1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Depeche Mode
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Depeche Mode /dᵻˌpɛʃˈmoʊd/ are an English electronic band that formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group consists of founders Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Depeche Mode released their debut album Speak & Spell in 1981, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Original band member Vince 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 the songwriting duties and, later in 1982, Alan Wilder officially joined the band to fill Clarkes spot. Depeche Mode have been a trio again since 1995, when Wilder left, the bands 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 concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. In the new decade, Depeche Mode released Violator, a mainstream success, now a trio once again, the band released Ultra in 1997, recorded at the height of Gahans near-fatal drug abuse, Gores alcoholism and seizures, and Fletchers depression. Depeche Mode have had 50 songs in the UK Singles Chart and thirteen top 10 albums in the UK chart, Q included the band in the list of the 50 Bands That Changed the World. Depeche Mode also rank number 98 on VH1s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Depeche Modes origins date to 1977, when schoolmates Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a Cure-influenced band called No Romance In China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. Fletcher would later recall, Why am I in the band and it was accidental right from the beginning. I was actually forced to be in the band, I played the guitar and I had a bass, it was a question of them roping me in. In 1979, Clarke played guitar in an Ultravox rip-off band, in 1978–79, Martin Gore played guitar in an acoustic duo, Norman and the Worms, with school friend Phil Burdett on vocals. In 1979, Marlow, Gore and friend Paul Redmond formed a band called the French Look, with Marlow on vocals/keyboards, Gore on guitar and Redmond on keyboards. 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 heard Wirral band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, along with OMD, other early influences included the Human League, Daniel Miller and Fad Gadget. Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesisers, working odd jobs in order to buy or borrow the instruments from friends. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a scout hut jam session, singing a rendition of David Bowies Heroes. When explaining the choice for the new name taken from a French fashion magazine, Dépêche mode, Gore said, I like the sound of that
3.
A Broken Frame
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A Broken Frame is the second studio album by the English electronic band Depeche Mode, released on 27 September 1982 by Mute Records. The album was entirely by Martin Gore and recorded after the departure of Vince Clarke. Alan Wilder was part of a tour in the United Kingdom occurring prior to the release of this album, but he had not officially joined the band yet. Melody Maker noted that A Broken Frame – as its name suggests – marks the end of a beautiful dream, reviewer Steve Sutherland considered that the songs of A Broken Frame sound like puerile infatuations papering over anonymity with weary words. He found that Shouldnt Have Done That is the only departure from their previous work. The cover artwork is a photograph, but is intended to resemble a painting and it depicts a woman cutting grain in an East Anglian field, near Duxford in Cambridgeshire. It was taken by Brian Griffin using a mixture of natural and artificial lighting, Griffin cited as inspirations Ukrainian and Russian art, especially the work of Kazimir Malevich, and German romantic art. Griffin has displayed on his website a gallery of images from the same shoot. It was featured on the cover of Life Magazines 1990 edition of Worlds Best Photographs 1980–1990, All tracks written by Martin Gore. Some original US CD copies of the album tacked on the intro of The Sun & the Rainfall onto the end of Shouldnt Have Done That, dave Gahan sings lead vocals on all songs except Shouldnt Have Done That which is a duet with Gore. Nothing to Fear and Further Excerpts From, My Secret Garden are instrumental, Mute, DM CD2 / CDX STUMM9 Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer. The track listing is identical to the 1982 UK release, except Satellite which is 4,43 long and contains an edit, or error. Disc 2 is a DVD which includes A Broken Frame in DTS5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, additional Material, Depeche Mode 1982 All songs were written by Martin Gore. While the reviewer for Release Magazine wrote that version was not anything essential but well done. The Electricity Club found influences of And One in the cover of The Sun & the Rainfall and concluded that Marsheaux had used unconventional sounds, reviews from Germany noted that Marsheaux had elaborated on the assetts and downsides of the original release
4.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
5.
Phonograph record
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The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. The phonograph disc record was the medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century. It had co-existed with the cylinder from the late 1880s. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as compact cassette were mass-marketed, by the late 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991. The phonograph record has made a resurgence in the early 21st century –9.2 million records were sold in the U. S. in 2014. Likewise, in the UK sales have increased five-fold from 2009 to 2014, as of 2017,48 record pressing facilities remain worldwide,18 in the United States and 30 in other countries. The increased popularity of vinyl has led to the investment in new, only two producers of lacquers remains, Apollo Masters in California, USA, and MDC in Japan. Vinyl records may be scratched or warped if stored incorrectly but if they are not exposed to heat or broken. The large cover are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, in the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by audio engineers and digitally converted into audible sound. Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008, along with a tuning fork tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, unlike the phonautograph, it was capable of both recording and reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no evidence that Edisons phonograph was based on Scotts phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a paper tape, with the idea of creating a telephone repeater analogous to the telegraph repeater he had been working on. The tinfoil was wrapped around a metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately, Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device, the wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Berliners earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 12.5 cm in diameter, both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality
6.
