Depeche Mode -- Some Great Reward

I....could be wrong but I honestly think this is the only Depeche album without its own individual thread! Which is a little surprising to me! Well, now it has one. Anyway I wrote about it for the Quietus...

http://thequietus.com/articles/16246-depeche-mode-some-great-reward

surely this is the first-phase DM album with the most well known hits on it?

great album cover too.

The first time I learned that "Blasphemous Rumours" existed was when two of my friends asked if they could read the lyrics to our 6th-grade English class for extra credit. It's one of my favorite school memories and mostly what made me want to investigate Depeche Mode beyond "People Are People" (which I loved btw, but it was the "I will crank the radio whenever this comes on" kind of love rather than the "I must own this NOW" kind of love; I had a similar thing with "West End Girls" until I actually listened to the lyrics).

I often feel that this album gets overlooked by Depeche Mode fans these days, but just look at that tracklisting! Four stellar singles ('People Are People', 'Master and Servant', 'Somebody', 'Blasphemous Rumours'), an awesome opening track ('Something To Do'), a fan favourite deep cut even though I don't really rate it that much ('Lie To Me'), the underrated and oft-neglected 'It Doesn't Matter'... the band have even dug out 'Stories Of Old' acoustically in recent years, if memory serves. It's a good record, not quite the same level of quality as the four albums that came after it, but it's not that far away.

btw Ned, great article

<3

Yes, nice work Ned.

It's true that MG was desperately trying to structure his lyrics around personal, "adult" themes and that for the most part, they are a bit embarrassing to read through now. But when I was a teenager it all made perfect sense, and I guess that's what matters most.

Been on a DM kick lately and have been revisiting most of the catalogue. For the most part, their best work holds up amazingly well (especially Music For The Masses, Violator, Ultra, and--my favorite--Black Celebration), but...is it just me or is Some Great Reward a lousy record? Aside from the singles, I mean

Love "If You Want", definitely one of my favorite DM tunes

xpost -- Lousy? I beg to differ.

Convince me otherwise! Your praise of Music For The Masses on another thread was revelatory; I've always liked that album, but you made me reevaluate it in a whole new way. This one, though, err...

This one is tremendous for all the reasons previously stated on this thread. The singles are great (although overexposure has burnt me out on "Master and Servant" and "Blasphemous Rumours") but you also have the lurking menace of "Lie To Me" and "Stories of Old", the inexorable building rush of "If You Want", and the soaring eloquence intertwined with longing, hopefulness and despair on "It Doesn't Matter".

Well then perhaps read the piece of mine I linked at the start of the thread...

(That post to Wimmels.)

in conclusion: it's just you

I missed that link somehow! Sorry.

I'll give it a headphone listen tonight. The last time I listened to it before this most recent time was probably 15 years ago, and I remember liking it fine back then. It's funny coming back to things later. I had a similar experience with Meat Is Murder. I loved it in high school, but when on a whim I played it recently it sounded just awful to me

At one point, I would have said Black Celebration to Songs of Faith and Devotion was Depeche's "classic" run, but in recent years I see Some Great Reward to Ultra as the "classic" period.

Some Great Reward was the first album where they became the Depeche Mode that most people fell in love with.

Speak & Spell, as fully formed as it is, came from a different place entirely. A Broken Frame is them trying to move forward after Vince left, and for Construction Time Again, Gore writes from a political angle he'd seldom use again after that record. Some Great Reward is where everything finally falls into place.

But are the songs there? I mean, I hear what you're saying about the DM 'sound,' but to me, none of these songs come close to even the average tunes on Black Celebration.

I think I may even prefer the perennially underrated A Broken Frame (but again, haven't heard it in years)

Yes, I'd say the songs were there. Undoubtedly. If anything, I think this album is underrated as hell these days. 'Something To Do' and 'It Doesn't Matter' in particular are two of my favourite Depeche Mode songs from the '80s, if we're talking album tracks.

OK, OK, I'm going to spend some time listening tonight! I dunno why (possibly the shit weather) but Depeche Mode is sounding really good to me these days

I'd take SGR over Black Celebration any day

Lie to Me is sublime to me in the way the layers fit together and overlap. It's one of those songs I could listen to for hours

Album sounded great yesterday. It had been so long since I heard the hits, as such, in the context of the album itself that they sounded really fresh.

IMO Depeche Mode didn't cohere as an album band until Construction Time Again (which is super underrated) and have been releasing good to outstanding albums ever since.