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seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Looking for something previously featured? Click here.
It's time for another Fifth Sunday A la Mode featuring a cover of Depeche Mode. And of course we do a Depeche Mode every fifth Sunday for reasons. סּڡסּ
This time we feature somebody who, inspired by the band, shook their disease, started making music of their own, and eventually paid tribute with an eight track cover album featuring a witchy version of a classic DM ballad.:
Synthetic Division – Somebody (Depeche Mode)
Depeche Mode released their fourth studio album, Some Great Reward on September 24, 1984, (making this a black celebration of its thirty-fifth anniversary!) They released their third single, Somebody, as a "double A-side," with Blasphemous Rumours, in late October 1984, partly part to diminish an amount of outrage they were getting from religious objectors to the latter. It was originally intended that David Gahan would sing the song but after multiple tries and not feeling he could get it right, songwriter Martin Gore stepped up and the band agreed it suited his voice better. It's reported Gore recorded the song in the nude in the cellar of their studio "for ambiance." Gore has said the song is "pretty much a straightforward 'I love you' song if you like, certainly not an anti-love song." Several years later Gore voiced some personal displeasure despite its popularity with fans saying, "I do not like this song anymore. Looking back on it, I think it's too soft and tender. Most of my songs are not as naive. I usually arrange songs in such a way that they take an unexpected turn at some point. I prefer it to contain doubt, when it does not rule out the possibility that a loving relationship may go wrong."
Regardless of his self-criticism the band has performed the song over 350 times and counting and there are over three dozen covers of it.
A couple of years after the release of that album, an 11-year old Shawn Decker was diagnosed with HIV, infected by way of contaminated blood transfusions treating his hemophilia. He was given two to five years to live. He wanted to meet his favorite band, Depeche Mode, before he died. Three years later he was granted that wish and so much more because he has outlived his terminal diagnosis for over thirty years and, inspired to make his own music, formed a synthpop project with Alan Siegler.
Synthetic Division released Shaking the Disease: An Unlikely Tribute to Depeche Mode in November 2015 as a way to celebrate Decker's survival. The album features eight covers of his favorite Depeche Mode tracks, including Somebody.
Synthetic Division's cover of Somebody is not strictly "witchhouse" but shares a similar sense of atmospheric rhythms and occasionally asynchronous alignment of lyrics and melody. Unlike the original which is a light and passionate bare-bones recording of piano and vocals with no percussion apart from a consistent heartbeat, Synthetic Division's version is a downtempo droney 'witch-pop' hybrid that is not just dark but danceable.
Proceeds from the album go to benefit the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which funds HIV prevention programs around the world. Decker himself is professionally active as an HIV educator with his HIV- wife Gwenn, who most certainly fulfills his other wish for "somebody.":
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
OCTOBERWEEN BEGINS!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
My next gig comes up in two weeks on the night of a full moon! For details about that and other upcoming gigs, please check my schedule!
(And if, after 4 years and 231 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, consider leaving me a tip in the form of the gift of music and get me something from my wishlist on Bandcamp if you like. It'll go to good use! Thanks!)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 22 - Sawtooth – Mindfields (The Prodigy)
Sep 15 - Massive Attack – Man Next Door (The Paragons)
Sep 08 - Lana Del Rey – Doin' Time (Sublime)
Sep 01 - HexRX – Living On Video (Trans-X)
Aug 25 - Iris – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Looking for something previously featured? Click here.
It's time for another Fifth Sunday A la Mode featuring a cover of Depeche Mode. And of course we do a Depeche Mode every fifth Sunday for reasons. סּڡסּ
This time we feature somebody who, inspired by the band, shook their disease, started making music of their own, and eventually paid tribute with an eight track cover album featuring a witchy version of a classic DM ballad.:
Synthetic Division – Somebody (Depeche Mode)
Depeche Mode released their fourth studio album, Some Great Reward on September 24, 1984, (making this a black celebration of its thirty-fifth anniversary!) They released their third single, Somebody, as a "double A-side," with Blasphemous Rumours, in late October 1984, partly part to diminish an amount of outrage they were getting from religious objectors to the latter. It was originally intended that David Gahan would sing the song but after multiple tries and not feeling he could get it right, songwriter Martin Gore stepped up and the band agreed it suited his voice better. It's reported Gore recorded the song in the nude in the cellar of their studio "for ambiance." Gore has said the song is "pretty much a straightforward 'I love you' song if you like, certainly not an anti-love song." Several years later Gore voiced some personal displeasure despite its popularity with fans saying, "I do not like this song anymore. Looking back on it, I think it's too soft and tender. Most of my songs are not as naive. I usually arrange songs in such a way that they take an unexpected turn at some point. I prefer it to contain doubt, when it does not rule out the possibility that a loving relationship may go wrong."
Regardless of his self-criticism the band has performed the song over 350 times and counting and there are over three dozen covers of it.
A couple of years after the release of that album, an 11-year old Shawn Decker was diagnosed with HIV, infected by way of contaminated blood transfusions treating his hemophilia. He was given two to five years to live. He wanted to meet his favorite band, Depeche Mode, before he died. Three years later he was granted that wish and so much more because he has outlived his terminal diagnosis for over thirty years and, inspired to make his own music, formed a synthpop project with Alan Siegler.
Synthetic Division released Shaking the Disease: An Unlikely Tribute to Depeche Mode in November 2015 as a way to celebrate Decker's survival. The album features eight covers of his favorite Depeche Mode tracks, including Somebody.
Synthetic Division's cover of Somebody is not strictly "witchhouse" but shares a similar sense of atmospheric rhythms and occasionally asynchronous alignment of lyrics and melody. Unlike the original which is a light and passionate bare-bones recording of piano and vocals with no percussion apart from a consistent heartbeat, Synthetic Division's version is a downtempo droney 'witch-pop' hybrid that is not just dark but danceable.
Proceeds from the album go to benefit the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which funds HIV prevention programs around the world. Decker himself is professionally active as an HIV educator with his HIV- wife Gwenn, who most certainly fulfills his other wish for "somebody.":
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
OCTOBERWEEN BEGINS!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome! You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to reply below, but all replies are screened for spam prevention.
My next gig comes up in two weeks on the night of a full moon! For details about that and other upcoming gigs, please check my schedule!
(And if, after 4 years and 231 weekly entries, you find this blog of any value, consider leaving me a tip in the form of the gift of music and get me something from my wishlist on Bandcamp if you like. It'll go to good use! Thanks!)
Thanks for reading and keep dancing in darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Sep 22 - Sawtooth – Mindfields (The Prodigy)
Sep 15 - Massive Attack – Man Next Door (The Paragons)
Sep 08 - Lana Del Rey – Doin' Time (Sublime)
Sep 01 - HexRX – Living On Video (Trans-X)
Aug 25 - Iris – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .