Top Bands, Top Albums - Depeche Mode

[Mechi]

Music for the masses.. best sound achieved by DM. But Black Celebration, Violator and SOFAD are excellent too.
Most people don't like Ultra. I like it but not as much as the ones that I have mentioned. But curiously both my boyfriend and best friend like Ultra a lot.

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~myirwin/JD_Montage2.jpg">

[obs]

I like the singles on Ultra better than Songs of Faith ...

[rewindmylife]

this is tough but I have to go with Black Celebration...that was the first album I bought and was really one of the main reasons why I got into NW music.

[MARV]

This really is tough having to choose the best album from one of my favorite bands of all time. Each album was important at it's release and a major artistic achievement. With Black Celebration, there was no doubt about the talent of songwriter Martin Gore and the direction the band would go in. The Depeche Mode mission statement and mystique was all at once laid out. Black Celebration is existentialist, it is seductive, it is poetic, metaphorical, optimistic, romantic, intimate - it even touches on politics...the album is without question a landmark and one of the most important albums of the eighties. The original album (not the latter American release with the inclusion of the Stripped b-side But Not Tonight) is tight, flows with precision and is a complete work of art.

But while BC set the precedent for the band's ability to create such cohesive albums of such weighty subject matter, I feel that subsequent albums have deepened the formula and made it even more complex by exploring the themes of love, sensuality, addiction, obsession and regret even further. Delving into the subconscious for explanations of motivation in human nature whilst (at times) exploring the nature of sin and redemption within a religious construct, Music For The Masses, Violator and the virtual temple of atmosphere that is Songs of Faith and Devotion represent a Golden Age of Depeche Mode that began with Black Celebration. That it was the first, Black Celebration is no doubt an authoritative statement in the same way that the greek Kouros is of high significance to art historians. But to this Martin Gore fan, Songs of Faith and Devotion is the proverbial David by Michelangelo. An unsurpassed creative pinnacle that saw the utmost impassioned live performances from the band. That it was probably the hugest commercial success is peripheral - the album just oozed all that make Depeche Mode great and at it's most complex. After their hiatus for the rest of the nineties, the band came back with Ultra, Exciter and now of course Playing the Angel, without question a new era for Depeche Mode. And while there have been fine highlights along this new road, in no way has the formula been improved upon better than that found on Songs of Faith and Devotion.

<a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/cetaceans/index.cfm">I dig whales.</a>

[Mechi]

Amen. [:)]

That was some delicate analysis of Depeche's music, Marvy. I couldn't have said it better.

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~myirwin/JD_Montage2.jpg">

[obs]

Be sure to pick up the remasters with the 30min documentaries .

I'm cool because I have a signature.

[Sean]

Black Celebration is just simply perfect. This is when they were at their peak. The albums after this were just an attempt to match it's intensity, beauty, and catchiness. Songs like Black Celebration, Question of Lust, Stripped, and But Not Tonight are the truest DM classics.