Depeche Mode： Delta Machine
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
124.49585
Summary
In this episode of My World, I'm joined by my good friend and long-time Depeche Mode fan, Alan Alan Moore, to discuss the band's debut album, 1979's The Departure of Our Lord and Savior.
Transcript
00:00:32.400
You know, I really don't know what to say about this album
00:24:22.500
not only are they going back you know as far as like let's do americana blues but with
00:24:38.040
you know uh since but it was also like let's kind of call back to whether i don't think that
00:24:45.360
was conscious but you know let's go back to our old stuff let's call on these old things and i
00:24:52.140
don't know there there's a part of me that can kind of get tired of the same themes over and over i'm
00:24:58.640
not saying martin gore has to write a song about being a hero instead of a martyr but right yeah i
00:25:04.540
mean i get that also might just come with you know having reviewed these uh weekly now yeah there's
00:25:11.520
another strange tendency in here and that is and i don't know if i've seen this tendency in their
00:25:19.720
other songs but this repeating something over and over again and i i don't know what they're
00:25:26.840
playing with but it it seems monotonous in a bad way i mean a lot of depeche mode music actually is
00:25:33.400
monotonous in a good way it's that driving sound but like should have been you should have been you
00:25:39.980
should have been you should have been you should have been you should have been you should have
00:25:44.300
been you if it had been me uh there's some other examples of this there's only one way to soothe my
00:25:53.900
i just wanna be part of the light of the light of the light of the light of the light of the light of
00:26:16.540
the light in your eyes this weird like repeating of the lyric over and over again and i don't know
00:26:30.060
what to say it just it's a it's a i guess maybe again it's like when it's when they repeat this repetition
00:26:39.500
throughout the album it becomes disappointing and just strange and i think that maybe is on the
00:26:48.800
producer as much as anyone actually but it it's just i don't know if it if it happened once and i
00:26:57.900
even like you know the like i want to i just want to be part of the light of your eyes and the light of
00:27:03.340
the light of your eyes like it's actually a cool image you know i don't again i don't dislike this
00:27:10.060
album and i don't dislike any of these songs i can kind of imagine like walking into a dark lounge or
00:27:19.100
something and you know with a drink and this music kind of playing in the background and it's not
00:27:26.040
it's not like electro synth enough to get you dancing or something like that and it's got a little
00:27:32.300
bluesy quality to it there's just something cool about it and there's some imagery that i like but
00:27:38.680
it just doesn't all it's ultimately as i've described it it's ultimately background music well
00:27:46.360
honestly i think my favorite song is the child inside it's martin's you know another one of his
00:27:56.520
most personal songs but that it just sounds good and that lyric uh about the tears or whatever that
00:28:04.760
that was kind of corny that that critic i didn't even touch that i i you know i think that was probably
00:28:11.580
the best produced song it had a good like sad atmosphere and i think it was kind of autobiographical
00:28:16.680
because he's talking about you know he described himself as being a loner as a child and not really
00:28:22.860
going out to play and presumably writing songs in his bedroom and you know there are lines in in that
00:28:30.980
song that you know we're basically saying why didn't you go out to play when when you were a child and and
00:28:38.800
all the other kids are on on such a nice day kind of thing because you know he's admitted he was like
00:28:44.500
a reclusive kind of lonely raised by a single mom uh kid you know unfortunately or maybe fortunately
00:28:52.400
for us as as fans but yeah i think that was probably their the best song on the album and
00:28:58.360
you know that could have just been on a martin gorse solo project
00:29:03.200
what have you got buried inside the shallow grave in your soul the ghosts they have taken control
00:29:18.760
you really should have dug a little deeper there body parts are starting to appear and scare the child inside away
00:29:48.760
i agree with the general sentiment of the pitch work review but i would say each tear that flows down
00:30:02.200
your face trickles and picks up the pace and turns to a river inside a river that will not subside
00:30:09.200
i can hear that dreadful overflowing sound and watching from afar i see a child is drowned the child inside your heart
00:30:16.760
yeah it's a little you know the inner child it's a massive cliche but that doesn't mean it's bad
00:30:27.100
um but again is this better than when they weren't quite explaining the metaphor to the audience
00:30:34.380
and a song like little 15 you know yeah who wants to drive away
00:30:40.720
i think that might be a function of age too because it's okay to be a bit pervy when you're about
00:30:48.640
you know 25 26 right but when you're in your 50s it's probably i don't know that this is fair enough
00:30:56.660
maybe they couldn't get away with it but i guess my my point is that yeah that song could be read in a
00:31:02.760
curvy way fair enough but i i don't read it in that way and the the sadness of the music and the piano
00:31:10.800
it strikes me as yeah there yeah there's a little bit of sex around the edges but it's actually a
00:31:55.480
he's not like rolling stones singing brown sugar or something you know like this is this is a this is
00:32:05.040
like a hard sad weighty song with a little you know it's like a teenage prostitute or someone who's child
00:32:13.060
trafficked i mean there there is i i get i mean don't quote me on this there there's something kind of
00:32:18.480
sexy around the edges of it but it's a sex enwrapped in in pain and and and loss of innocence and
00:32:27.160
exploitation and regret and etc so uh yeah i mean i just i think it was better when they
