New Life: VCMG – Remember when I reported that Vince Clarke and Martin Gore were going to collaborate (post here)? They’ve gone and done it! Depeche Mode’s official site has announced that EPs will be released first by the end of November 2011, followed by a full album (full article here).
Cover Me – Depeche Mode have covered “So Cruel” for the AHK-Toong BAY-Bi Covered album, which consists of covers of songs from U2’s Achtung Baby. It also features artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Garbage and The Killers. It’s available for download exclusively on iTunes with proceeds benefitting Concern Worldwide. If you were one of the lucky ones, you would have received a copy with your Q Magazine back in October (full articles here).
Added to my Collection – I received my “Collected” DVD last week (my actual copy is pictured above). I’m always reminding those of you who are also fans, like myself, to get these rare items when they become available because of the limited stock, and this is a must have. The entire “Collected” series is on one DVD, along with extended footage and photos. Click here for the Recoil store to get your copy, while it lasts!
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a great weekend!
I may have mentioned this before, but my husband is a deejay. Deon mostly spins house, but occasionally he’ll break out some hip-hop. He did a lot of gigs in Las Vegas before we got married. When he moved to here to San Diego, he played clubs in the beginning, then was hired to do in store appearances and private parties like weddings and reunions.
When he takes out his equipment, he usually does his full set, which includes his MacBook to mix his digital music with his vinyl. But one weekend, he decided to hit just the ones and twos in our garage. My son decided that he wanted to follow suit. Do we have a future deejay in our presence? Hope you had a great weekend!
I received an email from The Shunt Staff last week, and put my order in. It’s for the limited edition “Collected” DVD and new 2012 calendar. If you want your own copies, details are below!
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From the Shunt Staff:
On November 1st, Dentez Lab and Shunt will release a limited edition, remastered DVD of Martin Vladar’s documentary film which accompanied the AW/DM historic equipment, vinyl and memorabilia auction.
Thank you for all the feedback following our request for a response on this. As the original auction run proved so popular and to satisfy many who missed out, we have decided to produce this superior quality transfer of the film. Based on your comments, we are manufacturing a limited run of 1000 copies, with extra material available, entitled ‘Alan Wilder Collected +‘
Directed and edited by Vladar and featuring new artwork and photo manipulations by Akos Szenasi, the ‘Collected +’ DVD comes shrink-wrapped in a cardboard sleeve and includes 4 extra scenes of unseen footage – with more Emax demos from Alan, other outtakes which never made the final cut, a film review of the day at Zion in Manchester, and a 67-shot photo gallery. Total running time – about 62 minutes.
You can pre-order your copy right now! The DVD will ONLY be purchasable from the new Recoil Official Store.
Full content details:
ALAN WILDER COLLECTED +
01 ‘Collected’ (running time : 36.10)
02 ‘Collected +’ : 4 additional scenes (18 mins)
a) Overview
b) Fanatics
c) Emax 2
d) Auction day
03 Auction gallery : 67 photographs (8 mins)
All regions : PAL 16:9 : PCM Stereo : Subtitles: English
(Note: ‘All region’ discs will play in any DVD player)
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Also available for pre-order at the store (shipped from November 1st) – the brand new Recoil Calendar 2012 presenting 13 large photographs by Steve Gullick, all chosen by Alan. The A3 calendar is produced using waterproof, resin-coated, high gloss photographic paper. If you need an Xmas present for your fellow Recoil friends, here it is! Order yours soon as this is a very limited run up until the new year.
The Shunt team plans to bring more items to the store in the future, including a new selection of T-shirts and some other merchandise. Keep checking back and let us know which products you would most like to see appear there. Contact: [email protected]
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I attended another conert of an artist that I missed in the 80’s. I saw Howard Jones at one of my favorite venues, 4th & B. I went with my concert buddy and best friend Janice. We then met up my friend Merrick, who used to be in my choir. Janice also met up with two of her friends from work, so it was a nice Wednesday evening get together. I normally love opening acts, but I was actually glad that HoJo did not have one. I liked that it was all Howard Jones, all night long.
Calling Mr. Jones, I must have your glitter pants!
