Best Depeche Mode Album

Is there a GOOD album by this lot?:D

Originally posted by ShugZV©
This is MY forum, please do not litter our forum with this shite.....I'll let you off this time;)And to surprise you I did vote.....Violator:D

Pot calling the kettle black SHUGZV?:D

definitely Violator, thanks to Alan Wilder's genius.

is this a joke thread?

violator best album, best song is New Dress

I liked Speak & Spell and Violator. Didn't like Exciter. Haven't heard the rest. Voted for Violator.

Enjoy the Silence is an incredible song.

:D:D:D:D:D anita

am i the only one that likes black celebration? i think this album works the best as a whole in setting an atmosphere. the songs are haunting and beautiful. violator and music for the masses are very close behind though.

Violator. One of the best albums I've ever heard!

Originally posted by mckevin cheang am i the only one that likes black celebration? i think this album works the best as a whole in setting an atmosphere. the songs are haunting and beautiful. violator and music for the masses are very close behind though.

oh, you're definitely not the only one! in many ways, Black Celebration is actually my favorite, as well. how could it not be, with songs like Stripped and the title track? i just think that Violator is more consistent. but Black Celebration is VERY close behind in my heart. :)

i went for 'black celebration', as well. good songs, and i have some good memories to go with that album (high school). 'violator' would be second, followed by 'some great reward'. haven't heard 'ultra' or 'exciter', as i kind of lost track of them in the early 1990s.

I am a Black Celebration girl too :)

I like Speak & Spell a lot cause of Dreaming of Me,Just Can´t Get Enough,New Life,Photographic and the genius Vince Clark.

Hey Christy !!!

Were you on highschool in 1983 ? I was just on infancy´s garden. :)

i'm VERY surprised to see that no one has voted for Some Great Reward. it's a classic! i know tons of people whose favorite DM album is SGR.

Originally posted by Ricardo > Originally posted by film586> i'm VERY surprised to see that no one has voted for Some Great Reward. it's a classic! i know tons of people whose favorite DM album is SGR.

Yeah, hardcore fans avoid to pick popular albums ("Music For The Masses", "Violator") as their favorite and usually choose either "Some Great Reward" or "Black Celebration". yeah, i've noticed that, too. but my favorite is still Violator (with BC close behind).

so...what is everyone's favorite DM song?

mine are Enjoy The Silence (the mix used in the video...does anyone know how i can get that mix in a plain ole' audio format? i don't know if it's on any of the releases of the single/EP) and Stripped (Single Mix).

Best Depeched Mode album?

Why....ACHTUNG BABY of course.

:D

Originally posted by Ricardo > Originally posted by film586> i'm VERY surprised to see that no one has voted for Some Great Reward. it's a classic! i know tons of people whose favorite DM album is SGR.

Yeah, hardcore fans avoid to pick popular albums ("Music For The Masses", "Violator") as their favorite and usually choose either "Some Great Reward" or "Black Celebration".

Hmmm, well I'm definitely not a 'hard core' fan, and though I 'quite like' just about all of the lps, Ultra is the only one I'd care to defend against the mass ranks of DM-haters. The only one I'm not embarresed about liking, basically.

As a huge DM fan (like em more than NO), I have to say SOFAD is the best album. Violator is close though.

Violator, for stealing Saville's design and New Order's sound.

Favorite song is Nothing

Originally posted by Spider In A Land Of Meat Violator, for stealing Saville's design and New Order's sound.

hmmm. i don't know that i'd agree with the statement that Violator "stole" New Order's sound. i think the album's feel is more similar to that of New Order than with some of the other DM albums, but i don't think it's a direct rip-off, by any means. i think what Alan Wilder did with the album's sound was probably influenced by New Order, but i think that Violator is unique.

Originally posted by April Favorite song is Nothing

great song. :)

violaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaator !

Originally posted by ERIC BERTON violaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaator !

i love your icon. obviously quite fitting for this thread. :)

Errr, Violator ripping off NO? Ive never heard anything so stupid. How? If its a New Order rip off then almost any group which uses analog synths are.

I get annoyed by people who think that their favourite group are infalible and that everyone copies them. Its ignorant and elitist.

I am a big DM fan, and im a big NO fan, but they are very different groups.

I voted for SOFAD, my fave 3 are that one Violator and Black Celebration. I enjoy all their material from 84-98, but I think Exciter is rubbish.

I do think they are highly influential and innovative, just like the Order.

