“Pain and Suffering in Various Tempos”
The title for this post is taken from the cover of the new Depeche Mode album. Said album is also the subject of today’s blog post. I know, I know, I’ve mentioned before that I am a big fan of Depeche Mode so the chances of you getting an unbiased review might seem a little slim but I’m going to give it a whirl anyway.
There was a minor bit of trepidation as I pushed the play button on the CD player. The last Depeche Mode album I had purchased, “Exciter”, was nothing to get excited about (when I’m trying to be glib about it that is). It’s grown on me since then but at first listen there was only one track that stood out. It took a few listens for me to tell the other songs apart and even more listens to start to appreciate them. My biggest criticism of “Exciter” was that it was a bit slow. I guess with a title like “Exciter” I expected something with more beat, something to tap my foot in time to. Instead it was an album of slow, measured songs. Thinking about it now one of the stand out qualities of the album is that the songs aren’t rushed, the band isn’t in a hurry to get the lyrics out and move on to the next song, the music is given equal listening time. But it’s taken me a long time to appreciate this.
So along comes “Playing the Angel” Depeche Mode’s latest offering. Let me say that the first three tracks just completely blew me away. The rest of the album could have been white noise and I’d still consider it one of their best albums. It’s just an added bonus that the rest of the album fulfills the promise made by those first three tracks.
What is interesting is that Martin Gore (one of the best song writers alive today, in my humble opinion) did not write all of the songs for this album. Writing credits also go to Dave Gahan, Eigner and Phillpott (who ever the last two may be). Interestingly these songs just blend in to the overall sound of the album. Either the other three have copped Martin Gore’s style or Depeche Mode’s sound owes more to the band as a whole. I’ve always thought Martin Gore was mostly responsible for the sound of Depeche Mode but I never saw this as a bad thing.
One of the things I love about Depeche Mode’s music is the music. I love that they still put instrumental tracks on their albums (in this case track 9 “introspectre”) which allows me to let my imagination take flight with the soundtrack provided.
Stand out tracks on the album (for me) are “a pain that I’m used to” (track 1), “john the revelator” (track 2), “suffer well” (track 3), “precious” (track 5) and “lilian” (track 11). The album title comes from track 12 “the darkest star”. The line reads “Oh you sad one, playing the angel, isn’t so easy where you’re from”.
If there is one criticism (and hell, what kind of critic would I be if I didn’t have at least one gripe) its the song “macro”. The song stands out on this album for the wrong reasons. It could be that I’m missing the deeper meaning of the song but musically it’s a little out of sync with the rest of the album’s sound, even though Martin Gore’s voice is superb. This might have been a song better suited to “Exciter”.
I would go so far as to say that this is Depeche Mode’s best album to date. I also said the very same thing about “Violator” and “Ultra” when they were released. “Playing the Angel” then doesn’t make these previous albums bad, it just means Depeche Mode keep growing lyrically and musically and are worth paying attention to because even after twenty odd years in the business they still deliver quality.
If you’re a fan then what you’re getting is the more mature Depeche Mode that brought you “Songs of Faith and Devotion” and “Ultra” but with teeny tiny touches that remind you of their ’80s don’t-take-us-too-seriously sound. If you’re not a fan but looking to extend your CD collection then this won’t disappoint. It has some serious lyrics set to an upbeat sound that will probably get a fair amount of airplay on 5FM so we (the slightly older generation) can pretend to still be hip and with it but without having to fake liking the music of today.