Depeche Mode Timeline to ULTRA (Reprise Records, 1997)

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Timeline to ULTRA (Reprise Records, 1997)​

"Timeline to ULTRA", Reprise Records, April 17th 1997

 

[demoderus]

Timeline to ULTRA​

"Listen, if Depeche Mode were a movie, Martin would write and direct. I'm the actor; I bring life and a heartbeat to his creations. And Fletch would be the backbone to the whole operation."

The voice of Dave Gahan and the voice of Depeche Mode on the eve of the release of Ultra, the band's 13th album and their first new studio set in four years. A period in which group members Martin Gore, Andy "Fletch" Fletcher, and especially Gahan himself have been through more dark and dramatic experiences than most movies would dare to screen.

You would need to have been off the planet to miss the all-too-colorful details of Gahan's personal decline and rebirth since Depeche Mode last appeared on record with the worldwide No. 1 album, Songs Of Faith And Devotion, in 1993. This album, the only British album to go to No. 1 in America between 1993 and the release of the first Beatles' Anthology, sold 4.5 million copies worldwide, bringing Depeche Mode's total album sales in excess of 30 million.

The band's 14-month 'Devotional' world tour of 1993-94, an exhausting 156 show itinerary, led to severe emotional battering for Gore and Fletcher, and collective mental wipeout for the band, and the departure of13-year veteran Alan Wilder.

Such a catalogue of crises should, if the script was followed, have had an unhappy ending. But then the script of the Depeche Mode movie was thrown away and the remaining players found the psychological fortitude to turn the story on its head. Gahan went into rehab, cleaned up his act and his life, and huddled with Gore, Fletcher and the kindred spirit of producer Tim Simenon. The result is an album that no one dared hope for. Ultra is aptly named: 15 years after they broke out of Basildon and took up a chart residency that has lasted ever since. All those involved call it the ultimate Depeche Mode album. The subtitle could almost be "Songs Of Passion And Perseverance."

The axis, as ever, is the formidable songwriting of Martin Gore, the "writer/director" of this epic tale of rock'n'roll survival. While he and Fletcher were recuperating after the Devotional tour at home in London, Gahan was playing out his own melodrama in California.

Sessions began in London, then moved via Los Angeles to the famous Electric Lady Sound Studios in New York, under the direction of lifelong Mode fan Tim Simenon (the production mastermind behind Bomb The Bass, who had already crafted a number of Mode remixes over the years).

No one denies how close the three members of Depeche Mode came to pulling down the shutters on an association that has lasted practically their entire adult lives. "After that period in New York," says Gore, "I have to be honest and say I did think about the pros and cons of being in this band. I really seriously felt that maybe it was time to find something else. I needed time to think about that."

He did, and made the right decision. Recording was ready to continue at another legendary location, London's Abbey Road. Gahan was rewarded not only with the joys of contributing fully to a re-energized band, but with the discovery that his vocal retraining, necessitated by the excesses of his former life, was making his voice more powerful than before. "I'm very happy to be clean and sober," he says. "I have my life back."

The results of both his and the band's extraordinary spiritual restoration are introduced on the formidable first single, "Barrel Of A Gun," a brooding, shadowy and triumphant creation.

Simenon, warmly described by Gore as "a new soul brother," welcomed the contributions of some intriguing collaborators on Ultra, in the form of Jaki Liebziet, drummer with German experimental pioneers Can; former Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish; and pedal steel guitarist supreme B.J. Cole, who adds color to the country canvas of "Bottom Line," one of two tracks with lead vocals by Gore. As Simenon enthuses, "Martin's an amazing songwriter, and I want people to take their hat off to him. Songs, songs, songs, that's all it's about."

Gore agrees that Ultra is the most uncompromising, take-no-prisoners sound ever conjured in the name of Depeche Mode. "It's probably the hardest-sounding record we've ever made. It's got so many different influences and I think it's one of the best things we've ever done."

"Barrel Of A Gun," the first single, comes with a set of remixes, including two by the mighty Underworld. With a video shot in London and Marrakesh, "Barrel Of A Gun" is set to add to the band's running total of nine UK Top 10 singles and 200 weeks-plus on the singles chart since "Dreaming Of Me" marked their first visit there in the spring of 1981.

