― Kim (Kim), Monday, 24 October 2005 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link
I must agree with whoever posted that I've always loved 'Never Let Me Down Again'. It's just so fucking HUGE. Yes, it is, particularly the version on one of the live DVDs that I have - One Night in Paris? Been a while since I watched it. However, filler such as Pimpf dragges Music for the Masses down as an album, imho.
― John Hunter, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 06:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 23 July 2006 21:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― mark e (mark e), Friday, 20 October 2006 13:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:20 (seventeen years ago) link
"Strangelove" is not the single version and that's a good thing, because I like the machine gear loop noise and that barely audible bell-like synth bit then BAM BAM BAM and it's suddenly bass and drums that in its brute simplicity could be, I dunno, Prince 1984 in Eastern Europe or something. Motown 1971 after the apocalypse when the robots took over. The guitar on this one is subtle compared to That Riff on "Never Let Me Down Again" but like on so many later songs it's this lovely shading hiding out amid the strident synth riff that's this unmissable nag nag nag. And the song's about circular codependency of extremism in 'love' or somesuch. I like how at the end there's a part where Gahan calls and responses and then suddenly where his voice 'should' be a sudden high synth bit squirrels across the mix.
― a name means a lot just by itself (lfam), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― All The Furniture Is In The Garage (Bimble...), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― All The Furniture Is In The Garage (Bimble...), Monday, 6 November 2006 06:25 (seventeen years ago) link
I love you love me love
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 November 2006 07:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 1 March 2007 16:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Curt1s Stephens, Thursday, 1 March 2007 18:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― Curt1s Stephens, Thursday, 1 March 2007 18:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Does it really have anything to do with the "joys of drug use" though??
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 March 2007 18:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― Curt1s Stephens, Thursday, 1 March 2007 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 4 March 2007 00:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 4 March 2007 00:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― gershy, Sunday, 4 March 2007 02:21 (seventeen years ago) link
Ultra is easily the best of their 90s albums IMO; it's much more cohesive than SOFAD and it isn't completely forgettable two weeks later the way that Exciter is.
funny how 7 years later I don't really like Ultra all that much and am really, really, really bullish on Exciter (which still isn't as good as Violator)
― I'M THAT POSTA, AAAAAAAAAH (DJP), Friday, 27 April 2012 17:17 (twelve years ago) link
also, "Never Let Me Down", "Strangelove" and "The Things You Said" all own hardcore
Especially in their various album mixes.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 April 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
oh yeah, the single version of "Strangelove" is TERRIBLE and embarrassing tbh
I don't think there's a version of "Never Let Me Down Again" that I've heard that I've disliked, though
― I'M THAT POSTA, AAAAAAAAAH (DJP), Friday, 27 April 2012 17:28 (twelve years ago) link
There is not one song on this album that I dislike.
― Respectfully, Tyrese Gibson (Nicole), Friday, 27 April 2012 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
I like the remix of "Behind the Wheel" that was on the single more than the album version (probably because I heard the single first)
― I'M THAT POSTA, AAAAAAAAAH (DJP), Friday, 27 April 2012 18:35 (twelve years ago) link
I had all of the remixes back in the day on a cassette tape, but I couldn't even tell you what they sounded like now.
― Respectfully, Tyrese Gibson (Nicole), Friday, 27 April 2012 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
I like this record but still prefer Violator even if I think about it for more than a few seconds the later album has as much filler.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 April 2012 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
violator is the ne plus ultra of zero filler albums!
― Touché Gödel (ledge), Friday, 27 April 2012 19:25 (twelve years ago) link
don't like "Blue Dress" or "Clean"
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 April 2012 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
well that's just crazy
― I'M THAT POSTA, AAAAAAAAAH (DJP), Friday, 27 April 2012 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
Great thread, yawl. What a magnificent op too. Love the love for Agent Orange, I keep going back to it. They have some very pretty instrumentals.
Ned, I hope you're going to vote in this one.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 27 April 2012 21:06 (twelve years ago) link
Alas, you'll have to make do without me.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 April 2012 21:24 (twelve years ago) link
booooooooooooooooooooo
― I'M THAT POSTA, AAAAAAAAAH (DJP), Friday, 27 April 2012 22:49 (twelve years ago) link
it would be politically and philosophically incorrect to know Ned's top 20 songs by any of his favorite bands. he gave us Ned's Nineties and anyone who dares connect the dots further from there is on their own.
