For the single release of this
Songs of Faith and Devotion cut,
Wilder went into a Paris studio to do some further remixing, thus the "Paris" mix of said track. An evocative, surprisingly successful take on gospel inspirations, the original
Gahan vocal, sometimes rough but utterly passionate throughout, remains the same. Some of the backing vocals are pumped up and rearranged, following the version the band had been playing that year on tour, while the strong, steady beat isn't introduced until later in the song. The overall effect is lovely, another instance of
Depeche reinventing itself while staying true to its overall ethos. As a point of comparison, the in-concert version from Songs of Faith and Devotion Live appears at the end, along with two other live cuts from that tour originally from
Violator. "Halo" gets a good workout and audience response, but the storming version of "Enjoy the Silence," based in part on
Daniel Miller's mix from that single, is the real winner, with a great new
Gore guitar break and all the huge, pumped-up passion one would expect from the track. On the remix side of things, two separate versions of Songs album track "Rush" appear. Though the song suffers from being a fairly obvious response back to the clearly
Depeche-influenced
Nine Inch Nails, as remixed there's more going on than before.
Jack Dangers of
Meat Beat Manifesto does a fantastic job with the "Spiritual Guidance" mix, introducing his own brand of funky, heavy beats to the arrangement. The "Nitrate" mix, from Tony Garcia, takes a hardcore techno approach to things with enough of the original surfacing to provide some extra kicks. Topping it all off is an alternate "Jazz" mix for "Death's Door," which originally surfaced on the Until the End of the World soundtrack. A low-key, smoky ballad sung by
Gore and featuring some elegant guitar work from him, it's an emotional diversion. ~ Ned Raggett