For the second of this song's accompanying remix EPs, center stage is taken by Icelandic avant-garde pop outfit Gus Gus. Given
Depeche's long lyrical history of conflations of sex, religion, and death, combined with Gus Gus' own bemused regardings of same, such a matching up made sense on more than just musical levels. A "Shortplay" and "Longplay" mix were each contributed, the latter, unsurprisingly, a lengthier version of the former. As redone by Gus Gus, the song acquires that group's sense of quite deep synth-bass grooves and steady, straightforward beats. It's incredibly easy to imagine the band's own singers delivering something over it, but
Gahan's vocals remain untouched, slotting into the new rhythms as if they had been the ones originally recorded for the track. Noted hip-hop figure
DJ Shadow steps forward with a mix of
Ultra's "Painkiller." While his "Kill the Pain" mix isn't as striking as Plastikman's own mix from the Barrel of a Gun EP, it's still a good enough collage from him, mixing in some old soul and a great comment from someone about how "my stereo is my number one high." FC Catalan contributes an "Out of Reach" mix of "Surrender," originally found on the first Only When I Lose Myself EP, cranking up the Ibiza-house beats to make a fun fusion of that sound with the original track's more theatrical feeling. Finally,
Depeche steps back about a decade into the vaults to "World in My Eyes" from
Violator, remixed by SAFAR into a fine, straightforward dancefloor filler, playing around with vocal snippets ("let me take you on a trip," etc.) in obvious but fun ways. Neat bonus -- starting off with a bootleg recording of
Gahan saying "Good evening San Francisco!" to a cheering crowd. ~ Ned Raggett