Taking Sides: Depeche Mode with Alan Wilder or Without

I have long claimed that Wilder is an unheralded arranger par excellence and will stick to that. His work on both Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion in particular is just amazing, big and powerful without losing sight of the songs. How he transformed "Enjoy the Silence" from the quiet ballad Gore recorded it as to the monster it is alone deserves honors.

That said, you're not going to find me complaining about either Ultra or Exciter, at all. Tim Simenon on the first and Mark Bell on the second both did excellent jobs at helping out the arrangements and production, something Gore has always opening been fairly uninterested in. Simenon's work took the lead from Wilder's and added a few twists as it went, like on "The Love Thieves" and "The Bottom Line," while Bell's general emphasis on a quiet, focused intensity often works wonders, thus "Sweetest Condition," "When the Body Speaks," "Goodnight Lovers" and "Breathe."

As for Gore's lyrics, they are what they are. :-)

("flaky crust"... *shudder*)

Yes, my friend. Several times over.

Since Alan is no longer with the band the producers are using more and more of these white-noise "non melodic" synth tones for their keyboard sounds, especially on Exciter! I think it turns the average listener off unless you are a complete kraftwerk synth geek like me. I personally liked Ultra and listen to it from time to time.

Do I wish Alan was back in the band? Yes! Do you think Martin, Fletch, and Dave want him back? Yes! But if you were cut-out of the big money and not given your credit when credit is due, would you ever want to come back for more of that? I think not. That's my own belief and I think that is the main reason why Alan will never come back.

In my book Alan was Depeche Mode period!

However, during the recording of their last album with Alan, Alan was alarmingly fond of guitars and way too distorted synth sounds. Depeche Mode were increasingly trying to become a cross-in-between U2 and Nine Inch Nails. This was mainly Alan's fault, and it took his departure to make them good old Depeche Mode again.

Three words you left out there: "In my opinion."

That statement was quite laughable.
In MY opinion, Depeche Mode has never been "good old Depeche Mode" without the brilliance that is Alan Wilder... (Which is not to say DM hasn't been 'kickin @ss' with Touring the Angel, cause they have,) but IMHO, the current music of Depeche Mode is but a shell without Mr. Wilder.

Just my opinion. ;-)

Here's a FACT: A sh*tload of us around the globe CAN'T WAIT for your new material, Mr. Wilder!

So I pick Depeche with Wilder even though his increasing interest in guitars and distorted synth sounds probably meant that him leaving before "Ultra" was a good thing.

Having said that, Playing The Angel is EASILY the strongest album released by one of my old-time high school obsessions to date (the other contenders being The Cure and Waiting For The Sirens' Call; Prince doesn't count because I've loved him since I was 5). "Precious" and "John The Revelator" are phenomenal singles and, as far as the album tracks go, "The Sinner In Me", "I Want It All", "Nothing's Impossible", "Lillian" and "The Darkest Star" are just... wow. Awesome. IMO, fans of the old stuff who claim they've fallen off are slaves to nostalgia more in love with the fey bondage imagery than they are with the music.

I know I shouldn't take this personally, Dan, but I do. If I happen to like "Master and Servant" more than "John the Revelator," it has everything to do with DM's old stuff having TONS more energy and vitality than their new stuff. They're still a good band, but for the most part from Violator on DM have sounded a bit tired. I guess I agree with Geir to a degree. I'm not sure I agree that Alan Wilder is responsible for the shift in DM's sound, though.

(Of course I like Vince-era Depeche Mode and Construction Time Again more than yr average bloke does. Maybe at heart I'm just a 14-year-old Britgirl living in 1981.)

(Incidentally, Erasure > Recoil. But I still love Alan and think he was the best thing that ever happened to the band.)

Construction Time Again is my second- or third- favorite Depeche album; my point is not that their older stuff pales in comparison to their newer stuff. My point is more that if you can't hear energy and vitality in "John The Revelator" (or "Suffer Well", even though I'm not as hot on that song as others are), you aren't really listening. Or rather, you are listening with prejudice; it doesn't make sense to me to criticize an album made in 2005/2006 for not sounding like it was made in 1984/1985. It's a different piece of work coming from a completely different artistic space by people who've experienced a lot more; if Playing The Angel WAS a direct regurgitation of classic-era DM without any sense of growth or evolution it would be a total sham and a complete artistic failure in my eyes. Fortunately for me, it isn't. I think it's too bad you don't see it the same way because I think you're missing out.

Double A-side.

