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Depeche Mode was formed in Basildon, Essex, by school friends Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, and Andy Fletcher. Dave Gahan joined later as lead singer, and the group adopted their moniker which means (approximately) "fast fashion", after a French fashion magazine. Vince Clarke left the group after the first album, Speak & Spell, and went on to form Yaz (Yazoo in the U.K.) and Erasure. Alan Wilder joined the group after Vince Clarke left, but has since quit the band himself. The band was a trio again when working on the album Ultra.

Like most Russians, my first exposure to Depeche Mode came around 1985, with the songs "People Are People" and "Somebody". I later heard a friend's Depeche Mode albums. The band's sound was so different from anything I had ever heard before. I actually thought they were a little bit weird; their style was certainly different from the stuff I usually heard on the radio. The first album I bought was Some Great Reward, which I found on a discount rack at the record store. The electronic music, the rhythms, and the lyrics fascinated me. I went on to buy each Depeche Mode album that came out, and then I started buying their past albums.

Depeche Mode's appeal, for me, is Martin Gore's songwriting. I also like the songs on which Martin sings lead, and I really like songs where Dave and Martin sing duets. I think their voices blend well. Depeche Mode was one of my favorites in high school, and I still like to listen to them.

CDs by Depeche Mode

1. The Singles 86-98 (1998)
2. "Only When I Lose Myself" (1998)
3. Ultra (1997)
4. "Home"/"Useless" (1997)
5. Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)
6. "Walking in My Shoes" (1993)
7. "Condemnation" (1993)
8. Violator (1990)
9. "Personal Jesus" (1989)
10. "Enjoy the Silence" (1990)
11. "Policy of Truth" (1990)
12. "World in My Eyes" (1990)
13. Depeche Mode 101 (1989)
14. Music for the Masses (1987)
15. "Never Let Me Down Again" (1987)
16. "Little 15" (1987)
17. "Behind the Wheel" (1988)
18. Black Celebration (1986)
19. "Stripped" (1986)
20. The Singles 81-85 (1985)
21. Catching Up With Depeche Mode (1985)
22. Some Great Reward (1984)
23. People Are People (1984)
24. Construction Time Again (1983)
25. "Love In Itself" (1983)
26. A Broken Flame (1982)
27. "See You" (1982)
28. Speak & Spell (U.K.) (1981)
29. Speak & Spell (U.S.) (1981)

Bootlegs:

1. Life in the So-called Space Age (1998)

Videos:

1. Strange Too (1990)
2. Depeche Mode 101 (1989)
3. Strange (1988)
4. Some Great Videos (1986)

Here's a good compilation of DM singles for both fans and the casual listener. Fans get the superior single versions of "A Question of Time", "Strangelove", and "Behind the Wheel". "In Your Room" is the Zephyr Mix and the new single "Only When I Lose Myself" is here, so the compilation is more than simply hashing out old songs. The casual listener also gets a good retrospective of the band's music. As a two-CD set, however, it's a bit expensive for only 21 songs.

A Depeche Mode fan like me might be tempted not to buy the "greatest hits" album. Why not just buy the single of "Only When I Lose Myself", the only new song? The record company, realizing this, opts not to put the original single version of the song on the single itself. So I buy a single, and the "single" isn't there - just a remix. Oh well. "Only When I Lose Myself" is a catchy track, but I doubt this one will burn up the charts. It's a slow tune akin to "Home".

Ultra is Depeche Mode's first album following the departure of Alan Wilder. Unsurprisingly, the album's liner notes credit someone else doing the keyboard programming, as I doubt anybody else in the band really knows how to do it now. The album has a lot more guitar on it than on previous albums, and there are a lot fewer tinkly keyboard sequences. Martin Gore's songwriting shows vast improvement over the previous album, Songs of Faith and Devotion. Dave Gahan's voice has also improved considerably.Ultra is a good album worth buying.

"Home" and "Useless" were released together as a double a-side in the United States following the poor sales performance of "Home" in England. It's too bad that it didn't sell better; it's the best song on Ultra. Oh well. The mixes of "Home" and "Useless" aren't all that great, but this disc is enhanced with QuickTime videos of all four singles from Ultra ("Barrel of a Gun", "It's No Good", and these two). The quality of the videos are about what you expect from QuickTime, but it's a great little addition to the single. Incidently, the video for "Home" is the best of the four, and it's the only one not directed by Anton Corbijn.

