The Obligatory Depeche Mode thread

[kook]

My box set just arrived!!!!!

[black francis]

Amazon SOTU MP3 album for only $3.99, fyi: http://tinyurl.com/dagbzp

That's a lot less than I paid on iTunes!

[black francis]

My box set just arrived!!!!!

Was it worth it?

[withahip]

My box set just arrived!!!!!

90 bucks. I didn't need the badges or pins. How are the extra cds? Are the demos any good? And the extra tunes?

CD 3
Demos
1. Little 15
2. Clean
3. Sweetest Perfection
4. Walking In My Shoes
5. I Feel You
6. Judas
7. Surrender
8. Only When I Lose Myself
9. Nothing's Impossible
10. Corrupt
11. Peace
12. Jezebel
13. Come Back
14. In Chains



The studio sessions are on youtbe aren't they?


Packaging / additional content:
2 piece custom made box with foil blocking.
2 x 84 page hardback books:
The first featuring the lyrics to all the songs from the Sounds Of The Universe sessions accompanied by exclusive photography by Anton Corbijn.
The second featuring exclusive and candid studio photography by Daniel Miller, Ben Hillier, Luke Smith and Ferg Peterkin.
2 exclusive enamel badges
1 poster
5 artcards, sealed in a collectors envelope
1 certificate of authenticity

[kook]

The box, packaging, books etc. are very very nicely done, all quite high quality. For € 65, it is truly a good deal imo.

The album itself didn't exactly blow me away. I need to give it another listen but it didn't grab me on first listen the way Playing the Angel did. Jezebel seems fairly incongruous in the mix.
Some instrumentation seems very reminiscent of very early stuff - Broken Frame era ....

I haven't seen, heard any of the bonus stuff yet. Probably won't have time till the weekend to give it its due.

[black francis]

Review by an idiot at the NY Times. What does the final paragraph even mean? I suspect he doesn't know himself.

Pleasure — its acquisition, its experience, its discontents — has always mattered to Depeche Mode, now almost 30 years into a career of turn-ons and come-downs. But “Sounds of the Universe,” the group’s 12th studio album, is about something more common and less complex: the joy of running in place.

Here the band — Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher — is in familiar orbit: rigorous songwriting, largely by Mr. Gore; melancholic and desperate singing by Mr. Gahan; and propulsive production that’s accented with industrial friction. But while it lacks the fragility of 1984’s “Some Great Reward” or the earned attitude of 1990’s “Violator,” it’s unmistakably an attempt at revisiting the past, admirable either as an act of defiant stubbornness or tenacious commitment.

It’s listenable too, in much the way a lost-tapes collection would be. Mr. Gahan’s ache on “Miles Away” is pleasantly burred, and the arresting multitracked vocal at the outset of “Wrong” recalls the band’s pop breakthrough “Personal Jesus.” Best are the moments in which the group toys with notions of sex and power, constructing virtual parodies of early Depeche Mode on “Corrupt” (“I could corrupt you/It would be easy,” Mr. Gahan sings. “Watching you suffer/Girl, it would please me”) and “Hole to Feed,” which outlines the occasional emptiness of physical desire.

Still, even at its most imaginative, this is seamless Depeche Mode filler, music that could be made by any number of acolytes. But the band undermines itself with a handful of gestures no tribute-payer would take up: the senseless minute-long feedback run that opens the album, or the whimsical instrumental blurt “Spacewalker.” At times, like on “Little Soul,” Mr. Gahan sounds sleepy, struggling to be more than rote. Quite unintentionally in its steadfast fealty, this album serves as a reminder of how deeply the lessons of new wave have been ingrained in pop — notably, of late, in R&B and hip-hop production. In that context particularly, Mr. Gahan’s chilliness and commentary feel like ancient poses. Everyone else hears the same sounds but has learned to let loose.

