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album // Playing The Angel
single // Precious
single // A Pain That I'm Used To
single // Suffer Well
Dave Gahan should be pretty happy right now.
Not only did three of his own compositions make it onto 2005's Playing
The Angel, but this track was picked out as the third single
from the album. He might be less impressed with Anton Corbijn's
sleeve photography, which has Martin Gore dressed as a bride,
Andy Fletcher as the groom, while Dave is the scruffy dishevelled
urchin inbetween them. If you've ever read any books on Depeche
Mode, or any of the more in-depth interviews, you'll know that
Fletcher and Gore have a symbiotic relationship, the former's sole
role in the group as the mouthpiece for the latter, leaving Gahan
as the outsider desperately seeking to impress. Perhaps Corbijn's
sleeve attempts to show that Gahan has earned his place as more
than just the mouthpiece for Gore's lyrics.
Analysis aside, 'Suffer Well' is an excellent Mode
track. When I first heard Playing The Angel, I didn't look
to see who had composed each song, and so this just felt consistent
with their oeuvre - dark lyrics, dark sounds. 'Suffer Well'
is built upon a 4/4 beat and leftfield electronics, Gore supplying
a bassy, bluesy riff. Gahan's lyrics are sufficiently fraught, perhaps
drawing on his own harrowing experiences in the 90s - as a junkie,
Gahan held it together reasonably profesionally, suffering well
so to speak. For me, this is certainly one of Playing The Angel's
standout songs.
Unusually for the third single from a Depeche album,
this comes backed with an exclusive B-side - normally the (by his
own admission) hardly prolific songwriter Gore has run out of new
songs by the second single. 'Better Days' clocks in at two and a
half minutes, is again a 4/4-fuelled song, but hardly showcases
Gore's songwriting prowess. Dirty synths and processed guitars create
a slightly harrowing edge, while Gahan and Gore both sound like
their vocals have been regurgitated by a dalek. Vocally naivë,
this does actually sound like an updated remix of one of the fey
B-sides from Depeche history (think '(Set Me Free) Remotivate Me').
It is a grower, I'll grant you.
A single edit is available exclusively from iTunes
along with some additional mixes, while a series of three 12"
singles and limited edition 7" push the format and remix options
to new levels, especially considering the second CD contains no
less than six mixes. Of the CD mixes, only Narcotic Thrust's mix
does anything for me, harking as it does back to quality 90s hardhouse.
The usually on-point Tiga and the over-hyped Mute America act M83
simply disappoint. [Reviews of the 7" and 'Darkest Star' XL12"
to follow.]
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