This album was indeed a departure from their last album, Violator, but this is not a bad thing. Whereas they tried to get back to basics with Violator, they seemed to pile sounds onto Song of Faith and Devotion. You've got background singers, orchestras, and various others instruments (listen to "Judas") on this album. And they're not just samples, they're the real thing! So the album does seem more like a "band" effort, rather than four guys with a bunch of sequencers. All of the songs are top rate, especially "I Feel You", "One Caress", and "Higher Love". The rock & roll nature of this album made for a great live experience (watch Devotional), where Martin's guitar was used more often and Alan actually played drums. They really got creative with this album and it shows. It's just a shame it cost them Alan Wilder.

The remixes of "Walking in My Shoes" are mostly forgettable on this single. They're all just long versions of the original. The b-side, "My Joy", is very good. It's definitely a b-side track, but it sounds a lot better than a lot of the Songs of Faith and Devotion album tracks.

The Spiritual Guidance Mix of "Rush" is very cool. It was remixed by Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto, making the song sound like a cross between Depeche and Meat Beat. The live version of "Enjoy the Silence" is good for a short guitar solo, but otherwise the live versions are nothing to rave about.

The sound on this album amazed me, from the bizarre keyboard solos on "World in My Eyes" to the beautiful duet on "Waiting for the Night", I was, and still am, entranced by how they sculpted the heavily layered music. This, combined with what I feel is the most impressive lyrical display by Martin Gore to date (especially on songs like "Sweetest Perfection" and "Enjoy the Silence"), showed the beauty of pain that cannot be compared to by any other of their albums or by any other band.

This single actually came out several months before Violator came out. This is the first CD single that I ever bought. It was when I first started buying CDs. I had never seen a CD single before, and this one cost $5. At the time, that seemed like a lot of money. I hadn't heard the song on the radio yet. As I took the disc up to the register, I thought, "This better be a good song." Luckily, this is one of the best CD singles ever released. The Holier Than Thou Approach to "Personal Jesus" is a better-than-average extended mix. Better yet, the acoustic version of "Personal Jesus" is a raw recording of the song with acoustic guitar accompaniment only - very cool. "Dangerous" is one of Depeche Mode's best b-sides; with a little more production, this song could have easily been included on the album.

"Enjoy the Silence" is Depeche Mode's best single. It has a catchy guitar riff, good lyrics, and a beautiful vocal duet during the chorus. This single includes the very cool Ricki Tik Tik remix and two Pimpf-esque b-sides. A nice addition is a Martin Gore vocal rendition of "Enjoy the Silence" accompanied by a harmonium. It's not as good as the acoustic version of "Personal Jesus", but it's a nice touch. The video to this song is good, too.

The remixes on this single are mostly forgettable. "Kaleid" is a good instrumental track, but I think I like the original version (available on European imports only) better.

This single was a nice release several months after the album came out. The two b-sides provided good songs to help quench a Depeche Mode thirst; I remember they received quite a bit of airplay on the alternative radio station in Phoenix (much more than "World in My Eyes"). The Tonal Mix of "Sea of Sin" and the Jack Mix of "Happiest Girl" sound the most like "original" versions.

Depeche Mode released this live album of their 101st concert of the Music for the Masses tour to coincide with a concert movie of the same name. The movie is a bit silly, but if you have to choose between the CDs and the video, choose the video. A Depeche Mode concert is only good if you can see the band. They're basically just playing along with a tape, so live versions of their songs can be pretty boring. Some good standouts on 101 are "Stripped", "Somebody", "Just Can't Get Enough", and "Everything Counts". (The latter was released as a single.) The rest of the tracks aren't much different from their original album versions.

I bought this album when it came out in 1987, and I thought it was weirdest thing I had ever heard in my life. I thought it was great. I loved they layered sound of each song, the lyrics, and the way many of the songs ran into each other. The only unfortunate part of the album is the mix of "Strangelove", which is a watered-down version of the much-better single version.

This single isn't in and of itself bad, it's just kind of redundant. The Aggro Mix of "Never Let Me Down Again" and the Spanish Taster of "To Have and To Hold" are good, but since they're both on the album, the single is pretty useless.