B-b-but Playing The Angel is a direct regurgitation of Violator-era DM!

Uh, no. (Ben Hillier is a *completely* different producer/engineer from the Flood/Alan Wilder team, and you can hear it easily.)

OTM. They did alienate some old fans with "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" (not any more than the new ones they gained), but those who have actually listened to the three albums they have released after that one have long since returned to the fold.

Just saw them live. The drummer made the show. Martin wore this absurd hat that looks like a goth peacock. Dave's black suit was excellent--his voice less so. Martin was in good voice, and the bits where he did REALLY old stuff like they were folks songs was nice.

Anyway, the CDs. As much as I love Ultra, I still feel some element X is gone and I miss it. Was it Wilder? Dunno.

Calling Playing The Angel a retread of Violator is really, really odd to me because I don't think there's anything on Violator that sounds like "A Pain That I'm Used To", "John The Revelator", "Suffer Well", "Macro", "I Want It All", "Nothing's Impossible", "Damaged People", "Lillian" or "The Darkest Star".

I think I like nu Depeche Mode most when they're making blatant tributes to their older material but with an air of tiredness and emptiness to it all. It actually suits their desiccating sordid pseudo-goth aura to be self-cannibalising in this way. The air of aged arty decadance that started to creep in on the album tracks for Songs of Faith & Devotion is U&K - the more so because it powers the entirety of Ultra. They fall down when they try to cut through this with directness (yuk "Freelove"). I want all of their stuff to be increasingly convoluted allusions to their own past glories (this is why "The Bottom Line" is such a quietly ace track).

"Innovation" is not something one really wants from Depeche Mode, except insofar as it means interesting synth sounds. The progression in their work is more like degeneration or perhaps erosion, this yawning chasm between bang-up-to-date production and ever-more-archaic songwriting. It's charming!

WHAT WHAT WHAAAAT??

oh come off it Ned, you're better than this.

Playing the Angel is a fine album, just a little too compressed/digital sounding. It reminds me of Violator because I feel like the album was tooled to replicate the formula that made Violator successful ("Precious" reminds me of "Enjoy the Silence" (though I think I like it even more than "Enjoy the Silence"); "John the Revelator" reminds me of "Personal Jesus" as the token A-side bluesy questions-of-faith piece, though I hate "John the Revelator" with a passion and I like "Personal Jesus" quite a lot though mostly for the pretty synth stuff at the end rather than the bluesy questions-of-faith part though that's nice too, certainly moreso than John the Motherfucking Revelator). Maybe I'm just not experienced enough with post-1988/post-Violator production enough to appreciate its nuances.

Also could you list out all the other token A-side question-of-faith pieces from their albums that go into this formula? I can only think of the two.

Finally, people who hate "Freelove" are evil robots.

Dude, I just said that's the only reason it reminds me of Personal Jesus! I didn't say they included songs like that on all their albums! I realize the songs and their respective themes are completely different, I'm sorry I said anything. I feel like a horrible Depeche Mode fan now.

I saw Depeche Mode last night at the nissan pavillion in Northern VA... what an amazing show! The last time I saw them was for the Violator tour and they're better nowdays!! They did my favorite song from ULTRA (I love that album - don't care what anyone says) - "Home" and they did a few from Black Celebration including "A Question of Time", "Stripped", and "It Doesn't Matter Too". They did a wicked encore consisting of "Leave in Silence", "Photographic", and "Never Let Me Down Again". They were just amazing on stage with this relentless energy!! They did 4 songs from Playing the Angel, some from Violator, Music for the Masses, Songs of Faith and Devotion... they rocked!! It was so amazing and to make it even better my ex and her husband brought my daughter along as well - it was her first concert and she looooves DM, she loved the concert and cried when "Stripped" came on and freaked out when they played "John the Revelator"... she's 8 years old. It's so amazing to be there when your daughter's first concert is that of a band that you grew up listening to in the 80's.

Meantime:

i do wonder if in the past i was giving Alan Wilder too much credit for the DM "sound"

I still give him the credit -- but not as a memorable songwriter.

Well, absolutely! I played "Master And Servant" to DEATH about 18 years ago and since then I've been pretty much all set with the song.

He also wrote "Fools". IMO one of their best ever b-sides.

Seriously, these are the values I want to instill in my future children.

For me "Playing The Angel" is more like what Depeche Mode would have sounded like if they had kept using mainly analog synths while their songwriting developed in a "darker" direction during the mid 80s.

