Very Lucky wrote:Or you could just start from the Speak & Spell and go from there. Personally, I enjoy listening to an artists discography from the start to see how that artist has evolved; giving me a good overview of their career.
Nice in theory if you're committed to going the journey...
Retro.
"Politics are too emotional now. Contemporary culture generally is too emotional, really... I'd rather people looked to the truth." (Neil Tennant)
spooky wrote:when it comes to DM, you can't go wrong if Alan Wilder is involved. granted DM had their fair share of "fillers", but their best material was when Alan was on board.
Simply not true - 2 of their top 3 albums were released after his departure: Ultra and Playing the angel. Also, I never really liked the "rock" adventure of Songs of faith and devotion, and as Eldritch wrote above Music for the masses contains all too many fillers.
Black celebration is fantastic too, but the given album to start with would be Violator, probably the best album ever made. Ultra has much more soul and depth though.
AdamDowds wrote:I find the documentaries on the remastered albums very fascinating, watching the production process of each album and the progression of the Depeche Mode story. How they started as teenagers on Speak and Spell (also a great start, but completely different to everything after), grew up with Black Celebration, Music For the Masses and Violator. How it started to go downhill at Songs in Faith and Devotion (released the year I was born), and the recovery on Ultra and Exciter.
100% agree here. In fact I'd say it's worth picking up the two-disc remasters just for the documentaries on the bonus DVD. Sure, some of the documentaries are longer than others, but every single one is a fascinating insight into the band, Mute records and how everything was working at the time. Probably the best "bonus features" ever to have accompanied a music release I have in my collection, and certainly the most revisited.
FormerEnfantTerrible wrote:I'm so obsessed with Barrel of a Gun right now! and It's No Good is SO good. I think I will buy Ultra next week, I need it.
Home is also probably up there with the best songs they've ever written. Ultra took a long time to grow on me, but now it's definitely one of my favourites. A great album born out of a difficult period for the band.
Jamesqdot wrote:Home is also probably up there with the best songs they've ever written. Ultra took a long time to grow on me, but now it's definitely one of my favourites. A great album born out of a difficult period for the band.
"Politics are too emotional now. Contemporary culture generally is too emotional, really... I'd rather people looked to the truth." (Neil Tennant)
Indeed, actually I find that Ultra is most likely my favourite of theirs; there is just something about it that feels raw to me. The beats in songs like Barrel of a Gun, It's No Good, Freestate, and Useless are addicting, and the atmospheric songs like The Bottom Line, Insight, and Sister of Night really capture some emotions.
I started with the Singles 81-85 back in 1988. I was 14 and loved it.
Violator was an album that guided me through my final year of school, but I thought the B-sides Sea of Sin & Happiest Girl were also great.
Songs of Faith & Devotion was just brilliant and as many on here say, the live version of this album is just brilliant as is the DVD. This was when Dave Gahan was at the height of his heroin/booze addiction, but as they said on the album notes, ''Musically, it was fine, offstage it was messy''
"Violator" + "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" + the singles collections = you're set.
What is implied by the above is that to me DM has been a singles band for most of their career, with the exception of those two brilliant studio albums mentioned. With all the other albums, if you have the singles collections you have the vast majority of the best stuff. For instance, Eldritch mentions that half of Music For The Masses is sublime. That is true. The singles plus Little 15 (which was a single in some territories anyway). Sure there are great album tracks here and there, but the above would be the logical place to start.
Two DM videos that also spring to mind are ''Strange'' and ''Strange Too'' which haven't come out on DVD as far as I know. Both are excellent examples of their respective albums (Music for the masses and Violator) where music videos of the album tracks are both odd and just brilliant.
Ultra has much more soul and depth though.