I bought this single while I was in France. Since then, better CD singles of this song have been re-released. The single mix of "Behind the Wheel" is pretty cool. Unfortunately, it sounds better on headphones than on a well-woofer-endowed stereo system. Depeche Mode's rough version of Nat King Cole's "Route 66" is interesting, but there is a better version of it in the 101 movie.

If you buy this single, its only for the instrumental b-side "St. Jarna". There certainly is nothing unusual about Alan Wilder's rendition of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", and "Little 15" is just the album version. "St. Jarna", like Martin Gore's other instrumentals, is interesting to listen to. I think he could write a good movie soundtrack someday. It is interesting to listen to the three songs in succession, too.

The songs are very well written, and the production is very smooth. The (slight) remix of "Fly on the Windscreen" is very good. The U.S. version includes the b-side to "Stripped", "But Not Tonight". (The European version includes a remixed version.)

It looks like this single is going to be really good because it has three b-sides. In fact, however, "Breathing in Fumes" is just a remix of "Stripped", and "Black Day" is just a weird Martin Gore-sung version of "Black Celebration".

This compilation is the European (so, official) version of the album that became Catching Up With Depeche Mode in the U.S. So why do I own both? Considering how much European imports cost, I'm not sure... This version is good if only for the liner notes. After each single is listed, the band has provided a "good" and "bad" review of each song. Some of them are hilarious. (Neil Tennant, lead singer of Pet Shop Boys, even gives a review of "Blasphemous Rumours" from back when he was an editor at Smash Hits.) Listening to the album gives a good perspective of how the band progressed from its early days with Vince Clarke to the release of "Shake the Disease" and "It's Called a Heart". The best songs are "Get the Balance Right" (the first track on which Alan Wilder contributed), "Everything Counts", and "Shake the Disease". The video for the latter is also very good.

This compilation has since been re-released on both sides of the ocean with a bonus remix of "Just Can't Get Enough" and the Some Bizarre version of "Photographic".

Sire Records, Depeche Mode's U.S. label, decided to change the track listing for its singles collection, since the U.S. compilation People Are People had been released the previous year. Catching Up With Depeche Mode drops four songs from its European counterpart that were on the People Are People compilation. Catching Up With Depeche Mode does include two b-sides, "Flexible" and "Fly on the Windscreen", however. This version is slightly inferior to the European version, but it did work well for American audiences following the release of People Are People.

This was my first Depeche Mode album, and this is one of their best. Ironically enough, "People Are People" is probably my least favorite song because it has been (and continues to be) overplayed on the radio. I love "It Doesn't Matter" and "Something to Do". "If You Want" is also a good Alan Wilder-penned track.

"Remotivate Me", the b-side to "Master and Servant", is probably one of the group's best b-sides.

This compilation, originally released only in the U.S., was an attempt to take advantage of the success of the single of the same name. The album actually borrows quite a few songs from Construction Time Again. It also includes the corny b-side "Work Hard" and an extended remix of "Everything Counts". "Get the Balance Right" is the best track on this CD.

Construction Time Again is the first full album with Alan Wilder as a member. The album is a vast improvement over A Broken Frame, with better songwriting and production. Two songs have terribly dumb lyrics ("More Than a Party" and "Told You So") and two were written by Alan Wilder ("Two Minute Warning" and "The Landscape is Changing"). This album shows hints of the great things that Depeche Mode would do on their next studio album, Some Great Reward

The bonus "Everything Counts" track is oddly out of place on this CD. The original album has a short "Everything Counts" reprise right after "And Then..." to finish off the album. Here, the reprise comes on after "And Then..." and then the remix of "Everything Counts" comes on. It's a bit much.

The fourth version on this single is funny, though. It's a honkey-tonk version with piano, guitar, and Dave singing like Elvis. "Fools", an Alan Wilder song, is a pretty good b-side.

