Feature Song: “Enjoy the Silence”
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. The founding line-up was Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Vince Clarke. Now the band currently consists of Gahan and Gore. With Clarke as their primary songwriter, they released their debut album, Speak & Spell, in 1981, coinciding with the British “new wave” scene. Clarke left the band at the end of 1981, going on to form the groups Yazoo and later Erasure. The remaining trio recorded their second album, A Broken Frame (1982), with Martin Gore as the principal songwriter. The band then recruited Alan Wilder, and that line-up continued until 1995, beginning with the albums Construction Time Again (1983) and Some Great Reward (1984). Their following two albums, Black Celebration (1986) and Music for the Masses (1987), cemented their place as a dominant force within the electronic and alternative music scenes. Their 1988 concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl drew a crowd of 60,000.
“Enjoy the Silence,” one of their better-know songs and their highest charting single in the U.S., was released as a single in 1990, appearing on their seventh studio album, Violator. Songwriter Martin Gore created a ballad-like first version of the song, but at the insistence of band member Alan Wilder, the song was later re-worked into the up-tempo version that was released on the album.
At the risk of becoming redundant by using another Postmodern Jukebox cover, I am going to do just that. I have gotten into the habit these days, after deciding on a song from the past that I want to feature, of checking to see if PMJ has done one, and then going from there. There are times when I will opt for a cover not done by them, and then there are times when I listen to theirs and just shrug my shoulders and say: “Yup!” This was one of those times. This time around, it is a 1920’s Jazz Age cover featuring the very talented Chloe Feoranzo (1992). She is an American clarinetist, saxophonist, and vocalist, who has been performing professionally since the age of fifteen. Feoranzo was born in Rhode Island, but grew up in San Diego, where she played in youth orchestras and pit bands, as well as swing and Dixieland bands. She has also performed as a guest artist at numerous festivals across Southern California.
As a teenage musician, she studied with jazz sax legend Charles McPherson and attended the annual US San Diego Jazz Camp. After relocating to St. Louis for college, she collaborated with several groups in the city’s traditional jazz scene, including the Sidney Street Shakers and Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers. Since 2016, she has been a member of the all-female Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band. The group is based in New Orleans and has produced three albums. She continues to perform with a number of other groups, PMJ being one of them, and has appeared on more than 40 albums.
Enjoy!
Depeche Mode. “Enjoy the Silence” 1990.
PMJ “Enjoy the Silence” cover featuring Chloe Feoranzo 2023.
Los Angeles 2024
I love “Enjoy the Silence”, which is my favorite song by Depeche Mode. The PMJ is an entirely different take on the song, and while it lacks the rather ominous vibe I love in the original, it makes up for it with an exuberant dancehall/jazz approach. Chloe Feoranzo is amazing too. BTW, I lived a couple miles from Sidney Street when I lived in St. Louis.
She is quite the talent, and will pop up here again soon!
That’s an easy one for me. I strongly prefer PMJ’s jazz version of the song. Depeche Mode never were much my cup of tea, certainly not back in the ’80s. Looking at “Enjoy the Silence” from today’s perspective, I acknowledge the original is a well done electronic pop song.
Not much of a Depeche Mode fan but as usual your cover pick does not disappoint! Chole is quite spectacular.
I, too, was never a Depeche Mode fan, and rehearing Enjoy the Silence reminds me why. I don’t much like electronic-y music…it often feels soulless. I enjoyed PMJ’s version more, although it’s Chloe F’s multiple musical abilities. Even she can’t make that song shine for me.