On the positive side of these eventful few years in the group's history, you'd have to say that Gore has not been short of subject material for his new compositions. So what does he see as the theme of Ultra? "There's not really a concept or a theme." he answers, "but quite a lot of the songs deal with destiny. Religion is probably touched on less on this album than it has been in the past, but it's still got a quite spiritual feel."

The final word on what is shaping up to be one of the great comebacks from the brink in rock history comes from Andy Fletcher. "Things have taken their toll," he admits, "but our situations have brought out the best in us. People didn't expect us to come back at all, let alone like this. We're better equipped than we were last time around."

 

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TIMELINE​

1980 Vince Clarke (born 7/3/61), Martin Gore (7/23/61) and Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher (7/8/61) form a trio, Composition of Sound, in Basildon, Essex. Vince is an uncomfortable crooner, so it's relief all round when they spot Dave Gahan (5/9/62) singing in a local group. He joins and picks out the name Depeche Mode ("fast fashion") from a French style magazine. First gig at Basildon, St Nicholas School, on May 31. Group sends out demo tapes. Amid almost universal disinterest, Mute owner Daniel Miller spots them at a gig, agrees to produce them and (eventually) signs them. Later they'd sign to Sire for America.

1981 Singles: "Dreaming Of Me"
"New Life"
"Just Can't Get Enough"
Album: Speak & Spell
Vince Clarke, who wrote the majority of the songs, decides to leave, and opinion suggests it's all over. Martin Gore takes on the responsibility of writing material for the band. First European gigs.

1982 Singles "See You"
"The Meaning Of Love"
"Leave In Silence"
Album: A Broken Frame
Classically trained Alan Wilder (1/5/59) joins in a live capacity. First American shows.

1983 Singles: "Get The Balance Right"
"Everything Counts"
"Love In Itself"
Album: Construction Time Again
Alan Wilder becomes a full-time member.

1984 Singles: "People Are People"
"Master & Servant"
"Blasphemous Rumours"
Albums: People Are People
Some Great Reward
Martin moves to Berlin. Endless recording. Endless touring.

1985 Singles: "Shake The Disease"
"It's Called A Heart"
ALBUM: The Singles 1981-85, In US retitled, Catching Up With Depeche Mode)

1986 Singles: "Stripped"
"A Question Of Lust"
"A Question Of Time"
Album Black Celebration
Recording in London and Berlin. Acclaimed NME photographer Anton Corbijn begins to direct the videos. The biggest tour yet. Afterwards, the group has a big rest, except for Alan, who works on a solo project, Recoil.

1987 Singles: "Strangelove"
"Never Let Me Down"
Album: Music For The Masses

1988 Singles: "Behind The Wheel/Route 66"
"Little 15"
"Strangelove Remix"
All thoughts of popularity slippage are abandoned as Music For The Masses sells two million copies and, before playing MTV Awards, the group climax another tour at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on June 18, in front of 75,000 people.

1989 Singles: "Everything Counts Live "Personal Jesus"
Album: 101 (last year's Rose Bowl show)
Martin releases mini-album, Counterfeit, of cover versions including Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth." D.A. Pennebaker's film 101 of the '88 US tour is released to universal acclaim. In America, "Personal Jesus" becomes the biggest selling 12-inch single in Warner Bros. Records history. World Violation tour starts in May in US and includes the band's first visit to Australia. The final leg in Europe ends with three sold-out shows at London's Wembley Arena.

1990 Singles: "Enjoy The Silence"
"Policy Of Truth"
"World In My Eyes"
Album: Violator
Recording in Milan, London and Denmark.

1991 Violator sells its six-millionth copy. All singles are re-released in fetching-hessian covered boxes. "Enjoy The Silence" wins a BRIT Award. Depeche Mode contribute "Death's Door" to Wim Wenders' film Until The End Of The World. Band has a rest.

1992 In Madrid, Hamburg and London, working on a new album.

1993 Singles: "I Feel You"
"One Caress/I Feel You"
"Walking In My Shoes"
"Condemnation"
Albums: Songs Of Faith And Devotion
Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live

1994 Single: "In Your Room"
The never ending tour ends. Songs of Faith And Devotion goes gold (UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) and platinum (USA, Canada).

1995 Alan Wilder leaves. Martin records "Coming Back To You" for a tribute album to the song's author, Leonard Cohen.

1997 Singles: "Barrel Of A Gun"
"It's No Good" "Home"
Album: Ultra

Back from the brink. New year. New album

Reprise Records, April 17th 1997
Thanks to Quan