Vince Clarke leaving Depeche Mode was probably the best thing that ever happened to Depeche Mode. If he hadn't, the band would still be producing Speak & Spell-type albums, or they would have broken up. It took Vince Clarke leaving to force Martin Gore to become the great songwriter that he is today. Unfortunately, right after Vince Clarke left, Martin Gore wasn't exactly a great songwriter. This album was done by the same lineup that released Ultra. Although Alan Wilder had joined the band for touring, he did not help in the production of this album. "Nothing to Fear" is an OK instrumental, and "A Photograph of You" is acceptable as corny pop. "The Sun & the Rainfall" shows the most promise to what Depeche Mode would become.

This single offers nothing terribly interesting to those who have heard both of the songs before. Reviewing "Now This is Fun" does remind me that, yes, it is kind of fun!

It is an interesting experience for an American who has only heard the domestic version of Speak & Spell to then hear the European version. The album suddenly sounds much better! Of course this album was made at the beginning of the British electronica revolution, so it's not great. It is nice to hear the instrumental version of "Any Second Now" and the b-sides "Ice Machine" and "Shout". "What's Your Name" still sucks, but the version of "Dreaming of Me" is slightly different than the single version (at the end). "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" is a cool little tune, too, with an inexplicable title.

This album is an amusing example of early electronic music. All of the songs were written by Vince Clarke, except "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Big Muff" by Martin Gore. This album is an interesting visit to the pioneer techno band.

Here's a little compilation of DM b-sides I made for myself so that I don't have keep switching discs. Some of them are from some of my brother's singles, so I wouldn't have access to them otherwise. I also threw on "Down in the Boondocks", a Billy Joe Royal song that Martin sings but never officially released. (I downloaded it from the net as an mp3 file, so the sound quality isn't perfect, but passable.)

This video compilation isn't quite as cool as Anton's first Strange video, but it does have its moments. The vid for "Enjoy the Silence" is one of the best ever, with Dave wandering around enjoying the silence (what else?). This video is almost entirely in color, which proves disappointing after viewing the beautiful Strange videos in black and white.

This movie was released in tandem with an album of the same name. The movie, while nothing fantastic, is better than the album. When Depeche Mode performs "live", they just play along with a tape, so the audio portion of the concert isn't exciting. The attraction is the visual portion.

The movie follows a bunch of DM fans around in a tour bus that is following the band's tour. The fans act silly, do dumb things, and have pseudo-philosophical conversations. In between these scenes are clips from the concert at the Rose Bowl (the 101st show of the tour). The songs are not presented in the order of the concert (nor are all of the songs shown). The show isn't really stunning, but it is nice to see the band members up close.

This short black and white video is very cool. The band liked photographer Anton Corbijn's work on the "Question of Time" video, so they asked him to do the videos for the Music for the Masses singles. The videos soon developed a theme and were compiled here. Each video is linked though little segues of people in the band's desert "museum". The final video for "Pimpf" is a bit silly, but the entire package is visually stunning.

Well, I don't know that I would have used the word "great" to describe these videos, but...

Some Great Videos was released to coincide with The Singles 81-85 and plays off the name of the Some Great Reward album. The early videos are really funny because the band acts totally ridiculous in them. They are constantly pretending to play instruments imitated by their keyboards, and they wear really lame clothes. The latter videos aren't too bad. The video for "Shake the Disease" is really cool, and the live version of "Photograph" is interesting from an audio perspective.

Here are some Depeche Mode releases that I wish I had but haven't bought for some reason or another:

• The video companion to The Singles 86>98.
• The band released a boxed set of 18 of its singles on CD. It was a bit pricey, so I never bought it. Instead, I individually purchased singles that I wanted. I would like the entire set, though. (I would be happy if the band just released a b-side compilation, too.)
• Devotional: This is a concert video from Songs of Faith and Devotion tour. Unlike the live album from this tour (which I don't have but wouldn't mind owning), the video features songs other than those on the studio album.
• "Barrel of a Gun": I want this single for the "Painkiller" b-side.
• "It's No Good": Again, for the "Slowblow" b-side.

Here are some good Depeche Mode sites on the internet:

• Official Depeche Mode Site: This is Depeche Mode's own site that it began in May 1997. It's very stylish and professional looking.
• Halo's Depeche Mode Page: This is my favorite fan site. It has lots of pictures, updates, and MIDI files.
• Midi For the Masses: This site has a lot of MIDI files.
• Quan's Depeche Mode Page: This is a good fan site with multimedia stuff.