Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)
He now wore long hair, lived his childhood rocker dream twelve years into his career, loved “Moonage Daydream” and Jane’s Addiction, but Dave Gahan also knew that his change had to be carefully sold to the fans. As he sang, he had pure thoughts – they were not immature: “If you see purity as immaturity / Well, it’s no surprise / For kindness, you substitute blindness / Please open your eyes”. Open your eyes folks – this was Depeche Mode in 1993.
Gahan wanted to push “Condemnation” as a pre-release single for “Songs Of Faith And Devotion,” which would have been a revolution for the band. The song was gospel and marched ceremoniously, carried forward. Martin Gore vetoed it.
With “I Feel You” as their first release, Depeche Mode continued the triumph of their energetic pieces – “Never Let me Down Again”, “Personal Jesus”. The simple blues guitar, whose monotonous playing almost seemed like masturbation, received the most congenial interaction between the two musicians in the chorus with Gahan’s spit “By and By” and Gore’s “Ah, Ahh, Ahhh!” background vocals, hands down. “I Feel You” was the birth of Dave Gahan as a shaman, as he still plays the role today. And for the first time he completely forgot that he was singing someone else’s lyrics.
In the liner notes of the 2006 Songs Of Faith And Devotion reissue, producer Flood complained that there wasn’t enough time for polish. But for the listeners the record sounded perfect. Just what Flood and Alan Wilder got out of the gore demo of “I Feel You” (released years later). The soul of the piece can be seen in the rough version, but the sound was reminiscent of the narrow sketches of the “Sounds Of The Universe” demos from 2009, which sounded little better in the finished production.
The strings of “One Caress” still demonstrated the orchestral volume on the album that the arrangements from the successor “Ultra” from 1997 onwards lacked. Tim Simenon, who set up “Ultra”, used the Bristol sound in “Home”, where violinists sound like they are playing the keyboard.
We last reported:
Did Depeche Mode record a “Memento Mori” live album in Mexico City? This rumor has been persistent in the fan scene for several weeks. Accordingly, Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Christian Eigner and Peter Gordeno used their three gigs in the Mexican capital (September 21-25, 2023) for recordings. Nothing has been confirmed yet. However, it is certain that Depeche Mode, following an unofficial tradition and good business sense, release recordings of their tours for the home video market – they have been doing this for around 20 years.
“The rumor mill is bubbling,” as the DM supporters say. House photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn has already been spotted in Mexico. Fans are also speculating whether the band is simply filming a typical DM concert, or whether only live versions of the twelve “Memento Mori” songs are being recorded instead (which would mean that some of the pieces would have to celebrate their live premiere – so unlikely is), or whether the Brits have in mind a kind of tour film like “101” (1989) or “Spirits in the Forest” (2019), i.e. a mixture of live images and fan cult impressions.
A fan also started a rumor that Depeche Mode were planning a mix of live recordings and Day of the Dead in Mexico. “Día de los Muertos” is one of the most important holidays in Mexico: on the days between October 31st and November 2nd, Mexicans remember the deceased. But more of a celebration than a day of mourning.
The “Día de los Muertos” would fit the DeMo image in that the “Memento Mori” album is intended to be understood as a reminiscence of the late keyboardist Andrew Fletcher, whose life Martin and Dave also shared on stage, as in songs like “ World In My Eyes”.
The first photos of displays on the screens in Mexico City are also circulating on Facebook. Accordingly, an “Untitled Depeche Mode Documentary” is being filmed. A rights notice that every spectator who enters the stadium gives their consent to be filmed in which they could be seen:
Hopefully we will know more when the indoor tour begins in the European winter of 2024. Depeche Mode recently released an official video for the album track “My Favorite Stranger”, the visuals of which were already flickering across the stage screens.