Mode / Spirit

I think its fair to say that a large % of Order fans also have some inclinations to Depeche Mode. For me nothing beats their Masses / Violator / Devotion trilogy of LPs, and although post-Wilder there have been some top quality tunes, overall to me there have been diminishing returns album on album. I'm curious to hear from fellow NOOLers on their impressions of Mode's latest. I'll share mine...

I got the Spirit 2CD edition yesterday, and by & large am completely underwhelmed.

I have to say the dour tone of this and the last few albums is wearing thin, and the band can't seem to break away from a modus operandi that's now 20 years old: abrasive electronic with an emphasis on distorted tone and texture rather than melody and hooks. Depeche at their best = Melody.

The artwork is yet more of the same from a seemingly bored Anton Corbijn; grey and lifeless with yet another bandname 'logo' and photos of them all looking miserable and gaunt in a staged setting, holding some sort of prop (in this case sledgehammers and - slightly ridiculously - chopper motorcycles). There are a couple of exceptions, the back sleeve photo is good and one of the photos inside with them standing in front a red backdrop is good, otherwise I'm over their 'look' - particularly Fletch. FFS he hasn't contributed in a meaningful way for 30 years and has kept the same sourpuss expression throughout that time. What I wouldn't give for Wilder's return.

Contrast this with New Order and Music Complete. Chalk and cheese, and not just because I'm biased.

So - the songs... lyrically there's a consistent we're fucked message throughout, which I suppose is timely... but the whole album? Best tracks (which I'd rate no higher than 7 or 8/10) for me are Scum (mainly for the 'Pull The Trigger' lines and chords), Cover Me (mainly for the instrumental Blade Runner-esque outro) and No More (some nice synth ambience in and around the verses). Of the Gore-sung tracks the last one Fail is the least worst (mainly for the synth work in the breaks and ending). The 'Revolution single is OK too I suppose but its no Policy of Truth, In Your Room, or Never Let Me Down.

Most of the rest is forgettable dirge. 😴

WTF? Is it the producers? Answers on a postcard please... or here.

OK i'll bite

Dennis Remmer wrote: I think its fair to say that a large % of Order fans also have some inclinations to Depeche Mode. .

Um, none of it really matters these days but once upon a time long ago, British New Order fans would have taken a fair bit of offence at that sentence! Much as i admire your Ceremony to Superheated blog and your other New Order projects Dennis, i was a bit stunned and flabbergasted by that sentence.I think American New Order fans for example are also fans of Depeche Mode but us Brits NO fans i'd hazard a fairly confident guess do not rate Depeche Mode.But as i said, it doesn't really matter in this day and age.There's more pressing things going on in the world.

Depeche Mode did write a good catchy tune in their early days i'm pained to admit but they were always a bit bloody annoying with their crap clothes and haircuts.Then they tried to go all serious and gloomy and these days they are just plain dull and dismal.Was listening to 6Music ond the drive home form work and they played a track called Poor Man off Depeche Mode's new album and i found it bloody awful.It ruined an otherwise nice drive home on a sunny afternoon.

Here in Oz in our remoteness we're probably less militant about such divisional lines and weren't party to all their home county issues, and yes we probably share the US and European tolerance and occasional enjoyment (historically anyway) of DM.

I rate their 88-93 period but the rest... 💀

I've always liked both New Order and Depeche Mode (at one stage in the early `1990s, round the time of Violator and SOFAD, I might have even said the Mode were my favourite band) but I was also distinctly underwhelmed by Spirit. The songs all sound very much the same, generic stadium electro-rock and the song writing has a general air of 'will this do?' about it - just because you haven't brought out an album for four years, doesn't mean you HAVE to bring out an album. This is the first DM tour in nearly 20 years I won't be going to (I have already booked to see Kraftwerk in Dublin at the time of the Olympic Stadium show), don't think I'll be missing much by the sound of this.

Dennis Remmer wrote: Here in Oz in our remoteness we're probably less militant about such divisional lines and weren't party to all their home county issues, and yes we probably share the US and European tolerance and occasional enjoyment (historically anyway) of DM.

I rate their 88-93 period but the rest... 💀

Well...yeahh.Back in the 80s in the UK and before there was a lot of tribal rivalry between bands' fans. That's just the way it was back then with us stoopid Brits.New Order fans hated U2 and even The Smiths to a certain extent.But you just don't get that kind of thing anymore and probably for a reason.Times change.

I do fondly though remember reading some journalist once writing about the difference between New Order and Depeche Mode and he or she said "Depeche Mode just don't have the cheeky spunk of New Order" .I'm not sure i would have chosen those exact words but i totally could see and agree where he/she was, um, coming from if you pardon the unintended pun.

They have been going downhill since the last 4 albums, just absolute crap music, with all this talent they have been just making awful depressing low grade albums with all of their talent they can make great music, the only single i liked from their last 4 albums was PRECIOUS which was good but the rest has been BAD, at least New Order still makes great fresh sounding music that still i can I listen and Enjoy.

Dennis Remmer wrote:

I have to say the dour tone of this and the last few albums is wearing thin, and the band can't seem to break away from a modus operandi that's now 20 years old: abrasive electronic with an emphasis on distorted tone and texture rather than melody and hooks. Depeche at their best = Melody. .

I think that pretty much sums up how I feel about post-Wilder Depeche Mode. The lad fucked off and took the all the tunes with him. I jest, of course, as his solo work is absolute bobbins.

I've felt for some time that every album released since and including 1997s Ultra is pretty interchangeable. There's never any development, nothing new and whilst I've bought them (fool me once, shame on you, fool me with every bastard album release then I guess that makes me some sort of completist addict) each album is a real slog to get through, a real chore. All of which obviously proves that I simply don't like Depeche Mode anymore even though thousands of people clearly still do. So I'll give them up, no more Depeche Mode. That's it. I'm clean, the cleanest I've been. But like the abusive partner who treats me like shit but then buys me something nice to make up for it I hear 'Cover Me' and before I know what's happened I've bought Spirit, complete with superflous and generally a bit wanky remix EP.

That's me done though.

Well.

Ask me again in four years time.

I've booked a standing ticket for the O2 show in November, mainly out of nostalgia for the 80s and 90s Mode rather than anything from the last 10 years or so (was quoted £140 for a seat in the block at the side of the stage, they can bugger off at that price) : things went downhill when they added a drummer to the luve set-up, stuff that was recording using drum machines and loops just sounds stodgy when you get a pub grade drummer trying to copy it (apparently Public Enemy use a live band these days rather than Terminator X, I don't want to hear a pub rock versions Rebel Without A Pause and Bring The Noise)

Downloaded Cover Me at the weekend - the Ellien Allien and Dixon remixes are two of the best remixes they've released in years but the fact they've released a song like this as a single just goes to show how threadbare the cupboard has been this time round.

So the O2 last night - a decent enough show,(but I still preferred them in the good old days without a proper drummer) but with that many people in an arena (I was about halfway back in the standing area and Dave Gahan looked like a performing flea from that distance, God know what you could see right at the back, apart from the bar), it all felt a bit too impersonal, but fuck me, the prices: £6.50 for a pint of Budweiser, £6.80 for Stella, £7 for 'craft' beer, £30 each for a range of dull, shit looking t-shirts and £15 for a 'souvenir' programme that looked like it costs 50p to knock out - when they sang 'the grabbing hands, grab all they can, everything counts in large amounts' they weren't joking...