A Broken Frame Turns 30 Years Old Today.

Tim Burrows of The Quietus gets to grips with Depeche Mode's second album, our favorite, via a fan coach tour of Basildon.

Photo: modefan.com

30-Day Depeche Mode Challenge - Day 23.

 

A Depeche Mode song that makes you cry 

@thewaisthigh #30dayDM Day 23 - Not cried yet but the transition between "Shouldn't Have Done That" + "The Sun and The Rainfall" comes close

Photo: eBörsen

30-Day Depeche Mode Challenge - Day 20.

A song you wish Depeche Mode would play live

@thewaisthigh #30dayDM Day 20 - If I could see DM perform A Broken Frame and Speak & Spell in full, with an orchestra, I could die happy

30-Day Depeche Mode Challenge - Day 10.

 

A song from the album you think is the most underrated

@thewaisthigh #30dayDM Day 10 - song from album most underrated "The Sun & The Rainfall" from A Broken Frame - a perfect album

I have never hidden my love for my favorite Depeche Mode album A Broken Frame and just assumed that everyone else loved it just as much. HOW WRONG I WAS. 10 days into the 30-Day Depeche Mode Challenge, (which is being tended to by the world's most serious DM devotees by the way), and I now know that not only is A Broken Frame one of DM's most underrated albums but one of their most unloved as well.

The album was the band's second studio release and their first following the departure of Vince Clarke. Clarke's departure thrust Martin Gore into the position of chief songwriter (the duty previously held by Clarke) for A Broken Frame which one reviewer said was the birth of the real Depeche, "but it's an ugly birth..." I believe this new position produced some of Depeche Mode's all-time greatest songs, BUT even Martin Gore disagrees with me; in 2006 he called A Broken Frame "our worst album."

Might I add that the videos for A Broken Frame ("See You," "Leave In Silence," "The Meaning of Love") were promotional only and never commercially available, possibly hindering exposure for this breathtaking synth-driven album.

Great art, said Roy Adzak, is "what it does to us" and for me one of the most important features of great music is its profound ability to imprint a precise set of emotions in our memories; we remember the places we were, the people we were with, and the feelings we were experiencing when we first listened to the perfect album or the perfect song. A Broken Frame, for me, is perfect. A Broken Frame is perfect because of the emotional charge I get when I hear it. A Broken Frame takes me to the places that I was and to the beloved people that I was with when I was 14 years old. What A Broken Frame does to me is make me feel really good.

Photo: The Waist High Collection

The 30-Day Depeche Mode Challenge.

 

Care to join Waist High in the latest 30-day Depeche Mode Challenge (#30dayDM) which begins today and will continue into Mar. 1 for the 30th day. See what you think and pass amongst your friends, the more the merrier. 

Seemingly inspired by And Then...A Depeche Mode Blog, the self confessed Depeche Mode/Martin Gore obsessed @adelemitch looks forward to seeing all your tweets, and will try and keep track of all the answers and compile an analysis at the end of the challenge.

Here goes, Day 1 - Your all-time favorite Depeche Mode song:

@thewaisthigh "The Sun & The Rainfall" 30 years on & I still don't really know what this song is about

The last track on 1982's A Broken Frame, "The Sun & The Rainfall" was haunting to the 14-year-old that I was at the time and the cover of said album frightened me. I wanted to know who this woman was in this painting, what was she doing, and what was a "broken frame"? My 43-year-old-self now knows this was a photograph which was shot in Hertfordshire, just off the Motorway M11, somewhere around here, and it was shot by Brian Griffin who said that all the effects were achieved in camera.

Inspired by Kazimir Malevich's Reaper, Brian Griffin said "She's supposed to look like a Russian peasant reaping corn with her scythe. It's life and death really, and I think that is what touches people about this image - the impending death, which is inevitable, coming towards you." No wonder I was frightened.

You can read all about The Reapers, Brian Griffin and Kate Bush at The KT Bush Fan, and for $900 you can buy a Limited Edition A Broken Frame print here.

