12
CONDEMNATION
(LIVE 93)
CONDEMNATION
LCD BONG 23 (1993)
The gospel-tinged Condemnation is Dave
Gahan’s favourite Depeche Mode track.
This epic live version was recorded in Milan
during the gargantuan Devotional Tour.
You can hear Dave’s vocals cracking with
emotion – a classic!11
WORLD IN MY EYES
(DUB IN MY EYES)
WORLD IN MY EYES / HAPPIEST GIRL
L12 BONG 20 (1990)
This remix from Francois Kevorkian is World
In My Eyes on acid – perfectly at home at a
90s rave or pumping from your car stereo.
Casual DM fans will recognise the ‘Let me
take you on a trip, trip, trip’ Dalek-esque
opening from the live shows.10
WALKING IN MY
SHOES (RANDOM
CARPET MIX)
WALKING IN MY SHOES
CD BONG 22 (1993)
Walking In My Shoes is a fan favourite DM
song and has become a live staple. This
sample-laden, trip-hop fl avoured, William
Orbit remix has often worked its way into the
live set. Superb.09
SURRENDER
ONLY WHEN I LOSE MYSELF
CD BONG 29 (1998)
Surrender is on record as being Martin
Gore’s favourite DM track. When pressed, he
recently told The Guardian: “I really like this
track we put out called Surrender. It really
didn’t get a lot of attention but I think the
melody and the chords in it are really good.”
You know what? They are.29"THE GOOD THING
ABOUT FAI L IS
THE LYRICS MIGHT
BE DEPRESSING
BUT THE MUSIC IS
SO PRETTY"
MARTIN GOREDepeche Mode have
sold more than
100 million records
worldwide over the
past four decadesso pretty. Once the lyrics stop it ends on this nice lilting
gentle piece of music. That’s the little bit of hope.”
The uninitiated have accused DM of being miserable
since day one, it’s something Gore attempted to address
with So Much Love. “I felt all the other songs were so
damning about humanity and there was no hope and
it was maybe too bleak. I came up with So Much Love
because I wanted to write something that said: ‘it doesn’t
matter what’s going on, there is still a lot of love inside
me and you can’t take that away’.” In reality, DM’s
music has always offered more than a modicum of hope.
Gahan agrees: “I try to look for hopefulness in things as
much as possible but lately that seems to be hard.”SPIRIT IN THE SKY
Since 2005’s Playing The Angel, Gahan has picked up
songwriting credits on every DM album, contributing
fan favourites like Suffer Well and Should Be Higher.
He modestly describes it as “nudging my way in” and,
using a basketball analogy, scoring the “occasional three
pointer”. However, it’s a development that was tricky for
Gore – chief songwriter since Vince Clarke left in 1982 –
to adapt to. “It was hard,” he admits. “I’ve got used to it
more and more since then.”
The songwriting democracy went a stage further on
Spirit where Gahan has a hand in four tracks and, more
tellingly, a co-write with Gore titled, You Move.
“It’s not the fi rst one, we co-wrote one on Sounds Of
The Universe and Delta Machine but they were on thePOP_UPDepeche Mode have infl uenced a wide range of music genresand artists citing them as an inspiration include Marilyn Manson, Deftones, The Killers, Lady Gaga, Muse, Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails and Chvrches.deluxe editions,” explains Martin. “When I write with
Dave it’s usually an idea that’s very basic that I send to
him. Then in his studio in New York he will come up with
some words and a vocal melody, send it back to me and
then I’ll do some more work on it and so on. This time
that was it, he sent it back and it was fi nished. It was a
similar process with Vince (Clarke) on VCMG.”
Gahan had a collection of his own songs prepared for
Spirit but when he heard the quality of Martin’s demos
he knew many wouldn’t make the cut: “I wanted to singCP30.Depeche_Mode.print.indd 29 09/06/2017 11:01