Depeche Mode
Biography :
Depeche Mode are an English synthpop band, founded in 1980, originally from the town of Basildon, Essex, United Kingdom. They are one of the most enduring and successful bands to have emerged during the 80s, and particularly from the new wave/new romantic era. The band name is derived from a French fashion magazine, Dépêche mode, which means “fashion dispatch.”

The band have been highly influential in the electronic dance music scene, especially synthpop, techno and trance, in part due to their innovative work, recording techniques and use of sampling. Their most successful album is arguably 1990’s Violator, which reached the #2 position in the UK, #7 in the US, and sold over 8 million copies worldwide. The band has released a long series of high-charting singles over their three-decades long career. Enjoy the Silence is their most recognized song and is one of the most covered songs in history.

The original line-up was Dave Gahan, Martin L. Gore, Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke. In December 1981, Clarke left the band and later went on to form Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure. Alan Wilder joined the group initially in January 1982 as a live keyboardist but became an official member in December 1982. He left mid-1995 to fully concentrate on his Recoil project and the band continued as a trio. In 2010 Wilder re-joined Depeche Mode on stage after 16 years, for a performance of Somebody during a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Depeche Mode’s origins date back to 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards and Fletcher on bass. Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesizers. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout hut jam session, singing to a rendition of David Bowie’s ”Heroes”, and Depeche Mode were born.

While playing a live gig at the Bridge House in Canning Town, the band were approached by Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records, who proposed them a verbal contract. The result was their first single Dreaming of Me, recorded in December 1980 and released in February 1981, reaching number 57 in the UK charts and followed soon by a real contract with Mute.

As of 2006, it was estimated that Depeche Mode had sold over 100 million records (60 million albums / 40 million singles) worldwide and have had 48 songs in the UK singles chart. They are the best selling band to have never had a UK number 1 single. According to Q Magazine, Depeche Mode is “the most popular electronic band the world has ever known.”


To date, Depeche Mode have released:


    13 studio albums: Speak & Spell (1981), A Broken Frame (1982), Construction Time Again (1983), Some Great Reward (1984), Black Celebration (1986), Music for the Masses (1987), Violator (1990), Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993), Ultra (1997), Exciter (2001), Playing the Angel (2005), Sounds of the Universe (2009), and Delta Machine (2013);

    8 compilations: People Are People (1984), The Singles 81-85 (1985), Catching Up With Depeche Mode (1985), Greatest Hits (1987), The Singles 86>98 (1998), Remixes 81-04 (2004), The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1 (2006), The Complete Depeche Mode (2006);

    4 live albums: 101 (1989), Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live (1993), Recording the Angel (a series of live recordings; 2006), Recording the Universe (a series of live recordings; 2009);

    49 singles: including Just Can’t Get Enough, Everything Counts, People Are People, Master and Servant, Shake the Disease, Stripped, A Question of Time, Strangelove, Never Let Me Down Again, Personal Jesus, Enjoy the Silence, World in My Eyes, Policy of Truth, I Feel You, Walking in My Shoes, In Your Room, Barrel of a Gun, It’s No Good, Home, Dream On, Freelove, Precious and Wrong;

    11 video materials (VHS/DVD): The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg (1985), Some Great Videos (1985), Strange (1988), 101 (1989), Strange Too (1990), Devotional (1993), The Videos 86>98 (1998), Some Great Videos 81>85 (1998), One Night in Paris (2002), The Videos 86>98 + (2002), Touring the Angel: Live in Milan (2006), The Best of - Volume 1 (2006)

 Sources (view history)

http://www.last.fm/music/Depeche+Mode/+wiki

DEPECHE MODE - Enjoy The Silence - Live 2013 Audio HQ

DEPECHE MODE - Behind The Wheel - Live 2013 Audio HQ

Alphaville

Biography :
There are at least two artists that go by the name of Alphaville:

1) Alphaville is a German synthpop/new wave group which gained popularity in the 80s. The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum, born May 26, 1954 in Herford), Bernhard Lloyd (real name Bernhard Gößling, born June 6th, 1960 in Enger, Bielefeld) and Frank Mertens (real name Frank Sorgatz, born October 26, 1961 in Enger, Bielefeld). The band was at first named Forever Young. The band is best known for its two biggest hits, “Big In Japan” and “Forever Young”, which was the theme for many high school proms in the 1980s.

In 1984 the re-named Alphaville released their debut single “Big in Japan”, followed by “Sounds Like a Melody” and “Forever Young”, quickly followed by the album Forever Young. Despite its success Frank Mertens left the band in the same year and was replaced by Ricky Echolette (born Wolfgang Neuhaus, in Cologne, August 6, 1960) in January 1985.

