Depeche Mode - Your Host: Martin Gore (User's Guide)
[Kingsize, June 2001. Words: Uncredited. Picture: Anton Corbijn.]
Unusually engaging selective discography, with Martin riding shotgun. Most of the studio albums are reviewed both in terms of the music itself and the circumstances that surrounded their production. Martin's comments illuminate each album further and the result means a review that doesn't clinically dissect each release, but tells you the important stuff: whether or not you'll like it. Committed fans will enjoy squabbling over how to put the 'Best of the Rest' in exact order of merit...
"The title of synth-folk atrocity 'Shouldn't Have Done That' speaks for itself. Broken is what they appeared to be."
INDISPENSABLE
VIOLATOR (1990)
Where the Mode became globe-straddling, industrial-techno-goth colossi. The group had started listening to Nine Inch Nails and going out clubbing. 'Violator' therefore sees them sounding both more rocky and more dancey. Hits like 'World In My Eyes' and 'Personal Jesus' helped it become their biggest-selling LP but actually every track's a winner. The sudden increase in scale of their US popularity was shocking. Tickets for their New Your 40,000-seater Giants Stadium show sold out in eight hours. Yet the strains of the World Violation Tour almost broke them up. After its conclusion, they parted company not knowing if they would continue.
GORE: "Most people think that's our best album. Everything just went crazy from then on. About 15,000 people turned up at this record shop signing session in Los Angeles. It was a glass-fronted shop and I remember people were squashed against the glass front. Eventually it got so out of hand that the police told us to leave. So we went back to the hotel, switched on the TV and there we were all over the nationwide news. After we'd gone, the fans rioted and the riot police had to be called in. A few people got hurt, which wasn't good, but for the band, it was one of the best things that could have happened!" [1]
BEST OF THE REST
SOME GREAT REWARD (1984)
A heavier slice of synth-pop than their previous album, 'A Broken Frame'. Gore's lyrics, concerning sado-masochism ('Master And Servant') and religious doubt ('Blasphemous Rumours'), hint at the group's imminent conversion to the dark side. Still manages stinky lines like: "People are people so why should it be / You and I should get along so awfully."
GORE: "I think our albums kept getting better. We had a bit of a dodgy past. They got pretty good around this time, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone to get into the band. We're still perceived in Britain as an '80s band even though we've sold most of our records in the '90s. It's one of those annoying things that we can't seem to shake. I still get asked about wearing leather mini-skirts in this period, and I haven't worn them since 1985!"
BLACK CELEBRATION (1986)
DM successfully ditch the pop and emerge from the closet as full-on stadium goths. Lyrics are influenced by Gore's relocation to Cold War-era Berlin, Alan Wilder, meanwhile, pulls out the weirdo-sampling stops. Doomy minimalism proved very influential on the industrial scene. 'Stripped' and 'A Question Of Lust' are still among their best songs.
GORE: "This is where the albums really started improving. I certainly felt very free. I'd just come out of a relationship in England with a devout Christian who basically had me on reins. So it was certainly an album embracing hedonism. I wrote it in Berlin and we all started wearing black. When we're there now we're still followed by the fans; what we call The Black Swarm. If you get up in the morning to go to the gym, they'll be waiting in the lobby to follow you."
MUSIC FOR THE MASSES (1987)
Less uniformly compelling, but future members of US bands like Smashing Pumpkins started to take note. Single high points 'Never Let Me Down Again' still brings out the lighters live. The title was meant ironically - this album is actually far from commercial. 'Pimpf' even synthetically emulates the tones of a Russian male voice choir.
GORE: "A bit of a continuation of 'Black Celebration'. It was recorded in Paris and we really were a gang in those days. We stayed in the red-light district, Pigalle, and, wandering back from this club The Locomotive, we used it say it was like a video game. You know, on one side you'd be trying to dodge the drunks and on the other side people would be grabbing you to go in to see the strippers. And, for some reason, there were always dog-turds all over the street."
SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION (1993)
Their rock album, and Gahan's favourite - even though by then he'd become a full-on junkie. The troubled singer had gone to LA, had tattoos and grown his hair to resemble a member of Ministry. When he turned up at the recording studio, the others were shocked. His immersion in grunge influenced this diversion into heavy rock territory.
