The following album Songs of Faith and Devotion, released in 1993, was also a success, though the band's internal struggles during recording and touring resulted in Wilder's departure in 1995. In early 1990, they released Violator, an international mainstream success. A highlight of this era was the band's June 1988 concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where they drew a crowd in excess of 60,000 people. The band's last albums of the 1980s, Black Celebration and Music for the Masses, established them as a dominant force within the electronic music scene. Gore took over as main songwriter and later, in 1982, Alan Wilder replaced Clarke, establishing a lineup that continued for 13 years. After founding member Clarke left following the release of the album, they recorded A Broken Frame as a trio. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting).ĭepeche Mode was formed by the lineup of Gahan, Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Vince Clarke, and released their debut album Speak & Spell in 1981, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. So far, from what I’ve heard from other DM fans who have it, it’s supposed to be pretty good.Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. I don’t have this one yet, but I should have it by the end of the week. Dave’s album will be his first foray into songwriting and is called “Paper Monsters”. Very dark, pretty obscure, and quite low-key. I have it already and I like it a lot, but it’s not accessible at all. Martin’s is called “Counterfeit 2” and contains all covers - it comes out on April 28th. If you are interested - both Martin and Dave are releasing solo albums in the next couple of months. I just wish that I had been able to see them on the World Violation tour in 1990 … that had THE BEST setlist of any tour yet. Their early stuff is really good, but I’m one of those “Black Celebration” fans From 1986-1993, I think they definitely made their best work. “Exciter” is okay, but it seems like Martin was kind of running on auto-pilot when it came to songwriting and I’m not a big fan of how it was produced. I do feel that their music has definitely taken a step down in quality since the departure of Alan Wilder in 1995 - “ULTRA” is decent, but bland in a stripped down sort of way. I don’t believe it’s on any full album out in Europe. “Flexible” is the b-side to “Shake the Disease”, but can also be found on the American “Catching Up With Depeche Mode” compilation. But my co-worker has begged me to give them another chance, and I’m looking forward to doing so.Īny other DM fans, please feel free to comment (DM haters can go off and play in the Red Hot Chili Peppers thread or something). I’m really curious to hear them, because I’ve never owned them - I pretty much went off DM after MFTM. So anyway, I’ve got these all taped and I’ll be borrowing the later albums soon. They really should have cut that “P-R-E-double T-Y” bit out of “What’s Your Name”.Īnd the whole S&M thing was a bit embarrassing really, wasn’t it? On that note, “Ice Machine” has worked its way onto my official list of Favourite DM songs (alongside “Get the Balance Right”, “Dreaming of Me” and “See You”, which were my favourites then and now). And how did I fail to notice before how absolutely brilliant “Ice Machine” is? But there are songs I like a whole lot better now than I used to - “Something To Do” and “A Question of Lust” being the two that come to mind immediately. There aren’t any songs I used to love but don’t care much for now. And 101, well, I never did like live albums. Black Celebration I’m still not crazy about but it has its moments, and Music for the Masses I still consider a very solid and underrated album, though the last couple tracks don’t do much for me. I still like A Broken Frame the best, then Some Great Reward, then Speak and Spell, then Construction Time Again. My basic opinions about the albums haven’t changed. Last month one of my co-workers, aware of my situation, discovered that I’m a DM fan and offered to lend me his copies of all their CDs. Just as a bit of background - I moved from America to Ireland several years ago, and very little of my music collection moved with me. But lately I’ve been listening to the records again and … Wow. The title’s just a little bit misleading, it’s not like I ever stopped liking them (even went to see them live again a few years ago, for the first time since … eh … 1987 or so).
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