BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986
“But Not Tonight” is a single released in the United States by synth-pop band Depeche Mode. In the UK the single was flipped and “Stripped” was the A-side released as the first single from Black celebration. The band’s U.S. label Sire Records, however, decided to use the B-side “But Not Tonight” on the soundtrack to the movie Modern Girls and included the song on US editions of Black Celebration. As a result, the single was flipped, and released as “But Not Tonight” in the United States to help promote the movie. The band was not happy with this decision, seeing “But Not Tonight” as a useless pop track recorded in less than a day. The single did not chart. Surprisingly, despite previous criticism of the song by the band, an acoustic version of “But Not Tonight” was sometimes performed by Martin Gore on Depeche Mode’s Delta Machine Tour and is included in the 2014 album “Live in Berlin.
The two B-Sides are “Breathing in Fumes” and “Black Day”. “Breathing in Fumes” was a new song using samples from “Stripped”, mixed by the band and Thomas Stiehler. “Black Day” is an acoustic, alternate version of “Black Celebration” sung by Martin Gore, and is co-written by him, Alan Wilder, and producer Daniel Miller – the only Depeche Mode song where Miller receives a writing credit.
The 7″ and 12″ versions on the US “But Not Tonight” single are different versions than used on the UK singles – they were remixed by Robert Margouleff.
SIDE A:
But Not Tonight (Extended Mix) 6:17
Producer [Remix], Engineer [Remix] – Robert Margouleff
Breathing In Fumes 6:04
Edited By [Assistant] – Thomas Stiehler
SIDE B:
Stripped (Highland Mix) 6:42
Remix – Flood
Black Day 2:37
Lyrics By [Words By] – M.L. Gore*
Music By – Alan Wilder, D. Miller*, M.L. Gore*
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Sire – 0-20578, Mute – 9 20578-0 A, Sire – 9 20578-0 A, Mute – 0-20578
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Maxi-Single
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
CREDITS:
Producer – Daniel Miller, Depeche Mode, Gareth Jones
Written-By – M.L. Gore* (tracks: A1 to B1)
NOTES:
A1 recorded & mixed at Hansa Tonstudio, Kreuzberg.
A2 to B2 recorded & mixed at Westside Studios, Shepherds Bush
“But Not Tonight” also featured on the Warner Bros. Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “Modern Girls”
Find the 12″ on DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
ty
I had a frantic time when I was searching for this single. One of my friends lent me his copy, then I recorded it on metal tape. Still sounds brilliant.
Thank you for this upload.
DEPECHE MODE are still the greatest Synthpop band of all time. I wish they would go back to this sound!
@finkyjd:
The US 7″ version (Robert Margouleff 7″ version) can be found on the second DVD of Singles 86>98. You just need to extract the audio.
There are 3 different Robert Margouleff remixes:
– 7″ Version (3:54) available on US and Canadians 7″ singles
– Extended Mix (6:17) available on US 12″ single
– Soundtrack Version (4:27) available on Modern Girls soundtrack LP and this is the version used on video (available on Videos 86>98+)
I remember my joy at picking this 12″ up back in the day – what I hadn’t realised was there was a different mix on the US 7″ to the one on the Bside of the UK Stripped (so even though SIRE thought it would make a better single, they must have still thought it needed work). I’ve not come across the 7″ Remix version listed here & on Discogs before (3.54), the version on the Video (singles ’86+) sounds just like the one on the UK single, so now there’s something I need to hunt down. You learn something… Read more »
One of my favourite DM tracks! Appreciate this upload – thanks Paul!
“But Not Tonight” has always been one of my favorite Depeche Mode tracks, and I always thought it served as a perfect upbeat ending to Black Celebration. Of course, being an American in the pre-Internet days, I had know idea that the song was actually tacked on to the end of the album against the band’s wishes. Still, to my ears, it seemed to fit.
I also should comment that this particular remix was reconned by Mute into the “Margouleff Dance Mix” back in 2004.
Whatever the name, great post!
Hi Josh
It didn´t even make it on the original album. It was (and is) a bonus track on the cd.
Another pleasant surprise from you.
Thanks Paul 🙂
Many, many, many years ago I walked into a record store, they were spinning Depeches 1st album Speak & Spell, I was hooked! There always were treasures to be discovered on a DM 12″ B-side. Around here, when a DM 12″ was released, it got huge airplay, everything was running, A-side, B-side, all the mixes, all the songs!
Thanks Paul. I didn’t have this track. 🙂
Kent
Ah, excellent. I love this track and didn’t know the US mixes were different. Thanks!
I totally missed this single back in the day. Glad to catch up with it now. Thank you (as always), Paul.
Thanks Paul, I’m DM lover, ‘But not tonight’ is my favourite song of Depeche Mode
Wow. What a fun week of posts. I’ve been starving for some Depeche Mode singles as they are always interesting and they have great B-sides. Can’t wait for next week are you going to continue these rare singles or will you do something complete different? Either way I’m hooked!
I have not decided yet MillCity9. You just never know what I will get up too 🙂
Nice post. This is a true oddity in the Depeche discography, despite having my own copy of this, I will look forward to hearing your work here. I always liked this song, it is a bit more light that their usual work of that era, much more like a song like See You or The Meaning Of Love. Do you have the 7″ mix of this one a well?
I never bought the 7″ Joey but I will try to locate a copy 🙂
I have the Canadian Sire large-hole 7″ bought second hand, or more likely fifty-second hand, unfortunately its condition is not even VG – doesnt have any visible scratches, but it has been played to death on a unknown but probably large number of unknown setups. I’ve tried to digitize it a couple times using all the tricks in the book, but never been able to get something satisfactory (meaning better than something off a torrent site). I’d ship it to Paul to let him give it a go, but only as a last resort. I have two copies of the… Read more »
I never knew that this single was released as the “A” side of the single, let alone the mix. Good choice. Thanks.
You’re welcome Steveasian 🙂
Thanks Paul. The Stripped (Highland Mix) is a favorite.
You’re welcome Omar 🙂
I am a huge DEVOTEE so nothing new for me for a change. The story of BNT is very similar to that of the trite, awful single “It´s Called A Heart”, according to Martin L. Gore “maybe the worst track I ever wrote, and certainly our worst single.” The band wanted to release the fabulous “Fly On The Windscreen” as a single but on a preview the BBC announced they would give the song no airplay as the lyrics start with the word “death”. Unbelievably ridiculous nowadays, isn´t it….
Paul, I love how you cobble together the descriptions of the songs you post as it gives nice background information to the tracks themselves. I never knew of the track’s history, on how the band was less than enthused about the song. However, I love this tune quite a lot. The lyrics and the feel….EVERYTHING. Now, I’m a HUGE fan of “Stripped” and especially the industrial sounding “Breathing In Fumes.” Whoa, thanks a ton for presenting us with all this goodness. Again, many thanks for so much freaking phenomenal music in and out all the weeks. You are so worship-able… Read more »
You’re welcome Jeff. Have a great weekend 🙂
Interesting story about the single being flipped and getting a unique remix. I’m a big DM fan and never knew that happened until I read this post.
Enjoy SimonP 🙂