True. It seems like they use to play more in the earlier days too. In 101 they had the other instruments in their set (in sure what they're called) but the things they used to bang on during Stripped I think it was. Also during that time it seemed like Alan even did most of the keyboard work out of the three....Wow, 3 hours, 35 songs? That's hard to imagine.
Yeah the first time I heard "Lets get together" was on the Behind the Music program. I remember when that girl group covered the DM song, not sure if it was that one but I think Fletch's daughter was in it or something. I dont really remember. You can tell at times that DM is embarrassed by some of their early work and videos but whatever, I dont see why they should be now, I mean they've come a long ways.
From what I understand Vince and Alan left for simliar reasons. I think that Vince, Alan, and Martin are all very strong musicians and its kinda hard to imagine Vince still in Depeche, as well as Alan when you have Martin and Dave, a strong frontman. I dont know, theres just too much genius there lol Even now, Dave finally decided to work on his solo stuff which could have effected the band (I mean, i know I was worried for a while) since he wanted more writing credits in DM. But back to Vince, I still think its crazy that he left and I never really knew why he actually did but I guess he wanted to do other things. And now of course we see that Vince is better off on his own. I guess if he would have stayed in the band there eventually would have been conflict just like if Alan would have stayed longer, he would have eventually left.
I enjoyed the versions Martin did during his solo shows especially "In Your Room." But i also enjoy Martins songs not the ones sung by Dave.
Didnt Martin bring back Somebody last tour?
Yes, Alan was over-used and Under-appreciated. If I'm right, there was a lot of tension between him and Martin because Martin didn't always like how Alan interpreted his songs (To Have And To Hold, Enjoy The Silence, Judas to name 3), and tension between him and Fletch, because Fletch did virtually nothing. Yeah, they were more raw during their first world tours. Martin had his kazoo thing to play during Everything Counts, I think he blew a whistle at times too. Alan would bang the lead pipe, and Fletch would clap along while smiling. I think they played 17-18 songs during the first few tours, then it stretched to 19 (3 encores) by the time of Construction Time Again, the Masses Tour was three encores (until the end when Just Can't Get Enough was added as 4). The last tour was the first to feature 5 songs, but by the second leg, it had been cut to 3. The Cure often making me wonder if they were doing drugs back stage or something, cause they did 23 songs, came back and did 2, then did 8, then finished with Faith. Some shows on the tour, they did 40 songs. 15 songs in 3 encores. That's A Morrissey show, right there.
I don't think Vince felt overused. True, he was writing most of the songs at the time, but I think he felt it difficult having to work with 3 different other people. Especially when his ideas clash. He was very difficult to work with in the early days from what I've read, and a lot of times he wanted to isolate himself and use a lot of pre-programmed music with very little live instrumentation. Alison said when he got mad, he would just stay quiet and lock himself away, while she was the angry type who just wanted to fight it out and resolve it. He just got fed up and moved on. I think it was a similar situation with Depeche Mode, I'm sure Martin wanted to do other things and Vince had his own vision and his own plan for the way things would be. Fletch also said that Vince was never "caught up in the sensation of being a pop star, cause it was like he knew what he was doing and he knew he would be successful". The other three were a bit overwhelmed at the time and were happy to be in a band that was successful. Vince was also serious and considered it to be his job, if you can understand what I mean. I'm sure a lot of the tension was while they were recording the album, and by the time they finished their first tour of Europe, he determined to set out on his own. On the Yazoo DVD, he said that when he demoed "Only You" for Daniel Miller, he didn't think Daniel liked it, so he'd have to go back to getting a real job. Andy said that when Vince played it for him and Martin (who happened to be in the Mute Offices), they said, "Nah, sounds like something we've heard before", then he added, "shows what we know."
I haven't got around to listen to Dave's solo stuff. I guess it's partially because I think it's going to be too much like Dave's attempt to re-shape the band during Songs Of Faith And Devotion. It took me a long time (i think it was 2000 before I even listened to it) because I had been so disgusted (maybe that's too strong) by I Feel You. When I saw that on MTV, I honestly felt like they had sold out. I think there was even an article, where somebody said "Now they're playing real instruments, so we can take them seriously". I felt dumb, because lyrically and musically it's a very good album. I would say it's one of their 4 best (Some Great Reward, Violator, Songs Of Faith And Devotion, Black Celebration). Some very good songs, although the production and sound on some of them, I'm not too fond of. I still think Judas is the best song Martin has ever song. I think it turned out to be a good thing that the problems followed that tour (Not the problems themselves, but that they had to take a break and re-examine themselves and their image. I think Richard Blade said it best when he said Dave was trying to be Axl Rose).
I think Depeche Mode would have gone the way of Kajagoogoo if Vince had stayed. I think Vince is very good at what he does (dance music), but DM is not a pop or a dance group. I think Only You is the one of the few songs Vince has written lyrically that has any emotional depth to it. The lyrics he writes are catching, but most don't have the style or poetry that Martin has produced on a regular basis. Although, like every writer Martin has come short on occasion.
I think Martin should do some more songs during the shows. I felt cheated that I got to hear Somebody, but not A Question Of Lust. It's almost like I have to throw on 101 or a bootleg from the Singles tour to hear both of them in the same show. I still wish I had gotten to hear A World Full Of Nothing when he did it on The Exciter tour. It's very underrated, and much better (in my opinion) than It Doesn't Matter Two. Actually, I liked the first It Doesn't Matter much better as well.