Let the 30-day Depeche Mode Challenge begin! (#30dayDM)

Photo: Brian Griffin via Depeche Mode

Goodbye 25 Years Ago.

As you know, 1982 was a stand out year for some of Waist High's favorite music.

2007 became the year that we said "Happy 25th Birthday" to some of the greats: The Lexicon of Love, Upstairs at Eric's, New Gold Dream, The Gift, "Shock the Monkey," Special Beat Service, Pelican West, Avalon, Rio, The Golden Age of Wireless, A Flock Of Seagulls, "Love My Way," Shabooh Shoobah, and Combat Rock.

Greatest of all, 1982 was the year that Waist High's favorite Depeche Mode album, A Broken Frame, was released. A Broken Frame has been referred to as the beginning of the band's "so-called dark phase." The least known of their albums, A Broken Frame is a masterpiece.

A Broken Frame was Depeche Mode's second studio album, originally released on Sept. 27, 1982, following the departure of founder member Vince Clarke.

The group's original line-up was Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher, and Vince Clarke. Clarke shockingly left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album Speak and Spell, and was replaced by Alan Wilder who was a band member from 1982 to 1995.

Depeche Mode are one of the longest-lived, most successful and influential bands to have emerged from the New Wave era. They have had 44 songs in the UK Singles Chart, and it is estimated that they have sold over 91 million records worldwide as of 2006.

Waist High is happy to report that all ten of Depeche Mode's studio albums in THE REMASTERS series are now available, and in the final "Happy 25th Birthday" of 2007, Waist High would like to say "Happy 25th Birthday" to THE REMASTERED A Broken Frame.

The remastered A Broken Frame includes 2 CD's. "The first CD was remastered and (except in the USA) was released on a CD/SACD hybrid. The DVD includes the three B-sides 'Now, This is Fun,' 'Oberkorn (It's a Small Town),' and 'Excerpts from: My Secret Garden,' in addition to several live versions of some of the songs from A Broken Frame."

All 10 of THE REMASTERS include a DVD, and the A Broken Frame DVD presents Vince Clark speaking of his departure from the band, a must see for any fan. Not only is this the first time that 25+ year Depeche Mode fan Waist High heard Vince Clark speak of his departure from the band, this is the first time that 25+ year Depeche Mode fan heard Vince Clark speak of Depeche Mode period.

"The re-release preserves the album as it was originally intended. The bonus track 'Further Excerpts from: My Secret Garden' was removed (but unlike earlier re-releases wasn't put on the DVD as an extra) and the version of 'Leave in Silence' is the album version, not the 'Longer' version, making it's debut in the USA. (Like 'Further Excerpts,' the 'Longer' version doesn't appear on the DVD)."

The 27 minute documentary on A Broken Frame called Depeche Mode 1982 (The Beginning Of Their So-called Dark Phase) features interviews with the band "and other important DM figures like Daniel Miller and cover-photographer Brian Griffin. There is also footage of television appearances and live performances, commentary on the three singles, Vince's departure, Alan's joining, the 'See You' tour, the cover, and more. There are excerpts from the three Julien Temple music videos, making this the only time they have been viewable in a public release."

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS! And goodbye to 1982, as 25 years ago.

Material: remasters.depechemode.com & wikipedia.org

Happy 25th Birthday A Broken Frame.

Waist High's favorite DM album A Broken Frame was the band's second studio release and their first following the departure of founder member Vince Clarke.

Recording was completed in July 1982 with Martin Gore thrust into the position of chief songwriter, where he remained until 2001's Exciter. The music videos from A Broken Frame were directed by Julien Temple and have never been officially released, possibly hindering exposure for the album.

"After the release of A Broken Frame, Depeche Mode went onto their first world tour, which included North America, Europe and the Far East."

The best song on the album in this writer's humble opinion, "The Sun And The Rainfall," was never released as a single. "Markperkinsdesign" at amazon.co.uk reviews agrees, "But what makes this album essential for old school Mode fans, is 'The Sun & the Rainfall,' a haunting beauitful song."

Quote: wikipedia.org