00:32:35.020
when the lyric was in a way simpler and and kind of uh poppier
00:32:41.300
yeah uh i i would definitely uh agree i don't know i just overall just don't i think first and
00:32:51.340
foremost stints exciter on uh the production has not served the album and that does i would say
00:33:01.080
ultra does really serve those songs well the production really serves those songs very well
00:33:08.080
yeah you know and i i don't even i don't blame martin or dave so much like i said i
00:33:14.360
it's uh just unfortunate that they haven't found somebody to really i think the closest
00:33:21.320
was uh ben hillier when he did playing the angel i think that's their best album of this uh century
00:33:28.180
but but yeah i i mean i think first and foremost because it has to be
00:33:34.020
listenable and uh it has to be almost addicting yeah precious is like up there in terms of
00:33:43.400
depeche mode anthems it's up there with like never let me down again enjoy the silence definitely
00:33:49.640
i mean it's it's up there it's equal to all of those songs and and it's actually very martin gory
00:33:56.540
it has a kind of personal message to it you know as well so it's it's not just like a typical pop song
00:34:02.340
or something so yeah i mean i i would praise them like that just to since we're focusing on lyrics
00:34:08.900
here just heaven um you know again i i think in a way like all of the negatives about this album
00:34:16.460
are some of the positives like it's it's disappointing it's you you're waiting for more
00:34:23.100
but then there actually is something great about it as well like um he's basically i dissolve and trust
00:34:31.580
so he's trusting the lord i will sing with joy i will end up dust just like adam dust you came from
00:34:39.080
dust you'll end up there i'm in heaven uh i i stand in golden rays radiantly i burn a fire of
00:34:45.980
love over and over reflecting endless light relentlessly i've embraced the flame forever
00:34:51.140
and ever i will scream the word jump into the void i will guide the herd up to heaven i mean there is
00:34:58.900
something i guess authentically american i mean dare i say it authentically black
00:35:04.000
lyrics um i mean i i i mean that seriously it's like cultural appropriation but but in a you know
00:35:16.980
really interesting form there's like you get to this like raw unrefined but but then also authentic
00:35:25.460
and in a way justified monotheism of america of of like not even really knowing the stories but
00:35:33.420
just remembering a few things like we're gonna all end up dust we're gonna yell the word the flame
00:35:38.920
will burn me up i'll lead the herd up to heaven um you know i want more but then at the same time like
00:35:47.400
i actually that is one of the best songs in the sense that it's like a just it's a it's like a
00:35:54.120
primitive depeche mode song and almost a primitive expression of monotheism
00:37:09.700
If I'm permitted to say it, is it not Dionysian?
00:37:20.800
It's, you know, I will scream the word, jump into the void, I will guide the earth up to heaven.
00:37:27.600
It's just Christian. Yeah, I mean, it might be Dionysian.
00:37:30.900
The idea of like, just I'm going into dust, but I'm doing it in trust.
00:37:35.960
And I trust in the Lord, and then I'll just end up dust, and I'm going to lead everyone else up to heaven.
00:37:42.060
Because our best life is far away. It's the next one.
00:37:45.980
Yeah, it's kind of like surrendering, you know, it also sounds like it's surrendering to sex, and like, I'll get burned by this.
00:37:54.280
It's almost cautionary, like a kind of Augustinian, kind of, what's his quote about, make me chase Lord, just not yet.
00:38:07.800
And that's what I, and he's, jump into the void, guide the earth up to heaven.
00:38:14.080
I mean, that borders on like, you know, kind of death cult stuff.
00:38:18.600
Now, I'm not going to say, you know, Martin Gore is running a secret death cult, obviously not.
00:38:22.960
But that, you know, it's martyr-like, it's, you know, guiding the herd.
00:38:28.920
I guess you and I are part of the herd as his fans.
00:38:32.880
But seriously, though, it does sound a bit like, he's almost like making it sound like he's a saint to die in the fiery passion of lust or something.
00:38:48.700
But there is something remarkable about this, because it's not terribly surprising for Christian sentiments to make their way into pop music.
00:39:01.820
Like, just because, you know, America is a Christian country, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
00:39:09.800
And they're going to use terms like angel and heaven, and heaven is a place on earth, and all this kind of, yeah.
00:39:19.340
Like, this gets to someone who knows at least the rudiments of the Bible.
00:39:25.840
And it is fascinating in a way that that type of sentiment is reproduced in this band that, yeah, they might just crank out an album every three to four years.
00:39:41.560
But they do, and they're good, and the fans are waiting for them, and they have massive tours to tens of thousands of people who experience a sort of community that they don't experience outside of that fandom.
00:39:56.840
And the fact that that basic primitive monotheism continues in this setting of, like, going to a stadium in Berlin or a basketball arena in Los Angeles or something, and yet they're continuing this tradition of, like, primitive Christianity is remarkable.
00:40:23.700
That tradition has continued in the musical arena, if not for most all of the people attending these concerts, you know, on Sunday at 10 a.m. at church.
00:40:38.580
There, yeah, there's something liturgical about their, I saw somebody in a YouTube comment say about the devotional concert.
00:40:48.840
He said, this isn't music, this is a religious experience.
00:40:51.880
I mean, and that's, you know, that's what their concerts feel like.
00:41:00.320
I dream of a day when I dare to believe you're the answer.
00:41:09.980
When the shame and the guilt are removed, and the truth of peace.
00:41:16.880
When the touch of your hand, I lose the word if I want to.
00:41:29.160
I try to resist but succumb to the bliss of your king.