Singles 1986-1998 - Depeche Mode

Well not quite my object of worship, but this album comes close. Twenty-one songs spanning twelve years of an impressive career, Depeche Mode (DM) still stand strong throughout their ups and downs (and they've certainly had their downs). When you come across a band with a colourful history, you tend to find a lot of events in their personal lives are reflected in the music. Here it's certainly true and the songs are extremely variable which is a ...
...album starts with ‘Stripped’ released in 1986, quite a dark song which is far fetched from the cheesy pop days of when Vince Clarke (Erasure) was the main songwriter for DM. Taking over from Vince is Martin Gore, probably one of the most underrated lyricists and musicians in the world of music. Pretty much a love song, Stripped sets in stone the bands trademark of mixing synthesisers (Martin Gore, Alan Wilder and Andrew Fletcher) with ... more

Well not quite my object of worship, but this album comes close. Twenty-one songs spanning twelve years of an impressive career, Depeche Mode (DM) still stand strong throughout their ups and downs (and they've certainly had their downs). When you come across a band with a colourful history, you tend to find a lot of events in their personal lives are reflected in the music. Here it's certainly true and the songs are extremely variable which is a good thing, they're anything but boring.

The album starts with ‘Stripped’ released in 1986, quite a dark song which is far fetched from the cheesy pop days of when Vince Clarke (Erasure) was the main songwriter for DM. Taking over from Vince is Martin Gore, probably one of the most underrated lyricists and musicians in the world of music. Pretty much a love song, Stripped sets in stone the bands trademark of mixing synthesisers (Martin Gore, Alan Wilder and Andrew Fletcher) with melodic vocals (Dave Gahan) and a dark edge. Still pop orientated, minus the cheese. This is what influenced such bands as Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails, so I dare say DM heavily influenced the ’alternative’ side of modern music.

This style runs through the next few songs such as ‘A Question Of Lust’, ‘A Question Of Time’, ‘Strangelove’, ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ and ‘Behind The Wheel’. This takes us up to 1990 where the band made some changes to their sound on the album ‘Violator’. With the addition of guitars, ‘Personal Jesus’ had a rockier influence yet still kept their strong, melodic, electronic based sound.

‘Enjoy The Silence’ is next and probably stands out as my favourite. Basically it’s a ballad, but DM don’t want to sound like any old pop act, so they sped it up a little to take a love song into new areas. A dance orientated track with a strong love theme, Dave Gahan sings at his strongest and Martin Gore shows how harmony in backing vocals should be sang. Pretty much a classic in my book.

Something started to stir in the Depeche Mode camp and in 1993 this became apparent to all. Once looking fresh faced and chirpy, Dave had morphed into a grunge rocker. Long hair, stubble, tattoos and all, including a fondness for Heroin. Wanting the band to toughen up their act, Dave lead the way for a rock and roll, the less keyboards the better version of DM. Andrew Fletcher even abandoned his beloved drum machine for the genuine article. ‘I Feel You’ is classic blues and rock, something you’d never expect an electronic based band to do. I mean imagine The Pet Shop Boys turning into The Rolling Stones, it just wouldn’t happen. But surprisingly this is a strong track, has a great guitar riff and doesn’t take itself too seriously. This is hardly purist rock material, but it’s top notch nonetheless.

Next up is ‘Walking In My Shoes’, dark, moody, melancholic and back to the keyboards (I said this album was variable). Pretty obvious theme for this tune due to the title, in other words ‘I’m not looking for absolution, peace of mind after what I’ve been through. But before you come to any conclusion, try walking in my shoes’ sings Dave. ‘Condemnation’ then starts up and all of a sudden gospel backing singers hum out of the speakers. Very much a ‘clap your hands’, slow anthem like sound with more loose religious connotations (from a sinners perspective).

Hard to imagine, but ‘In Your Room’ gets darker and broodier than previous tracks. Themed around possessiveness and ownership in a relationship, once again synthesisers are mixed with an alternative rock sound.

After this comes a four-year gap for DM releases, due to heavy touring, a breakdown for Fletcher, alcoholism for Gore and more overdoses than breakfasts for Gahan. Oh and Wilder got fed up and left the band for good. Where most bands would have packed up and gone home, DM thought they’d give it another go and in 1997 the album ‘Ultra’ was released. With Tim Simenon (Bomb The Bass) taking over from Wilder on the production side, the band go back to their roots but bring it up to date. A job well done too, if ‘Barrel Of A Gun’ is anything to go by. Warped vocals, techno (sort of) sound effects make up for some bizarre music. ‘It’s No Good’ on the other hand is more listener friendly, very melodic yet still containing elements of dance music.

‘Home’ is one of the weakest tracks. Sung by Martin Gore, it sounds like it should have been performed by Natalie Imbruglia, dodgy guitar solo and all. Moving on swiftly, ‘Useless’ is more rock/indie based and is one of the most melodic tracks. A sort of end of a relationship, slightly bitter theme is how I’d describe this one. ‘Only When I Lose Myself’ is well, strange. Slow sweeping strings, minimal sound effects, quite spooky and dark sounding, not their best effort but an ok song.

The final track is a live version of ‘Everything Counts’ in 1989, the time when the band reached stadium status. A wise choice to finish off the album, it’s energetic, uplifting and shows how good they sound live. So if you even remotely like this band, you can’t go wrong with this 2CD compilation. Providing a glimpse into their twenty-one year career, it’s easy to see how they managed to get to where they are, through talent and experimentation. Whilst many of their peers gave up years ago, Depeche Mode keep coming up with new ideas and never fail to please, no matter what life throws at them. How do they do it?
 

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