Best Ever Albums

Re: Depeche Mode

Mr. Shankly — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:31:50 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 01/29/2012 13:31

They used to have nickname: "Depressed Mode." 🤣 For those of you that think the Smiths are too mopey, listen to a couple Depeche Mode albums. Now that's mopey. 😢

Re: Depeche Mode

Charicature — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:18:59 GMT

Author: Charicature

Posted: 01/29/2012 04:18

Bork wrote:

As Mr. Shankly mentioned, Depeche were hugely popular there for a while with the same sort of following that U2 gained a few years later. When I was in school you were either a "hardrocker" and heralded the likes of Kiss, Maiden and Priest as the reason for living, or a "synther" in which case you most certainly listened to Depeche. In that battle I naturally went with the hardrockers and grew my hair long and unruly instead of sporting one of them silly looking fad short haircuts with one long, narrow strand of it remaining off center in the back.

Anyways, after coming out of that phase I realized that Depeche were a pretty damn good band, and that they were a lot more than just generic synth pop. After Personal Jesus it appears that they disappeared into obscurity and this may be the first time I heard anyone talk about them since the 90's. I need to go listen to their albums again.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong. I am aware they kept putting out records and drawing some rather impressive crowds to their shows, but they still somehow appear to have gone from super hyped to forgotten.

They hit the top 40 pop charts in the States with songs from both Songs of Faith and Devotion and Ultra - it was only after that that they disappeared from the "popular" radar. It pretty much coincided with Alan Wilder's departure after SoFaD and Gahan's near-death drug overdose and susequent rehab. But mostly it was due to missing Wilder's technical expertise and classical music training.

Re: Depeche Mode

Bork — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:46:05 GMT

Author: Bork

Posted: 01/28/2012 22:46

mancsoulsister wrote:

Bork wrote:

Yup. We had a goth group too but they were sort of a fringe group and started a little later. They all dressed in black and listened to The Sisters of Mercy.

yeah and The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus.... Were your Goths totally miserable and never ever ever cracked a smile?

Actually, with a few exceptions, they weren't all that bad. Most of them grew up to be good people. I think it was for the most part just looking for an identity. When they realized being a fanboy isn't an identity they turned normal.

Re: Depeche Mode

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:30:04 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/28/2012 22:30

Bork wrote:

Yup. We had a goth group too but they were sort of a fringe group and started a little later. They all dressed in black and listened to The Sisters of Mercy.

yeah and The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus.... Were your Goths totally miserable and never ever ever cracked a smile?

Re: Depeche Mode

Bork — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:58:31 GMT

Author: Bork

Posted: 01/28/2012 21:58

mancsoulsister wrote:

My school was a lot like Bork and Shanklys only we had a 'Goth/post punk' group as well of which for a short time I was sort of a member. But I was too happy to be a real Goth so kind of got booted out for smiling too much.... 😁

Anyway back on topic... I quite liked Depeche Mode even though it wasn't something I was 'supposed' to like. I liked them enough to go and see them on their 'Master and Servant' tour in 1984 at the Apollo. I thought they started going a bit strange not long after that concert though, especially when they all got into the serious drug abuse, so I kind of lost interest.. By 1985 I had also learned how to snarl so felt I needed to branch out and discover snarling music (this didn't last either.. but that's a whole other story).

I still love a lot of Depeche Modes early stuff and started listening to it again after someone bought me a comp for my birthday a few years back.

My favourite songs are (in no particular order):

The Meaning of Love
New Life
Just Can't Get Enough
See You
Everything Counts
Master and Servant
People are People

Yup. We had a goth group too but they were sort of a fringe group and started a little later. They all dressed in black and listened to The Sisters of Mercy.

Re: Depeche Mode

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:45:31 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/28/2012 21:45

My school was a lot like Bork and Shanklys only we had a 'Goth/post punk' group as well of which for a short time I was sort of a member. But I was too happy to be a real Goth so kind of got booted out for smiling too much.... 😁

Anyway back on topic... I quite liked Depeche Mode even though it wasn't something I was 'supposed' to like. I liked them enough to go and see them on their 'Master and Servant' tour in 1984 at the Apollo. I thought they started going a bit strange not long after that concert though, especially when they all got into the serious drug abuse, so I kind of lost interest.. By 1985 I had also learned how to snarl so felt I needed to branch out and discover snarling music (this didn't last either.. but that's a whole other story).

I still love a lot of Depeche Modes early stuff and started listening to it again after someone bought me a comp for my birthday a few years back.

My favourite songs are (in no particular order):

The Meaning of Love
New Life
Just Can't Get Enough
See You
Everything Counts
Master and Servant
People are People

Re: Depeche Mode

Bork — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:15:33 GMT

Author: Bork

Posted: 01/28/2012 21:15

As Mr. Shankly mentioned, Depeche were hugely popular there for a while with the same sort of following that U2 gained a few years later. When I was in school you were either a "hardrocker" and heralded the likes of Kiss, Maiden and Priest as the reason for living, or a "synther" in which case you most certainly listened to Depeche. In that battle I naturally went with the hardrockers and grew my hair long and unruly instead of sporting one of them silly looking fad short haircuts with one long, narrow strand of it remaining off center in the back.

