DEPECHE MODE – SEE YOU 7″ – Nr MINT UK 1982 INDIE ELECTRONICA

Depeche Mode – See You
(Mute Records  1982  7MUTE018)

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Sleeve in Nr MINT condition

Depeche Mode are an English electronic band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group’s original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards), and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter from 1980 until 1981). Depeche Mode released their debut record in 1981, Speak & Spell, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Clarke left the band after the release of the album, leaving the band as a trio to record A Broken Frame, released the following year. Gore took over lead songwriting duties and, later in 1982, Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, occasional songwriter) officially joined the band to fill Clarke’s spot, establishing a line up that would continue for the next thirteen years.

The band’s last albums of the 1980s, Black Celebration and Music for the Masses, established them as a dominant force on the mainstream electronic music scene. A highlight of this era was the band’s concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where they drew a crowd in excess of 60,000 people. In the new decade, Depeche Mode released Violator, a mainstream success. The subsequent album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, and the supporting Devotional Tour exacerbated tensions within the band to the point where Alan Wilder quit in 1995, leading to intense media and fan speculation that the band would split. Now a trio once again, the band released Ultra in 1997, recorded at the height of Gahan’s near-fatal drug abuse, Gore’s alcoholism and seizures and Fletcher’s depression. The release of Exciter confirmed Depeche Mode’s willingness to remain together, the subsequent, and very successful, Exciter Tour being their first tour in support of an original album in eight years since the Devotional Tour, although the band had toured in 1998 to support The Singles 86–98 compilation album.

Depeche Mode have had fifty songs in the UK Singles Chart and thirteen top 10 albums in the UK charts. Depeche Mode have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Q magazine calls Depeche Mode “the most popular electronic band the world has ever known” and included the band in the list of the “50 Bands That Changed the World!”. Depeche Mode also rank number 98 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.

“See You” is the fourth UK single by Depeche Mode recorded at Blackwing Studios, and the first Depeche Mode single written by Martin Gore. The single was released on 29 January 1982 and was later included on the band’s second album A Broken Frame. The single launched a small world tour, with extra band member Alan Wilder, although he did not contribute to the song or the album. There are three versions of “See You”—the 7″ single version (3:55), the album version (4:34), and an extended 12” version with a longer intro (4:50). The “Extended Version” and the “Album Version” are almost the same. The “Album Version” fades out about 20 second before the 12″ remix does.

The B-side to “See You” is “Now, This Is Fun”. The extended version has a longer bridge in the middle and an extended ending, with Dave Gahan sometimes shouting “This is funny!” instead of “This is real fun!” Before release “Now, This Is Fun” was called “Reason to Be”.

The video for “See You” was directed by Julien Temple. It was also the first video with Alan Wilder. He can be seen briefly playing the keyboards and he also appears in several photo booth strips. The first part of the video was filmed at Hounslow railway station in London. At the beginning of the video there is a speakerphone, much like the one on the cover of Music for the Masses, released five years later. The band did not like the video, and it did not show up on the 1985 video compilation Some Great Videos, which included the band’s videos up to 1985 except the A Broken Frame singles and “Get the Balance Right“.

Tracklist