69 replies · 1,978 views
56 votes · voting closed
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.
Very good review Popster, although I do not agree with your review of Ultra -- I think this album is very underestimated and a song like The Love Thieves is an unknown jewel to me.
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.
