SONG OF THE DAY (#208)

'death's door' and 'dangerous,' by depeche mode

it's friday. my office today could easily be mistaken for a tomb. it's quiet, it's dead. i'd rather be at the gym. i'm counting down the last two hours [which seem to passing very, very slowly]. what else could i do beside post some depeche mode tunes? zip.

'death's door' and 'dangerous' are two of my favorite depeche songs. given the quality of the songs, it's a bit surprising they didn't make it onto any 'official' depeche album; but at the same time, i don't think either song would've fit on a depeche album. that's the beauty of a b-side. it stand alone. it doesn't need to be framed in the context of an album--especially a band like depeche whose records are meant to be listened to as a whole.

'death's door' originally appeared on the soundtrack to the wim wender film, 'until the end of the world' back in 1991. i think it's one of martin's best ballads, right up there with 'home' [sorry, but i can't listen to 'somebody' and 'question of lust' anymore]. 'dangerous,' on the other hand, was the b-side to 'personal jesus,' and was one of three incredible b-sides from the violator singles ['sea of sin' and 'the happiest girl' being the other two]. 'dangerous' is so good, in fact, it might be my favorite song from the entire violator-era. i remember being stunned at the time that it wasn't on the album. how could this be? i thought. this song is great! but in looking back, while it does fit violator thematically, it doesn't really fit tonally.

last spring i bought 'the complete depeche mode' off iTunes. it's hardly complete, but it is pretty exhaustive. in scrolling through the zillions of tracks, i'd guestimate 80% are remixes. i love remixes. especially depeche remixes. i don't think you could name a band for whom remixes are more tailor made. and i don't think it's a stretch to suggest depeche are responsible for the whole idea of remixes. pick up just about any depeche single going back to the early 80s and you're bound to find four or five [or more] remixes of said single. i now have nearly 30 versions of 'enjoy the silence.' sure, there are some clunkers, but there are some really great ones to be heard, too.

what you don't find from depeche are a lot of b-sides and non-album tracks, which sometimes prove to be among a band's better songs. given depeche's incredible longevity, you'd think they have a treasure trove of stuff. but they don't. vince had a few. they were great ['ice machine,' and 'shout']. a lot of martin's early b-sides were instrumental [as were the few alan threw out there]. you might get one or two songs per album, maybe, that qualified as true b-sides [unlike, say, suede, who'd give you half a dozen b-sides or more per album]. this could be due to the fact that depeche didn't need b-sides to sell singles, or it could be that martin and co. simply didn't have a lot left over after finishing an album. i think it points points to martin's succinctity as a songwriter. he writes for the album and that's it. there's no fat to trim because there isn't any fat to begin with.

whatever the case may be, these two non-album tracks are some of depeche's best. if you've heard them, you know what i'm talking about. if you haven't, here are some new faves to add to your list.

one hour to go.....

→ depeche mode: dangerous [m4a]
→ depeche mode: dangerous [sensual mix] [m4a]
→ depeche mode: death's door [mp3]
→ depeche mode: death's door [jazz remix] [m4a]