After a minor technical glitch right following the first song (which was “Conditioning”), Mr. Jones played two sets of music: all of the songs from Human’s Lib, and all of the songs from Dream Into Action. I only own Human’s Lib, so all of my favorites were played early on: “Pearl In Shell,” “Don’t Always Look At The Rain”, “New Song” and of course, “What Is Love?” Every song was a trip back down memory lane. I have this album on vinyl and listened to it everyday for a few months after I bought it back in 1983. I used to know the hand gestures from the “What is Love?” video by heart. It was obvious that night that I had forgotten them all. Please note another appearance of the beloved keytar (seen here at the Human League concert).
One costume change later, and we were treated to all of the music from Dream Into Action. After giggling a bit about the Michael Jackson inspired jacket, Howard Jones launched into some of the best music of the night. I don’t own the album (yet), but his most popular songs came from this album: “Like To Get To Know You Well”, “Things Can Only Get Better” and “Life in One Day”. I really enjoyed “Specialty” and “Dream Into Action” live and will add these and the rest of the songs from Dream Into Action to my iPod playlist.
One of my favorite songs had a funny little event happen, that I only found about recently. During “No One is to Blame” and the lyric It’s the last piece of the puzzle/but you just can’t make it fit, people from the audience suddenly threw objects at Howard. Since I was right next to the people who threw it, I realized that they were puzzle pieces, which was hilarious because I wondered why he didn’t react initially to the things flying at him. In this article from Sign On San Diego, it states that it is a tradition to throw puzzle pieces at him during this part of the song. It reminded me of when people threw ping-pong balls at Guster onstage during “Airport Song” (meaning I was just as confused).
After the conclusion of the second set, Howard Jones and his bandmates came together to bow and wave at the grateful audience. The house lights came on half way, signaling that the concert was over. The crowd started to dissipate, some leaving the premises. But one very persistent fan kept yelling “EVERLASTING LOVE!” I’m not sure why my friends and I decided to stay, but we did. Maybe we were hoping that her cries for her favorite song would be heard. Then suddenly the house lights dimmed, and out came HoJo, alone sans jacket.
Her prayers were answered. Because we were so stunned, I only started recording with my Flip camera at the second verse. Below is “Everlasting Love”, almost unplugged. I had such a great time at this concert because it was so specific to the very early years of Howard Jones. I felt like I was given a ticket back in time to see him as I would have back then.
I also included my outfit for the evening, which was my “Nevermind the Bollocks” Sex Pistols skirt by Idil Vice (last seen here). As has been the case for the last few concerts I’ve seen lately, there was some very drunken fun, including the enthusiastic girl who nearly tackled me to tell me how much she loved my skirt. Hope you had a great weekend!
Outfit – Brass Plum cardigan; Old Navy tank; Idil Vice skirt; Rampage boots; Rebecca Minkoff belt (used as a bracelet); Wendy Brandes ring; Cotton On hoops; Tiffany & Co necklace; Lucky Brand glasses
A couple of Sundays ago, my sister and I saw OMD again, this time at the beautiful Humphreys by the Bay. I already reviewed this concert earlier this year (see post here), so I’m just going to touch on the highlights of this fun concert. People were definitely happy in the haze of a drunken few hours, yours truly included. The opening act from Australia called Washington, was oh so good. Lead singer, Megan Washington has a hauntingly beautiful voice and is quite the comedian (“I’ve never played at a gig like this, or seen so many ducks!”). I don’t know much about them, but I really enjoyed their set and you can be sure that I’ll be on the look out for more.
Smiles partially induced by Stella Artois
Aussie awesomeness: Washington
Then OMD came out as if unleashed, with all of the enthusiasm and energy they had back in March. Andy McCluskey thoughtfully stated that this venue was lovely but “far too sophisticated” and reminiscent of a high school graduation (funny, Alan Wilder said the exact same thing about his Recoil gig last year). By the encore, he had encouraged the crowd to “rush the stage”, which just meant a surge forward of stumbling intoxicated middle-aged one time New Wavers. I don’t remember it being so difficult back in the 80’s.
