More Devotional

Side 1 of a Depeche Mode cassette compilation, recorded circa September/October 1998.

 

I posted Side 2 in May this year and I still haven't got around to buying the current Depeche Mode album, Memento Mori, despite really liking the lead single, Ghosts Again. A testament to the amount of other great music that's been released this year but despite being the first gig I ever went to and my obsessive need to buy all of their singles through to, well, around the end of 1998 I was still never what you'd describe as a devotional fan.

I did like their singles and pick of remixers though and I think this mixtape is a pretty good example that when they were good, they were very good.

William Orbit's Random Carpet Mix of Walking In My Shoes pops up on compilations in a full length 8+ minute version, but I prefer the six-and-a-half minute edit that appeared on the original CD single. 

The KLF remix is a relative rarity. They didn't do that many in their time but they were always worth hunting down. As is Dan The Automator's trip hop take on standalone single Only When I Lose Myself, only pipped as my favourite mix of the song by Loo & Placido's mash-up with Dr. Dre from 2006 aka Still Losing Myself.

 

Not quite a mash-up, but Art Maharg drops a cheeky Enya sample into his edit of Sea Of Sin. His and Joseph Watt's (mostly) bootleg Razormaid mixes were often as good as and occasional better than the commercial releases.

I've found the 21st Century remixes a very hit-and-miss affair to be honest, leaning towards the latter. In the right hands, though? Mode magic.

 

1) Walking In My Shoes (Random Carpet Mix By William Orbit) (Single Version) (1993)

2) Everything Counts (Remix By Tim Simenon & Mark Saunders) (1989)

3) It's No Good (Album Version By Tim Simenon) (1997)

4) Personal Jesus (Holier Than Thou Approach) (Remix By François Kevorkian) (1989)

5) Only When I Lose Myself (Dan The Automator Mix By Dan Nakamura) (1998)

6) Policy Of Truth (Trancentral Mix By The KLF aka Bill Drummond & Jimmy Cauty) (1990)

7) Sea Of Sin (Razormaid's Orinoco Flow Edit By Art Maharg) (1990)

8) Rush (Spiritual Guidance Mix By Jack Dangers) (1993)

Side One (46:07) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two, including revived links to previous Depeche Mode selections, can be found here

New York, Ice Cream, TV, Travel, Good Times

Long overdue on these pages, here's The Human League with a selection of 12" versions, remixes and re-edits spanning 1981's classic album Dare to their most recent (though hopefully not final) album Credo in 2011.

The selection kicks off with The Things That Dreams Are Made Of. I first came across the US-based blog DreamTime in the mid-2000s, where predominantly 1980s songs would be spliced and re-edited to create super extended versions. Sometimes they just didn't work, either due to using incompatible mixes or variable vinyl sources; sometimes, they hit the spot. I'd place The Things That Dreams Are Made Of in the latter category, taking elements from the Dare and Love And Dancing* versions to create nearly ten minutes of synthpop greatness. The blog is long gone, but DreamTime is still going strong on Soundcloud, currently featuring the likes of Simple Minds, Heaven 17, Kate Bush, a-ha, Talk Talk and David Bowie.

 

* Yes, I know that the latter is officially The League Unlimited Orchestra and not The Human League, but I'm not complaining.

 

DreamTime's re-edits pay homage to Razormaid and Hot Tracks (in turn inspired by 1970s innovators such as Tom Moulton, Larry Levan and Walter Gibbons) and I've included a couple of examples here. Steven Tucker (Hot Tracks) stretches out (Keep Feeling) Fascination whilst Art Maharg (Razormaid) remixes 1990 comeback single Heart Like A Wheel.

 

There are a few original 1980s extended versions, too: Love Action (I Believe In Love), co-produced with Martin Rushent, appears as the penultimate song on Dare and was segued with Hard Times on the original 12" single in 1981. The Sign first appeared on follow-up album Hysteria and was remixed by Nigel Walker for the 12" single B-side for Louise in 1984. Love Is All That Matters was released as the final single from Crash, produced and co-written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, fresh from working with Janet Jackson on the super successful Control. It was a testing time for the band and fans alike.

 

The Human League's most recent album of new material was Credo, preceded by the single Night People in 2010. Again, there appears to have been a mixed response to the album and it didn't reclaim the commercial success of previous albums, but I like it a lot. Here, the legendary French producer Cerrone (who turned 70 in May - belated happy birthday wishes!) amps up the heavy disco sound of the original.

 

Last but not least, the intriguingly named T.O.E.C. - an acronym for Two On Each Camel, apparently - remix big mid-1990s hit One Man In My Heart, a rare outing for Susanne Sulley on lead vocals. T.O.E.C. are/was Swedish production duo Joakim Björklund and Sören Elonsson and when I hear this remix, I can't help but be reminded of fellow Swedes Ace Of Base and All That She Wants, not a huge surprise as T.O.E.C. produced a couple of tracks on the same album, Happy Nation.

 

I've never seen The Human League live in concert mainly because they had an annoying habit of playing in Bristol on or around my birthday, when I was otherwise engaged. They've just announced an open air concert at Dreamland in Margate in July 2023, featuring support from none other than Marc Almond. I've no plans to go, but it sounds fantastic.

 

1) The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (DreamTime Mix) (2007)

2) (Keep Feeling) Fascination (Digital Mix) (1997)

3) The Sign (Extended Re-Mix) (1984)

4) Love Action (I Believe In Love) (12" Edit/Album Version) (1981)

5) Love Is All That Matters (Extended Remix) (1988)

6) Night People (Cerrone Club Mix) (2010)

7) Heart Like A Wheel (Razormaid Mix) (1990)

8) One Man In My Heart (T.O.E.C. Extended) (1995)

1981: Dare: 4

1984: Louise (12" single): 3

1988: Love Is All That Matters (12" single): 5

1990: This Is Only A Test! Volume 9 (Razormaid CD): 7

1995: One Man In My Heart (CD single): 8

1997: Hot Tracks: The Edge Level 03 (Hot Tracks CD): 2

2007: The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (bootleg MP3): 1

2010: Night People (promo CD): 6

 

New York, Ice Cream, TV, Travel, Good Times (54:28)