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

Born To Entertain

You'll start to notice a few recurring artists on this blog, Julian Cope being one of them. I did An Imaginary Compilation for the Arch Drude over at The Vinyl Villain back in October 2020, where I made plain my unconditional love for Julian Cope's music, taking in The Teardrop Explodes, Brain Donor, Queen Elizabeth, Black Sheep and many, many, many solo albums. Julian Cope has also been the artist that I've seen most live in concert and holds the distinction of being the last gig I went to (fact fans: Sat 08 Feb 2020 at the Barbican in London) before the country went into lockdown. 

 

The ICA that I did for The Vinyl Villain was a slight divergence from the norm, in that I focused exclusively on Julian Cope's live performances. You can read the track-by-track commentary in the TVV posting, but as the audio links are now dead I'm re-presenting the "album" here for your listening pleasure.

 

1) Soul Desert (Live @ The Fleece Bristol, 09 Feb 2020) (bootleg recording)

2) Bill Drummond Said (Live In Japan, 1991) (Live Japan ’91, 2004) 

3) Don’t Take Roots (Live @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 30 Sep 1995) (Barrowlands, 2019) 

4) Autogeddon Blues (Live @ Moseley Folk Festival, Birmingham, 01 Sep 2012) (bootleg recording)

5) Sunspots (Live @ The Ritz, New York, 28 Jan 1987) (bootleg recording)

6) Reynard The Fox (Live @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 30 Sep 1995) (Barrowlands, 2019)

7) You Will Be Mist (Live @ BBC 6 Music Festival, Liverpool, 31 Mar 2019) (bootleg recording)

8) Robert Mitchum (Live @ The Globe Cardiff, 2011) (bootleg recording)

9) I’m Living In The Room They Found Saddam In (Live @ The Royal Festival Hall, London, 21 Jan 2005) (Concert Climax: Live In The Hearing Of The Motherfucker, 2005)

10) Out Of My Mind On Dope And Speed (Live @ The Fleece Bristol, 09 Feb 2020) (bootleg recording)

 

Born To Entertain: Live 1987-2020 (49:35) (KF) (Mega)