(Please note that this time, I finally got to meet DJ extraordinaire, Steve West of 91X. Hard to believe that I first listened to him back in 1983 at the tender age of 13!)
A song that was definitely included in this set because Andy mentioned that they received hate mail for not including it previously was “Secret”, to which the crowd enthusiastically sang word for word. My sister was quite delighted because it’s her all time favorite and because the lead vocals were provided by Paul Humphreys (Andy jokingly stated that he owned the venue). I would have included it here, except that the song was practically drowned out by some fantastically inebriated fans next to us.
Please find below a song that I did capture quite well, “If You Leave”. Andy introduced it by saying “If you don’t know this next song, you’re at the wrong gig!” Yes sir, a perfect post title was built right in, enjoy!
Last Sunday, Janice took me out for what I thought was going to be a simple night out on the town with my best friend, which actually ended at the sold out Erasure concert at The House of Blues! She first took me out to dinner at Pink Noodle and dessert at The Melting Pot (pictures & reviews on those places later). Then we took a mini detour by heading to Horton Plaza (a mall in Downtown San Diego), which threw me off. I now realize that she was stalling a bit because the concert wasn’t to start until 7pm, and we finished dinner and dessert earlier than planned.
Finally, we headed to House of Blues because Janice mentioned that she wanted to buy tickets to the upcoming Bangles concert she was planning on attending in November before we headed home for the night. We saw a very long line and asked the couple at the end of the queue what it was for. She said it was for the Erasure concert, which I had forgotten was happening that same night. Since we missed Duran Duran the night before, I was about to tell Janice that we should just stay in line to buy tickets, but felt slightly deflated when we were told it was sold out. Then, as if planned, Janice said, “Well it’s a good thing I already bought tickets!” SURPRISE! I squealed with delight and people in line looked over as I hugged Janice, still trying to figure out if this was really happening. I felt like I was on a television reality show and won a contest!
Frankmusik getting funky!
The concert started off with Frankmusik, an English electropop musician who produced Erasure’s most recent album, Tomorrow’s World. I was not familiar at all with his music, but was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It was an upbeat and very danceable set, which was the perfect segue into Erasure’s set.
I loved the gargoyles and circular theme throughout Erasure’s stage set. Andy Bell was just as energetic as ever, his voice as beautiful now as it was back in the 80’s. They rounded out their vocal sound with incredibly impressive back up vocalists, Emma Whittle and Valerie Chalmers. Vince Clarke stayed behind one of the gargoyles for much of the show, but came out to play guitar.
Erasure at the start of the concert
The last few times I saw Erasure was back in 1987 when they supported Duran Duran, and then in 1988 for The Innocents tour. I must admit when I saw them last week that I wasn’t as familiar with some of their later music and music from their latest album. But of course they played quite a few hits from Wonderland, Circus and The Innocents like “Sometimes”, “Chains of Love”, and my all time favorite “Oh L’Amour”. Although they closed with “Stop!”, I felt like “A Little Respect”, “Victim of Love” and “Love to Hate You” (a cover of the ABBA classic) received the most audience reaction.
During the song “A Little Respect”
The pictures in this post were from my iPhone, which was the best I could do from where we were standing. But since I didn’t have my edited “concert” purse (usually a cross-body purse with just my essentials), I thankfully had my Flip camera with me. I was able to capture “Oh L’Amour” relatively properly and have included it below. Thank you Janice for a wonderful evening! You really surprised me, and I will definitely return the favor.
Last week, I added yet another 80’s group to my list of must see bands: The Human League. As posted last week, I saw them last Thursday at The Dreamcatcher lounge inside Viejas Casino. I love the fact that groups that I missed back in the 80’s are touring again, making it possible to “catch up”. I wondered why it was that I didn’t see groups like these back then. I realized that it’s because I really didn’t have the cash flow that I have now as an adult, so when I had to choose between Depeche Mode and another group touring at the same time, I saved my money for Depeche Mode.