GORE: "It was the first time we realised Dave was dabbling with heroin. It was only when it was pointed out that he was disappearing to his room for three days that I realised something was up. The tour that followed was a disaster. It lasted 15 months! We just about managed to get to the end of it. Dave left the last date not realising he'd cracked a few ribs jumping off the stage and landing on a barrier. Dabbling with rock turned us into monsters."
ULTRA (1997)
Studio genius Alan Wilder had left the band, so Bomb The Bass' Tim Simenon filled the production chair, seeing a return to the electronic dynamics of 'Violator'. Singles like 'Barrel Of A Gun' were surprisingly vital, but the quality tails off. Not surprisingly, considering Gahan's suicidal cold turkey state for much of the recording.
GORE: "People are saying the new album ['Exciter'] is our best since 'Violator'. But I also like the two in between. For half the recording, Dave was at his worst. The honeymoon period with heroin was over and he was trying to sort himself out, but not successfully. But a couple of near-death experiences made him start thinking he needed to change if he wanted to carry on living. Things started getting better after that."
BEWARE OF THE DOG!
A BROKEN FRAME (1982)
Original chief songwriter Vince Clarke departed after 1981's synth-pop debut 'Speak And Spell'. For this second album, Gore was left holding the baby and he didn't know what to do with it. Tentative forays into the gloom mix badly with appallingly dated new romantic cheese like single 'See You'. The title of synth-folk atrocity 'Shouldn't Have Done That' speaks for itself. Broken is what they appeared to be.
GORE: "We were floundering around not knowing where to go. It was the first time I'd taken over the songwriting, and it was a real mishmash. Some tracks were old, among the first things I'd written, and others I came up with on the spot. Do I feel any affection for things like 'See You'? Not really, no. It was the first song I wrote after Vince left, and I think I was just trying to copy his style. It was a nightmare recording because we still lived in Basildon and caught the last train back from London. It was always a dodgy train, full of drunkards, and we always got into fights, sometimes because we were recognised, but usually it was just pure Essex violence!"
[Kingsize, June 2001. Words: Uncredited. Picture: Anton Corbijn.]
Unusually engaging selective discography, with Martin riding shotgun. Most of the studio albums are reviewed both in terms of the music itself and the circumstances that surrounded their production. Martin's comments illuminate each album further and the result means a review that doesn't clinically dissect each release, but tells you the important stuff: whether or not you'll like it. Committed fans will enjoy squabbling over how to put the 'Best of the Rest' in exact order of merit...
"The title of synth-folk atrocity 'Shouldn't Have Done That' speaks for itself. Broken is what they appeared to be."
INDISPENSABLE
VIOLATOR (1990)
Where the Mode became globe-straddling, industrial-techno-goth colossi. The group had started listening to Nine Inch Nails and going out clubbing. 'Violator' therefore sees them sounding both more rocky and more dancey. Hits like 'World In My Eyes' and 'Personal Jesus' helped it become their biggest-selling LP but actually every track's a winner. The sudden increase in scale of their US popularity was shocking. Tickets for their New Your 40,000-seater Giants Stadium show sold out in eight hours. Yet the strains of the World Violation Tour almost broke them up. After its conclusion, they parted company not knowing if they would continue.
GORE: "Most people think that's our best album. Everything just went crazy from then on. About 15,000 people turned up at this record shop signing session in Los Angeles. It was a glass-fronted shop and I remember people were squashed against the glass front. Eventually it got so out of hand that the police told us to leave. So we went back to the hotel, switched on the TV and there we were all over the nationwide news. After we'd gone, the fans rioted and the riot police had to be called in. A few people got hurt, which wasn't good, but for the band, it was one of the best things that could have happened!" [1]
BEST OF THE REST
SOME GREAT REWARD (1984)
A heavier slice of synth-pop than their previous album, 'A Broken Frame'. Gore's lyrics, concerning sado-masochism ('Master And Servant') and religious doubt ('Blasphemous Rumours'), hint at the group's imminent conversion to the dark side. Still manages stinky lines like: "People are people so why should it be / You and I should get along so awfully."
