Depeche Mode - Barrel of a Gun [#1]

Title: Barrel of a Gun [#1] Artist: Depeche Mode Release Date: 3/10/1997 Re-Released On: 8/21/2007 Label: Mute Records, Warner Bros., Reprise Duration: 35:36 Album Type(s): Single UPCs: 724354831621, 054391740977, 5016025630257, 093624382805, 093624382829 Genre: Rock Styles: Synth Pop, Alternative Pop/Rock, Club/Dance, Alternative/Indie Rock, Punk/New Wave, College Rock, Dance-Rock Moods: Brooding, Detached, Dramatic, Austere, Cathartic, Intimate, Melancholy, Nocturnal, Ominous, Plaintive, Reflective, Somber, Sophisticated, Angst-Ridden, Bleak, Cold, Gloomy, Hypnotic, Insular, Literate, Provocative, Refined/Mannered, Stylish, Tense/Anxious, Wintry, Confrontational, Paranoid, Searching, Sensual, Sexy, Slick, Theatrical, Wistful, Yearning, Bittersweet, Cynical/Sarcastic, Sad, Sexual, Sparse, Bitter Total Copies: 3 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Barrel of a Gun [Single Version]
2. Painkiller [Plastikman Mix]
3. Barrel of a Gun [Underworld Soft Mix]
4. Barrel of a Gun [One Inch Punch Mix]
5. Barrel of a Gun [Underworld Hard Mix]

Year Type Label Catalog # 2007 CD Mute Records 25 1997 CD Mute Records 1997 CD Warner Bros. 43828 1997 CD Reprise 43828

Barrel of a Gun [#2]

Having been through Fletcher's breakdown, Wilder's departure, and, above all else, Gahan's tremendous problems with drug addiction and suicide attempts, Depeche had to come back with a winner for the group's first effort in three years. As it turned out, no worries -- another massive, epochal slam in the vein of songs like "Never Let Me Down Again" and "I Feel You," "Barrel From a Gun" did the business. Tim Simenon's production was note-perfect, combining heavily processed funk guitar, big beats, scratches, and whatever else could be thought appropriate. Arranged behind Gahan's anguished, powerful vocal and some creepy, effective backing vocals, it's simply, perfectly grand. Three remixes of the track appear, two courtesy of English techno outfit Underworld. Depeche themselves found the results to be a bit bizarre given that little of the original track was used beyond vocals from Gahan, but both the slow ambient wash of the "Soft" mix and the near vocalless, fast-paced "Hard" mix are fine enough. One Inch Punch contributes a separate mix which combines both slow and low breakbeats and hyperspeed drum'n'bass riffs with Gahan's singing, producing a nicely nervous, unexpected result. Meanwhile, an interesting oddity surfaces courtesy of Canadian techno act Plastikman, aka Richie Hawtin. His choice of track to remix was "Painkiller," a brief instrumental that appears, unlisted, at the end of Ultra. While the original is essentially just a conclusive mood piece, Hawtin's revamp takes the low bass pulse from the original along with bits of its organ/keyboard parts and turns it into a sly, groovy slow dance crawl. It's quite striking and one of the best remixes ever done for Depeche. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Name Credits Andrew Fletcher ? Anton Corbijn Photography, Design David Gahan ? Martin L. Gore ?