Depeche Mode “Leave In Silence”

sfilzen — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:33:35 +0000

Depeche Mode “Leave In Silence” 1982. Last week we were vacationing at a cabin in way way up north Wisconsin and each year we drive out about an hour west to Superior (and Duluth, MN). There used to be a shockingly great used record store in Superior – Vinyl Cave Records – which closed in 2016 and transferred a lot of its inventory to Globe News, the business next door that is a weird mix of magazines, tchotchkes, crappy candy and now, records. This was one of several Depeche Mode singles we acquired; this copy from Spain on Victor/RCA (and subtitled “Partir en silencio”).

“Leave in Silence” was Depeche Mode’s sixth single and it hit #18 on the UK charts. A different version of the song with a running time of almost a minute longer was included on A Broken Frame, the band’s second LP. The song is darkly beautiful, lush in minor. The video, though, is comically awful and does not match the mood of the song at all; the band hated it too, choosing not to include on their Some Great Videos VHS compilation.The B-side of the single has “Excerpt From: My Secret Garden,” an instrumental remix of “My Secret Garden” (which also appears on A Broken Frame). The track is a good match for “Leave In Silence” as it too has a succulent feel: the remix’s intro starts with a keyboard effect that recalls the dripping of water off of overgrown greenery in a hidden garden.

The post Depeche Mode “Leave In Silence” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Depeche Mode “A Broken Frame”

sfilzen — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:45:02 +0000

Depeche Mode “A Broken Frame” released on yesterday’s date, September 27th, 1982. Not enough time to write about it on its anniversary (had to take the Vault boy to get braces). A Broken Frame is dM’s second album and their first without Vince Clarke (who went on to form Yazoo with Alison Moyet). The LP made it to #8 in the UK but barely whispered onto the US charts, hitting #177. The best tracks showcase Depeche Mode doing what they do best: mixing hauntingly dark melodies with bright synth pop effects. “Leave in Silence” leads off the album with vaguely menacing vocal oh-ohing in minor; the single reached #18 in the UK. “My Secret Garden” is full of gorgeous shadows, as is “Monument.” “See You,” the first single released from A Broken Frame, peaked at #6 in the UK is not quite so dark, just lightly tinged with a deep grey, and it never fails to remind me of a guy who used to play the track over and over in the mid-80′s as he pined for a good friend of mine who had lost interest. “The Meaning of Love,” the album’s second single, is also on the poppy end of the dM spectrum, though the lyrics are less the typical love/heartbreak pop theme and more the existential questioning of painful human existence.

I’ve read more than a hundred books
Seeing love mentioned many thousand times
But despite all the places I’ve looked
It’s still no clearer
I’m still no nearer
The meaning of love
Noted down all my observations
Spent an evening watching television
Still I couldn’t say with precision
Know it’s a feeling and it comes from above
But what’s the meaning
The meaning of love
(tell me)
From the notes that I’ve made so far
Love seems something like wanting a scar
Well I could be wrong
I’m just not sure you see
I’ve never been in love before
Next I asked several friends of mine
If they could spare a few minutes of their time
Their looks suggested that I’ve lost my mind
Tell me the answer
My Lord high above
Tell me the meaning
The meaning of love
From the notes that I’ve made so far
Love seems something like wanting a scar
Well I could be wrong
I’m just not sure you see
I’ve never been in love before
The meaning of love
(tell me)
Tell me the meaning of love
(tell me)

The post Depeche Mode “A Broken Frame” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

a broken frame Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Depeche Mode “Leave In Silence”

Depeche Mode “A Broken Frame”