Cheers ALEX

Good one Alex, I agree entirely. Their sound is completely different and one could never be mistaken for the other. In the end I had to go with "Black Celebration", because as a whole album it has the most effective atmosphere and flow. I thought that Ultra had a very similar feel, ie that it captured where the band was at when they recorded it. I was very disappointed in Exciter and it lies almost forgotten on my CD rack - I don't think that Martin's heart was in it when he wrote the songs. Lyrically he explored the same themes and how many times can one person's "soul" still be "on fire" before it burns out?

Is there really any contest here... Violator.

"Enjoy the Silence"... or the music as the case may be.

I Love Music for the Masses. It gives me goose-pimples

I voted for Violator but it's really a tie between that and Exciter for me (shame I couldn't vote for both!).

I voted for Music for the Masses but my vote could have easily gone to Some Great Reward.

Originally posted by White Man In Hammersmith Palais I voted for Music for the Masses but my vote could have easily gone to Some Great Reward.

those are fabulous albums.

in some ways, i think the Music For The Masses was their first album that was excellent and consistent. Black Celebration had some absolutely marvelous songs, but also some rather shabby ones. MFTM is of consistent - and high - quality.

Voted for "Music For The Masses", but I love Black Celebration and Violator too.

DM...great band.

Originally posted by White Man In Hammersmith Palais I voted for Music for the Masses but my vote could have easily gone to Some Great Reward.

i really wish that at least one person would vote for Some Great Reward. it's such a great album! how could it not be, what with People Are People, Master and Servant, Somebody, Blasphemous Rumours, and Lie To Me?

ultra is my favorite recent album and might make it as one of my all-time favorites, but i voted for violator cause of the bsides. happiest girl, sea of sin, and dangerous should have been on violator. i copied violator and the bsides onto one disc, and its fucking amazing. 12 great songs.

I'm kinda surprised no one has voted for Some Great Reward (EDIT: surprised if hasn't recieved more votes). I wish I could vote twice, would have made things alot easier.

Some Great Reward is a great album, arguabley one of DM's best. Gotta love the Wilder penned "If You want". Great song.

On a DM related tip, what are your thoughts on Alan Wilder's "Recoil" project? I haven't really listenned to any of that stuff.

Originally posted by White Man In Hammersmith Palais I'm kinda surprised no one has voted for Some Great Reward (EDIT: surprised if hasn't recieved more votes). I wish I could vote twice, would have made things alot easier.Some Great Reward is a great album, arguabley one of DM's best. Gotta love the Wilder penned "If You want". Great song.On a DM related tip, what are your thoughts on Alan Wilder's "Recoil" project? I haven't really listenned to any of that stuff.

Recoil's very interesting. i love some of it, but the album i heard seemed formulaic to me. the atmosphere is excellent - it definitely shows the extent to which he was responsible for the ambience on SOFAD and particularly Violator.

Originally posted by April Favorite song is Nothing

"OOOOOOOOOH! OOOOOOOOOH!"

:)

Tough call. Went for Masses by a whisker over Violator, because of 'Never Let Me Down Again' :D

Went for Violator, only just. Music For The Masses is class also, and I really like the live version of SOFAD.

Have to agree with Film586 about Some Great Reward. Some great tunes!! As it happens, Blasphemous Rumours was the one that got me started on DM.... way back in '85, just a couple of years before NO.

l love the downbeats on ultra - very groovy album and never thought they will do something good without alan!

every album is a special one! every one means a decade in my life! but i really love to listen to ultra - this only since 2 or 3 years - i hate it, when it came out...

Never Let Me Down Again has been mentioned a few times...

Anyone remember DM's performance at the MTV awards a couple of years ago (2001 I think, the one hosted by Ali G). I assumed they'd play Freelove as that was their current/most recent single at the time, but they went with NLMDA. I remember thinking what a performance and a song over a decade old that took a dump from a great height over anything else on the show that night, or in the charts for that matter.

Gone a little off the subject here, sorry!

well lets see............hmmmm.................i guess i would have to say.....ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!! THAT HAS TO BE THE STUP...What? oh sorry gotta pick one ok VIOLATOR! Thanks Larry

I see dead people pooping!

