Ambition fulfilled: Depeche Mode Live

It’s not often you get to fulfil one of your life’s ambitions. It’s even less frequent that such an ambition lives up to your expectations. Yet in the case of seeing Depeche Mode live, both things happened.

Being in the standing area of the MEN allowed me to get pretty close to the stage and as ‘In Chains’ began to start, everyone knew we were in for a great night. Dave was his usual exuberant self and Martin was clearly set for a good time. Only Fletch spoiled the party with his ridiculous hand gestures and posturing.

Following the obligatory new album tracks (they are, after all, promoting a new album) they began to churn out cracking versions of ‘Walking in My Shoes’, ‘A Question of Time’ and ‘World in my eyes’. One highlight for me was ‘It’s No Good’ which sounded as fresh and exciting as when I first heard it. Following a lacklustre ‘Enjoy the Silence’ we reached the arm waving spectacle of ‘Never Let Me down again’. This was something I’ve always wanted to be a part of ever since I saw ‘101’ all those years ago.

Quite brilliant performances of ‘Behind the Wheel’ and ‘Personal Jesus’ rounded out a truly remarkable concert that did not disappoint. Whilst the set design did not seem to have moved on much from the ‘Touring the Angel’ tour of 2005/6 and the dreadful timing and incompetence of Mr Fletcher became evident the longer the show went on (I will be interested to see if his dreadful playing of the snare in ‘Behind the Wheel’ makes it onto the live album.), all seemed to have enjoyed seeing the band in the flesh. Here’s to next time. Still miss Alan’s input though.

Ningear on eBay

Well it's not often you see a band auctioning their unwanted instruments on eBay. Yet Trent Reznor of “Nine Inch Nails” fame is auctioning a number of instruments at the moment.

Amongst the more interesting items are an MPG-80 Super Jupiter programmer, a Novation Supernova II rack and a Waldorf Microwave XT rack. There is also a number of unimpressive guitars, drums and amps, all of which are gaining bids that place them over and above their actual value. Auctions Here

Pet Shop Christmas

The latest release scheduled by the Pet Shop Boys is an EP titled ‘Christmas’. It features a remix of the album track ‘All Over the World’, a remix of the fan club only single ‘It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas’, and cover versions of Madness’ “My Girl” and Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ which segues into ‘Domino Dancing’.

Now most fans have been listening to this release for a couple of weeks now as promo’s have leaked onto the internet. The verdict? Severely disappointing.

The new version of ‘All Over the World’ features an intrusive, badly mixed, annoying and out of tune orchestral arrangement. Some further minor tweaks here and there mount up to an inferior version to that featured on the album ‘Yes’.

The ‘2009 Mix’ of ‘It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas’ is similarly awash wish a new orchestral arrangement which features a choir and segues into a couple of carols here and there. Once again the original version is preferable.

The cover version of ‘My Girl’ is actually very good and is the highlight of the EP for me. Yet anyone who visits the official www.petshopboys.co.uk has already heard the demo recording from which this version is derived.

During their current tour Neil and Chris have played a version of ‘Viva La Vida’ which incorporated elements of their song ‘Domino Dancing’. This track became something of a highlight of the tour and its release seems a logical step. However, the version on this EP feels different to that played during the tour. Despite being an admirable effort, this track lacks punch and left me wondering what happened to the bass frequencies. A second version of ‘My Girl’ rounds out the track list but it is largely the same as the original version.

Out Dec 14th 2009

Royksopp Live: Everything is beautiful

Seeing bands live is often an underwhelming experience. What annoys me especially about electronic musicians playing live is their use of acoustic drums or guitars that don’t feature on the recordings. Not so with Norwegian band Royksopp. As the duo walked on stage it was clear that only one cymbal and an inaudible bass guitar would sully an evening of electronic entertainment. And boy did they entertain.

The rather lacklustre intro of “Royksopp Forever” with its unintentionally distorted bass and plodding rhythm was soon banished by “Happy Up Here” (once someone remembered to turn Karin’s microphone on) and a string of high energy tracks built the crowd into the frenzy that was “Poor Leno”. My clothes shook with the bass, my face had a big grin and I remembered how good electronic dance music can make you feel.

Rather than just play the majority of their tracks in their album form they chose to play remixed and altered versions which were, in the main, far superior in the live context. Despite the inaudible bass guitarist (who couldn’t help himself and proceeded to prance around the stage in typical rock n’ roll fashion) they were the personification of cool stood behind their synths and decks with broad smiles that said they were as happy to be there as we were.

My happiness was further enhanced by the fact that Royksopp have by far the most beautiful female fans of any band I have ever been to see.  A beautiful evening indeed.

Radio daze

Until the advent of DAB, the most frustrating aspect of listening to the radio for me is was not knowing what is actually playing. Often DJ’s will not tell you either the artists or the song they have just played. For many, many years I yearned to own a few songs which I had only ever heard on the radio but had no idea of who created them. I drove me to distraction at times. Songs that I heard, loved and never owned in the pre internet or DAB era were:  

Propaganda ‘Duel’ 

An instrumental section of this song was used as the music for TV coverage of the British Rally for many years on BBC television and I heard it on the radio a few times in my youth. Remembering only a few of the lyrics made the track impossible to pin down. Yet I loved it. One of my primary goals when I first became plugged into the web was to find this song.  

