List | D | Depeche Mode | 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion (Live)' LCD 1993

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	I Feel You	7:11
2.	Walking In My Shoes	6:41
3.	Condemnation	3:56
4.	Mercy In You	4:20
5.	Judas	5:01
6.	In Your Room	6:47
7.	Get Right With Me	3:11
8.	Rush	4:35
9.	One Caress	3:35
10.	Higher Love	7:31
	Total	52:48

Comments:

This is (apparently) a live album, with the exact same track listing as the original Songs Of Faith And Devotion. It was recorded in four different cities, so I guess they did a little cut-and-paste to get the tracklisting to match. The songs are generally a bit longer and somewhat re-made, and usually with extra live guitar and drums (Martin and Alan). On most songs they also include two female backup singers; sometimes it's hard to tell them apart from Martin's voice, since he usually sings rather high-pitched.

'I Feel You' starts off with a short excerpt of an Eno remix as an intro, which then builds into the actual track itself. Works very well. 'Walking In My Shoes' also has an extra intro; a very nice drum machine beat, then it goes into an extended version of the song, not unlike that on the single but with that nice extra intro. 'Condemnation' is fairly close (the same?) as the live version on the single. 'Mercy In You' has an extra bongo/conga (I can never remember which is which) intro, but apart from that it's much like the studio version. A pity, since I was looking forward to a more re-made version of this song. Still, it's a good song, so no need to complain. 'Judas' sounds almost exactly like the studio version. 'In Your Room' seems to be the same as on the live single, which means it's very good but not very different from the regular album version. 'Get Right With Me' has a bit heavier drums (live, I think), but apart from that it's not too different. Perhaps the intro is a few bars longer. 'Rush' is also fairly close to the album version, but in the pre-chorus every other line is missing (Dave can't very well duet with himself), which means it sounds like something is missing. Also, the "I rush for you" at the end of the slow part is missing (intended to be sung by the audience), which means it loses a bit of the tempo. 'One Caress' has the real strings replaced by a synth, but otherwise it's more or less the same. Is there really piano in the studio version? I don't think so, but there is some here. Nice. 'Higher Love' has also been equipped with an extra intro; if I'm not mistaken it's the same as in the 'Devotional' video (hardly surprising, since it could very well be from the same show). It builds up very nice to the song. It was beautiful to see (only on the screen, I'm afraid - I didn't get to see DM live until 1998) and it's very good to hear.

All in all, it's not an essential Depeche Mode album, but it does have some alternate versions, and it's live. Just the live aspect does tend to bring more energy into the songs, even if poor Dave seems a bit tired at times. I wouldn't want to be without this album.

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