The Sinners Inside.

Big concert week in these parts: After Goldfrapp on Monday, the inimitable Depeche Mode held their Garden stand. (A happy confluence: I’ve seen DM several times over the past fifteen years, but never right under the Knicks championship banners.) The openers this time ’round were The Bravery, a spirited New York outfit who are basically a synth-friendlier version of Franz Ferdinand or The Strokes. They played most of the songs off their solid first album, including “Public Service Announcement,” “Fearless,” “An Honest Mistake,” “Give In,” and (my personal fave) “Tyrant.” Then, the main act:

The Setlist: A Pain That I’m Used To / John the Revelator / A Question of Time / Policy of Truth / Precious / Walking In My Shoes / Suffer Well / Damaged People (Macro) / Home / I Want It All / The Sinner In Me / I Feel You / Behind The Wheel / World In My Eyes / Personal Jesus / Enjoy The Silence

1st Encore: Somebody (A Question of Lust) / Just Can’t Get Enough / Everything Counts

2nd Encore Never Let Me Down Again / Goodnight Lovers

So, as you can see, their new album — Playing the Angel — was featured heavily in the first half of the show. While I like Angel a good deal, and DM’s anti-Dubya screed “John the Revelator” has the makings to be a stadium-shaking call-and-response showstopper akin to “Personal Jesus” and “NLMDA,” I’d say some of the album’s best songs haven’t yet found their legs live. “Precious” is their best single since “Enjoy the Silence,” IMHO, but it sounded a bit washed-out at MSG (perhaps partly because Martin plays the keyboard hook on guitar. “The Sinner in Me” had a similar problem — that inexorable stalker-beat that drives the track should’ve been much, much louder.) And “I Want it All” never really gets going, particularly coming as it does after “Home,” which is Martin at his most saccharine. (Frankly, I would have taken pretty much any other Mart-track in the catalogue over it.)

But, right around halftime, with the surprisingly good version of “I Feel You,” the show turned into a hit parade, with the band pulling out all the stops to get the crowd — who, like me, are getting a mite long in the tooth these days — up and dancing. “Personal Jesus” (with Pump Mix), “Enjoy the Silence,” “NLMDA” (with Aggro), “Everything Counts”…heck, they even dusted off “Just Can’t Get Enough.” Ok, sure, it’d have been nice to hear some obscure gem like “Get the Balance Right,” “Monument,” or “Ice Machine,” but the hits are hits for a reason, and all of ’em have been honed over years of live play into remarkable feats of showmanship. (My own geek-out moment was at the double-beat start of “Behind the Wheel” — I’d looked at the setlists before going, but had completely forgotten that it was in there.)

All in all, a grand show. Ok, Dave Gahan probably still overdoes the sing-along thing (particularly this far into the tour), but, on the flip side, he seemed happy, healthy, and energetic. I caught ’em on the back half of the Devotional tour in ’94, and Dave was on auto-destruct, flubbing songs and boozing with abandon. Now, though, DM look to be in top form and in bright spirits…well, as bright as their spirits get.

Oh, one more thing: lose the “giant orb of gloom,” as the NY Post dubbed it. Over on the left side of the stage, the band had a big ball looking almost exactly like ET’s mothership, which flashed words — “guilt” “dissipate,” “suffering” — appropriate to a given song. Other than the timer on “AQOT” and the stock ticker on “Everything Counts,” it was almost inevitably goofy. At best, it shows somebody backstage has a thesaurus; at worst, it’s self-parody. (And, truth be told, the its/it’s grammatical error during “The Sinner in Me” was driving me nuts.)

Mode of Infamy.

As also noted at DYFL, Depeche Mode announce their Fall 2005 tour dates, and they look to be playing the Garden on December 7. (I may also venture out to the Borgata on 12/3…we’ll see.) Whatsmore, the full video for “Precious” is now online, and, just as the single has a great throwback feel to it, the video includes several thematic elements — ship, gears, Dave walking around — from the Some Great Reward era, and particularly the old, outrageously dated video for “People are People.” Hopefully, the rest of the album also measures up as a return to form. (Better video links via Quiddity.)

Now This is Fun.

“I see ourselves alongside U2 and R.E.M. more than any of the bands we came up with, although really we don’t fit in and we never have, and I’ve come to embrace that.” Dave Gahan and Depeche Mode start up the publicity for Playing the Angel, their new album due out in October. The first single — “Precious” — has leaked, and after a couple of listens I already like it better than anything on the last album, with the possible exception of “When the Body Speaks.” It’s good to hear Dave, Andy, and Marty kicking the old-school synth flavors again.

Construction Time Again.

By way of Do You Feel Loved?, Depeche Mode announces they’re beginning work on a new album. I’d love to see the band get out of the “I adore you like a black crucifix” thematic rut they’ve been in for almost two decades now and try to recapture some of their earlier political period (“Everything Counts,” “Monument,” “Get the Balance Right”) But, Martin Gore’s recent work hasn’t been all that promising in that regard.

Get the Balance Right.

On the release of DM’s 3-disc remix album (which, since I obsessively bought all the singles in high school, is something of a letdown given the paucity of new tracks), Douglas Wolk talks about Depeche Mode and the history of the remix for Slate. I’ve complained in the past about the general lack of respect for DM’s early period, so it’s nice to see ’em getting their due here.

