After thirty minutes or so of rippin', at blinding speeds of 2X to nearly 3X (OK, so my laptop's CD player is a little old), it was time to plug in the iPod for an update.
Mr. USB connector gives that muted 'click' and then...nothing.
I unplugged and tried again. Still nothing. No iPod in iTunes. Nothing. Come to think of it, my computer didn't complain when I just yanked the cable out.
Hmmm....maybe it's the computer? Down to the office I go to plug into my Linux box.
It reboots on me.
So...a more tech-savvy person might decide that there's something wrong with the cable. A less tech-savvy person would attempt to plug the iPod in again.
A less tech-savvy person might also decide to not plug in again after the second straight reboot.
The third computer (honestly, I wasn't trying to destroy every PC in house, it just looks that way) actually did something useful. It said that there was a power surge on the USB port. Aha! It's the cable after all. A short. Dang, befuddled by technology again.
The irony of this happening while attempting to review a Depeche Mode record is not lost on me. Their music is built with technology and, unlike my ham-handed flubbery, these guys have figured out how to make the silicon do their bidding.
Playing The Angel doesn't really step too far outside the Violator envelope. It instead takes that era's sound and makes it listen to Music For The Masses and Black Celebration. You know, for all of the (admittedly self-inflicted) crap this band has been through, they still know how to make some big noises.
The opening track, "A Pain That I'm Used To", blasts off with the shrieking synth riff from hell. This is followed by the swagger of "John The Revelator", on which the female sorta-gospel chorus flares out a Nick Cave-ish vibe. A nice and intense 1-2 greeting.
Years of hard living have not made David Gahan hide his voice. The ominous and sparse beats of "Macro" don't obscure that instrument as he slips the lyrics ("I Hear My Blood Flow...I Feel It's Caress". Yes, that line on back of the CD hits the mark: "Pain And Suffering in Various Tempos") over a seriously tension-inducing melody, further darkening the already downcast mood.
The slow tunes here definitely harken back to Black Celebration and Music For The Masses. In particular, "Damaged People" and the closing "The Darkest Star". The latter song could be an alter-ego of "Pimpf", with that rising, bruised bombast.
It's funny, but now that over fifteen years have passed since I walked out of a Depeche Mode concert (on the Music For The Masses Tour...they played "Pimpf"->"Behind The Wheel" and then just mailed it in from there) I have apparently come full circle with this music and technology thing. That disappointing concert seemed full of synthesizers, sequencers and not much humanity. Now their humanity is the first thing I hear. Maybe I'm able to look past the technology.
Now I've got to get my own gadgets under control.
First posted on Mark Is Cranky
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Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Nice review, Mark, thanks! I quite enjoyed this album, but I've never had any desire to hear them live. I think I fear exactly what you describe -- that they would phone it in.
Still, I did hear on this album almost an ache from Gahan, so it's not just you. I think it's the album!
2 - Mark Saleski
thanks p.
i saw them back when the boston area rock shed thing, Great Woods (though it's called some stupid corporate name now, i can't even remember it), was selling subscriptions.
i bought fives concerts worth and one of 'em was Depeche Mode. they just seemed lifeless. maybe the drug thing was in full effect back then? don't know.
3 - Phillip Winn
I have to be honest here. For me, Depeche Mode is as much about my memories of the 80s as it is about any particular musical anything.
This album really took me back, stylistically, which is probably why I like it so much.
4 - Mark Saleski
what stuck with me from the show was the opening. dang. Pimpf was absolute scary. then Behind The Wheel was thudding madness.
the rest was just thudding.
5 - Mary K. Williams
i wouldnt know their music if ...well I dont know their music at all.
But Mark - don't you mean the lovely Tweeter Center?
oh i hate corporate renaming WITH A PASSION. HATE IT.
HATE IT.
A LOT.
done now...Gawd I'm tired.
6 - Mark Saleski
yea, just like that damned bankboston/fleet enema/whatever the hell it is pavilion.
hate that stuff.
7 - Mary K. Williams
I saw BB King there at the Fleet(emema) pavillion. It was the rescheduling of the show we were supposed to see on Sept 12, 2001. Probably part of the reason I got very drunk that night.
8 - Mark Saleski
i liked the place better at its first location, even with the obstructed views.
what makes me crazy there is if you go to a relatively quiet show, people sit there and yak, yak, yak. ruder than hell, i say.
i ya wanta yak so much, stay home and watch wheel of fortune or something!
9 - ANNETTE
I THINK EVERYONE IS TRIPPING OR JUST TURNING OLD.
THE DEPECHE MODE CONCERT IN DENVER, COLORADO WAS SIMPLY GREAT! FIVE ENCORES PRESENTATION AND PEOPLE OF ALL AGES FROM 18 TO 4O ISH WERE ASKING FOR MORE, THEY WERE NOT LIVELESS AT ALL YOU KIDDING ME? DAVE GAHAN STILL HAVE THAT CHARISMA AND MY GOD THAT MAN STILL KNOWS HOW TO MOVE HIS GLORIOUS BUTT, HE IS ONE OF THE BEST FRONTMAN IN ROCK MUSIC, HE HAD THE AUDIENCE IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND, TRUST ME.
MY FRIENDS IN MEXICO, SPAIN AND GERMANY WENT TO SEE THEM AND THEY LOVE THE CONCERT AS WELL.
I HAD BEEN IN MANY CONCERTS, WE WENT TO SEE U-2 IN MIAMI, OF COURSE THE CONCERT WAS INCREDIBLE, BUT THE STAGE PRESENCE OF DAVID GAHAN IS JUST TOO MUCH.