Customer Reviews

Strange [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
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Let's face it, DM's music videos did not become truly artful and wondrous until a certain man by the name of Mr. Anton Corbijn took over as director. It all started with A Question Of Time and took off from there, with Anton shooting everything in Black & White (a B&W Mode). "Strange" is a short 30 minute film comprising 5 songs, beginning with AQOT, and continuing thru all the music videos from DM's 1989 album, Music For The Masses (although "Little 15" is strangely missing).

A Question Of Time-I look at the song as simply a tale of misguided youth and the time you have to steer them in the right direction before it's too late. The video takes that idea and gives us a visual look, showing a man on a motorcycle riding along with a baby beside him in the connected passenger car. By the end, he has brought the baby to the members of DM and they all pose with the little tyke who even pulls on Martin's curly blond hair. One could say the message is "follow Depeche Mode and your life will turn out fine", but I think it's a tad more complicated than that.

Strangelove-first single from MFTM, the video takes its time mostly photographing some very beautiful women who walk to and from the camera, as depeche mode, crouching overhead, look on. The woman walking the dog, by the way, is a knockout! See if you can get the symbalism of Dave kicking a vase full of flowers and a woman kicking a giant ball!

Never Let Me Down Again-Musically, Lyrically & Visually Stunning! This is actually the Split Mix verson which incorporates the normal song with a long instrumental ending. Debate all you like about what Martin is writing about here (drugs? homosexuality? or just taking a plane ride with a friend?) the music video will offer you no clues. It instead focuses on Dave, who's looking rather burntout, drinking coffee with an old man, then taking a drive in a little car. Leaving the other DM members behind running around in wheat fields, Dave gets out of the little car and walks along to the point of collapsing to the ground with the other band members picking him up and dragging him away (perhaps an indication of real future events to come), while at the same time leaving his shoes behind. This was the cool part for me (and no, this part is not on the Videos 86>98)..the shoes come to life and start walking around on their own until a man sees the shoes, puts them on, and procedes to enter a small dance club. It's wild! One of my favorites.

Behind The Wheel-this music video is somewhat a continuation of the last, with Dave (now on crutches) walking along a road until he's picked up by a beautiful woman on a scooter, who then takes them both for a drive, with her..behind the wheel, then out for dinner (and more). Dave's little mustache that he wears later in the video makes him look rather French-like. The version on this tape is the album version (which I like much better) and not the single remix version which is on the Videos 86>98.

Pimpf-Martin, inside a little shack, plays this song on the piano as the rest of the band chant outside, attempting to break the shack apart. In a word, strange, but that's why the title of this film is called "Strange".

This is the only Depeche Mode film that is unavailable on VHS. The laserdisc, by the way, was never issued anywhere in the world except Japan, making it the most sought after DM LD. But the question remains, when will Warner Brothers quit fooling around and start releasing more of DMs films on DVD?! I guess it's just "a question of time".

A solid mix of Depeche songs from "Music for the Masses" era set to stark b&w video imagery. Director Anton Corbijn filming on super eight has attempted to match music to image, and has achieved success. In a series of b&w viginettes, filmed throughout Europe and the USA, we see Depeche Mode lyrics coming to fruition in a short film of contrasting subject matter and emotional affect. "Strange" is a very urban and naturalistic video featuring dark romantic filmography, that explores a variety of superficial feelings and responses, and ultimately concludes that life is still very much a matter of escaping bordom. Five songs are included, "A Question of Time", "Strangelove", "Never Let Me Down Again," "Behind the Wheel", and "Pimpf." Though character development is lacking, we are able to establish a story line that takes band members through a series of interactions with sub-characters that we meet at the beginning of each video. The film ends in a dramatic and somewhat cheesy depiction of the destruction of the "Museo", where band members collectively destroy a small shack in a desert area perhaps out of pure frustration with past failed exploits. Artistic influences seem to be a combination of Edward Hopper paintings and Bernd and Hilla Becher photography set to motion. For the devout fan, this video displays the full length frames which were shortened for the 1985-98 video collection. Of especial interest is the sequence of walking shoes, not found on any other video, that reminds one of a Charlie Chaplin or a Stan and Laurel Hardy act. A buy the true collector.

Its strange... It lived up to it's name..

I've read somewhere that Depeche Mode videos started to became truly artful until Anton Corbjin stepped in as a director. This is not exaggerately objective.
Strange is a 30 minute film by Corbjin connecting the videos from the DM album "Music for the Masses" and it includes "A Question of Time", "Strangelove", "Never Let Me Down Again", "Behind the wheel" and the instrumental "Pimpf"
Undoubtedly the videos, shoot all in b/w, are very professional, compared to some of the early clips of our friends.
Above all stands "Never Let Me Down Again", a great song about friendship, letting down people we love and reconciliation, visually rendered in this videoclip masterpiece where the two generations of Dave and an old family friend which has seen him growing up meet. The atmosphere is unique, away from the chaos of metropolis and "back to the land" in the framework of a highly suggestive countryside, Dave travelling on an amazing little car bringing echoes of the past, with the band looking for him through wheat fields, finally finding their companion collapsed to the ground after a long walk. Quite stupid, in my opinion, the added ending not present in the actual videoclip, where Dave's shoes, left on the ground, take a walk until a man puts them on to enter a dance club. Corbjin in my humble opinion has been more in the mood of the renewed U2 of "Achtung Baby" et al.
The other videos are very professional, but I continue to consider many old videos superior to a lot of the Corbjin production, expecially the two true masterworks "Shake the Disease" and "It's Called a Heart", directed by Peter Care (also author of the joyful and very graphical videos for "Be near Me" and "Vanity Kills" by ABC). These two can be found in the VHS "Some Great Videos", of which "Strange" and the following are a completion up to the DVD release "The Videos 86-98"