Anyways, after coming out of that phase I realized that Depeche were a pretty damn good band, and that they were a lot more than just generic synth pop. After Personal Jesus it appears that they disappeared into obscurity and this may be the first time I heard anyone talk about them since the 90's. I need to go listen to their albums again.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong. I am aware they kept putting out records and drawing some rather impressive crowds to their shows, but they still somehow appear to have gone from super hyped to forgotten.

Re: Depeche Mode

demetrios — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:08:25 GMT

Author: demetrios

Posted: 01/28/2012 21:08

Violator is an excellent album. But if I had to pick for their best I would go for Music for the Masses. A true masterpiece!

Re: Depeche Mode

videoheadcleaner — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:21:10 GMT

Author: videoheadcleaner

Posted: 01/21/2012 01:21

1. Violator
2. Black Celebration
3. Songs Of Faith And Devotion
4. Sounds Of The Universe
5. Playing The Angel
6. Exciter
7. Ultra
8. Music For The Masses
9. Some Great Reward
10. Construction Time Again
11. A Broken Frame
12. Speak & Spell

Re: Depeche Mode

cartoken — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:14:24 GMT

Author: cartoken

Posted: 01/20/2012 20:14

The ranking of the 8 albums i've listened to:

1. Violator (obviously) 90/100
2. Sounds of the universe 80/100
3. Music for masses 80/100
4. Playin the angel 75/100
5. Songs of faith and devotion 70/100
6. Exciter 65/100
7. Ultra 65/100
8. Black celebration 60/100

Re: Depeche Mode

Bach — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:17:04 GMT

Author: Bach

Posted: 01/20/2012 12:17

I like all their albums.

1. Violator
2. Music for the Masses
3. Songs of F&D
4. Black Celebration
5. Some Great Reward
6. Ultra
7. Playing the Angel
8. Sounds of the Universe
9. Exciter
10. Construction Time Again
11. Speak&Spell
12. A Broken Frame

Re: Depeche Mode

Charicature — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:12:11 GMT

Author: Charicature

Posted: 01/20/2012 02:12

Some Great Reward is notable because it's the first album where Alan Wilder was considered a full member of the band and allowed creative input - he pretty much became DM's producer for the next half dozen albums, through Songs of Faith and Devotion. It was also the first album in which they used a sampler (which their real producer and owner of their record label had dropped most of his life's savings on) and they had a grand time collecting every sound they could think of.

Great album - my only regret is it's one of two DM albums I don't own (along with Speak & Spell).

Re: Depeche Mode

nrs182 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:49:11 GMT

Author: nrs182

Posted: 01/19/2012 23:49

I haven't heard much of them, but this song "Wrong" from one of their recent albums is absolutely sick. personal jesus " is amazing too. Violator has been on my "To-hear" list for months but i'm a slow listener. 🙁

Re: Depeche Mode

Norman Bates — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:55:51 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 01/19/2012 22:55

Error Finn wrote:

101 live

Yes, this one or a singles compilation. Great hitmakers, I'm never totally happy with their albums though.

Re: Depeche Mode

Error Finn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Author: Error Finn

Posted: 01/19/2012 22:30

101 live

Re: Depeche Mode

joedec — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:21:42 GMT

Author: joedec

Posted: 01/19/2012 04:21

I agree with you. Some Great Reward is a classic album, but underrated. In fact, I would name Some Great Reward my album of the year for 1984, as well as being one of my top 5 albums from Depeche Mode.

Re: Depeche Mode

jhuik — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:18:41 GMT

Author: jhuik

Posted: 01/19/2012 01:18

I totally agree that Some Great Reward is underrated. It's the one DM album I bought and I liked it a lot. I was going to add it to my top 100, possibly. Intresting that you added this thread as I;m one of two people (along with paladisiac, who has also commented here) who have left a comment on this album.

Re: Depeche Mode

Mr. Shankly — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:57:13 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 01/19/2012 00:57

They were big when I was in high school. I had Some Great Reward on cassette, and liked them for like a month 🤣 until I realized that I just don't like synth pop. They didn't affect me and stay with me the way say, R.E.M. and the Smiths did. To each his own though. They represented their genre quite well.

Re: Depeche Mode

cartoken — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:46:47 GMT

Author: cartoken

Posted: 01/19/2012 00:46

They are a great band, and a special thumps up for holding together for so long. No suprise , Violator is their supreme album (89# in my chart). But who knows, maybe their best album is yet to come... Personally, I think that their 2009 record is their 2nd best album.

Re: Depeche Mode

videoheadcleaner — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:39:28 GMT

Author: videoheadcleaner

Posted: 01/18/2012 23:39

Violator is great and the singles from the album are among their best.

I still love Black Celebration, Ultra and Exciter as well with BC being a close second to Violator.

Also I recommend Dave Gahan's solo efforts Hourglass and Paper Monsters. Electronic and sometimes grimey (songs like Dirty Sticky Floor and Deeper & Deeper).