MOJO PRESENTS
Depeche Mode
Classics. Rarities. Revelations.
1 Ice Machine
(Single Version)
The B-side to Depeche Mode’s first single Dreaming Of Me, Ice Machine could easily serve as the group’s early manifesto – delivering chills and electronic thrills amid a litany of modernity’s bugbears, including the great god Efficiency. Other than the repetition of “resurrect”, Vince Clarke has fully pivoted from Christian folk songwriter to dystopian visionary.
(3:53). Written by Vincent Clarke. Published by Musical Moments Ltd./Sonet (PRS). 1981 Venusnote Limited, under exclusive licence to Sony Music Entertainment (UK). From Speak & Spell (1981)
2 Somebody
(Remix)
This mix of Gore’s ingenuous ballad debuted on the UK 7-inch of Blasphemous Rumours in October 1984. It starts with a heartbeat and a synthy hint of raindrops before Martin Gore and Alan Wilder (on keys) bring the piano bar
Weltschmerz.
If Gore sounds vulnerable, maybe even chilly, he sang it naked in Hansa’s cellar, scaring Steffi, the female tape op.
(4:20). Written by Martin L. Gore. Published by Grabbing Hands Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS). 1984 Venusnote Limited, under exclusive licence to Sony Music Entertainment (UK). From Some Great Reward (1984)
3 AQuestion Of Time
(New Town Mix)
‘Fresh’ off of Coil’s The Anal Staircase EP, ex-Lines man Rico Conning added extra attack to DM’s
Black Celebration
fanfare for a limited-edition 12-inch. Though it would be hard to improve on this paranoid juggernaut – about, as per many DM songs, corruption of innocence. Fact: the moaning female voice was sampled from The Chanters’ 1955 banger, She Wants To Mambo.