Depeche Mode – Synth-Pop Explosion (LP Dark Green Vinyl)

Side A’s tracks plus the first track on Side B come from the Liverpool University concert on November 6th, 1981. Super-early Depeche Mode – I don’t think many people were in the audience as the applause is polite but it sounds like there are only about 50 people there.

The first track on Side A, “Television Set,” does not appear on any official Depeche Mode release. According to the website DMLive, “Television Set” was written by a friend of Vince Clarke’s, Jason Knott who was in the band The Neatelllls, and for this reason Depeche Mode never recorded it in the studio. However the song appeared frequently in their concert set lists between 1980 and 1982; in 1981 it was their go-to opening number. 

Side B’s tracks, with the exception of the first song “No Disco” which was part of the Liverpool set, come from a Swedish TV show which was aired live from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm on March 22nd, 1982. There’s also an interview of the band that discusses their evolution into a synth pop band, their youth and hometown of  Basildon, and their confusion over what the lyrics of “New Life” mean – Vince Clarke was no longer in DM at the time of this performance (the host of the show interviews the band in English and then promptly translates their responses into Swedish).

A1 Television Set
A2 Photographic
A3 New Life
A4 Puppets
A5 Just Can't Get Enough
A6 Tora! Tora! Tora!

B1 No Disco
B2 New Life
B3 Interview
B4 See You
B5 Just Can't Get Enough

Tracks 1-7 recorded Liverpool University,6th November 1981
Tracks 8-11 these Tracks are sourced from a Show called Mandagbörsen on swedish TV Channel SVT1,aired Live from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm on the 22nd of March 1982

Label: Self-Released

Country: Europe

Media Condition: Mint (M)
Sleeve Condition: Mint (M)