It's rare to find bands capable of keeping their own best qualities to the fore while trying something new each time out, but Depeche Mode demonstrate that balance in full...
more >
The fourth, fifth, and sixth box sets dedicated to compiling all of Depeche Mode's single releases were put out in 2004, 13 years after the first three originally appeared....
more >
Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time -- perhaps least of all the band! -- Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a...
more >
In a word, stunning. Perhaps an odd word to use given that Violator continued in the general vein of the previous two studio efforts by Depeche Mode: Martin Gore's upfront...
more >
Replacing the original Catching Up With Depeche Mode compilation, Singles 81>85 subtracts two tracks -- the lightweight curiosity "Flexible" and "Fly on the Windscreen,"...
more >
A solid record that hailed the band's use of guitar as innovation. The instrument previously unheard on earlier albums plays a prominent part in such smash hits as "Personal...
more >
In a word, stunning. Perhaps an odd word to use given that Violator continued in the general vein of the previous two studio efforts by Depeche Mode: Martin Gore's upfront...
more >
As an event, Depeche Mode's huge (attendance around 80,000) Los Angeles Rose Bowl concert in 1988 remains legendary; no single artist show had totally sold out the venue...
more >
Martin Gore has famously noted that Depeche Mode stopped worrying about its future when the first post-Vince Clarke-departure single, "See You," placed even higher on the...
more >
Right on the heels of Some Great Reward, this album continues the spirit with an impressive array of intelligent songs and solid lyrics. Features "But Not Tonight," their...
more >
Whether the band felt it was simply the time to move on from its most explicit industrial-pop fusion days, or whether increased success and concurrently larger venues pushed...
more >
Like its predecessor, People Are People, Catching Up With Depeche Mode attempts to fill in gaps in the group's extensive discography by compiling singles and album tracks...
more >
A continuation of its predecessor Speak & Spell. Sort of Depeche Mode's debut, as Gore had to step up and assume the lead role as songwriter. Features his marvelous tune...
more >
The full addition of Alan Wilder to Depeche Mode's lineup created a perfect troika that would last another 11 years, as the combination of Martin Gore's songwriting,...
more >
Initially the title must have sounded like an incredibly pretentious boast, except that Depeche Mode then went on to do a monstrous world tour, score even more hits in...
more >
Depeche Mode's major league breakthrough in American terms was this single, which looked for a while afterward to have been a random, one-off fluke instead of a precursor to...
more >
The peak of the band's industrial-gone-mainstream fusion, and still one of the best electronic music albums yet recorded, Some Great Reward still sounds great, with the...
more >
Their first and only album with Vince Clarke, who split for Yaz immediately after. A good album full of throwaway fluff. Contains the concert-staples "New Life" and "Just...
more >
Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time -- perhaps least of all the band! -- Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a...
more >
In between Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion, a lot happened: Nirvana rewrote the ideas of what "alternative" was supposed to be, while Nine Inch Nails hit the...
more >
On the face of it the oddest release of Depeche Mode's career, and one of the oddest in rock ever -- a mere six months after the release of the original Songs of Faith and...
more >
The first three box sets devoted to compiling all of Depeche Mode's A- and B-sides were originally issued in 1991. In 2004, when the fourth through sixth sets were issued...
more >
The first three box sets devoted to compiling all of Depeche Mode's A- and B-sides were originally issued in 1991. In 2004, when the fourth through sixth sets were issued...
more >
The first three box sets devoted to compiling all of Depeche Mode's A-sides and B-sides were originally issued in 1991. In 2004, when the fourth through sixth sets were...
more >
One of the few Martin Gore-sung singles Depeche Mode have released, "A Question of Lust" is one of his trademark blends of up-front feeling and cynical emotional games -- a...
more >
For the single release of this Songs of Faith and Devotion cut, Wilder went into a Paris studio to do some further remixing, thus the "Paris" mix of said track. An...
more >
Depeche Mode's debut single, following an initial appearance on a compilation with an early version of "Photograph," was perhaps the most unassuming release the band ever...
more >
"Personal Jesus" primed the pump, but "Enjoy the Silence" completely kicked down the door worldwide. Arguably the group's most well-known song, it's an astonishing number...
more >
Starting to show the blend of lyrical cynicism and harder music that would characterize mid-'80s Depeche, "Get the Balance Right!" itself is one of the band's best efforts,...
more >
Happily avoiding the practice of simply including the same lead single mix on this disc, Depeche devoted the second I Feel You EP towards further remixes of the heavy-duty...
more >
In one of the band's most radical moves, the commercial single version of this amazing Songs track, the "Zephyr" mix, was done by Butch Vig, then well-established as a...