Compact disc
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Compact disc is a digital optical disc data storage format released in 1982 and co-developed by Philips and Sony. The format was developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data. The first commercially available Audio CD player, the Sony CDP-101, was released October 1982 in Japan, standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres and can hold up to about 80 minutes of uncompressed audio or about 700 MiB of data. The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 millimetres, they are used for CD singles, storing up to 24 minutes of audio. At the time of the introduction in 1982, a CD could store much more data than a personal computer hard drive. By 2010, hard drives commonly offered as much space as a thousand CDs. In 2004, worldwide sales of audio CDs, CD-ROMs and CD-Rs reached about 30 billion discs, by 2007,200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide. In 2014, revenues from digital music services matched those from physical format sales for the first time. American inventor James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record information on an optical transparent foil that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp. Russells patent application was first filed in 1966, and he was granted a patent in 1970, following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russells patents in the 1980s. The compact disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s, although originally dismissed by Philips Research management as a trivial pursuit, the CD became the primary focus for Philips as the LaserDisc format struggled. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the Red Book CD-DA standard was published in 1980, after their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984, by 1988 CD sales in the United States surpassed those of vinyl LPs, and by 1992 CD sales surpassed those of prerecorded music cassette tapes. The success of the disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, who came together to agree upon and develop compatible hardware. The unified design of the disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company. In 1974, L. However, due to the performance of the analog format
7.
Mute Records
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Mute Records is a British record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderman, Inspiral Carpets, Moby, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, Wire, Yeasayer, and Yazoo. During 1978, Daniel Miller began recording music using synthesisers under the name The Normal and he recorded the tracks T. V. O. D. and Warm Leatherette, and distributed them through Rough Trade Shops under the label name Mute Records. The label was formed initially just to release the one single, T. V. O. D. /Warm Leatherette became a cult hit ensuring the future of the label. Warm Leatherette was later covered by Grace Jones and Chicks on Speed, after meeting Robert Rental, Miller began recording and playing live as Robert Rental & The Normal. In 1979 the band went on tour supporting the punk band Stiff Little Fingers, in 1980, Miller released the single, Kebab-Träume, by the German band Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, who had recently moved to London. The bands 1980 album, Die Kleinen und die Bösen, was the first album released by the new label, the album had the catalogue prefix STUMM, a play on the record labels name, meaning mute in German. This prefix would continue to be used through most of the labels album catalogue, also in 1980, Miller recorded and released the cover single, Memphis Tennessee, under the name Silicon Teens. The band was Miller’s realisation of a dream Mute Records group, in mid-1980, Mute Records released the Silicon Teens album, titled Music For Parties. Around this time the artist Fad Gadget had begun recording new demos and this was released as a single in 1980, followed by the next single Rickys Hand and the album Fireside Favourites recorded at Blackwing Studios. September 1980 saw the release of the double-holed, multi-speed 7 single by Non & Smegma, Boyd Rice went on to release several more recordings with Mute Records. After touring with Daniel Miller as Robert Rental & The Normal, Robert Rental released his only Mute Records single, Double Heart, a rare, remaining trace of this late electronic music pioneer. Miller approached Depeche Mode in 1980, after seeing them perform in London, wanting them to record a single for his label and their loyalty to Mute was reciprocated by the label’s rapid expansion to cope with their success. In defiance of the recording labels predictions of failure, Depeche Mode became a successful charting band worldwide. The bands consistency was unbroken even by the departure of principal songwriter Vince Clarke, Martin Gore took over the main songwriting role, opening the band up to different influences and sustaining their creativity as a band. Mute continued to other experimental artists, such as NON, releasing an album of Boyd Rices pre-NON recordings. 1982 began with the release of the 12-inch single, Rise, by Boyd Rice, Fad Gadget released his third album for the label, titled Under the Flag, influenced by the current Falklands War and the feeling of being British in the most unseemly of times. The album spawned the singles For Whom the Bells Toll and Life on the Line, Mute Records big commercial success of 1982 was the band Yazoo, the duo of Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet
8.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
9.
