I was at that session and Fletch absolutely played. The oberheim synth choir is all him. These recordings are not staged and no backing tracks were used whatsoever. If the playing seems off its because of video editing and taking a scene out of sequence.
@k10
Do you mean Oberheim style choir? It looks to me like he's using a Korg MS2000.
Not trying to be a jerk, just curious if I'm looking at it wrong. Wow, I did it too.
While we mock Fletch, I think people don't realise how important he is to the band, apart from being Martin's lifelong buddy, he keeps the band together and is the business man of the band, he also does have a major input into the sound and direction.
Still it's fun to watch him clap as well.
Jesus - who cares who does what? The song is brilliant, the album will be brilliang and the concerts will be brilliant! In fact you could say DM are brilliant!
For GOD's sake. Exactly when are the Fletch jokes going to get tired ? Oh wait, that's right. They did that 15 years ago.
The constant ranting about how he doesn't ever play anything is just totally beside the point. If you guys think the other two keep him in the band for charity's sake or happily split the royalties just to enjoy his sense of humor, I think you're sadly mistaken. There's much more to the dynamics and workings of a band than musical contribution and a lot of dirty work to be done, and over the years he's done a lot of it. And from what I gather, still does. That's seems to be worth his share of the cash.
And by the way - he's no Chick Corea but he DOES play live. There's a lot of editing in the Hamburg or 101 videos that shows him clapping (admirably offbeat :-)) while one of his parts is playing, and everyone assumes he's a fake. Funnily enough, there's also many shots of Dave ten feet away from the mic right when you can hear him shouting, and no one seems to assume Dave mimes...
OF COURSE Fletch is totally replaceable from a musical standpoint (as Daryl Bamonte can testify). And OF COURSE he'll never be an Alan - you can always see him playing the most basic stuff, like bass drones (Black Celebration), simple leads (Behind the wheel, NLMDA), or effects (the slides and simple verse lead on Personal Jesus). But to assume that the guy makes a living of miming on stage (or in these studio sessions, where you can easily make out the chords he's playing if you're not too busy taking the piss) is just plain stupid, and typical of the tendency with a lot of fans to throw more shit at the band than most of its haters ever would.
Anyway - peace :-). I like the studio sessions, great feel - and interesting to see them experiment with live arrangements for songs which do have much more production in their finished studio mixes.
I'm with you Michel J! and alex, you have to admit Dave is also a good clapper right, but he's a excellent singer (i hope you all understand)and Fletch is and exellent player!
Love Depeche mode, universe best band! Peace
Alex : I do agree. He's probably the best offbeat clapper in the universe. I kinda miss his jumping-up-and-down-like-he-needs-to-be-excused-from-class routine from the Master & Servant tour days, though. Or his 101 backing vocals into an admittedly unplugged mike.
He can also get badly offbeat in his playing - that's how you can tell he actually plays. On Behind the wheel, for instance, in addition to the "shakuhachi-style" lead line, he plays the clapping sound effect - and it's far from perfect timing, whichever live version you listen to (not to mention, there's a few bootlegs out there where he basically forgets to stop the lead synth line during the verses, so you can hear him playing the first few bits of it while Dave and Mart are singing, and he'd be better off clapping...). Same on Halo where on of the things he plays is the low-key piano hits during the verses - in the One night in Paris DVD one of these comes on a really weird beat... The list goes on.
But hey. At least he makes a point of playing a few things on every live track, which, for somebody whose interest in honing their technical skills is just about equal to my passion for trigonometry, is actually quite brave ;-).
This version of Wrong is beautiful, a lot better and more organic than the "regular" one in my opinion.
Wow...Martin really has aged, is definitely looking nearly 48 in this clip, amazing musician and songwriter, though...
I agree about wrong but i dont care who does what! after all they have been through they are still sounding great and i dont know many 48 year olds who look as good as any of them. cant wait for the tour!
16 Comments
31 March 09 at 8:44pm
1
what a load of self indulgent kak! Just what is the point in Fletch pressing a few keys on that keyboard?!
31 March 09 at 9:14pm
2
and he played the WRONG keys! keep to the claping fletch!
31 March 09 at 10:27pm
3
I was at that session and Fletch absolutely played. The oberheim synth choir is all him. These recordings are not staged and no backing tracks were used whatsoever. If the playing seems off its because of video editing and taking a scene out of sequence.
31 March 09 at 10:57pm
4
Seems Fletch can't do anything right in some of your peoples eyes, give the bloke a break i've never heard such back stabbing.