“Big In Japan” was their biggest U.S. success, shooting to #1 on Billboard’s Dance chart. While they never again had a Top 20 U.S. Dance hit, several of their releases went Top 40 and Top 30 on the Dance charts. They were less successful at mainstream U.S. radio, reflected by their showing on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts, where “Big” only reached #66. The first U.S. release of “Forever Young” failed to scale the charts. In 1985, amid reports pop star Laura Branigan was featuring the song on her next album, Hold Me, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” was re-released as a single in the U.S., and again floundered in the lower recesses of the chart. Branigan’s version, though promoted on stickers adorning the album, subsequently remained an album cut in the U.S., though it was released to radio in South America. She would go on to perform the song as an encore at nearly every concert she performed, from her 1985 tour until her death in 2004. The Alphaville version was released a third time in the U.S. in 1988, to promote Alphaville: The Singles Collection, and peaked this time at #65. Their highest U.S. Singles chart showing, it was also their last. International re-releases of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” followed in 1989, 1996, and 2001. Several covers have been recorded and remixed, featuring male or female vocalists often erroneously attributed to be Alphaville’s Marian Gold, or Laura Branigan.

In 1986 the second album Afternoons In Utopia was released, followed in 1989 by The Breathtaking Blue. As an alternative to individual music videos, the band enlisted nine producers, among them Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi), to create a film entitled Songlines based on the album’s tracks.

The next album, Prostitute, was not released until 1994. In 1996 Ricky Echolette left the band. Salvation followed in 1997. Stark Naked and Absolutely Live was released in 2000, followed by the remix album Forever Pop in 2001. A DVD was released in 2001 documenting two concerts performed in Salt Lake City, Utah. Two box-sets have also been released; rather than being collections of previously released album tracks they are actually 12 unique albums, several live, several rarities and outtakes, and several newly recorded. The first box, of eight discs, was released in 1999 (called Dreamscapes) and the second in 2003 (called CrazyShow or Dreamscapes 9-12). All the material in CrazyShow is newly recorded.

Bernhard Lloyd did not contribute to the CrazyShow album, and shortly after its release, on March 18, 2003 he officially left the group. The current core members of Alphaville are Marian Gold (vocals), Martin Lister (keyboards), David Goodes (guitars) and Pierson Grange (drums).

” Just a note to say Bernhard Lloyd is/has/recently played live with Alphaville. I saw him at the Esbjerg Rock Festival in June of this year. They sounded absoutely brilliant. Check out the Alphaville website, it’s worth a look. Added by Fletchie, 02.11.07”

Marian Gold has released two solo albums (So Long Celeste, 1992 and United, 1996) alongside his work in the band. Bernhard Lloyd also worked on a project named Atlantic Popes with singer Max Holler. In 1996 Frank Mertens started on a musical project called Maelstrom which was a combination of ambient-style music, impressionistic and colorful art in the form of paintings and sculptures, and etheric poetry. This project seems now to have been by far abandoned, though, as Mertens has not been visibly active with it. In 2006 and 2007, Alphaville appeared on the “ELEKTRISCH” vol.1 and 2 album compilations with “From Germany with Love” and “[track artist=Alphaville]Guardian Angel[track]”.

2) A spanish Synthpop/dark/post punk group born in 1981 in Madrid by José Luis F. Abel (guitar & vocal), Mendi (bass), José Carlos ‘Charles’ Sánchez (keyboards), Jose Luis Orfanel (guitar) and Juan Antonio ‘Rep’ Nieto (drums).
The independent label DRO released their first EP in April 1982, “Paisajes nocturnos”, which included four tracks. Their first hit arrived some months later with the 4-tracks 12’’ “Palacio de invierno”. In 1983 they released the album Despues De La Derrota. 

Sources (view history)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphaville_%28band%29

SUMMER IN BERLIN Free Mp3 Download And Listen

Cover for Theme Music:
Karen Blankfeld Basset - Drums
Keith Klingensmith - Vocals
Maryanne Window - Vocals, guitars, bass, keys

Stumblin In (Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman cover)

Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (Extended Version)

Made from midi.
Thanks to http://www.cool-midi.com/

Kraftwerk - Model

LITTLE 15.Depeche Mode(Antiproject home mix)

A Question Of Lust (Remix Edit-Single) - Depeche Mode  (1986)

Depeche Mode - World In My Eyes

Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode (Live From Berlin - 2006.07.12)

Sasha Kizikian cover of a great song by:
Florent Pagny ‎– Là Où Je T'Emmènerai
Label: Mercury ‎– 984083-2
Country: Europe
Realize date: 2006
Genre: Pop
Style: Chanson
Lyrics By – Valérie Véga
Music By – Daran
Duration 4:06

Florent Pagny - Là Où Je T'emmènerai

Sasha Kizik

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