À La Mode

I still haven't made up my mind whether I like Nouvelle Vague's cover of Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode. 

On paper, the pairing of Skye Edwards from Morcheeba and Larry Love from Alabama 3 is inspired and yet, after a few listens, it's just not doing it for me. The prospect of an entire album of covers - A Date With Depeche Mode - therefore doesn't immediately appeal.

However, it inevitably sent me down a rabbit hole of other Depeche Mode reinterpretations from the well-known and relatively obscure. 

If you can make it to the end without skipping, you're in for a treat: my online search uncovered the fabulously named Skapeche Mode, who cover the Basildon boys in a - you guessed it - ska style. 

From the live clip, it's definitely more about the entertainment value than the note perfect performance, but when the brass section are sporting angels wings and the lead singer is dressed as Mork from Ork, how can you not have a good time? 

Messrs. Gahan and Gore, take note.

1) Enjoy The Silence: Nouvelle Vague ft. Skye Edwards & Larry Love (2026)

2) I Feel You: Palm Skin Productions (2025)

3) Never Let Me Down Again: The Smashing Pumpkins (1994)

4) It's No Good: Dee Madden (2016)

5) Somebody: Veruca Salt (1998)

6) Stripped: Duncan Sheik (2020)

7) Just Can't Get Enough: The Wannadies (1995)

8) See You: Marsheaux (2015)

9) World In My Eyes: The Cure (1998)

10) People Are People: Skapeche Mode (2014)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They Wouldn't Know Freedom If You Salted It And Rubbed It In Their Eyes

One of the inevitable effects of a steady flow of good new music, as well as back catalogue reissues and rediscoveries through the blogosphere, is that it's very easy for great songs to be lost in the avalanche. Songs that I enjoyed but only played once or twice before the continuing influx of music pushed them further and further into the past.

Today's selection therefore rescues songs from the dim and distant past of 2012 (!) and brings them into the light again. A mix of original songs and cover versions, it's hard to believe that these songs are a decade old. The Jazz Butcher provide today's post title; sadly Pat Fish departed this life in October 2021. Another loss - Mark Hollis in 2019 - is celebrated with an affecting Talk Talk cover version by Duncan Sheik & Rachael Yamagata.

 

I knew the closing song would be A Case For Vinyl by Tim Burgess before I'd had a proper sense of the selection's running order. A co-write with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, I think it's one of Tim's finest songs, both solo and with The Charlatans.  

 

No spoilers, but tomorrow's selection will be a little more uptempo.

 

1) Freedom At 21: Jack White (single / Blunderbuss LP)

2) Goodbye Kiss (Cover of Kasabian): Lana Del Rey (God Bless America mixtape)

3) Grasshopper Clock: The Corner Laughers (Poppy Seeds LP)

4) Do I Wait (Cover of Ryan Adams): Juliana Hatfield (Juliana Hatfield LP)

5) On Borrowed Time (Take 5) (Remix By BRM & Waterson): Billie Ray Martin (Five Takes (A Song About Andy) EP)

6) Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers: The Jazz Butcher (Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers LP)

7) Life's What You Make It (Cover of Talk Talk): Duncan Sheik ft. Rachael Yamagata (Spirit Of Talk Talk compilation)

8) Half Gate: Grizzly Bear (Shields LP)

9) Save Me A Place (Cover of Fleetwood Mac): Marissa Nadler (July / Demos & Covers limited edition LP)

10) A Case For Vinyl: Tim Burgess (single / Oh No I Love You LP)

They Wouldn't Know Freedom If You Salted It And Rubbed It In Their Eyes (44:13)