I agree ... my initial reaction to "Playing the Angel" was that of a long-lost sequel to "Black Celebration" (perhaps not in its sound but definitely in its mood).

And, mind you, the sequel was better than the one released in the first place.

SOFAD is fucking amazing... a tad less perfect than Violator, but virtually a tie. SOFAD has more "gospel" than it does "rock".

The situation is much more complicated than that -- if there was a balance of forces, it was Martin and Andy vs. Alan and David, but the former was and is a close friendship and the latter was one of convenience in a working situation, though it's true that David still misses working with him and has said so. The Steve Malins-written official bio indicates that while Gahan's collapse was certainly a factor, Wilder's own decision to leave was more motivated by running personal and professional problems with Gore and Fletcher. After the Devotional tour he took half a year to chill and see if he really wanted to leave -- he realized he did, tried to contact Gahan to let him know, didn't hear back from him (as Gahan was rotting away in LA), and in the meantime called a meeting in London with Gore and Fletcher to announce he was out. He then issued a statement to the press confirming his absence and that was that.

Pretty much I would have to agree with Wilder's own assessment that his role as the key arranger in Depeche from the mid-eighties on (taking over the role from Daniel Miller, in essence) was crucial and never quite appreciated by the band as such -- Gore writes the songs and then tends to let them go wherever they do, Gahan's own focus is as a singer (though this has changed increasingly given his new songwriting focus) and Fletcher is around basically to question if something ever gets too 'weird.' Wilder as (literal) synthesizer is obviously inextricable from Depeche's story and the confluence of approaches within the band's work that defined the upward arc through the eighties and early nineties clarifies this.

Like I've muttered elsewhere, though, while Wilder's departure was Depeche's loss, the result has been a series of albums that, precisely because they are overseen by different producers each time (Tim Simenon's astoundingly great job on Ultra, Mark Bell's glitch/microhouse-goes-mainstream touches on Exciter and Ben Hillier's mix-and-match work for Playing the Angel) has given Depeche even more variety as the years continue, albeit via an external source rather than an internal one. Meantime Wilder's work on his own ultimately lacks the killer immediacy that his efforts within a pop context provided in Depeche -- Recoil is striking but not stunning. So while it was a regret that he left, his own fortunes arguably were worse off, in that one of the preeminent and most influential arrangers of his time -- the more so because he worked within a singular band context rather than with a wide variety of artists -- was without his best vehicle for demonstrating his talent.

The new stuff is (imagines the wrath of Ned) nice, sometimes incredibly beautiful.

But if I were 16 and troubled, it wouldn't reach me. Which seems the defintion of DM-ness.

And I wouldn't call "John the Revelator" nice. ;-)

So I guess the upcoming Saddle Creek tribute to Depeche Mode is something you wouldn't be into then, Geir?

Their 90s and 00s albums have still been excellent by most bands' standards (at least apart from "Songs Of Faith And Devotion"), but none of them are quite up there with the arch-English synthpop genius of "Construction Time Again", "Black Celebration" and "Some Great Reward" - albums that the Americans just didn't get.

http://bestof.depechemode.com/unitedkingdom.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Of%2C_Volume_1

and to think i was in the last year of primary school when "New Life" hit the charts in June 1981

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Life

But the special edition with the music videos seems like a less pointless investment than the single CD.

see you - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsKJB14eJyM
the meaning of love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g86HQMk5ZME&mode=related&search=
leave in silence - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1wYppIqhB0
get the balance right - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uCMsRGJfvo

monument (hopefully the performance from 'crackerjack'!) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nEp9oQ-czg

Their two worst studio albums were both released during this period. Stadium rock tailor made for American audiences? No, thank you!

"Violator" is undeniably a great album, but the two others weren't. Judging from those three albums, it was a good thing Alan quit. He did a great job arranging their albums from 1983 through 1986 though.

i was always sure that alan wilder sang the lead vocals on a few album tracks / b-sides.

I'm pretty sure this was a Martin thing. But I think "Personal Jesus" is a great track, guitars and all (though mostly for the coda).

i was always sure that alan wilder sang the lead vocals on a few album tracks / b-sides.

I thought this too, but it's all Dave and Martin on lead vox. Dave's voice can be deceptive when he sings in a higher/more breathy register.

i thought fools was sung by wilder but on closer listening i'm sure it's gahan.

there's been some tracks when you think that wilder sings one bit and gahan sings the rest. i must dig out the alan wilder demos i nabbed off soulseek ages ago and give them another listen.

http://stereoklang.se/blog/?page_id=17978