Originally posted by Element115 Never Let Me Down Again has been mentioned a few times...Anyone remember DM's performance at the MTV awards a couple of years ago (2001 I think, the one hosted by Ali G). I assumed they'd play Freelove as that was their current/most recent single at the time, but they went with NLMDA. I remember thinking what a performance and a song over a decade old that took a dump from a great height over anything else on the show that night, or in the charts for that matter.Gone a little off the subject here, sorry!

I remember that, absolutely amazing performance of the classic DM anthem. Apparantly everyone backstage was amazed by it, but Alanis Morissette said she hated it and wanted DM to retire. I'd boycott her records but...:p

Originally posted by Ben Aspinall > Originally posted by Element115 Never Let Me Down Again has been mentioned a few times...Anyone remember DM's performance at the MTV awards a couple of years ago (2001 I think, the one hosted by Ali G). I assumed they'd play Freelove as that was their current/most recent single at the time, but they went with NLMDA. I remember thinking what a performance and a song over a decade old that took a dump from a great height over anything else on the show that night, or in the charts for that matter.Gone a little off the subject here, sorry!

I remember that, absolutely amazing performance of the classic DM anthem. Apparantly everyone backstage was amazed by it, but Alanis Morissette said she hated it and wanted DM to retire. I'd boycott her records but...:p the encore performance of NLMDA at many of the Exciter tour shows was absolutely incredible when i saw it in Denver.

"Black Celebration" for "A Question Of Time", "A Question Of Lust" and "New Dress".

I love violator, but the songs on Construction Time Again are classic for me; I can listen to them repeatedly for months and never ger sick of them, but my favorite song, Question of Time, is on Black Celebration

Violator all the way. But Some Great Reward and Black Celebration come close too.

Depeche Mode only got good from Black celebration onwards. Their early stuff was acutely embarrassing to listen to. "Everything counts in large amounts"? "Taking from the greedy giving to the needy"? "Straight down the middle until next Thursday"?? "People are people so why should it be / you and I should get along so awfully"??? I mean, come on! :p

All of them kick an unsurmountable amount of ass, but SOAFD literally rapes every other album period!!! One caress and Higher LOve are probably my two favorite songs from any band of all time!

Originally posted by White Man In Hammersmith Palais I voted for...

Hey are you the same White Man In Hammersmith Palais from Gaming Age?

Originally posted by Chris&nbspCampbell Depeche Mode only got good from Black celebration onwards. Their early stuff was acutely embarrassing to listen to. "Everything counts in large amounts"? "Taking from the greedy giving to the needy"? "Straight down the middle until next Thursday"?? "People are people so why should it be / you and I should get along so awfully"??? I mean, come on! :p

hey what's wrong with things counting in large amounts, everybody likes a lot of things

Isamu,

I'm not the same person.

I have to agree that pre-BC was just a bit dodgy. Good thing Martin L Gore got depressed.

Why doesn't anyone love Construction Time Again; it's as good as or just a slightly worse than BC and Violator.

Originally posted by White Man In Hammersmith Palais Isamu,I'm not the same person. I have to agree that pre-BC was just a bit dodgy. Good thing Martin L Gore got depressed.

O.K. thanks for clearing that up:)

Anyway, I just watched DM: The Videos 86-98 DVD and Martin admited he thinks a lot of those old DM songs were actually good fucking songs...Like Shake the Disease and Love In Itself.

Violator for me, too. "Enjoy The Silence" is one of my favorite song of all time. But Black Celebration comes close, and the 3rd for me would be Music For The Masses.

i finaly gathered the courage to post on this thread (and vote). i voted for some great reward, why? becuase even though it came out two years before Black Celebration, it has a "dodgy" charm. kids messing with synths, struggling to mold a sound, and at the same time turning out some good tunes. if you want is awesome, and everything else is either really good or so/so (ie "people are people").

Mine is Some Great Reward. Okay...my first girlfriend that I was in love with not only her bum and boobs was really into DM and I started listening to their music. I really liked DM up until Violator, and then it just did not impress me anymore. I have all the albums (Speak and Spell to Violator) but like others here, they just do not get play anymore. Favorite song though is Black Celebration of the same album name. I saw DM twice in Phoenix and one time in Hawaii.

My little breakdown of Depeche Mode's career (Music For The Masses is what I voted for, btw):

Speak & Spell - 2.3
A Broken Frame - 1.2
Construction Time Again - 4.2

These records are, in large part, completely worthless. With the exception of a couple of classic singles, and a handful of other, merely decent ones, nothing redeeming about them. Bland, new romantic bandwagon jumping. And Vince Clarke is beyond horrible (Erasure is a slight improvement over the crapheap that Speak & Spell is, but not by much.

