Album Review: Depeche Mode – Remixes 2: 81-11
3 min read
In the eighties there was one band that raised the bar so high that the very meaning of high standard was truly defined. That band was Depeche Mode and since their formation the successful English collective have redefined the way the electronica/new wave genre is made and heard. Depeche Mode was formed by music icon Vince Clarke (Erasure, Yazoo) along with vocalist Dave Grahan, Andy Fletcher on keyboards and Martin Gore, who offered most of the lead songwriting credits after Clarke’s departure from the band in 1981. Depeche Mode have since gone on to become one of the most influential homegrown acts to find global sucess over the past three decades and are still going strong today.
The band who formed way back in 1980 have been pioneers of electronic music and have in their career sold an astonishing 100 million albums making them the most successful electronic outfit in music history. Always adding to their extensive catalogue the band are now offering us a further remix collection titled Remixes 2: 81-11.
The latest collections combines 37 remixes spanning Depeche Mode’s 30 year career marking a milestone in British electronic music from a band who have always been at the forefront of the genre.
With a meaty amount to be heard in the three discs that make up the collection there is a lot to choose from and it certainly ticks all the right boxes when it comes to the variety and quality of what we find here.
The bands signature hit Personal Jesus gets the biggest nod within this new collection with three outstanding versions of the track to remind us of the incredible force that Depeche Mode have become in British culture. Eric Prydz, Stargate and Alex Metric all try their hand at delivering some revved up versions of the 1990 single and all three stand as individual highlights on the record.
Eric Prydz also offers his skills on Never Let Me Down Again making for a worthwhile listen while Swedish indie trio Peter Bjorn & John deliver an inspiring remix of the bands more recent 2009 track Fragile Tension with impressive results.
Former band member and band founder Vince Clarke has also come to the bands side once again to add his magic touch on an incredible arrangement of Behind The Wheel giving the track a kiss of life and an energetic boost that is sure to revisit the club circuit in no time.
Röyksopp offer us a syrupy, synth heaving versions of the Vince Clarke penned Puppets, the only Clarke written number to feature over the three discs while on the first disc the Digitalism Remix of Never Let Me Down Again offers us a grinding inclusion to the compilation and a dark edge to the rest of the track-listing with its deep, industrial effects.
Remixes 2: 81-11 is an epic release for a band that have become a national treasure and have been the inspiration for many of today’s global electro-pop superstars and with the compilation covering tracks from their 1981 album Speak and Spell right through to the bands more recent record Sounds Of The Universe from 2009, there isn’t far to reach for a mammoth charge of electro-pop with the bands latest remix offering.
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