GORE: "I think our albums kept getting better. We had a bit of a dodgy past. They got pretty good around this time, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone to get into the band. We're still perceived in Britain as an '80s band even though we've sold most of our records in the '90s. It's one of those annoying things that we can't seem to shake. I still get asked about wearing leather mini-skirts in this period, and I haven't worn them since 1985!"
BLACK CELEBRATION (1986)
DM successfully ditch the pop and emerge from the closet as full-on stadium goths. Lyrics are influenced by Gore's relocation to Cold War-era Berlin, Alan Wilder, meanwhile, pulls out the weirdo-sampling stops. Doomy minimalism proved very influential on the industrial scene. 'Stripped' and 'A Question Of Lust' are still among their best songs.
GORE: "This is where the albums really started improving. I certainly felt very free. I'd just come out of a relationship in England with a devout Christian who basically had me on reins. So it was certainly an album embracing hedonism. I wrote it in Berlin and we all started wearing black. When we're there now we're still followed by the fans; what we call The Black Swarm. If you get up in the morning to go to the gym, they'll be waiting in the lobby to follow you."
MUSIC FOR THE MASSES (1987)
Less uniformly compelling, but future members of US bands like Smashing Pumpkins started to take note. Single high points 'Never Let Me Down Again' still brings out the lighters live. The title was meant ironically - this album is actually far from commercial. 'Pimpf' even synthetically emulates the tones of a Russian male voice choir.
GORE: "A bit of a continuation of 'Black Celebration'. It was recorded in Paris and we really were a gang in those days. We stayed in the red-light district, Pigalle, and, wandering back from this club The Locomotive, we used it say it was like a video game. You know, on one side you'd be trying to dodge the drunks and on the other side people would be grabbing you to go in to see the strippers. And, for some reason, there were always dog-turds all over the street."
SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION (1993)
Their rock album, and Gahan's favourite - even though by then he'd become a full-on junkie. The troubled singer had gone to LA, had tattoos and grown his hair to resemble a member of Ministry. When he turned up at the recording studio, the others were shocked. His immersion in grunge influenced this diversion into heavy rock territory.
GORE: "It was the first time we realised Dave was dabbling with heroin. It was only when it was pointed out that he was disappearing to his room for three days that I realised something was up. The tour that followed was a disaster. It lasted 15 months! We just about managed to get to the end of it. Dave left the last date not realising he'd cracked a few ribs jumping off the stage and landing on a barrier. Dabbling with rock turned us into monsters."
ULTRA (1997)
Studio genius Alan Wilder had left the band, so Bomb The Bass' Tim Simenon filled the production chair, seeing a return to the electronic dynamics of 'Violator'. Singles like 'Barrel Of A Gun' were surprisingly vital, but the quality tails off. Not surprisingly, considering Gahan's suicidal cold turkey state for much of the recording.
GORE: "People are saying the new album ['Exciter'] is our best since 'Violator'. But I also like the two in between. For half the recording, Dave was at his worst. The honeymoon period with heroin was over and he was trying to sort himself out, but not successfully. But a couple of near-death experiences made him start thinking he needed to change if he wanted to carry on living. Things started getting better after that."
BEWARE OF THE DOG!
A BROKEN FRAME (1982)
Original chief songwriter Vince Clarke departed after 1981's synth-pop debut 'Speak And Spell'. For this second album, Gore was left holding the baby and he didn't know what to do with it. Tentative forays into the gloom mix badly with appallingly dated new romantic cheese like single 'See You'. The title of synth-folk atrocity 'Shouldn't Have Done That' speaks for itself. Broken is what they appeared to be.
GORE: "We were floundering around not knowing where to go. It was the first time I'd taken over the songwriting, and it was a real mishmash. Some tracks were old, among the first things I'd written, and others I came up with on the spot. Do I feel any affection for things like 'See You'? Not really, no. It was the first song I wrote after Vince left, and I think I was just trying to copy his style. It was a nightmare recording because we still lived in Basildon and caught the last train back from London. It was always a dodgy train, full of drunkards, and we always got into fights, sometimes because we were recognised, but usually it was just pure Essex violence!"