Martin Gore
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Martin Lee Gore is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, producer, remixer, and DJ. He is a member of Depeche Mode and has written the majority of their songs. His work now spans four decades. In addition to composing music and writing lyrics for the majority of Depeche Modes songs and he has been a backing singer on many others. In 1999, Gore received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for International Achievement, Martin Lee Gore was born in Dagenham, Essex in England. Gores biological father was an African-American G. I. stationed in Britain, Gore was raised by his stepfather and biological mother. He believed his stepfather was his father until age 13. When he was 13, he learned that his father was an African-American serviceman and, as an adult. Gore responds to the information and is quoted in Millers book saying, It brings up family traumas. He left Nicholas Comprehensive, Basildon in 1977 and took a job as a bank cashier. During evenings, weekends and any spare time, he was involved with the local band Norman. Gore has two younger half-sisters, Karen, born in 1967, and Jacqueline, born in 1968, in 1980, Gore met Andy Fletch Fletcher at the Van Gogh club. Fletcher recruited Gore into his band Composition of Sound along with Vince Clarke, soon the band drafted Dave Gahan to be the lead singer after hearing him sing Heroes by David Bowie. Clarke left Depeche Mode in late 1981, shortly after the release of their debut album Speak & Spell, Clarke wrote most of the album, with Gore contributing two tracks, Tora. Tora. and the instrumental Big Muff, any Second Now features Gores first lead vocals for the band. Gore sings lead vocals on several of the songs, notably ballads. When Clarke announced his departure from Depeche Mode in 1981, citing the pressures of fame and creative differences, Gore had been writing material since the age of 12. Songs Gore wrote for Depeche Modes second album, A Broken Frame differed musically and lyrically from Clarkes, Gores writing became gradually darker and more political on subsequent Depeche Mode albums
10.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
11.
Blackwing Studios
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Blackwing Studios was an English recording studio, most notable for early Depeche Mode and Yazoo recordings in the early 1980s. The Blackwing Studios complex was housed inside a church in South-East London. All Hallows church was destroyed during The Blitz in 1941. After the war Southwark Cathedral retained the north aisle and carried on using it as a temporary church, the destroyed south aisle was later turned into gardens and maintained by local residents from 1968. Blackwing was started by Eric Radcliffe, who worked on most of the early Mute Records recordings alongside Daniel Miller, Daniel Miller had discovered Blackwing when recording the Silicon Teens album. He required a studio with a big room where he could set up all his synthesisers. At the rear of the building was a bell tower that was used for storing master tapes. Daniel Miller carried on using Blackwing to record other new Mute Records artists, the first Depeche Mode album, Speak and Spell, was recorded at Blackwing using a TEAC eight track recorder. The album was engineered by John Fryer, Yazoo named one of their albums after the studio, Upstairs at Erics due to the main Blackwing studio being above Splendid Studios located downstairs. When Clarke initially came to Blackwing to record with Yazoo he found that the studio was fully booked and he had the choice of recording at 4am during studio downtime, or building another studio. This is how Splendid Studios came about and it was a private studio below the commercial Blackwing studios upstairs. After the split of the band Yazoo, Vince Clarke decided he wanted to remain in the music industry and his initial enterprise after Yazoo was the formation of his own record label called Reset Records. The enterprise was a joint effort with Eric Radcliffe, the idea being to sign and produce new acts from their independent Splendid Studios, the recordings were then licensed to RCA Records for release. Blackwing Studios closed down in September 2001 and the building has been empty ever since, however, this may soon not be the case as Southwark Council have been submitting plans since 2005 to redevelop the site with a four-storey development of private flats. When Eric Radcliffe opened Blackwing he initially used an eight track TEAC for recording artists, a second recorder was acquired and locked together with the initial machine giving Blackwing 32 tracks of recording. This system was used for early recordings by Yazoo and Depeche Mode. The system was eventually rationalised when two 24 track machines were purchased, one for Blackwing and one for Splendid Studios, downstairs, Blackwing used an Amek 2500 mixing desk which was modified to work with electronic instruments. All the equipment at Blackwing and Splendid Studios was designed to be patchable through patch bays, Vince Clarke installed a Fairlight CMI into Blackwing, which he had bought before the Yazoo tour, and used it on tracks like Never Never by The Assembly
12.
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held
13.