― pizza pizza and cult jam (crüt), Friday, 27 April 2012 23:04 (twelve years ago) link
Our loss that any alliterative decades are a long ways off (unless he has a Scooby Doo-style change of heart in 28 years and brings us Raggett's Rirties).
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Friday, 27 April 2012 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
Now that would be a vision.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 April 2012 23:46 (twelve years ago) link
run rundred rirty eight best ralbums
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Friday, 27 April 2012 23:50 (twelve years ago) link
I always tend to prefer the album mixes of Depeche tracks over their single versions. For me, the single versions of 'Strangelove' and 'A Question Of Time' seem to lack the power that the album versions have. I suppose the Zephyr mix of 'In Your Room' is an interesting and different take on the song, but for me there is nothing more powerful than the 6-minute dark and atmospheric-as-fuck album version.
My favourite version of 'Never Let Me Down Again' is the one on 101 where they segue into the remix briefly for the middle section. I often find myself listening to it and wishing that they could have put that pulsing bass synth section into the album version.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
I've always found 'Blue Dress' and 'Clean' closes the Violator album perfectly. Granted, neither of them are as anthemic as many of the tracks that came before, but those songs are definitely in the right place on the tracklist. The way that 'Blue Dress' segues into 'Clean' via that interlude piece is one of the highlights of the album for me!
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 00:05 (twelve years ago) link
Love the video for the album mix of Strangelove. They look so fucking bored in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yurcWr84s5I&feature=related
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 01:28 (twelve years ago) link
Also I love that they're projecting this big heart shape on everything but stretched out it's like they're illuminated by a big nutsack.
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
Party time is here again!
https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1560/24707332820_3da1b89669_n.jpg
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Tuesday, 16 May 2017 19:49 (seven years ago) link
So, happily borrowing some wording from my first post up there (but it's mostly all new):
http://thequietus.com/articles/23166-depeche-mode-music-for-the-masses-review-anniversary
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 September 2017 13:12 (seven years ago) link
Awesome piece, Ned.
I too was in Los Angeles at this time, too young to attend anything but old enouogh to have already be absolutely in love with music, and missing the Rose Bowl show was devestating to me at the time. Instead I sat on the backyard patio of my parent's house and listened to the KROQ broadcast of the event. I was bummed but I still felt part of something that was happening.
I don't know about other cities in the world in 1988 but it's hard to understate just how massive Depeche Mode were in Los Angeles at that time. It was Beatlemania when they'd show up somewhere. Even though I'd already become educated in and deeply affected by the entire New Order/Factory/Saville mythos by the time and was mostly consumed by that stuff, Depeche Mode still felt very much a part of everything that was important to me as I was becoming obsessed with music and this album is the sound of that time. In contrast, it took a long time for me to get into 'Violator' because of how minimal, angular, and cold most of it sounded to me in comparison.
― yesca, Monday, 11 September 2017 13:36 (seven years ago) link
Yeah I definitely take the point on Violator's 'cooler' feel -- which may seem strange given "Personal Jesus" and its massive stomp, but I think that also serves the album pretty well in comparison. When I first heard it on the day of release, I remember thinking from the get-go how sharp it sounded at points.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 September 2017 16:11 (seven years ago) link
I don't find Violator an angular or cold record at all. There was a bit of a trend of synthpop acts returning to analogue synths in the early '90s. Behaviour and Chorus being a couple of other examples of this.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Monday, 11 September 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
Well, you're wrong. :-D (I am busy and can't get into this further right now.)
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 September 2017 16:22 (seven years ago) link
Heh! I agree that the record feels minimal by comparison... Black Celebration and Music for the Masses are quite layered records and there's quite a fair bit going on under the surface, whereas Violator is simpler - not that this is a bad thing.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Monday, 11 September 2017 17:36 (seven years ago) link
whereas Violator is simpler - not that this is a bad thing.
This said, I still prefer the many layered and huge sounding approach of Masses over everything else.
― yesca, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 14:46 (seven years ago) link
I don't agree with the characterization of Violator as "stripped down". It only really describes "Waiting for the Night" and mmmmmmmaybe "Blue Dress". The other 8 songs build and layer in much the same way the songs on Music for the Masses do.
― this iphone speaks many languages (DJP), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 15:02 (seven years ago) link
The big difference for me is that Violator is a lot crisper, whereas the previous two albums (and some before) are very reverb-y. Violator is still quite layered though
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 15:33 (seven years ago) link