Remixes 81-04 (1 CD)

1	Never Let Me Down Again Split Mix
2	Personal Jesus Pump Mix
3	Barrel of a Gun Underworld Hard Mix
4	Route 66 the Beatmasters Remix
5	Useless The Kruder & Dorfmeister Session
6	In Your Room The Jeep Rock Mix
7	Home Air 'Around the Golf' Remix
8	Strangelove Blind Mix
9	I Feel You Renegade Soundwave Afghan Surgery Mix
10	Just Can't Get Enough Schizo Mix
11	Halo Goldfrapp Remix
12	Enjoy the Silence Reinterpreted

Barnes & Noble

One of the most influential electronic bands ever, Depeche Mode have waved a flag for innovation and evolution since defining synth-pop at the cusp of the '80s. They were also champions of the remix decades before Britney, Madonna, and Diet Sprite jumped on the DJ bandwagon. This single-disc collection not only captures some of the finest reworkings of Mode music but also offers a roundabout history lesson. The "Schizo Mix" of "Just Can't Get Enough," Depeche's first U.K. hit, for example, displays prime electro-pop, complete with plinking beats and a winsome (Vince Clarke–penned) melody. At the opposite pole are brand-new mixes of two standout ballads from Depeche's stellar Violator: a breathy, delirious version of the moody "Halo" by glammy synth queen Goldfrapp and a rock-centric take on "Enjoy the Silence," which Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda smeared heavily with dense electric guitars. In between you'll find sadistically powerful beats on Underworld's menacing "Hard Mix" of "Barrel of a Gun" and Jonny Dollar & Portishead's "Jeep Rock Mix" of "In Your Room," the latter shot through with clubby bleeps and scratches; alongside Air's spacious re-envisioning of the electro-pop ballad "Home" and a suitably down-tempo presentation of "Useless" from Kruder & Dorfmeister. If nothing else, Remixes 81-04 underscores Depeche Mode's deep and ongoing influence on dance and electronic music purveyors of every generation and every bent. Lydia Vanderloo

All Music Guide

How to celebrate over two decades of remixes that originally appeared on a wide array of multiple-format, multiple-version singles? Compile the best remixes, commission a series of new ones, and provide the result in multiple versions. Of course! This is the abridged, one-disc version of Remixes 81-04, which functions as an adequate sampling of all the alternate versions that have appeared on Depeche Mode's singles throughout the years. This is far from the best collection of remixes one could put together, but it does indicate how much range they've covered throughout the years, all the while showing what smarts the group has always had in selecting ahead-of-the-curve remixers. Followers who have the six bulky box sets that cover all of the singles through Exciter will prefer to get the three-disc version of the release, since several of the 2004 remixes don't appear on this disc. It should also be noted that no track is exclusive to this version. Andy Kellman