Fast forward to 1986 from 1980 and Depeche Mode have begun the transformation from acceptable synth pop act to something much more darker, grittier and unique.
The intervening years until the mid 90's saw Depeche turn into a stadium fillers with a line of much praised albums and singles that continue to enthrall and influence today, and then it all fell apart - part Spinal Tap, part tragedy. But they trudged on.
This is DM's third album since the departure of Alan Wilder in '95, and while this may in itself may indicate the well's lost most of it's water, the quality of the water's still good when filtered in a correct manner.
For Playing The Angel, the Mode enlisted Ben Hillier's (who's produced Doves and Blur) help for production. After the too feathery sound of 2001's Exciter, the mostly beefy sounds here made the fans smiles return, even if not entirely.
The reason why PTA works is because it's largely a safe album. Instead of branching out into stuff like near trip-hop (which is a term some have used to describe '97's Ultra), the band looked at their familiar tag and decided not to fight it against it, as much as possible. While PTA's no nadir, it's certainly the best record since the last Wilder album (Songs of Faith and Devotion - '93).
At the same time this cosiness comes at a price. Certain songs, for instance first single Precious, is quite too close to the hit 1990 single Enjoy The Silence, but without the bombastic pazzazz, nor is the production comparable to that of Flood, who perhaps raised the bar in DM's sound in the 90's. Opener, A Pain That I'm Used To is probably the most unique while elsewhere the otherwise very good Suffer Well (one of Dave Gahan's first pennings for DM) and Lilian rekindle a familiar 80's charm. Likewise, John The Revelator and The Sinner In Me ring 90's bells. Recent sounds can be found in the other songs. Only obligatory unnecessary instrumental filler Introspectre and the forced Gore ballad Macro let the album down.
However, singer Dave Gahan sounds truly remarkable here. His now clean leaving has pulled out a powerful and almost holy baritone that seemed to have been slightly subdued for a while. Much of Martin Gore's songwriting hasn't changed, and if anything, here, he's reveling in topics he sometimes gets over-attributed to. Even the back of the CD features the text "Pain and suffering in various tempos"!
Anton Corbijn has done better artwork for the band, so why the decision to have a rusty brown kind of Orville The Duck silhouette as the main detail is beyond me!
The DVD edition of the album features a 5.1 mix of the album and a short making of documentary. The addition of the beautiful Precious video and an acoustic version of 1990's Clean is very nice. I find the photo gallery a pointless piece of disc filler however.
Though not outstanding, Depeche's contribution to dark electronic rock music overall has yet to be surpassed by anyone else. If Depeche can't compete with their history then no one else can. A good achievement all the same.
Not the an album I'd recommend to newcomers but most of their fans will it love to some degree.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I TOTALLY agree - although as a LONG TERM DM fan I am still disappointed. Exciter killed it for me, I thought PTA would restore my faith, but they really seem to have lost it since Alan Wilder's departure.
Great review though.
a-true-ben 31.12.2005 18:33
Not really heard much of this, but heard 'Pain That I'm Used To' in Virgin today - instantly familiar, and classic DM.
Soho_Black 21.12.2005 12:05
Glad this is a decent album, as it's my Christmas present to my flatmate. She's off to see them in the New Year sometime. You going to that tour?
![Playing the Angel [CD + DVD] - Depeche Mode](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/89563682.jpg "Playing the Angel [CD + DVD] - Depeche Mode")
very helpful by (86%):
helpful by (14%):
![River Is Wide, The [Remastered] - Forum (The)](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/251/prod_small-6006251.jpg)
