightly more sedate part of the crowd over that nightmare. (We were at around...I want to say $340 or something for our tickets. I suppose it's a perverse advantage we have no kids and we just took BART in.)

That said: this was the first time I'd seen DM ever, and they were pretty good. I could have done with fewer of the newer tracks and a few more older tracks (would have liked 'behind the wheel', 'policy of truth', 'precious'....I guess they never do blasphemous rumors anymore sadly) but that is probably just telling my age.

Ah well, better late than never! But yeah I count myself lucky to have seen the one last tour before they started bringing drumkits out in 1993. Inevitable dynamics change. They've done "Policy of Truth" a few times in recent tours but I can't recall the last time I saw them do "Behind the Wheel"...maybe the 98 Singles tour? Not sure! Yeah, "Blasphemous Rumours" and "People Are People" are long since put to bed.

I still don't really accept these new guys in the band.

Eh, it's like Darryl Jones with the Stones. You want to see the show, they're part of the package deal. Even if Fletch were more on Alan Wilder's level I have a feeling they'd have a second keyboardist since Martin plays guitar much more now, and Dave's said that when Christian joined on drums it really helped inspire him and give him a better feeling of performance, so hey. They're the band, they make the calls they do. It's still mostly a self-contained unit in studio but Dave regularly has Pete and Christian be his songwriting collaborators on his tracks, which gives them some royalty money along the way. (They played both of their Spirit collaborations last night too, "Cover Me" and "Poison Heart.")

I'll also say: IMO the OMD show earlier this summer was way better.

Different scope and audiences but: having never seen them myself until now, and getting a set from them that hit ALL the big hits so brilliantly top to bottom plus a good clutch of newer tracks, that was pretty damn awesome, no lie. Between that and the Poptone show it was a great early summer.

But oh, the Corbjin videos were wonderful; the dance to In Your Room; the animals; the drag queen. they should reissue those as official videos.

Yeah they've had so many concert exclusive films from Corbijn that it's a pity they haven't yet put together a full collection of those -- a ton of them have never surfaced properly, though some are tucked away on the live DVDs that have emerged. I always find it intriguing whenever he goes back and finds a new way to revisit a song's general theme or even just an idea that it suggests -- each of the various "Enjoy the Silence"s over the past twenty years has brought something new.

I revisited Delta Machine last night because I wanted to hear it with fresh ears after getting into Spirit so heavily and I wanted to see if Spirit was really that good or I'd become more attuned to late period Depeche...

...Spirit is really that good.

I like all four of the last albums pretty evenly.

Spirit/Playing > the good half of Sounds of the Universe > Delta Machine > the bad half of Sounds of the Universe

^ Yup, I'd agree with that!

As much as I like Playing the Angel, they really should have switched producers sooner... 'Cover Me' is just pure ear candy.

but so is Precious

Ultimately I tend to see the last four albums as of a piece -- there are subtle differences certainly, and Playing and Spirit have some of their most affecting moments lyrically thanks to, for lack of a better term, real world concerns, whether personal or much broader. But compared to how all the previous albums pretty clearly worked on a stake-out-its-own-aesthetics level time for time -- yes, even including Exciter -- then while Playing worked as an excellent recapitulation/reset towards certain strengths with room to move around within said scope, as well as introducing Dave as a songwriter, it's hard for me to hear that great a difference between it and the following three, even with a change in producer for this one. I don't really mind this, and individual songs stand out along the way, easy, so I tend to hear them all through that lens now. (It would make an interesting playlist.)

(I should add this is all separate from ranking. If I had to rank, probably Playing, Spirit, SOTU then Delta but that's arguably more on execution of said aesthetic each time combined with notable strength of songs. I think I still like the SOTU singles more than Spirit's.)