People Are People - 5.2
Some Great Rewards - 6.5

I tend to lump these two albums together (and really, if I remember correctly, People Are People is just a sort of semi-compilation assembled for the American market?). Anyway, of the two, Some Great Reward is the obvious winner...better flow, stronger songwriting; this is the birth of the modern Depeche Mode, I think (i.e. darker songwriting and subject matter). It's also the first time they tried to make a full album, without filler (though there is plenty of that on here...can't blame 'em for trying, I guess).

Black Celebration - 7.0

Their first worthwhile full lp. Much stronger songwriting, and features plenty of their best cuts so far ("Fly On The Windscreen," the title cut, "New Dress"). They hit on their favorite formula with this one, and basically just made refinements to it over the next few albums. It's just a little bit too dire in parts, without the chops to back it up.

Music For The Masses - 9.6

The best they ever got. This is Black Celebration pumped up to eleven...and one of those rare albums where a lead singer's heroin dependance actually helps out the proceedings. You can taste the self-disgust in Gahan's voice on tracks like "To Have And To Hold," and desperation in "Behind The Wheel." There's so much space on this album; it's incredible. It sounds like the band is playing in an empty cathedral on echoed cuts like "Sacred." Gore's songwriting is at an absolute peak - his dirges would never be quite so catchy again; high point is "Nothing", one of the most dancable slices of nihlism ever. In short, Music For The Masses is a watershed synth-pop album.

Violator - 8.2

Yeah, I don't think I really even need to talk about this one. Without a doubt, this would be their best album, if it weren't for the fact that it's so top-heavy. Outside of the singles, there's not much to get excited about. But damn - what singles they are. "Enjoy The Silence" and "Policy Of Truth" were one hell of a way to ring in the 90s. Oh, I can't stand "Personal Jesus." Yeah yeah, a boring, repetative beat and riff...get on with it. "World In My Eyes" wipes the floor with it.

Songs of Faith & Devotion - 0.9

There's simply no excuse for this album. "Hey - Pearl Jam, Nirvana and NIN are big - we better slap some heavy, dirty guitars in the mix!" The utterly flat production might even be forgivable if not for these two facts: Gahan was a useless junkie at this point, there's no life or verve to his vocals at all; and Gore's muse has completely escaped him here. "In Your Room" is the threadbare strand this album hangs upon. *snip*

Ultra - 3.2

A *slightly* better attempt at the psuedo-industrial pop angle they beat their heads agains on SOFAD. This one's actually got a couple of decent songs on it ("It's No Good" and "Useless" which are both fine visits to their classic sound). "Home" is much too maudlin, though, and "Barrel Of A Gun" is insufferable dreck. Yeah, try to convince us you're 'hardcore' some more, David. (rolls eyes) Still, it's a better album than anyone expected them to make after they (a) lost a long-time member, (b) have a lead singer recovering from both heroin addiction and a failed suicide, and (c) such a long break.

Exciter - 6.9

This one's got legs. Hauling in Bjork collaborator Mark Bell saved them. Certainly not a terribly exciting album (no pun intended), but "Dream On" is the best single they've released since Violator, and much of the rest of the album finds them settling comfortably in as elder statesmen. "It's good music to chill to." Weak spot is "The Dead Of Night": come on guys, I though SOFAD taught you a lesson.

All in all, I'd say boil their collected works down to these:

Singles 81 > 85. A perfect summation of the first half of their career. All you'd need, unless you're a DM freak. Does an excellent job of replacing the early, unmastered Catching Up With...

Music For The Masses. You need this for the album cuts.

Singles 86 > 98. Like its companion, a perfect summation of the latter half of their career.

Whew...I'm done now.

Depeche Mode's best albulm in my mind was the live one 101

i'll drink to that.

Originally posted by film 5 8 6 in some ways, i think the Music For The Masses was their first album that was excellent and consistent. Black Celebration had some absolutely marvelous songs, but also some rather shabby ones. MFTM is of consistent - and high - quality.

Well said there. Music for the Masses is indeed consistent and high quality! From start to finish I think it is their best work. I almost said Violator but MFTM has more tracks and better production.

yeah, but MFTM has some cheese-ball lyrics (ie: the vocal break-down in 'strangelove', AND the entire intro to 'sacred') where as Violator is a lyrically superior album.