01 April 09 at 1:16am
5
Fletch CAN play synth and he also plays bass.So,now,stop insulting him,period!
01 April 09 at 2:38am
6
@k10 Do you mean Oberheim style choir? It looks to me like he's using a Korg MS2000. Not trying to be a jerk, just curious if I'm looking at it wrong. Wow, I did it too.
01 April 09 at 3:30am
7
Fletch is a cool guy! But what in the world happened to his label?! Just when I was planing to send my cheesy electro-pop for the masses...
01 April 09 at 9:33am
8
While we mock Fletch, I think people don't realise how important he is to the band, apart from being Martin's lifelong buddy, he keeps the band together and is the business man of the band, he also does have a major input into the sound and direction. Still it's fun to watch him clap as well.
01 April 09 at 12:04pm
9
Jesus - who cares who does what? The song is brilliant, the album will be brilliang and the concerts will be brilliant! In fact you could say DM are brilliant!
01 April 09 at 3:49pm
10
he was at the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time....doing all the WRONG things...
01 April 09 at 10:23pm
11
For GOD's sake. Exactly when are the Fletch jokes going to get tired ? Oh wait, that's right. They did that 15 years ago. The constant ranting about how he doesn't ever play anything is just totally beside the point. If you guys think the other two keep him in the band for charity's sake or happily split the royalties just to enjoy his sense of humor, I think you're sadly mistaken. There's much more to the dynamics and workings of a band than musical contribution and a lot of dirty work to be done, and over the years he's done a lot of it. And from what I gather, still does. That's seems to be worth his share of the cash. And by the way - he's no Chick Corea but he DOES play live. There's a lot of editing in the Hamburg or 101 videos that shows him clapping (admirably offbeat :-)) while one of his parts is playing, and everyone assumes he's a fake. Funnily enough, there's also many shots of Dave ten feet away from the mic right when you can hear him shouting, and no one seems to assume Dave mimes... OF COURSE Fletch is totally replaceable from a musical standpoint (as Daryl Bamonte can testify). And OF COURSE he'll never be an Alan - you can always see him playing the most basic stuff, like bass drones (Black Celebration), simple leads (Behind the wheel, NLMDA), or effects (the slides and simple verse lead on Personal Jesus). But to assume that the guy makes a living of miming on stage (or in these studio sessions, where you can easily make out the chords he's playing if you're not too busy taking the piss) is just plain stupid, and typical of the tendency with a lot of fans to throw more shit at the band than most of its haters ever would. Anyway - peace :-). I like the studio sessions, great feel - and interesting to see them experiment with live arrangements for songs which do have much more production in their finished studio mixes.
01 April 09 at 11:22pm
12
I'm with you Michel J! and alex, you have to admit Dave is also a good clapper right, but he's a excellent singer (i hope you all understand)and Fletch is and exellent player! Love Depeche mode, universe best band! Peace
02 April 09 at 4:47pm
13
I agree with Michel J 100%!
02 April 09 at 5:28pm
14
Alex : I do agree. He's probably the best offbeat clapper in the universe. I kinda miss his jumping-up-and-down-like-he-needs-to-be-excused-from-class routine from the Master & Servant tour days, though. Or his 101 backing vocals into an admittedly unplugged mike. He can also get badly offbeat in his playing - that's how you can tell he actually plays. On Behind the wheel, for instance, in addition to the "shakuhachi-style" lead line, he plays the clapping sound effect - and it's far from perfect timing, whichever live version you listen to (not to mention, there's a few bootlegs out there where he basically forgets to stop the lead synth line during the verses, so you can hear him playing the first few bits of it while Dave and Mart are singing, and he'd be better off clapping...). Same on Halo where on of the things he plays is the low-key piano hits during the verses - in the One night in Paris DVD one of these comes on a really weird beat... The list goes on. But hey. At least he makes a point of playing a few things on every live track, which, for somebody whose interest in honing their technical skills is just about equal to my passion for trigonometry, is actually quite brave ;-).
09 April 09 at 2:19am
15
This version of Wrong is beautiful, a lot better and more organic than the "regular" one in my opinion. Wow...Martin really has aged, is definitely looking nearly 48 in this clip, amazing musician and songwriter, though...
10 April 09 at 11:32pm
16
I agree about wrong but i dont care who does what! after all they have been through they are still sounding great and i dont know many 48 year olds who look as good as any of them. cant wait for the tour!