more >
The band's weakest single of the '80s, "It's Called a Heart" is Depeche Mode-by-numbers in many ways. While David Gahan sounds great and Alan Wilder's arrangement is good,...
more >
With this, Depeche Mode not only tasted huge success for the first time but created a true '80s classic -- as it turned out, one of many. If one song had to define what...
more >
The definite aim toward a murkier, moodier Depeche in singles terms happened here -- with its descending keyboard chords, low bell sounds, and darker overall feeling,...
more >
At once a successful progression in Depeche's increasing sophistication and a bit forced and ham-handed, "Love in Itself" is a curious single even for the band, with a...
more >
With the original shorter version of "New Life" given a great extended revamp on a single release -- a revamp that ended up becoming the album version of the song, thanks to...
more >
Due to its release six months before Violator appeared, not to mention the fact that Depeche's American fan base was reaching critical mass, the EP release of "Personal...
more >
Perhaps one of the best Motown tributes ever done, "Policy of Truth" finds Depeche Mode embracing the same sort of late-'60s slow groove that made songs like "I Heard It...
more >
With Clarke's departure, the worry was whether Depeche could continue without him. Gore stepped up to the main songwriting position, the band created "See You" -- and...
more >
One of Depeche Mode's few non-album singles, "Shake the Disease" is also one of the band's best overall songs, a new refinement of both Martin Gore's lyrical abilities...
more >
The final single from Violator, "World in My Eyes" was also the first song on the album -- out of that context it's still a success, starting from a crisp bassline, building...
more >
Given up for dead, the group returned with this impressive record, featuring the Cure-like drone of "It's No Good." Not as potent as their earlier work, but commendable...
more >
Good grief!
Depeche Mode have made 10 studio albums since their eminently lightweight debut, 1981's
Speak & Spell, making them perhaps the most enduring synth-pop band...
more >
When news surfaced in 1995 that Alan Wilder had departed Depeche Mode to concentrate on his solo project Recoil, the immediate concern among fans was whether the band would...
more >
It took Depeche Mode only four years to assemble their first singles compilation, but 12 to assemble The Singles 86>98. Appropriately, the second set was much more ambitious...
more >
Once more releasing singles on the British lines -- meaning two at a time -- this and the other version of the single are curious in that the actual song itself doesn't...
more >
Combining a variety of mixes from the overseas singles for these two tracks, Depeche's American company put four of each track on this release. There's also a fine CD-ROM...
more >
A sweeping, romantic-yet-threatening number, "It's No Good" made for a great second single from Ultra, showcasing both the band's musical work and, especially, Gahan's new...
more >
Even more of an industrial anthem than its predecessors, "Master and Servant" doesn't merely codify the implicit bondage/domination doings of said perceived scene in its...
more >
Having been through Fletcher's breakdown, Wilder's departure, and, above all else, Gahan's tremendous problems with drug addiction and suicide attempts, Depeche had to come...
more >
Possibly the band's last single that could be described as purely and totally "sprightly," despite the hunt for the title subject in the lyrics, "The Meaning of Love" is...
more >
For the second of this song's accompanying remix EPs, center stage is taken by Icelandic avant-garde pop outfit Gus Gus. Given Depeche's long lyrical history of conflations...
more >
Following the British model for EPs this once -- and not again for some years -- Depeche released the first single from Songs of Faith and Devotion in two parts in America....
more >
There was a time when you could walk into your average record store and find the singles section by spotting the big block of black rows. These rows signaled the whereabouts...
more >
On its own, "Behind the Wheel" was and is a prime Depeche Mode single. It's a massive building surge of a song that just gets more intense as it goes, translating the...
more >
Though the song itself was never completed in a mix that satisfied everyone in the band, both the album version and the slightly tweaked single version of "Walking in My...
more >
Depeche's proto-industrial/dance/breakbeat anthem still cuts right to the quick, a note-perfect combination of electronic innovation; big, punchy production; a perversely...
more >
The idea of hearing a Depeche Mode single start off with acoustic guitar -- and nothing else -- would have seemed an unlikely prospect in earlier years. Martin Gore has...
more >
The fourth, fifth, and sixth box sets dedicated to compiling all of Depeche Mode's single releases were put out in 2004, 13 years after the first three originally appeared....
more >
Those who wrote Depeche Mode off years ago as dour, pasty-faced synth-pop pansies might be shocked by the opening of “Playing The Angel,” the veteran band’s return after a...
more >
Initially the title must have sounded like an incredibly pretentious boast, except that Depeche Mode then went on to do a monstrous world tour, score even more hits in...
more >
Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time -- perhaps least of all the band! -- Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a...
more >
