Thirteen

Despite my fondness for both the character and the actress, this is not about Dr. Remy Hadley, better known as "Thirteen" from the great TV series called House M.D., it's in fact a follow up to Twelve, posted here a year ago.

Depeche Mode: Black Celebration era

The album. The singles. The songs. The tour.

Cinderella, are you happy?

Nicola Roberts, whom I called "the coolest popstar on Earth" a year ago, turned 30 today. She's still cool, but I'm not entirely sure she still qualifies as a popstar.

High Speed Train

Around The Sun is often ranked at the bottom of R.E.M. album lists, and I don't think it's their best work either, but it's still R.E.M., and even at their so-called worst, they're mostly OK, with some excellent and absolutely wonderful songs hidden amongst the not-so-good ones, like this particular song.

Tourfilm

Today marks the 25th anniversary of R.E.M. releasing their first ever live video, Tourfilm, which - I think - captured them at their peak.

Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward (+ Singles) era

The album. The singles. The songs. The tour. The compilation album.

The best year ever

If we wanted to, we could use the 1987 calendar this year, as each day fell on the exact same day of the week. (Obviously, if there's one match and the years in question are both "normal" years or both leap years, all the other days have to match as well). Anyway, 24th August was also Monday back then, which is when new releases come out in the UK, and those included the Depeche Mode single "Never Let Me Down Again" 28 years ago - one of the best songs ever. I wouldn't say that such a treat appearing today is completely impossible, but I do feel that particular year was quite special, and it's not (just) nostalgia, as I was actually too young to appreciate it at the time.