Playing the Angel: Song by song commentary by long time fan

[kaleid]

Ok, I've given the album many listenings, varying the time of day, the setting, my moods, etc. Against the backdrop of my LONG fan status, here is my song-by-song review.

1)A Pain That I’m Used To: For me, one of the most annoying songs on Exciter was The Dead of Night, with that grating siren-esque guitar distortion. Why they decided to open APTIUT (and the album) with this recycled noise is baffling, but there’s far more wrong with this song than just this. The song lacks a chorus line, depriving it of a catchy hook and consequently its soul. And there are too many places where the song inexplicably peters out for no apparent reason. C-

2)John the Revelator: A rockabilly song with lots of chutzpah, but because it lacks a song structure, it sounds about 3 minutes too long. And I could do without those annoying blips and bleeps sprinkled liberally throughout. C

3)Suffer Well: One of the few strong songs here. Sounds a bit like A Question of Time meets I Feel Loved. More seemingly unessessary noises, but in the hands of a few good remixers, this song shows great promise as a potential single. B+

4)The Sinner In Me: Unfinished album filler. Too many inexplicable gaps, quiet spots and static. Is this song still a demo? D

5)Precious: What can I say…. this song is great, and sounds a bit like It’s No Good. The only song on the album that makes me want to hit repeat. The Calderone & Quale mix of this song is divine. A

6)Macrovision: Too minimalist (like much of the last two albums). Could benefit from an orchestral arrangement. Belongs on Counterfeit 2. D-

7)I Want It All: Conjures images of a melting ice cream cone or a plate of plain mashed potatoes. This one will make you go comatose. Belongs on Counterfeit 2. F

8)Nothing’s Impossible: Sounds like a bad “dark wave” synthpop song. D+

9)Damaged People: A Martin-sung song and not a bad tune. Too bad the instrumentation is incredibly weak. Also belongs on Counterfeit 2. C

10)Lillian: This song actually had promise. An upbeat and catchy melody, but too bad for the crappy instrumentation. A missed opportunity. Remix, anyone? B-

11) The Darkest Star: Come on, is this really the best you’ve ever penned, Martin? Again, there’s a hint of promise here, with some interesting chord progressions, but in this form, the song is best suited as a B side. Very weak album closer. C-

Overall rating: C-, and possibly worse than Exciter. These songs simply don’t measure up to past efforts. Fans would agree that DM could do a lot worse than re-hiring Tim Simenon to retool this seemingly unfinished album (or burying the hatchet with Alan).
Readers, feel free to disagree!

Note to Martin: It's time to venture away from your midi-mixer and start collecting and manipulating the kind of innovative samples and drum/beat loops that made your band cutting edge once upon a time.

[Indigo]

Thank you for posting.

I think you are right a bit.

In my opinion, a few of the album songs are great.
(Precious, APTIUT, Suffer Well, Lilian)

Sometimes I really think that Alan is missing...
_________________
All this running around, well it's getting me down,
just give me a pain that I'm used to..

[Zero202]

The best song from the PTA is the John,The Revelator. The new concerte song of DM.

[Dave]

I have heard the album today in my car.

I think it's getting better and better.

I like most of the songs.

The songs I don't like so much are:

I want it all and The darkest star.

John the revelator is a great song. It sounds a bit like Personal Jesus.

[depmod.alan]

Hey, i'bought the new DM album this morning, it was time!!!! it is so great!! very strange too. a very dark atmosphere as it has never been in the past. it's the darkest according to me. my favourite song is NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE, the coldest song of the album due to the sounds (music and voice), and at the same time it's a very optimistic title. the whole album is marvelous, but I wonder if the band will be able, a day, to do something better than VIOLATOR. Our band have, once again, created something special we are going to live with waiting the world tour. thanks guys.

[Indigo]

You are right.

I listened to it in my car this morning when I drove to work.

Nothing's impossible is a great song.
The whole album gets better and better everytime I listen to it...
_________________
All this running around, well it's getting me down,
just give me a pain that I'm used to..

[slashdev]

I think your grading system shouldn't apply to songs, these songs took countless hours to write and produce, let's please not grade them.

When you listen to a song, do you grade it? Well maybe you do, but I sure don't. I usually express what the song means to me, how it makes me feel and a song like "Nothing's Impossible", "Macro", "Precious", "The Sinner in Me" and "John the Revelator" are simply some of the best songs I've heard from Depeche Mode, very melodic and with the Depeche Mode trademark, I've been listening very closely for about 2 decades now.

Some of these songs remind me of some old Depeche Mode days.

I think you've only scratched the surface when listening to these songs, even though you've spent hours listening to them.

However you're entitled to your own opinion of course and no one can make you feel a certain way about any particular song, my only advice to you is to feel the song rather than listen and rate it.

Thanks for reading

[cincymode]

Very detailed summary, but The Sinner in Me is probably my favorite song on the new CD. I agree that the static is a bit annoying at the end, but the EBM-style beat do it for me!

[Dave]

Jep, The Sinner in me is a nice song.

Especially the refrain where Dave and Martin sing together.
_________________
Even the stars look brighter tonight
Nothing's impossible
I still believe in love at first sight
Nothing's impossible

[feville]

You're right about the annoying sound in "a pain that I'm used too". I think that the best playing the angel songs are precious,nothing's impossible (my favourite),lilian and the sinner in me. John the revelator is a nice song,but also boring.

[martinmas]

yeah

[coupletrip]

hold up, wait a minute.

1)The intro to dead of night was imagery. The sound of a motorcycle speeding away was in reference to the cowards who cause trouble and then run away (easy girls enjoy that sort of thing). I'm guessing that you totally missed the imagery on blasphemous rumors-take another listen.
APTIUT doesn't need a chorus, it's catchy enough. If depeche were any poppier, it would make us all look like fools.

2)JTR is big beat. It mocks the way christians capitalize on everything the way big beat did to electro.BTW- Isn't "kaleid" full of blips itself? Thats what makes it good. Please provide a commentary on why you like kaleid even though.....??

3)If I hear the term "fell from grace" in one more song I'm going to freak. Otherwise- I love it.

4)obviously depeche feel that making bad music is a sin. Thank god for their carrer! imagery perhaps. loved the distorted percussion. sins are a demo in a way. Live and learn. Imagery dude!

5)great song. I'm not sure what to think about the simple piano riff played over and over though.

6)So, you think that simplicity is "simply the easiest", fair enough. I agree with you that an orchestral arrangement would be very nice. Perhaps the video (if there is one made) will be very complex-that would make it complete and very cool. And lay off the cough syrup dude. YOU CANNOT COVER YOUR OWN SONG! A cover is someone doing someone elses song.

7) I agree with you here. But, why would Martin cover a song written by his own band?

8)either way, this one is a great effort.

9)Agreed. but I love his simplicity.

10)100 % agreed

11)could be a message to the fans. our degree of insanity is rather annoying.

everything they do gets an A+ with me. bomb the bass should handle their remixes ONLY. alan should be left alone with his crappy macintosh mixdowns

help us vincent, PLEASE!
_________________
to see. I'm not looking

[dialecto]

[Tweesy]

i think for me the first CD(Playing the Angel) after the long break is for me the best that they ever made.powerful strong beats and very loud. especialy ,,the pain that i´m used to´´. i love it