I submit for your approval the video for Depeche Mode’s new single (are singles still a thing?), My Favourite Stranger.
MFS is one of the best songs on their latest album, but this has to be one of their worst videos. To save you time, let me describe it: a mysterious figure walks around and eventually, *spoiler alert*, takes off their false moustache.
As with so many videos by ver Mode, we have Anton Corbijn to thank, but this is not his best work. Is it a strong contender to win the Nice Song, Shame About the Video award I just made up, or am I missing something?
I have had my two cents on this video yesterday on the post I did on the Memento Mori LP.
I agree that it’s a bit of a ho-hum video. We don’t really see much of the character’s face, no context and nothing of note really happens, so the “reveal” isn’t that much of a surprise.
Both the song and video go nowhere.
The song might be semi-decent if it found a chorus and dropped all the noisy noises. And if it adopted any kind of progression in sound (beyond the noisy squigly noises). Oh yeah, and got some better drum sounds.
The video is just pathetic.
My love of industrial music means that I do enjoy squigly noises, and sometimes the squigllier the better, but I agree that the drums do need work. DM’s live drummer packs something of a wallop, but in the studio they do seem to tone down the biff and pow and rat-a-tat-tat.
And yes, the more I think about the video (I don’t need to ever see it again), the worse it is. I know times are hard and the days of a band swanning off to, say, Sri Lanka to whizz about on a yacht, or standing on a dramatic cliff to play a guitar solo while being filmed from a helicopter, are probably over, but is this really the best a major, stadium-filling group can come up with?
“Interestingly” it’s nothing to do with the band. This is an Anton Corbijn video and he’s got an idea and he’s running with it. With U2, there’s meetings and creative input from the band but with Depeche Mode he is given 100% free rein. If Anton wants them in the video itself, he’ll let them know.
The only thing the DM gang sadly seem to care about these days is extracting unreasonably huge amounts of money from their devoted fans.
(Evidence: the price of everything DM-related).
The beats in this are more akin to the pitter-patter of light rain on a roof than meaty industrial beats, no?
The funny thing is, they go the other way ‘live’ with Animal bashing his way through the set in a very un-Depeche rock kind of way. In the process utterly destroying beautifully crafted songs like Walking in my shoes and…. all the others.
I find ‘live’ (for what bit is live) Depeche unbearable to watch now.
I do sometimes (if I’m in the right mood) like the live Enjoy The Silence where Animal is given a bit of slack to bang about for a bit. Is it as good as the original? Obviously not – nothing is, really. Does it add some stadium-sized oomph? Yes, although it always, always goes on too long.
Is there a happy middle ground? Yes: give Alan Wilder whatever he wants to bring him back into the fold. As I understand it he did seem to know his way around a tasteful, interesting-but-not-overbearing rhythm. Sadly, *sniff*, I fear Alan and the Mode will never be united.
You’re probably right there about Alan.
I don’t think they ever would ask him (* why share the profits?), but guess that the Alan of old would not be keen on DM content post leaving… partly due to the core material, ie. the songs simply not being as good as they used to be.
Having said that he would surely be able to improve the production values that have been sadly missing of late. Possibly beyond recognition.
I’ll admit I’m rather tough on latter-day DM.
But they deserve it. 😉
I really don’t think they deserve this treatment. They are not on the nostalgia circuit, cynically banging out the same stuff at holiday camps. They put on a good show that millions enjoy and they play 100+ live shows when they tour. They make an effort creatively each time with a different concept and a new album.
As they get older, they look more like the damaged-looking, creepy old geezers they have always wanted to be. I imagine even Nosferatu himself may have had a shock of blonde hair, clear eyes and a sunny smile as a young man. He only became convincing when he became a pensioner.
You stick to your guns! @Black Celebration.
Well said. Their imperial phase might be behind them, but I’m glad they’re still going and still adding to the gaiety of the nation in their own moody way. I wish they would cut down on the mid-tempo bluesy misery and put out a hi-speed catchy belter, but I’ll happily stick with them down whatever path they take.