[black francis]

Entertainment Weekly

Even those born in a bat cave would have a tough time sustaining the level of broody nocturnal drama that England's dark lords of dance-rock have maintained for nearly 30 years. Somehow, though, on Sounds of the Universe they still sound genuinely inspired, especially on tracks like the fragile ''In Sympathy'' and the hypnotic ''Peace.'' Lead single ''Wrong'' revisits classic black-heart Mode, but there's something gentler here, too — not so much a softening as a graceful evolution. B+

[black francis]

USA Today

Do any of these people know what they're talking about? Sounds like this one is bad mouthing Black Celebration, Violator and SOFAD in the same sentence.

One of the most influential bands on the planet goes intergalactic on 12th studio album Sounds of the Universe, a musical journey that's part spaced-out voyager, part return to the launchpad. The bloated strings of the early '90s are gone, as are the Gothic fog and the band's misguided stab at stadium rock. Depeche Mode seems content to embrace its electronic supremacy on a crisply produced, lushly layered dreamscape.
The waves of loops and surges of synths suggest sonic wallpaper, but the band's thrust, pounding beats and eccentricities thwart any lapses into easy listening. A reliance on vintage synthesizers and drum machines produce a buffed tech noise that's simultaneously retro and futuristic, best evidenced in Jezebel, a lounge tune for Trekkers.


Despite the smoother texture and contemplative, even spiritual, tone, David Gahan, in a baritone more vulnerable without the earlier theatrics, hasn't changed his tune thematically. Pain, anguish and regret flood the grooves. That's a universal sound. — Edna Gundersen

[black francis]

WHat the hell kind of pants are those?

http://digital.spin.com/spin/200904/?pg=34&pm=1

[withahip]

I am guessing about Hillier's affect on the band - but knowing his work with Coxon and Blur I bet he convinced Gore to go with the retro sound - or analog sound of their early albums and Kraftwerk. I would put money on the notion he told Gore forget about Wilder and make the songs he can.

Ok, whether he did or not - it works because Gahan is at the Gospel singing-feeling level of SOFAD.

The only thing I'd like is a little swing on some of the beats rather than the Portishead Third low fi thump of pre808 drum machines.

But, hey, it isn't my album and this one is proving to improve upon repeated listens - and not 200 listens - but even after a half dozen I am noticing more in the mix that is as blatant as strings and other traditional instruments.

This is going to be a great summer time cd - and music journalists with too little time to give it a few listens and too much ego are missing out.

[Scouser]

Couldnt agree more Withahip.

It takes 5-6 listens to really get into some of the textures on the record. i listened to it on headphones in bed last night and was suprised there was so much I hadnt noticed previously. Ben Hillier has done another great job.

Dave's vocals are superb throughout and the Martin harmonies are so well interwoven sometimes its difficult to tell who sings what in each song. I agree (to an extent) with some people who claim the album is too one paced - though I'm fortunate to like that pace!

The more I hear Jezebel the more I like it! Scott Walker in a leather bondage dress, a jet black Bond theme where Bond is into S&M and the Bond girl is a Dominatrix.

But, for me, the highlight is Corrupt. Its pervy, kinky, slightly unsettling and a cracking tune. Best album closer since Higher Love on SOFAD.

I had a discussion the other day when my statement that DM are the only band from the 80's with any artistic merit left was challenged. But I stick by that. SOTU (I think) is a concious return to their Some Great Reward / Construction Time Again / Black Celebration roots. It is both a celebration and a reinvention. It sounds retro and fresh simultaneously. Thats not what can be said about the recent output from U2 and The Cure - both albums I played alot for a week and havent gone back to.

I'm on my 3rd week of having SOTU on heavy rotation (though I admit 2 weeks of that were a sub standard rip).

I love it.

[black francis]

I can't stop listening to Sister of Night today

[Scouser]

That is in my DM Top 5 (Dave was smacked up when he recorded it which gives it added resonance)

[withahip]

I HATED Sister of Night - took years before I appreciated it. Like getting new release when I finally did.

Hey Koune - is the demos for Come BAck the same one we hear on youtube?

[black francis]

I think you mean Kook