Eric Clapton ‘Behind the mask’ 

This one came as a surprise when I finally found out who was singing ‘Who do you love? Is it me babe?’ It was an even bigger surprise to find it was a superior cover version of a song by the Japanese synth pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Deee-Lite ‘What is Love?’ 

When I heard this track on the radio, I was immediately struck by its obvious Kraftwerk influence. Yet I had no idea who the track was by for a few years (in retrospect the lyric ‘How do you say Deee-Lite?’ should have told me really). This track was a double A side with ‘Groove is in the Heart’ in the UK but was ignored by almost everyone.

Wax ‘Building a bridge to your heart’ 

I actually knew who recorded this track but was unable to get hold of it until the internet came along. In my youth I had a cassette with a recording of this song from the radio; complete with the ubiquitous over compression added by FM radio broadcasters. In the heady days of Napster I downloaded this one.

This subject popped into my head the other day following a seemingly meaningless series of actions: I was listening to a radio show a few days after it had originally been broadcast via the internet. I heard a song I liked. I checked in the play list on the website and proceeded to amazon.co.uk and bought the track. Within a minute I had my own copy of the song. Doesn’t sound too exciting does it? Yet when I consider this in the context of the years I spent not knowing who created some of my favourite, barely heard tracks, I feel very grateful for the internet.

Basement Jaxx "Scars"

It’s something of a bleak month for house-pop purveyors Basement Jaxx. Having completed their contractual obligations with the release of their fifth album “Scars” this month, they have subsequently been dropped by their record company XL Recordings. 

To add to the pain, only reverence for their previous efforts seems to have stopped critics from completely mauling their latest album. Critical assessment of “Scars” in the music press varies slightly, but nothing I have read credits it with anything other than a mediocre score. Personally I think “Scars” is better than the lacklustre “Crazy Itch Radio” musically and is more reminiscent of the magnificent “Rooty” in feel. “Feelings Gone” and “Raindrops” are particular favourites of mine. 

However, none of this is of consequence when compared to the packaging of the CD. Presented in a folding card slipcase, the leaves are sealed with a sticker that appears to have been designed to be impossible to remove. Stuck down with a kind of Martian Super Glue, this sticker steadfastly refuses to lift without taking most of the sleeve with it. Presumably it is designed to leave ‘scars’ on the sleeve making each copy unique, but ultimately ruined. This sticker is almost as annoying as the seals American import CD’s come with. Anyone who has tried to open an American pressed CD will know the annoyance of the seal running across the top of the jewel box that takes forever to remove and will always leave its sticky residue behind. Just stop doing it! No wonder people buy so many downloads.

A week of remixes

The last week of listening has highlighted the difference between the old ‘extended’ remixes of the eighties and their modern counterparts. The “Big Train” remix of Erasure’s single “A Little Respect” is a good illustration of these differences. Yes, the snare is different and the songs structure has been altered, but essentially the “Big Train Remix” amounts to just a different mix of the original material. The verb ‘remix’ is defined as “to change the relative prominence of each performer’s part of (a recording).” What defines these brilliant mixes of the 1980’s and early 1990’s is that they use the source material to generate a new version of a recording. 

However, in recent years, remixing seems to have become something entirely different to some people. Artists such as The Orb, Aphex Twin and Underworld have contributed remixes that bear little resemblance to the source material. The popularity of the Depeche Mode song “Barrel of a Gun” from 1997 was enhanced by one mix in particular. The “Underworld Hard Mix” began to receive considerable club play on both sides of the Atlantic much to the mystification of the man who wrote the song, Martin Gore: “The original version of “Barrel of a Gun” was about 83 beats per minute. When we receive the “Hard Mix” back from them, we were sitting there thinking: what relevance does this speed bare to ours?” Gore later telephoned members of Underworld and asked, “Is there any chance you can fly some vocals in? Just so it has some relevance. Because there is not one sound of the original version on there?” Gore summarised the remix as: “Different key, different speed, different song!” 

 Sometimes you would be hard pressed to identify the original song from many contemporary remixes. Does anyone actually enjoy this stuff? With the exception of the remix of “Barrel of a Gun” mentioned here; I don’t know of any of this type of ‘remix’ as being popular with listeners. I don’t even like the Underworld remix of “Barrel of a Gun”. One of the biggest criticism I see aimed at remixes is that they are uninteresting and do not add anything to the original. Those of us who enjoy GOOD remixes know just how much difference a remix can make and equally abhor those mixes that bare no resemblance to the original. Some remixers would be better served by noting the definition of what a remix is, and if they do not like the source material, they should turn down the job. Please save me ear drums from the likes of “Liberation (E-smoove 12” Mix)” or “Sentinel (The Orb 7” Remix)”. Please.