I think I’ve said it before, but I come from a place of (former) love.
Granted they don’t do the nostalgia circuit, but why would they? As it is, they have their army of fans who will willingly provide them with significantly bigger riches. Something they seem to really like.
Just one simple example, take the latest album. It’s 17.99 GBP on the official site for a single CD. The “deluxe version”, which has a hard cover and some photos (and nothing else, no extra music) is 24.99 GBP. Vinyl is 40.99 GBP. That’s just seriously taking the p!ss, whatever way you look at it… as are pretty much any other DM-related ways to part with money these days. (I may be wrong, but I seem to remember those originally been even more expensive).
Their very expensive ‘live’ show, with that small stage plonked on one side of a huge stadium (no doubt keeping the costs down in the process). There are plenty of times when only Animal and Dave seem to be actually doing anything. And, unfortunately, Dave’s live voice now is… not pleasant. Probably best I don’t go into his clowning-around antics. Compare with their peak. It’s stark. And not in a good way.
Big point being, I find them to be almost the opposite of convincing… it comes across to me as being borderline cynical.
In some ways, it kind of reminds me of the unfortunate MAGA cult in the US. They have built up this massive cult following, in whose eyes they can apparently do no wrong. In my eyes, that is almost entirely based on goodwill (deserved) from 30+ years ago.
Oh, by the way, brick-walling aside, I quite like Memento Mori.
😉
You Mode fans (Modests?) think you have it bad with your favourite act producing a ho hum song and video? Reports from the Sisters of Mercy gigs at the Roundhouse this last weekend (and the YT vids I’ve seen) indicate someone really just turning up to claim a paycheck. No new releases in decades, and just a growl over (often under) metal guitars – and no bass at all. Can you imagine the Sisters with no bassplayer?
Anyway, I thought that video was OK – a little bit of gender politics in a small Dutch town with the typically ultra vivid black and white tones and blurred/focused alternation I associate with Corbijn (no relation to Jeremy, I assume). Be grateful for small mercies.
I am very grateful. I thought they’d pack it in when Fletch died so everything new is a bonus to me.
See also: New Order – now 30 (and a half) years since they released anything essential.
Yeah – I picked losing horses with both of those as favourites. Fortunately I believe there are younger acts still making and releasing good music.
Salwarpe, I agree with you re the Sisters. I have a lot of time for the albums – Floodland may well be in my top 10, and I live in (probably futile) hope of a surround-sound version of it – but as a live act they are very poor.
Given that gigs must be Von Eldritch’s only real income these days, you’d think he’d make more an effort and thus maybe attract more fans.
He was always a contrary sort, but his moaning about record labels, and maybe using that as some sort of crutch to avoid releasing new music, even though SoM gigs apparently regularly feature unreleased songs, is looking increasingly silly in the age of DIY albums, Bandcamp, etc. But he just keeps doing occasional gigs. Is there really that much money in small shows and the odd festival appearance? Even at their peak, which was now a long time ago, the Sisters can’t gave been raking in enough cash to last the rest of his life, can they?
Coincidentally, I saw SoM supporting Depeche Mode in 1993. Eldritch said something like “I hope you enjoy the puppet show” when he left the stage.
He’s such a wag, isn’t he? If he dislikes the whole business so much, maybe it’s time to stop and do something else. Entertainer at children’s parties, maybe? “C’mon, boys and girls, it’s no time to cry…”
It might have been a reference to Spinal Tap: there are none blacker than TSoM, and all that.
Everything will be all right
Everything will turn out fine.
‘Contrary sort’ is a good description of the fellow, but artists with ideas can be determined and focused, regardless of others’ idea of them, and Eldritch had the full package from music to lyrics to stage show to album design to logo. Maybe he’s bled all he can, he won’t bleed any more. It’s a shame, because as a lyricist and a magpie of musical influences he had great talent – and a recording would showcase those much better than an echoey and distorted live setting.
Re money – maybe he made some smart property investments. Sensibly he doesn’t seem to court the celebrity circuit and the show and tell ‘cribs’ interviews.
