Depeche Mode

i'm considering investing in an album to sample the 'Mode' but don't know where to start.....and i don't want to invest in a best of as there are two, so i just get confused.

any mode fans care to comment to help ease the pressure on my brain?

cant go wrong with singles 86-98

Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion are prob the best two studio albums

It depends on how seriously you want to get as much out from the band's music as can.

The band really got serious with their lyrical messages from the thrid album ('Construction Time Again' - 1983), although if you want a little more of the guitar-rock element, you may have to jump further to either 'Music For The Masses' (1987) or 'Songs Of Faith And Devtion' (1993).

I consider this band to be the best in the world, if not the biggest.

The live album 101 is a good way to start, but their best album is probably Violator which was released one or two years later.

Leave Speak and Spell to later. That was before Vince Clarke formed Erasure, and was writing songs like Just Can't Get Enough for Gahan to sing.

I would go with the people here and say Violator and Black Celebration.

well i had a dabble on the singles collection 86-98. I say had a dabble but it was bought for me as a present for my birthday so can't grumble.

i'm quite impressed by it, some stuff thoughs not my cup of tea i.e a question of time. but on the large its good stuff, i've been meaning to get violator but got side tracked with some other albums i bought last week i'll get round to it one day though i'm sure....or next time i'm in glasgow and see it in HMV for £4.99 i'll snap it up

101 kicks ass and contains not a bad tune. Violator is alright but lacks the previous hits that were included in 101. Black Celebration is my fave but is dark but dark in a good way. Guess that Princess Di song is irrelevent now.

twist wrote: 101 kicks ass and contains not a bad tune. .

All Killa no Filla then?

the core four (as released) are:

• some great reward
• black celebration
• music for the masses
• violator

if you like those, then get everything else..

has anyone heard the new song ('precious')? it's fantastic!

Go for the singles collection. You can always try to find it in a second had store... although may be hard to find used.

I think any thing you buy from Mode from "construction time again" to "Songs of Faith and Devotion" are full out great albums.

Ultra is growing on me the past years and exciter is nice too.

Early mode is too bubble gum - it's all vince clark, from erasure and yazzo (yaz in the US).

enjoy!!!... the silence.

Yes, I agree...don't begin with "Speak and Spell" (It is a very homo-erotic album in my opinion.)

My two favs are "Violator" and "Music for the Masses"....

I hated Songs of Faith and Devotion when I first played it, but soon loved it.

Uncle Liam wrote: cant go wrong with singles 86-98

Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion are prob the best two studio albums

yep.go for this 86-98 collection,you'll get the best of em

I think "Catching up with Depeche Mode", "Music for the masses" or any singles collection is good to start with. Then, get "Violator," "Some Great Reward," and "Black Celebration" if you like the first two.

I really like Speak and spell. The CD contain the somng "Iceage", wish I like alot.

The vinyl version doesn't though.

Not only was it way off topic, it's completely inappropriate.

Rob Revilo wrote: way off topic, but did Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher, or Alan Wilder used to be bisexual or gay??

I'm not so sure how one could "used to be" gay, but to the best of my knowledge the gentlemen of Depeche Mode are indeed heterosexual. Unless you're using "gay" as a euphamism for dressing like a sissy and acting like a jackass. In which case, you may be onto something: DM used to dress like sissies and act like jackasses, but now they don't.

And, back on topic, the best DM studio albums are Violator and Black Celebration. If you get those two discs and both singles collections, you'll have a good starter set for the casual fan, and will have some excellent music, too. Songs of Faith and Devotion, Music for the Masses, 101 and Ultra are probably your best bets from there. Any studio records from before Black Celebration are probably for serious DM fans only (I don't think they've aged particularly well). The new album is supposed to be pretty good, too. Don't bother with Exciter; it's a terrible record.

I'd say either Music for the Masses, Some Great Reward, Violator, Black Celebration or Songs of Faith and Devotion. Also, when their new album Playing the Angel comes out, you might want to check that out, too. I know it's probably not right to judge an album over one song, but their new single "Precious" is better than anything I've heard on their 2001 album Exciter.

Aside from the singles collections, I recommend Music For The Masses. That's such a great CD from start to finish. Violator is very good, too. I'd try those two out, #1 and #2, respectively. Songs of Faith and Devotion is more rock oriented but it's not bad - just different than their regular style. Ultra is really a gem, too. Actually, I think you couldn't go wrong with any of those to start out, except Speak and Spell (and possibly, Exciter - I hear it is really bad even though I don't own it and have only heard one or two tracks). Still, I say go with Music for the Masses!

I didn't think Exciter was too bad, but yeah, definitely not an album to get early on. I started with 86>98, Some Great Reward, Violator, 101....all great stuff. I'm kind of glad I didn't find a cheap copy of Speak and Spell until a bit later.

If your after the darker Mode buy 'Black Celebration' and 'Violator'. They are fantastic!

If you're after the poppy Mode then buy their first greatest hits collection (and as an 80's DJ I have to say that they were a prime example of 80's pop perfection)...

get the singles for personal jesus & world in my eyes. Not only do you get great versions of the songs, but you get 3 of the best bsides ever recorded by them. dangerous, sea of sin, & happiest girl.

as far as albums go, violator & music for the masses would be the two i'd choose first, followed by ultra, and then the pre-black celebration days. yes, some of the songs are not good but they did have master & servant, people are people, stories of old, it doesn't matter, blasemous rumours, and a bunch more that were great.

My favorite b-side of theirs is "Shake the Disease," from '85 or so. A lot of the older b-sides are rather experimental, when they could get away with fucking around in the studio.

the core four (as released) are:

-some great reward -black celebration -music for the masses -violator

Those are the four I own.

The recent Remixes collection is awesome. Not only it features amazing artwork, but it boasts excelent remixes too! ("amazing artwork"... "excelent remixes"... this topic is definetly not about NO!)

the remix collection is effin fantastic :) my favorite remix is the remix of the song "clean" done by Colder on the bonus 3rd disc.

one of these days, when I have a lot of money, I'm going to buy all singles box sets. i think there's 6 total and about 30 cds. but each box is like 40 dollars used :(

Shake the Disease isn't a b-side, it's a single with a proper video... its b-side was Flexible.

shake the disease was a single, but Mode has done videos for songs that were not singles. like the song clean, there was that soft core porn video on strange too, one caress, & little 15 come to mind (but that was a single in france and maybe england, but not the states)

kamar wrote:

Shake the Disease isn't a b-side, it's a single with a proper video... its b-side was Flexible.

shake the disease was a single, but Mode has done videos for songs that were not singles. like the song clean, there was that soft core porn video on strange too, one caress, & little 15 come to mind (but that was a single in france and maybe england, but not the states)

Little 15 was a single, but only released in France, I think. I did see it recently on import at a goth/industrial/synthpop record store. Shake the Disease, however, is a fine single and has DM's first good video that doesn't look like it was filmed cheaply on a sound stage (like Master and Servant, People are people, and Just can't get Enough). Unfortunately, it wasn't put on the video collection.