Liveblogging: Devoci\'{o}n por las Mases (Tributo a Depeche Mode)

(Note that I am using latex notation for accent on the 'o' in the blog title.)

This album, a Spanish tribute album to Depeche Mode, was an impulse buy on Amazon when I was preordering a book that was released at the end of last month. (I made the order in July and only just got it now because of the book's release.) When Gazebo liveblogged an album review, I thought it would be cool if I liveblogged something as well, but I really wasn't sure what it should be. Then I remembered that I was going to get this album, so I decided this would be a good choice. (Sorry for not giving any advanced warning!)

I've preordered Loreena McKennitt's new album---her first studio album in almost 10 years!---though that one doesn't really make sense for a liveblog.

As usual, the track selection includes both obvious choices and surprising ones. However, first let me make a comment about the album cover. After the first song started, I noticed that the 'es' in 'mases' is cut off, which is not a particularly good sign.

Track 1: Begoña, Free Love. This song comes from the album Exciter, which has some good songs but is not one of DM's best (by a healthy margin). This song is a ballad and was a very odd choice. It was recorded live and in the beginning one can actually hear DM's "Personal Jesus" in the background. The background noise fades a bit, but one can still hear it throughout the song, which was sung in English. The singing (by females) was good (and it was amusing to hear the hispanic accents in the singing), so this isn't a total loss, but I'm not overly impressed.

Track 2: Deluxe, Everything Counts. This is much better! The song was stripped down, as the instruments are mostly just a piano or two. This song works very well as a ballad, though this too is in English.

Track 3: Australian Blonde, People are People. This was also in English and was really not very impressive. It's too bad, because the original is such a great song.

Track 4: Maga, Little 15. This was another odd cover choice, although this song is actually one of the best DM ballads out there. The cover is more upbeat than the original and has an additional Latin-style rythym in the background that actually works quite well. I'm digging this one, though the original is certainly better. (Of course, I'm more interested in hearing the songs that are actually in Spanish. I think three of them are, but I would have preferred the whole album to be in Spanish.)

Track 5: Viena #1, Sometimes. This DM ballad is another odd choice. That said, this song has also been sped up and I am digging the cover. Actually, I think I like this version better than the original (which is among the weaker DM songs out there). It works really well with a faster pace!

Track 6: Sexy Sadie, Blasphemous Rumors. The original is one of my favorite DM songs. The cover sounds good as well, though it pales in comparison to the original. I'm glad to have any cover of this song, but I really wish it were in Spanish! (Also, I like the band's name.)

Track 7: Luxury, Shake the Disease. Dude! Awesome! Female synth-pop cover of the song! (My immediate impression is that this is what a Ladytron version of "Shake the Disease" would sound like.) This is easily the best track so far! (This also reminds me---I need to find a copy of the stripped-down version of "Shake the Disease" that Depeche Mode sang at Coachella. They turned it into a ballad, and it was just really beautiful.) I approve! The ending is a little weird, though.

Track 8: Miños mutantes, "El Silencio" (Enjoy the Silence). Finally, a cover that's actually in Spanish! It's cool and it's much better than the cover of this song that Tori Amos did. However, it can't come close to DM's original, which is only on the short short list of my best songs of all time (it's not the only DM song on that list). Of course, if one is going to cover a DM song, this would be the canonical choice. The Spanish lyrics to the song definitely work very well, however, so I'm glad to have this. As far as my tastes go, I'd change the musical style somewhat.

Track 9: Simo, Walking in My Shoes. This song is from the Songs of Faith and Devotion album and is certainly a reasonable song to cover. It sounds reasonably faithful to the original, although it the style is a little "rougher." It's good, but it's nothing special.

Track 10: Digital 21, Never Let Me Down Again. It sounds good---much better than the Smashing Pumpkins' cover on the "official" DM tribute album. This is also an unsurprising choice of songs to cover. For some reason, the artists decided to adjust the lyrics to make them less subtle. "I'm having sex with my best friend" has replaced "I'm taking a ride with my best friend" on a number of occasions. Lame. As if it wasn't obvious already. The song still sounds good, but that's a flaw and this was never one of my favorite DM songs anyway. There also is a long riff in the song that starts out cool but gradually fades into annoying. I'm going to have to downgrade this to decent.

Track 11: Los Acusicas, "Tu \'{U}nico Dios" (Personal Jesus). This is another of the obvious songs to cover. Hmmm... the style is odd---it's very different from the original, the DM acoustic version, and the Johnny Cash version (the first two of which are awesome and the third of which is very good). They grunged it up. I was kind of hoping for an acoustic version in Spanish. I like it, but not a lot. I was hoping for more. At least it's in Spanish. Also, "Dios" means "God," not "Jesus" and the word used in the song is "Cristo" (aka, the correct word). Who wrote the track list? Also, the end of the song samples "Master and Servant," which provides a segueway to the next song but nothing else.

Track 12: I Kan, "Ama y Esclavo" (Master and Servant). Alright, this sounds really good! Here we have the second best track of the CD, which is also in a synth-pop style (notice the coindence... I *heart* synth-pop). Also, the main singer is female, which provides a nice contrast to the original (and apparently provides a bit of role-reversal). Dude, they just segued between a couple verses to the music from "Personal Jesus" but instead of sampling they played it themselves and it worked really well! Then they returned to the main theme. I approve! This is the second big win of the album.

Track 13: Dirty Princess, Pleasure Little Treasure. This is a strange choice. The format is odd, but it does sound pretty good. Specifically, the background music sounds very good, but the singing itself is detracting from it. Once they got into the verses, the singing started reminding me of "Money" by Flying Lizard (which is one of the worst songs of all time). Yuck. Well, the track isn't utterly hopeless but it definitely works better as a Ride chaser than for any other purpose.

Track 14: Alex Under, Monument. This is another strange choice. It was included on the "official" tribute album as well, but it's a really obscure old song by DM, so I'm not sure why this keeps getting included in these albums. I like the original and the tribute on the "official" tribute is actually even better, but I would (much!) rather have a cover of something like "Strangelove."

Track 15: Universal Circus, Just Can't Get Enough. This is another canonical choice and, in fact, the obvious choice for the last track. (DM has ended many concerts with this song.) Dude, this got turned into a Tex-Mex (but in English) campfire song! I'm amused... The accent on the singer is quite prevalent. This actually works really well. Now I'm thinking I want to hear the Seu Jorge covers of DM songs... This is a great way to end the album!


In sum, the album has a couple really awesome tracks (one in English and another in Spanish), one or two other very good ones, several other good ones, and a couple that are worse than that. I wasn't expecting a great album or anything, but I did want more than 3 of the songs to be in Spanish. I probably could have figured this out in advance, but still. I am happy I got the album, but maybe I'll eventually find some more Spanish covers.