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Rating: Today, I am reviewing (soon there will be an inflation of my reviews on Depeche Mode) some videos contained in the collection "'86-'98", as well as in "'86-'98+" (2002) and "dissipated" across various mini-collections such as "Strange" (1988), "Strange too" (1990), "Devotional II" (1993). The first two collections are available on DVD, including the videos from "Songs of Faith and Devotion" on "Devotional II". As for the other two, I think they haven't been reissued on DVD, making them collector's items.
But let's move on to the historic videos of the Basildon group spanning from 1986, the year of the album "Black Celebration" (for which I have a soft spot, my nickname comes from the famous verse of "Stripped" - "You're breathing in fumes"). Reviewing DM's videos is no easy task, especially considering Anton Corbjin's majestic direction for most of them.
Let's start with the non-Corbjin ones (I will only mention a few). "Stripped" by Peter Care
A dark portrayal of Depeche, donned in studs and black leather gloves, hammering away at cars in the beautiful nighttime backdrop of a scrapyard, probably.
Occasionally, the faces of the four appear as if in a drive-in. It's evident that it's not a Corbjin video, despite the dominant dark theme. But Peter Care had already proven faithful to dark-melancholic themes with the direction of "Shake the Disease" the previous year ('85).
"A Question of Time" marks the beginning of the professional relationship between DM and Corbjin, a video alternating between live images and those of a guy carrying a newborn through rough paths and highways, eventually handing her over to the Depeche (Alan Wilder is the first to hold her), and the little one receives protection, and what protection!
Corbjin is a mad mind (in a positive sense), a genius, engaging in endeavors that transcend ambiguity. It's the mystery within the mystery, perpetuated in cryptic videos, black and white even for "Music for the Masses" (1987), with "Strangelove", depicting the settings of those '40s films, a love and sex story set in Paris and a room, presumably a hotel, to do things in great style. Some images are even censored by MTV....
Then there's "Never Let Me Down Again" set amidst the wheat fields of the Danish peninsula, featuring the enigmatic Dave Gahan fleeing for a "ride" (a car trip, more resembling an escape in reality!), and Martin and Alan initially trying to pursue him along with the quirky old-boss, who wants Dave to remain imprisoned at home. Eventually, Dave runs off the road, only to be brought home by friends when it's almost night, stars shining, and Martin Gore playing Jack-o'-Lantern in total "darkness", with the image of the megaphone "for the masses" recurring in every video.
The video for "Behind the Wheel" is set near Rome, and initially shows Dave seemingly a lame beggar, then fleeing aboard a motorcycle with a maiden at the wheel, just to honor the theme of the song. Here, in my opinion, there is a reverse ambiguity, in the sense that the song is a metaphor ("You're behind the wheel" meaning "You can do what you want with me"), while the video sticks more to the title and more immediate meaning. "Little 15" is shot by Martin Atkins, then there's the 101 interval (with the tour footage backed by "Everything Counts" directed by Pennebaker).
Then comes "Violator". In August '89, there was a historic and memorable video that when I first saw it, I thought: "Damn, but human genius reaches such a point!" Corbjin shot a video in Spain where Depeche Mode are cowboys returning to their ranch and...... having a great time with their women, but this video is also very ambiguous, with real horses enjoying themselves, rocking horses, Wilder playing the harmonica, Gore playing the Texan blues guitarist, Fletch just getting sunburned under the scorching sun and pretending to play a guitar just for show.
Dave here looks like a cowboy boss with that Texan hat, that jean jacket that gives him a style nobody else would have (you know Gahan is a model for Lindberg).
We come to the video of the king wandering through the silent and most scenic places on earth with a red and blue striped deckchair. Again, you wonder what kind of man Corbjin could be, and Martin Gore said it before me. A dizzying series of videos, with Depeche occasionally appearing to remind you they are the new dark myths of pop or rock (you choose), strictly in leather jackets. Alan Wilder here is remembered by everyone (what style he had!) with a few tears.
The video for "World in My Eyes" (there are two versions) is less in focus but still worth watching.
In 1993, the junkie Dave (as I already wrote in the review of "Devotional") becomes a sex symbol with a pinstripe jacket from another era, dark glasses, and a new look, and above all, memorable moves reminiscent of Jagger. Another beautiful maiden, a Bible, a church, a chalice-cleaning handkerchief with DM written on it. An exceptional iconography; Depeche in the background, Martin Gore exhaustedly playing the guitar in the desert, then at the end Dave undressing and preparing to meet his "faith" (the maiden). The ambiguity lies right here: it is never clear if Dave is undressing to make love or if it's symbolic, also because in no shot do Dave and the maiden appear together (open your eyes!)
"Walking in My Shoes" which recalls Dante's Inferno with sinners undergoing the punishment of contrapasso and "In Your Room", with the recurring image of the overhead lamp, show us a Corbjin faithful to images of a mystical nature, which best suit the songs from the historic 1993 album.
Then there are the videos from Ultra. "It's No Good" is ironic and fun, showing Depeche playing first in a place where there's a lot of drinking with some dark-skinned dancers, and then, after some mutual bottle smashing by the pub's clients, Depeche and the dancers take a taxi to the Ultra Hotel where they have to perform, but their pay is swiped by a skillful tank-top wearing thief, while the guy at the reception is distracted by the performance. One of the most fun videos, with Dave in a green shiny tacky outfit with sequins, Gore with dark glasses and gelled hair, Fletch very in shape, but oddly playing the double bass.
The videos for "Barrel of a Gun" and "Useless" are much loved by fans because they recall the dark times frontman Dave Gahan experienced during the two years of absence.
In the former, Dave, still hallucinated, is seen dealing with projects worthy of a drug addict, unconscious, stretching first on the bed, then blowing soap bubbles in the bathtub, ending up hallucinated in a finale that resembles a futuristic film.
"Useless" is set in a barren area, where Depeche, in a single shot for the entire video, arrive in a yellow spider. Only at the end is it understood that Depeche are addressing a chick (what a mystery, Corbjin).
The video for "Home" is very beautiful, melancholic, fitting the piece, but it is not directed by Corbjin. A bald, ambiguous guy, with a pale deathly face, resembling Biagio Antonacci with a few tones less color, makes his rounds to all the houses, amongst alienated people, randy old men, bored people, and homosexuals (emblematic is the image of the transvestite standing with the door wide open). A video that makes you cry, with Martin tearing us apart with his performance, and Dave and Fletch sitting on a bed, reflecting absorbedly.
The pale guy at the end returns to heaven, on a star, leaving the video viewer agape and confused. For the record, the video is by Steve Green.
Finally, there's "Only When I Lose Myself" from '98, which still gets some airtime on MTV (perhaps because they consider it more commercial than the others....heck knows!), and here this collection ends, but it does not include "Halo" from "Violator", possibly (indeed surely) because it never released as a single, but it is still one of the most beautiful videos, also directed by Corbjin.
In short, a perpetual film, so much scene, so much ambiguity, so much dark, so many doubts and thoughts that give you goosebumps: these are the epochal videos of Depeche Mode, with one of the greatest photographers/directors/scenographers of all time: Anton Corbjin, who worked with REM, Nirvana, U2, and DM (not too shabby....).
A cult collection, therefore, '86-'98 (12 years), with footage that a fan of alternative music, and indeed any music, cannot afford to ignore.
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