A timeless classic, one Alan Wilder describes as the most traditionally "Depeche Mode" song on the album. World In My Eyes was recorded fairly early in the recording process for Violator, with some of Dave's quieter vocals recorded at Church Studios. The final vocal is a composite of a quieter take recorded at Church with a "noisier" take recorded on a Shure SM57 (essentially a $100 microphone) in the control room sans-headphones, with Dave singing to the music playing loudly on the speaker system. If one listens closely, you can hear some of the ambient noise of the control room on the tail of Dave's voice in certain places ("And we won't need a map, believe me"). The Kraftwerk influence is clear on this song. François Kevorkian, who played a key role in producing Violator, had worked with Kraftwerk in the years leading up to the album. The Kraftwerk influence is often more than mere influence, as Depeche sampled several Kraftwerk tracks for this song. The "clicking" percussive element used during the verse sections is sampled from Kraftwerk's 1978 "The Man Machine"; while a subtle snare accent heard very sparingly on World In My Eyes is a pitched-up sample derived from Kraftwerk's 1981 "Home Computer". The famous snare drum is confirmed by the Depeche Mode Live Wiki as being sampled from a flanged snare featured in the intro of Fad Gadget's "Newsreel". A manipulated "whirly" sound heard during the verse sections is surprisingly low-tech: it is a sample of a bell tree taken from Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" mixed with an electric guitar sample derived from Emulator II factory library disk #37, which is played in reverse with added pitch bending to produce the legato effect. It could be argued that legato/pitch-bending sounds like these are a key part of Violator's sound, with similar examples on World's B-side "Happiest Girl (Jack Mix)". The double drum fill that occurs on the last beats of the measure in the opening moments of the song is a treated bass drum sound sampled from Bryan Ferry's "Don't Stop The Dance". Coincidentally, Dave can be seen singing along to Ferry's "Love Is The Drug" while playing an arcade game in their concert film 101. The song makes stellar use of the legendary Emulator II factory library disk #05 Marcato Strings (Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls"), which Depeche would also use in a variety of ways on "Enjoy the Silence" and a number of other songs from the time, as well as "Edge To Life", a popular song from Alan Wilder's 1991 Bloodline album released under the Recoil moniker. Other Emulator II sounds used include the Grand Piano factory disk, which is used to play a brief scale in the moments before the choruses begin (the result was recorded then reversed to form an interesting reversed piano fill. Depeche would later expand their use of reversed sounds on Songs Of Faith & Devotion).
One of my favourite DM songs. It has that soaring, soothing and warm feel to it that when I had bouts of anxiety and insomnia back in the day I’s listen to this song and fall asleep right away almost. It is just so sad that Andy Fletcher passed away :( Rest in peace, Andy.
As for the other songs from this album (again, one of my favourite DM albums) is Halo. Another deep sounding electro/techno song going about the dark places of human souls and relationships. * I also like The Sun And The Rainfall which you already reviewed, Black Celebration, Sometimes (sounding gospelly), Strangelove, Behind The Wheel, all of the songs you mentioned from Violator, Walking In My Shoes, In Your Room, Mercy In You, Higher Love, Barrel Of A Gun, Home, Dream On, The Sweetest Condition, I Feel Love. Just too many to mention. But I’m also that kind of a modie that is more familiar with their nineties and early to mid zeros stuff. Not sure why. I love synth-pop but perhaps earlier DM sonics overall are just not for me yet? And post Playing The Angel I started to lose interest. Still they are very dear to my heart 💜
My favorite Depeche Mode song
A timeless classic, one Alan Wilder describes as the most traditionally "Depeche Mode" song on the album. World In My Eyes was recorded fairly early in the recording process for Violator, with some of Dave's quieter vocals recorded at Church Studios. The final vocal is a composite of a quieter take recorded at Church with a "noisier" take recorded on a Shure SM57 (essentially a $100 microphone) in the control room sans-headphones, with Dave singing to the music playing loudly on the speaker system. If one listens closely, you can hear some of the ambient noise of the control room on the tail of Dave's voice in certain places ("And we won't need a map, believe me").
The Kraftwerk influence is clear on this song. François Kevorkian, who played a key role in producing Violator, had worked with Kraftwerk in the years leading up to the album. The Kraftwerk influence is often more than mere influence, as Depeche sampled several Kraftwerk tracks for this song. The "clicking" percussive element used during the verse sections is sampled from Kraftwerk's 1978 "The Man Machine"; while a subtle snare accent heard very sparingly on World In My Eyes is a pitched-up sample derived from Kraftwerk's 1981 "Home Computer".
The famous snare drum is confirmed by the Depeche Mode Live Wiki as being sampled from a flanged snare featured in the intro of Fad Gadget's "Newsreel". A manipulated "whirly" sound heard during the verse sections is surprisingly low-tech: it is a sample of a bell tree taken from Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" mixed with an electric guitar sample derived from Emulator II factory library disk #37, which is played in reverse with added pitch bending to produce the legato effect. It could be argued that legato/pitch-bending sounds like these are a key part of Violator's sound, with similar examples on World's B-side "Happiest Girl (Jack Mix)".
The double drum fill that occurs on the last beats of the measure in the opening moments of the song is a treated bass drum sound sampled from Bryan Ferry's "Don't Stop The Dance". Coincidentally, Dave can be seen singing along to Ferry's "Love Is The Drug" while playing an arcade game in their concert film 101.
The song makes stellar use of the legendary Emulator II factory library disk #05 Marcato Strings (Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls"), which Depeche would also use in a variety of ways on "Enjoy the Silence" and a number of other songs from the time, as well as "Edge To Life", a popular song from Alan Wilder's 1991 Bloodline album released under the Recoil moniker. Other Emulator II sounds used include the Grand Piano factory disk, which is used to play a brief scale in the moments before the choruses begin (the result was recorded then reversed to form an interesting reversed piano fill. Depeche would later expand their use of reversed sounds on Songs Of Faith & Devotion).
It’s not female back vocals in end of song but Martin Gore vocal :D nice reaction, this masterpiece was favourite song of Mr. Andy Fletcher RIP 🖤😭
One of my favourite DM songs.
It has that soaring, soothing and warm feel to it that when I had bouts of anxiety and insomnia back in the day I’s listen to this song and fall asleep right away almost.
It is just so sad that Andy Fletcher passed away :(
Rest in peace, Andy.
❤
As for the other songs from this album (again, one of my favourite DM albums) is Halo. Another deep sounding electro/techno song going about the dark places of human souls and relationships.
*
I also like The Sun And The Rainfall which you already reviewed, Black Celebration, Sometimes (sounding gospelly), Strangelove, Behind The Wheel, all of the songs you mentioned from Violator, Walking In My Shoes, In Your Room, Mercy In You, Higher Love, Barrel Of A Gun, Home, Dream On, The Sweetest Condition, I Feel Love.
Just too many to mention.
But I’m also that kind of a modie that is more familiar with their nineties and early to mid zeros stuff.
Not sure why.
I love synth-pop but perhaps earlier DM sonics overall are just not for me yet?
And post Playing The Angel I started to lose interest.
Still they are very dear to my heart 💜