Do you think this DM single could be a Sisters song? It certainly reminded me of them when I first heard it. I don’t think SoM would have all the noises swirling around though.
Definitely. There are a lot of allusions – from the black hat and coat and prominent cheekbones to the very Lucretia-like opening bassline, to the Avalanche-lite drumming. The title echoes back to one of the early classics – Some Kind of Stranger, and even the lyrics could be interpreted as a sly dig.
My favorite stranger stands in my mirror
Puts words in my mouth
All broke and bitter
I tried a few mash ups, and predictably nothing really worked, although there were a few nice moments in some. This may be the best (not saying much).
Like most of the new songs, it’s co-written by Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs fame. A huge PF fanboi friend of mine says he can tell.
There’s a strong connection with the Sisters early years. Here’s an exhausting/exhaustive article, which even I just can’t be bothered to read to the end of.
https://thequietus.com/articles/27065-psychedelic-furs-sisters-of-mercy-interview
That did go on a bit!
I haven’t seen them live for 30 years, but even then they were already an established enormo-stadium band. If I ever see them again, I am sure I will enjoy it as I don’t expect anything else and I like to see loads of people enjoying Depeche Mode. I don’t really like live albums and rarely play them; even 101.
Listening to the records is a different thing entirely, I think.
Also – the videos have always been either brilliant or awful. Corbijn usually does a good job but he misses the mark sometimes.
I do think 101 is an exciting summing up of that period of the Mode, but their live releases since then haven’t come close to it (probably because the latter albums have lacked enough killer tunes for an action-packed set).
Corbijn definitely has a unique vision, but sometimes the band must silently long for a vivid, FX-packed, star-studded video extravaganza rather than a grainy black-and-white tootle around an obscure part of Europe or America.
Was ‘Wrong’ the last bona-fide classic Mode song? I was there from the start with them (from just down the road in Essex) but have fallen out of love since the end of their IP (probably ‘Ultra’). Would be good to know say 5 others since then worth downloading.
Wrong is definitely a later period classic. 5 more since Ultra…hmmm:
Ghosts Again
Nothing’s Impossible
The Sinner in Me
Ghost
Before We Drown
I can’t pretend these are DM classics, but I rate them as pearls amid a fair amount of so-so songs:
Should Be Higher (from Delta Machine, or the ‘DM go blues’ album)
The Worst Crime and You Move (both from Spirit)
My Favourite Stranger and Caroline’s Monkey (both from Memento Mori)
I wonder if the days of cast-iron classic DM tunes are past us, but as Black Celebration said above, I’m just glad they’re still going. Losing one of your founder members and long-time friends must be a massive blow for any band.
Thanks guys.
Sadly for them and their devotees hereabouts, yer ‘Mode are another of those popular musical combos that I have consistently failed to “get”. My boat remains unfloated by them.
My fault entirely I suspect, because they aren’t such a terribly bad bunch. I just can’t bring myself to care very much about them.
Is Dave Gahan’s voice really now “not pleasant”? As not a DM fan, but a Soulsaver’s fan, I am always hoping he will tour that side of his oeuvre and, well, if his voice is shot, it would seem a tad daft. It isn’t as if Mark Lineman could dip for him, either. Or is it hat his voice is now unsuited to DM songs, being too rich and mannered for the material. Unless that is all studio polish.
Late q to @napaj
Dave’s vocals are a highlight of Memento Mori (the recording).
Live, his voice is certainly not as pleasing as on the studio recordings, that’s for sure. Pretty much all subtlety and nuance is gone.
He has pitch issues. And, sadly, he spends a lot of energy concentrating on ‘acting’. As well as being really cringeworthy, it’s to the detriment of the singing.
Much as I generally like Anton Corbijn’s work, I really hate the studied artlessness of what he produces for DM, certainly from Exciter onwards, and definitely including this video…
… and as a lifelong DM fan, I have to say that Memento Mori is (for me) their best album this century, and Ghosts Again a single which just about bears comparison with their imperial phase… faint praise I suppose, but not bad for a band 40 years into their career…