I would call this an Idiot's Guide, in tribute to the late great Jefitoblog, but doing so would mean that I would have to actually have some musical knowledge and insight to impart.
Yeah...right...
So, I'm going to call this a retrospective using clips from various concert recordings I have. And, what you're going to get is me ranting about this and that, flailing around like a epileptic monkey...so onward we go!
Speak and Spell (1981)
Speak and Spell was Depeche Mode's first album. For this album, the group consisted of Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher, Dave Gahan, and Vince Clarke. If you followed the comments on my post from Monday, you would get that my amusement came from the fact that the two people had named groups that Vince Clarke belonged to after he was with Depeche Mode (namely Yazoo and Erasure).
Yes, I'm that easily amused.
This is the album that Rolling Stone dissed in their review, calling the group "PG-rated fluff" and likening it to "synthesized Dream Whip". It is also the only Mode album to be mostly written by Vince Clarke, who left the band right after the album came out.
This album is most definitely ear candy, stuffed full of Vince Clarke's cotton candy pop.
Just the mere mention of Just Can't Get Enough should be enough to send all of you into a toe-tapping frenzy. Can't you hear that synth riff now? You cannot resist the infectious groove of this song.
At their best, Depeche was able to combine toe-tapping melodies with lyrics that suggest more than they really say when you thing about the words. Take the ultra-cool Photographic.
Other standouts include What's Your Name and lesser know track Puppets.
Of course, they weren't all hits, namely the almost cringe-worthy Boys Say Go! (And Rolling Stone calls them PG-rated...shame on them!), but overall, we can forgive them for their one-off mishits and revel in the pop confectionery of the rest of the album.
A Broken Frame (1982)
After Vince Clarke left the group to form Yazoo (with the great Alison Moyet), the songwriting duties fell to Martin Gore and the results were not pretty. Gore later admitted that this was the group's worst album.
The album was filled with mostly forgettable, dreary, lifeless songs as Gore attempted to continue the pop sound of departed Clarke. There are moments of inspired pop, like The Meaning Of Love, but for the most part, the songs, like Leave In Silence, just miss hitting the sweet goodness of their first album.
Construction Time Again (1983)
After A Broken Frame was recorded, the group added keyboardist Alan Wilder and, with the change and a more confident Gore taking a second shot at writing songs, the Depeche Mode sound started to take a u-turn.
Gone are the pure synth pop gems of Clarke, and in their place, Gore began to pen songs with a darker tone. This dark side came out through songs like Two Minute Warning or the ominous Told You So,
There's one more dead with a hole in his head
He shouldn't have said all the things he said
Many tears were shed for the blood he bled
But, Gore still hadn't yet excised all the pop bones from his body, as evidenced by the sparkling pop of Everything Counts.
Of course, this would be the final hurrah of pop Mode.
Some Great Reward (1984)
Welcome to Goth Mode! Or, as we used to like to call them, Depressed Mode.
Some Great Reward marked the beginning of the group's rise in popularity among pasty, angst-ridden, black-wearing, angry youth.
You get it all with this album. From the whip snapping S&M of Master and Servant to the anguish of suicide in Blasphemous Rumors, and finally, to the lovestruck mooning of Somebody. There's something for every depressed teenage girl or loner boy.
Just be sure you wear black.
Shake the Disease (single) (1985)
Depeche Mode may have been the maestro of releasing 12-inch singles.
In any case, between albums, they released one of their best songs as a single, Shake The Disease.
And, I just had to include this acoustic(!!!!) version of the song. Simply marvelous!
Black Celebration (1986)
With the platinum sales of Some Great Reward, the group quickly learned which side of their bread is buttered and came out with Black Celebration two years later, an album chock-a-block full of dark, brooding tales of woe and desire.
A Question Of Lust tackles the age old theme of uncertainty that befalls teenagers in love:
It's a question of lust
It's a question of trust
It's a question of not letting
What we've built up
Crumble to dust
Stripped tackles the age old theme of teenagers in love:
Come with me
Into the trees
We'll lay on the grass
And let the hours pass
And, the title song, Black Celebration, tackles the age old theme of teenagers wanting to be in love:
I look to you
And your strong belief
Me, I want relief
Tonight
Consolation
I want so much
Want to feel your touch
Tonight
Take me in your arms
Do you sense a pattern here?
Music For The Masses (1987)
Not wanting to let a good thing go, the group wheeled around and released Music For The Masses the very next year, and there was much rejoicing in goth land.
Powered by dark, industrial beats, the album starts off with the drug enhanced groove of Never Let Me Down Again and doesn't let you catch a ray of sunshine.
Tracks such as Strangelove and Behind The Wheel only served to strengthen the group's stranglehold on teenage angst.
Music For The Masses only primed the pump for their next big thing.
Violator (1990)
All of the preceding albums laid the groundwork for the group's magnum opus, Violator.
This album marked the high-water mark for the group and cemented them at the top of the bleak heap.
Powered by songs such as Personal Jesus, Policy of Truth, and the juggernaut Enjoy The Silence (my personal favorite), the album racked up triple platinum sales and the hearts of lovelorn teenage girls around the world.
There's not much to say about this album. It is a cultural touchstone. Nuff said.
Songs Of Faith And Devotion (1993)
So, how do you follow up your masterpiece?
In Depeche Mode's case, it seems the answer was to experiment with their sound. Taking a page from the likes of Nine Inch Nails and other industrial rock groups, DM embraced the dark side with a vengeance and took on a grungier, guitar-laden tone.
Sometimes, the new sound took as with the dark, swaggering I Feel You.
And other times, it just seemed to plod along as with In Your Room or the relatively happy Condemnation:
If you see purity
As immaturity
Well it's no surprise
If for kindness
You substitute blindness
Please open your eyes
Ultra (1997)
By this time, Alan Wilder had left the group and almost everyone else in the band had gone through drug rehab. Through all this turmoil, this was the album that almost didn't happen.
What can you say by this time? The groups stays on the tried-and-true path of dark themes and sounds. And, it seems that their fans had moved on to other things as album sales dropped precipitously from their Violator heights.
Maybe it's just that most of the songs sound like tired retreads of dozens of others. Lyrically, the group never set the literary world on fire, but they seemed to take on an extra banality with this album. Take the milquetoast (and ironically named) It's No Good:
Don't say you want me
Don't say you need me
Don't say you love me
It's understood
To me, the best DM songs are the ones that use strong melodies to transcend the sometimes pedestrian lyrics. They were able to do this with the album's gem, the sweetly intimate Home:
And I thank you
For bringing me here
For showing me home
For singing these tears
Finally I've found
That I belong here
Exciter (2001)
The group's downward spiral continued with their penultimate studio album. Without the upbeat tempos, Gore's dreary lyrics continued to drive away fans in droves.
Like eating plain oatmeal for breakfast every day, the songs on this album have a lifeless sameness to them. From the plodding The Dead of the Night, to the plodding Breathe, to the plodding The Sweetest Condition, there is no life to be found.
Gone is the edge that infused the dark sounds of the Violator album with a menacing life. Without the edge, you just get dark and depressingly limp songs.
Playing The Angel (2005)
Finally, we get to the groups last (11th) studio album, and none too soon.
This is the same old story. I think by now, it's clear that the group has either reached a point where they are content to churn out the same songs over and over or they are just simply out of creativity.
Either way, this album continued the string of retreads, with the familiar sounds of Precious or John The Revelator.
Maybe there will be a VH-1 type revival of the group if they release another album. I certainly hope so as the group's best songs are simply sublime.
And that's it for this retrospective!
I think I need to go listen to something uplifting before I fall into a funk...
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