Alan Wilder
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Alan Charles Wilder is an English musician, composer, arranger and record producer, known as a former member of the electronic band Depeche Mode from 1982 to 1995. Since his departure from the band, the project called Recoil became his primary musical enterprise. Wilder has also provided production and remixing services to the bands Nitzer Ebb and he is a classically trained musician and renowned contemporary music producer. Alan Charles Wilder was born into middle class family and was raised in Acton and he began piano at the age of eight, through the encouragement of his parents. Later on, he learned the flute at St Clement Danes Grammar school, after school, Alan worked as a studio assistant at DJM Studios. This led to him ending up working for such as The Dragons, Dafne and the Tenderspots, Real to Real, The Hitmen. Following the departure of Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode placed an advertisement in the music magazine Melody Maker, even though the ad was looking for someone under 21 he lied about his age to get the job, and got away with it. He joined Depeche Mode in January 1982, initially as a tour keyboardist, Wilder wrote a handful of songs for Depeche Mode, including Two Minute Warning and The Landscape Is Changing from the album Construction Time Again, and If You Want from the album Some Great Reward. However, Wilders more notable contributions to Depeche Mode were as a musician, arranger, in addition to playing synthesizer throughout his time with Depeche Mode, Wilder also played piano on the bands signature ballad Somebody, and oboe on the bands hit anthem, Everything Counts. For the recording of the album Songs of Faith and Devotion, for Enjoy the Silence from the album Violator, Wilder is credited with taking Martin Gores melancholy ballad-esque demo and re-envisioning the song as a percolating, melodic dance track. The resulting single went on to one of the most commercially successful songs in Depeche Modes history. My decision to leave the group was not an easy one particularly as our last few albums were an indication of the potential that Depeche Mode was realizing. Unfortunately, within the group, this level of input never received the respect, whilst I believe that the calibre of our musical output has improved, the quality of our association has deteriorated to the point where I no longer feel that the end justifies the means. I have no wish to cast aspersions on any individual, suffice to say that relations have become strained, increasingly frustrating and, ultimately, in certain situations. Given these circumstances, I have no option but to leave the group and it seems preferable therefore, to leave on a relative high, and as I still retain a great enthusiasm and passion for music, I am excited by the prospect of pursuing new projects. The remaining band members have my support and best wishes for anything they may pursue in the future, after his split from Depeche Mode, Wilder was approached by Robert Smith with an offer to join The Cure. According to Wilder himself, the possibility was offered on behalf of The Cure by Daryl Bamonte and he briefly reunited with Depeche Mode during the Teenage Cancer Trust concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 17 February 2010, and enjoyed a rapturous reception. During the encore, Wilder accompanied Martin Gore on piano for Somebody, Gore returned the favour and played a DJ set on one of Recoils Selected Events
14.
Julien Temple
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Julien Andrew Temple is an English film, documentary and music video director. Temple was born in Kensington, London, the son of Landon Temple and his sister is politician Nina Temple. He was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School, William Ellis School and he grew up with little interest in film until, when a student at Cambridge, he discovered the works of French anarchist director Jean Vigo. This, along with his interest in the punk scene in London in 1976, led to his friendship with The Sex Pistols. Temples first film was a documentary called Sex Pistols Number 1. This led to Temple making The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, as band members Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious had left the band by this time, the story of the group is told from the viewpoint of their manager, Malcolm McLaren. The Great Rock And Roll Swindle tells of the rise of The Sex Pistols, apparently as manipulated by McLaren, many of the facts given by McLaren were disputed by John Lydon, who accused McLaren of using the film to attack him personally. This helped split opinion on the film as, although it was praised for attempting to capture some of the scene of the time. Controversy aside, Temple was praised for his mix of animated scenes, documentary footage and this helped launch Temple into a career making music videos, something for which he would be best known for much of his career. In 1983, Temple directed a film for the BBC Arena series called Its All True and this was followed by Temples next theatrical release, the short film Jazzin for Blue Jean featuring David Bowie which was released as a support feature to The Company of Wolves. In 1986, Temple directed the film version of Colin MacInnes book Absolute Beginners, one of the most expensive films in British history, the fate of the studios involved were dependent on the success of the film. The film was panned in the UK. As it was a musical, rather than an adaptation of the book, it was attacked for a lack of narrative. Absolute Beginners was financially unsuccessful and was responsible for the Goldcrest company going bankrupt. Temple found himself being blamed personally for the failure and he moved to the United States, where he was offered the film Earth Girls Are Easy, as well as a series of music videos for such artists as Duran Duran, Janet Jackson, Neil Young and Tom Petty. Temple returned to the UK in the late 1990s, where he continued to make films, Vigo, Passion for Life recounts the passionate relationship between French film maker Jean Vigo and his wife Lydou, who both suffered from Tuberculosis. The film was not well received, a reviewer in Sight & Sound commented that the film although absolutely faithful to the facts, is absolutely dreadful. This time the film was made with the cooperation of the surviving members of the band
