Yo, if the government defaults and the world descends into a Mad Max-style apocalypse before I move to Japan I’m going to be really pissed off.
Depeche Mode
Strangelove (Strangemix)
Photographic (Photogenic Remix)
I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead (Deathwish Remix)
These are bootleg mixes taken from an untitled LP, but I thought that were good enough to share here. Although the first is labeled as a remix of “Strangelove,” it’s actually a medley/megamix composed of what feels like nearly a dozen different Depeche Mode tracks. While I think megamixes are typically pretty bland, this one does some interesting things, including modifying the “pain” refrain of “Strangelove” to fit the melody of “Just Can’t Get Enough,” although to be honest I do feel that I’ve heard at least one other remix do that trick before, so maybe I’m giving this release too much credit. I also like the “Photographic” and how it transforms the tune into a more dance-friendly track with an upped tempo and an added synth-melody. The inclusion of a remix of “I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead” is a bit surprising, since that track wasn’t even on the original US release of Speak & Spell (I don’t even have that track, since my copy of Speak & Spell is a first-printing). However, since that track was never released as a single and has no official remixes at all, it’s kind of cool to hear another take on it, even if it is pretty simple.
Korn
A.D.I.D.A.S. (Synchro Dub)
A.D.I.D.A.S. (Under Pressure Mix)
A.D.I.D.A.S. (The Wet Dream Mix)
Yeah, so…I like this song. Always have. In fact, I like most of Korn’s sophomore album Life Is Peachy. Speaking as someone who has admittedly not absorbed the entire Korn oeuvre, I think it’s their best album. I sure as hell liked it when I was in high school. Sure, it stupid, sophomoric aggro-metal meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but it’s really good sophomoric aggro-metal meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator! “No Place To Hide” is a good song! “Good God” is a downright great song! “A.D.I.D.A.S” is…um…well…
I like this song. Don’t you judge me.
More power to the man the Japanese record stores will soon know as “The Tall One”. I’ve got this Depeche but never recorded it – you saved me a job. One day someone will plot a graph correlating the crapness of the bootleg remix name against the quality of the remix.
That D.Mode is actually an ON-U Sound remix, isn’t it? They did some quality work back in the day…
Yup, and yeah it’s pretty good!
So, some info about the DM:
“I Sometimes Wish I was Dead” does have an official remix – which is the version on “Speak & Spell”. The original was “Sometimes I WIsh I was Dead” released on flexi (and I’ve never seen conformation on whether that was the original title or an error made by the magazine “Flexipop”, though that title does appear in the magazine and the flexi itself). It is a re-edited “flexi” version that makes its appearance above.
Likewise, the version of “Photographic” that was re-edited above predates “Speak & Spell”. The song was more dance and uptempo before it wasn’t, if you will, and owes almost nothing to the so-called “On-US” service. These re-edits are fairly banal considering the versions they used. Though they would improve by the time they released their DM “Mega Mix” 12 inch.
Which brings us to “On-USound”, which wasn’t the ACTUAL one (responsible for the “People Are People” and “Master & Servant” remixes on their respective limited Mute 12 inch releases), but meant to be mistaken for such.
So now you know!