I went with my best friend Janice, who has accompanied me to many of my latest 80’s ventures (on occasion we go with my sister and cousin Regi). What was great about this show is that it only cost a mere $18 to see a fantastic double bill with Men Without Hats, and that we were incredibly close. We were so close that I was able to get a great shot of the set list prior to The Human League coming on, however, it didn’t allow me to get any good shots of Men Without Hats. I think it may also have been the lighting because I was able to get great shots of The Human League during their set.
The current band consists of lead singer Philip Oakey, singers Susan Sulley and Joanna Catherall, in addition to their touring band. I loved all of the costume changes and the fact that the girls switched sides of the stage. And if you thought the keytar was a thing of the past, The Human League has resurrected the keyboardists answer to the guitar hero. They played many songs I recognized right off the bat: The Lebanon, Love Action, Fascination, and Mirror Man. After seeing these songs live, I added a couple of songs to my favorites list from their discography: Tell Me When and Heart Like A Wheel.
They also sang a song from their new album, Credo called Egomaniac, which reminded me of Depeche Mode because of the grittiness of the synths. My personal favorite was Human, which Philip Oakey stated was a song that was only popular in the US. It was incredibly beautiful live, and their vocals were still spot on. I recorded video of Human where the visual was fantastic but the audio was distorted by the reverb of the speakers, which made me realize that I should have brought my Flip Camera. Don’t You Want Me was the obvious fan favorite. I heard the whole room sing every word, and Susan let the audience have a solo during the line “I still love you!”.
Although my own video footage left much to be desired, Janice was able to get great footage of the encore and final song, Together in Electric Dreams (I hope to include a video by the time this posts, but I will definitely add it later). This song was originally from the movie Electric Dreams and was a huge single for Philip Oakey outside of The Human League. It was produced one of his idols and pioneers of the synth era, Giorgio Moroder. I’ve always liked that song, and after seeing it live, it has raced up to the top of the list of my favorite Human League songs. All in all, another excellent musical trip back into the 80’s!
In searching for news about Alan Wilder, I came across a soon-to-be-new-addtion to my blogroll: Gothic News. They have confirmed that Alan Wilder has decided to play a “virtually free concert” on September 3, 2011, following the “Collected” main sale event in Manchester at the Zion Arts Centre, which is the Alan Wilder/Depeche Mode memorabilia auction. All the details can be found on the Gothic News post about the concert here. The only way to get tickets is to register by contacting the company running the online auction, Omega.
Seeing Recoil/Alan Wilder in concert is a must for any fan, so if you have the opportunity to go and you are in the Manchester area, hop to it!
My family and I are off to Vegas for the holiday weekend. Hope you have a good one!
I’m very excited because I will be getting in my New Wave fix tonight by attending a concert at The Dreamcatcher Lounge in Viejas Casino. My best friend Janice and I will be watching The Human League with Men Without Hats, both of whom I have not had the privilege of seeing back in the 80’s. The Human League actually have a new album out called Credo, so I’m glad to know that they are not only touring, but still recording as well.
If you are unfamiliar with the names of these groups, below are lists of hits for each of them. Once you see the songs, I’m sure your memory banks will flood with sounds of their catchy tunes. I’ll post pictures and a review next week!
The Human League:
Don’t You Want Me
Love Action
(Keep Feeling) Fascination
Mirror Man
Human
Men Without Hats:
The Safety Dance
Pop Goes The World
(The Human League photo courtesy of Viejasentertainment.com; Men Without Hats photo courtesy of Menwithouthats.com)
This month’s Full Time Fabulous August blog event is all about inspiration. Kristy Elena asked that we think about what inspires us and explain why. My recurring theme is and will always be Depeche Mode. I connected with their music at a very young age and have always identified with them because of their dark but hopeful lyrics. As I got older, I learned to appreciate the irony of their sexual and religious themes. Their inspiration is evident in the titles of many of my posts, and more importantly in the name of my blog. I can be mentally fighting for a title to an outfit post or an article. Then suddenly a lyric to one of their songs will pop into my head and I’m inspired. To see evidence of how much they have influenced me, check out posts here and here, including outfit posts here and here.
But really, I derive much of my inspiration for everything I do in my life from the loves of my life: my husband Deon and son Dominic.