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Some Great Videos
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Some Great Videos is the first music video compilation by Depeche Mode, featuring ten music videos directed by Clive Richardson or Peter Care, released in 1985. It coincides with The Singles 81>85, there are ten videos in the original version, the first video Just Cant Get Enough, and all videos from Everything Counts in 1983 to Its Called a Heart in 1985. Theres also a live video of Photographic, and the US release includes the video to A Question of Lust. To coincide with the rerelease of The Singles 81>85, Some Great Videos was re-released as Some Great Videos 81>85, the track list is the same as the original UK version, but the artwork is all from the rereleased Singles 81>85. Contains the same listing as the 1985 release. Notes All songs were written by Martin Gore except Just Cant Get Enough, though a video for the single version of People are People was made, the label decided to use the Different Mix of the video. The original video was never released on a video until the DVD The Best Of. Photographic is taken from the video The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg, All videos were directed by Clive Richardson except Shake the Disease and Its Called a Heart which were directed by Peter Care. All the videos by Julien Temple, were not included in the compilation and this includes See You, The Meaning Of Love, and Leave in Silence. Alan Wilder once commented on the videos, when asked about them on his website, though Get the Balance Right was not directed by Temple, it wasnt included either as it wasnt very well liked by the band as well. Some Great Videos at the Internet Movie Database
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Andy Fletcher (musician)
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Andrew John Leonard Fletcher, popularly known as Fletch, is an English keyboard player and founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode. In the late 1970s, Fletcher and schoolmate Vince Clarke formed the short-lived band No Romance in China, in 1980, Fletcher met Martin Gore at the Van Gogh Pub on Paycocke Road in Basildon. With Clarke, the trio, now all on synthesizer, formed another group called Composition of Sound, Clarke left the group in late 1981, shortly after the release of their debut album Speak & Spell. Their 1982 follow-up, A Broken Frame, was recorded as a trio, musician & producer Alan Wilder joined the band in late 1982 and the group continued as a quartet until Wilders departure in 1995. Since then, the trio of Gahan, Gore and Fletcher have remained active, most recently with the release of their 2017 album Spirit. Fletchers role within Depeche Mode has often been a topic of speculation, in early incarnations of the band, he played bass. As the band evolved after Vince Clarkes departure in 1981, Fletchers role changed as each of the members took to the areas that suited them. In a key scene in D. A. Pennebakers 1989 documentary film about the band, Fletcher clarifies these roles, Martins the songwriter, Alans the good musician, Daves the vocalist and he is the only member of the band who has not received a songwriting credit. Fletcher, however, always has and continues to play a role within the band. With the band having not always employed a manager, Fletcher has handled many of the bands business, legal. In recent years, this has included acting as the bands spokesperson and he is also said to be the member who is the tiebreaker and the one that brings the band together. In the studio and during shows, Fletcher does contribute a variety of supporting synthesizer parts, including bass parts, pads, strings and drone sounds. However, he is notably the only member of Depeche Mode who does not sing, although he can be seen singing in videos of Depeches past live performances, usually Fletchers vocals were either mixed very low or heard only through his own stage monitors. On the bands 2013/14 Delta Machine Tour, vocal mics were no longer present on his keyboard station, on studio recordings, however, Fletchers supporting vocals can be heard in some form or another on the majority of all Depeche Mode albums released since 1981. According to anecdotes from various members of Depeche Mode, an Andy Fletcher solo album entitled Toast Hawaii was recorded in Berlin during the Some Great Reward sessions in 1984, according to these anecdotes, all the songs on the album are cover songs on which Fletcher sings lead vocals. The album allegedly features Alan Wilder and/or Martin Gore on piano, the story then goes that Gore & Wilder presented the album to Mute Records Daniel Miller and pleaded for him to release it. In reality, this album is almost certainly an in-joke, although it is not entirely unlikely that during studio downtime from serious work. In 2002, Fletcher launched his own label, a Mute Records imprint called Toast Hawaii
