Speak and Spell (1981) – 7.9
It’s hard to believe this is the same band that just a few
years later would be putting out Black Celebration, and I suppose, in a
lot of respects, that’s because it isn’t the same band. This is the only DM
album featuring Vince Clarke (later of Yaz and Erasure) on songwriting duty.
And if ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ doesn’t hit as hard as ‘Never Let Me Down Again’,
it’s still a pretty fun song. Although both Depeche Mode and Vince Clarke would
go on to bigger and better things apart from each other, there is still a decent
amount to enjoy on this debut (my personal favorite is ‘Any Second Now (Voices)’).
A Broken Frame (1982) – 7.9
This album is not a popular one, even amongst the band
members themselves. With Martin Gore taking over the songwriting, this album is
definitely a transitional one. Gore is straddling the line between maintaining
some of the pop bluster of the debut, while moving the band into moodier
territory. That said, the band already sounds quite a bit more adventurous.
Although there are no real standout moments (at least not in comparison to
future standouts), the album is fairly consistent and maintains an agreeable
aura.
Construction Time Again (1983) – 8.3
By their third album, Depeche Mode started incorporating
bits of industrial music into the mix, which turned out to be an inspired idea.
For this album and Some Great Reward, the band apparently went out and
taped any sound they could think of (including going out in a field and banging
on pipes and various other objects), in order to incorporate the sounds into
the mix. The resulting Construction Time Again isn’t quite as consistent
as its predecessor, but the highs are much higher – particularly the fantastic
single ‘Everything Counts’, which is a highwater mark for the band’s first few
years.
Some Great Reward (1984) – 8.7
Here is the point where the band started to sound like the classic
Depeche Mode we all know and love (or the point where they turned into ‘Depressed
Mode’, as a former classmate of mine would disparagingly refer to them as). DM
are one of the very few bands to lose their chief songwriter and then go on to
greatness. While the prior album had ‘Everything Counts’, Some Great Reward
has a string of classics, from ‘Somebody’ and ‘People are People’ to ‘Master
and Servant’ and ‘Blasphemous Rumours’. Not every song is a classic, but I’m still
not sure if there has ever been an album to marry industrial music to synthpop to
such satisfying results.
Black Celebration (1986) – 9.1
On Black Celebration, the band moved away from industrial-tinged
sounds in favor of dark, melodically rich synthpop. DM for the first time
turned in an album that hit consistent highs on nearly every song. Oddly, the
album wasn’t really much of a commercial success, at least not compared to its predecessor.
There were no real hits in the US, but there are plenty of fan favorites such as
the title track, ‘A Question of Lust’ and ‘But Not Tonight’. Speaking of ‘But
Not Tonight’, the rating above reflects the version that closes with this song.
To think the band originally closed the album with ‘New Dress’ is a crime, given
‘But Not Tonight’ is one of the best songs on the ultimate version. Speaking of
crimes, the fact that they left ‘Shake the Disease’ off is pretty unforgiveable;
it stands as the band’s best non-album single.
Music for the Masses (1987) – 9.3
This is the album where the band became huge. I’m not
necessarily referring to the band’s fan base – which did seem to be growing
exponentially – I’m referring to the band’s sound. Beginning with the epic,
brilliant opener ‘Never Let Me Down Again’, it’s clear that Depeche Mode are
aiming for a stadium sized sound. The result is ten (mostly) superb tracks that
take the band’s gloomy synthpop and magnify the sound. With ‘Strangelove’, ‘Behind
the Wheel’ and the aforementioned ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ gaining major
traction on modern rock radio, the band actually did succeed at taking their music
to the masses (even leading to a historic show at the Rose Bowl where 60,000+
fans attended).
Violator (1990) – 9.7
Despite what I just said, this is the album that truly
brought their music to the masses, due largely in part to the success of the
masterpiece that is ‘Enjoy the Silence’. Violator also stands as the band’s
crowning achievement. Musically, they continue on the path they forged on Music
for the Masses, but they’ve honed it in to an impressive effect. The modern
rock hits ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Policy of Truth’ and ‘World in My Eyes’ are all
fantastic, but even the album cuts are hauntingly gorgeous. The album truly
belongs in the conversation of great 90’s albums.
Songs of Faith, Love and Devotion (1993) – 8.6
Depeche Mode have never ones to sit on the laurels and risk
repeating themselves musically but up until this point, the band seemed to be
chasing their own internal muse, almost as if they were in a vacuum. Songs
of Faith, Love and Devotion marks the first time that the band’s left turn
seemed to be in step with the cultural landscape. Released in 1993 amidst the grunge
wave, the band begins incorporating distorted guitars into the mix. On top this
the band adds touches of gospel and 90’s industrial sounds. It mostly works
too. Singles ‘I Feel You’ and ‘Walking in my Shoes’ are extraordinary, as are ‘Condemnation’
and ‘Get Right with Me’. Not all of the songs live up to the highlights and some
of the production sounds a little dated, but overall, it’s a solid follow up
(and coming off of the success of Violator, the album stands as the band’s
only #1 album in the US).
Ultra (1997) – 9.1
Depeche Mode timed the release of their ninth album pretty
perfectly. Electronic music was once again beginning to come back into fashion on
modern rock radio and in a lot of ways the band could be seen as forerunners to
the emerging scene. Ultra certainly sounds like a late-90’s electronica
album, albeit one steeped more in trip-hop than say, big beat. The eerie atmospherics
suit the band extremely well. The album was infamously born out of tumult (drug
OD’s, suicide attempts, the departure of Alan Wilder; it wasn’t a good time)
and the album announces this tumult right out of the gate with the tortured opener
‘Barrel of a Gun’. That said, much of the album revolves around slower, moody passages,
most of which are gorgeous. From the sweeping, Martin Gore-sung ‘Home’ and also
Gore-sung ‘The Bottom Line’, to the cathartic closer ‘Insight’, the album is
brimming with some of the band’s best songs. Ultra was well received at the
time of its release, and yet, today it stands as the band’s most underrated, or
at least overlooked, album.
Exciter (2001) – 7.3
It was pretty amazing that two decades after their debut,
Depeche Mode still sounded as contemporary as they did here. With its
skittering beat and bluesy acoustic guitar, the fantastic ‘Dream On’ sounded
right at home on modern rock radio next to Radiohead’s ‘I Might Be Wrong’, which
was released just a couple of weeks later. If the production on Exciter
is impressive – and at times downright amazing – the songs are pretty hit and
miss. “When the Body Speaks’ and ‘Goodnight Lovers’ are effective, tender
ballads and ‘I Feel Loved’ has a great groove, but the ham-fisted ‘The Dead of
Night’ is downright embarrassing. The rest of the album straddles the awkward
line of being very listenable despite the phoned in songwriting and often
clumsy lyrics.
Playing the Angel (2005) – 8.0
Playing the Angel was seen as a return to form at the
time of its release. Today, it sounds like a solid, if not groundbreaking,
collection of latter-day DM songs. Amazingly, the band still sounds vital. And
you can certainly hear the band’s influence on many of the bands making the
rounds at the time (Ladytron and M83, for example). Even if this doesn’t quite
stack up to their classic works, the album proved that the band could still
keep up with those newer artists.
And despite the completest in me that is frustrated with the
fact that I haven’t listened to the band’s more recent output, this is where it
stops for me. Hopefully one day I will give their three most recent albums a
listen. If and when I do, I will update this post to include them.