Another Satisfied Customer.

When the three remaining members of Depeche Mode broke off to pursue solo projects this year, did anybody out there think it’d be Andy Fletcher’s time to shine? Most DM fans know that Dave’s the frontman, Marty’s the songwriter (and lynchpin), Alan was the technician, and Fletch…well, Fletch sort of stands behinds the synthesizers and claps. But, while Martin Gore’s Counterfeit 2 seemed a bit soft, minimalist, and underdone (particularly in comparison to the classic Counterfeit EP) and Dave Gahan’s Paper Monsters sounded too hard, hookless, and overproduced, Fletch’s new female duo – Client (he’s the producer; in synthpop automaton fashion, they’re simply “Client A” and “Client B”) – came off just right.

While DM’s strangely been running from their trademark sound ever since 1990’s Violator, Fletch seems perfectly happy recycling the low-fi synth grooves that were the band’s bread and butter in the pre-Black Celebration years, except he’s replaced the Dave-and-Marty front-line with two very naughty British birds. (And, what with Kate Beckinsale’s Underworld around the corner, it seems to be a saucy Brit fall.) The result is basically Tigra and Bunny (who like the boom) hanging out with Kraftwerk, or an eighties hybrid of Yaz and Garbage (although these two are rarely as soulful as Alison Moyet or as grungy as Shirley Manson.) Ok, the album’s a bit spotty in places, and Miss Kittin’s already tread a lot of this ground, but “Rock and Roll Machine,” “Here and Now,” “Pills,” and “Leipzig” are all decent quality tracks for those of you weaned on A Broken Frame and Some Great Reward. And it only took two listens of “Price of Love” — the first single, propelled by one great, simple, filthy beat — during my run today before I was completely hooked.

Ballad of a Thin Man.

So I went down to the Angelika yesterday afternoon (always a strange experience – you can hear and feel the subway running under you during films) to catch Masked and Anonymous and, well, I can only recommend this film to two types of people: Hard-core Dylanologists, and those cinema completists who need to see Ed Harris in blackface. I consider myself a pretty heavy-duty Dylan fan, and even I was a bit bored at certain points. The movie is basically Dylan’s version of Waking Life, or what might happen if Bob had entered his own portal a la Being John Malkovich. All of the characters in the film speak in Dylanistic soliloquys (You actually get a very good sense of this from the website), and thus you end up with Giovanni Ribisi’s disquisition on war, Val Kilmer’s take on animals, etc. The movie takes place in a strange alternate present, where (I’m guessing) the revolutions of the Sixties went sour and ended up tearing the nation apart. Dylan’s dad seems to be the ailing leader of the Bearflag Republic or something, and…well, there’s no point in trying to explain it.

The movie is basically an extended riff on Dylan and Dylania…at (brief) moments it has the scope and absurdist grandeur of “Desolation Row,” “Idiot Wind,” or “It’s Alright Ma.” And some of the renditions of Dylan’s music, from the new “One More Cup of Coffee” to the acapella “The Times, They Are a Changin’” are truly beautiful. Most of the time, however, it fails to capture Dylan’s spark, and comes off flat and, well, embarrassing (particularly in some of the more questionable racial choices.) I think the extended monologues on life, death, and humanity are meant to have you dwell on the fundamental questions, but as the movie wore on I found myself contemplating altogether different queries: Did Chris Penn eat one of the Baldwins? Who would win in a caged deathmatch between Penelope Cruz and Audrey Tautou? Who knew it would end so badly between Walter and the Dude? When did Mickey Rourke turn into Billy Bob Thornton? So on, so on. I guess I’d recommend that Dylan fans see this film (particularly if you’ve sat through Renaldo & Clara), just to see where our man is at these days. (In fact, some Dylan fans seem to love it.) All in all, though, I can’t say I recommend the film as a film.

On another note, in the two hours I had to kill between this movie and seeing a friend’s (very good) band at the Baggot Inn, I stumbled upon a huge line at Tower Records, dutifully waiting to get Dave Gahan‘s signature. Times change, I guess. Ten years ago, I probably would have staked out this line with a handful of vinyl 12″ DM singles. Nowadays, I just skipped it in favor of Forbidden Planet and The Strand. Must be getting old.

Lonesome Shadow.

The tracklisting for Counterfeit 2, Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore‘s second solo cover album, has now been released (07.02.03 story.) Longtime DM fans will know that the original Counterfeit EP, following up soon after 1989’s Music for the Masses, was a very worthy pickup. This one, due out April 28, includes more well-known tunes than the first, including songs by Brian Eno (“By this River”), John Lennon (“Oh My Love”), Willie Nelson (“Stardust”), and the Velvet Underground (“Candy Says”). DM frontman David Gahan also has a solo album coming out later in the year, which should be…interesting, I guess.

Cover Me.

The Covers Project, via Pearls That Are In His Eyes. Great for use in association with Kazaa. To take just two examples, I didn’t know Scott Weiland covered Depeche Mode’s “But Not Tonight” (tho’ the original is still better) or that Elvis Costello riffed on Dylan’s country classic, “I Threw It All Away.” Good stuff.