Who here's got love for the Mode? Because I think they just might become my new favorite band/group.

I've loved the Violator album for a long time now, and I recently checked out Songs of Faith and Devotion and it's every bit as fantastic ("In Your Room" is a stroke of atmospheric genius). I also love some of their earlier stuff like "Everything Counts", "Master and Servant", "People Are People", etc.

Black Celebration is my next album to check out (I know the title track and nothing else so far); I tried checking out Music for the Masses but alas, I found it incredibly corny outside of "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Strangelove." Maybe it'll grow on me, though... some music takes time to grow on me before I can truly hear the quality of it.


So show your love for the sexy voice of Dave Gahan, the brilliant songwriting of Martin Gore, and the all-around gorgeousness of this band's music here.

I was a big Depeche Mode fan back in the day. Violater and Songs of Faith and Devotion are the best albums they came out with in my opinion. Black Celebration is very different and moody. You will probably either love it or not really like it at all. All albums before Black Celebration are kind of cheesy and sound very outdated. Albums after Songs of Faith... are a big step down most likely because Alan Wilder left the group.

One of my favorite bands. Songs of Faith and Devotion is their best album, but there are some gems to be found on later albums like Ultra and Exciter. I will confess that I have a soft spot for their poppier, brighter early material though - It's not deep, but it's damn catchy.

And you're not crazy with your assessment of Music for the Masses. Aside from Never Let Me Down Again and Strangelove, it's a weak record IMO.

I like Playing the Angel as well as of course Violator, and Some Great Reward, . I have their discography but haven't gotten around to digesting it yet.

My Sister is a big Depeche Mode fan, and has been since we were young. I resisted for years... During their last tour, I took her and had a ball!
I even bought "Touring the Angel" at the show.

I've gone back thru her stuff, and loaded it all onto my computer.
I don't like "Speak & Spell", but the other stuff is good to me. "Black Celebration" is actually my favorite.

1984-1990 was their peak IMO

Music for the Masses was/is almost perfect. At least if you were there when it was released.
Girls



Songs of Faith and Devotion, as good as it is, was a bit of a let down to me, coming behind Violator

I love the mode, especially when big Dave was well off the rails.

Still think the songs of faith and devotion concert at GMEX was the best I ever saw, right in the middle at the front - awesome



Love them from the early days right up to this point

Most of my favest artists have ONE album (or more) that is special to me. In the case of DM that is Violator.

I love, love, love Violator; the entire album, start to end, is magnificent. The sounds, the vocals, the escapism, the elatedness... I love this album so much. One of those few I rather listen to in it's entirety...

Been on a depeche mode kick lately, myself. Black Celebration is my fave, followed by Violator and Music/Masses. The Black Celebration re-issue is pretty good, but I cant get the second disc to play on anything! It's pissing me off a bit, because "But NOt Tonight" isnt included on the 1st disc, its on the second bonus material disc...which wont freakin play .

I think all the earlier stuff is a bit cheeky except for a few songs. IMO they started hitting their stride with Some Great Reward. Although it has songs that are played out, that was the beginning of some very different song writing and song structure.

I loved the albums that came right after that. Black Celebration is great, dark and moody. Music for the masses is probably my favorite.. with them going more in a rock/guitar direction than the earlier ones. I did miss the darkness of Black Celebration as well as some of the electronic leanings. But I liked the experimental style of it especailly the vocals and lyrics. Violator is good. I felt it was a bit of a let down as the songs were VERY simple and it seemed like the record was poising them to be superstars and going for something a bit more mainstream. The moodyness and darkness was back though.

After that I feel they went in a different direction. While I like SOFAD, there was Condemnation that I hated as well as this darker grungier undertone going on that would set in motion the direction in which they were going to take the band. What is interesting is that this is the last album Andrew Wilder was on. I know that he was the one that introduced thm to this newer sound and was even a sound he would eventually leave them to pursue on his own with Recoil. I suppose that what is interesting is that even with his departure, they kept that sound around for the subsequent albums like Ultra, which I didn't like that much.

And after Ultra, I think I have peeked into what they were doing here and there. The last album was pretty decent.