Best Depeche Mode (ordinary studio) album

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Had to include this one too. The correct answer is of course "Black Celebration", but I guess "Violator" or "Music For The Masses" will win, with "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" and "Speak & Spell" gathering some votes from those who don't like Depeche Mode.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Violator	12
Music For The Masses	6
Black Celebration	4
Construction Time Again	3
Some Great Reward	2
Ultra	1
Songs Of Faith And Devotion	1
Speak & Spell	1
A Broken Frame	0
Exciter	0
Playing The Angel	0

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:40 (eighteen years ago)

violator's gonna win, innit?

― the next grozart, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:42 (eighteen years ago)

by virtue of being hands down the best candidate

― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:43 (eighteen years ago)

"Violator" is great, but at least four other Depeche albums are even better.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:44 (eighteen years ago)

(most of which were released in the 80s)

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:45 (eighteen years ago)

oh, come on. "violator" is head and shoulders above the rest. "music for the masses" is godlike, but still doesn't come close.

"a broken frame" is one of those albums (like MFTM, actually) that i didn't listen to for many years, then went back to. i was disappointed. MFTM, however, blew me away all over again (think i posted about this on ned's in-praise-of thread).

to my shame, i still don't think i actually own "ultra".

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)

Violator will walk this.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

First half of Playing the Angel tops the rest of the DM catalogue, but still... Violator it is.

― the Dirt, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:29 (eighteen years ago)

oh, come on. "violator" is head and shoulders above the rest. "music for the masses" is godlike, but still doesn't come close.

I guess you are one of those people who don't realise the greatness of their 80s material. And with their 80s material I don't really count "Music For The Masses", which was their first album not to feature Daniel Miller as their producer, and also the first where they were starting to sound like a "rock" band. IMO, the best three Depeche Mode albums are the ones they released from 1983 to 1986. They have never been better than that, in fact, music in general has hardly ever been better than that.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

what's funny is that i can completely understand someone liking 83-86 Depeche Mode best of all, but i can't see how, on that basis, you can come to the conclusion that Black Celebration is the best album. Black Celebration is like scratch paper for MFTM - they had the idea of what they wanted to do, but hadn't figured it out yet.

― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:33 (eighteen years ago)

I agree with Geir on this one - Black Celebration is their best album.

― Tim F, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:36 (eighteen years ago)

I like "Black Celebration" better because it is slightly lighter, sort of a missing link between other synthpop (which I love too) and the "darker" style of Depeche Mode.

Plus it's the only Depece-album to feature two songs by Alan Wilder, the most underrated composer in the band.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:37 (eighteen years ago)

Er, wait a second, surely Black Celebration is their darkest album?

"Black Celebration", "Flies On The Windscreen", "A Question of Time", "Stripped", "World Full Of Nothing"....

― Tim F, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:40 (eighteen years ago)

Wait a second, you're actually talking about Construction Time Again aren't you.

― Tim F, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:41 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, I was talking about CTA. I agree "Black Celebration" may well be their darkest album (that one or "Music For The Masses")

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:43 (eighteen years ago)

Roberto must have been talking about CTA too though.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:44 (eighteen years ago)

why??

Black Celebration is definitely the darkest DM album, to the point of campness. MFTM has similar moments, like 'Little 16', but in general they've got the, um, balnce right. and then on Violator they really went to town.

― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:50 (eighteen years ago)

Little 15, obv

― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:51 (eighteen years ago)

Surely, OK. But I was speaking of "Construction Time Again". My bad. :)

But "Black Celebration" - my second favourite DM album - seem to be the most popular pic among European Depeche Mode fans as their favourite album by the band.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:52 (eighteen years ago)

CTA i have much less of an objection with, that i would say was the pinnicle of what historians refer to as the Second Period of Depeche Mode. it'd be 3rd to Violator and MFTM in my top 3.

― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 23 April 2007 13:01 (eighteen years ago)

Shit this is hard. I wound up voting for Construction Time Again though.

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

(fwiw I love DM and would TOTALLY vouch for Speak & Spell)

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah I've been a fan of DM since Speak & Spell. Even taped a live show (with Talk Talk) off Nickelodeon way back when where they played tons of Speak. What exactly is wrong with it, Geir? It's certainly their gayest, a direction they quickly (and sadly) abandonded. Maybe the queer factor is what you think is wrong with it...

― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 April 2007 18:53 (eighteen years ago)

just to add to the confusion already evident here: see when i wrote "a broken frame is one of those albums ..." above? i meant "black celebration". brain, meet typing fingers.

roberto spiralli OTM, anyway.

and yeh, geir, i do appreciate the genius of much of their 80s stuff; CTA is a staggering album, SGR was way ahead of its time, "get the balance right" is one of the greatest songs of the decade.

i just think "violator" and, to a lesser extent, MFTM are even greater.

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 23 April 2007 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah I've been a fan of DM since Speak & Spell. Even taped a live show (with Talk Talk) off Nickelodeon way back when where they played tons of Speak. What exactly is wrong with it, Geir?

Nothing at all, except they improved later on and other acts (including Vince Clark's later bands) did the teenybopper synthpop thing better.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:08 (eighteen years ago)

Vince-era Depeche isn't really in the same category as Yaz/Erasure, at least not to my ears. It's a totally different beast.

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

Yes and no. Sure Yazoo didn't do slightly darker stuff such as "Nodisco", "Puppets" or "Photographic", and neither did they do such unashamedly gay stuff as "What's Your Name". But at least Vince's contributions (and more or less all of Erasure's material later on) is very much related to the first three Depeche Mode singles (Alison Moyet did of course bring a very obvious R&B influence into the mix, which can particularly be heard on her compositions on the "You And Me Both" album)

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 20:17 (eighteen years ago)

Results!

Predictable, but I still don't see why Violator stacks so highly against the others. (It's a GREAT album, don't get me wrong.) Maybe if one or two votes had been thrown in the direction of A Broken Frame I'd be a little happier.

― Curt1s Stephens, Saturday, 28 April 2007 21:08 (eighteen years ago)

The only thing I can think of that sets Violator apart is that it's Depeche's sexiest album.

― Curt1s Stephens, Saturday, 28 April 2007 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

I WANT YOU NOW = teh sexy-ness!

― pisces, Sunday, 29 April 2007 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

Violator *is* sexy for "Blue Dress" if nothing else. As an old friend once said to me "what other song asks a woman to put her clothes ON and makes it sound so hot?". So true.

"I want you now" is pretty hot as well though!

― Trayce, Sunday, 29 April 2007 11:56 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

You know, I hadn't heard Exciter before now and I'm of the opinion it is breathing (hotly) down the neck of Violator in the sexiness stakes. "When the Body Speaks", oh goodness me.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 01:06 (eighteen years ago)

It is always good to win more converts to that album.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 01:07 (eighteen years ago)

It really is a lovely album, very ... *alive* and full of passion.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 01:10 (eighteen years ago)

I'm disappointed the last album didn't get more votes. It's the only one that comes anywhere near 'Violator'.

― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 08:32 (eighteen years ago)

Violator is a little overrated here, guys.

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 10:51 (eighteen years ago)

I blame "personal jesus", which thanks to goth clubs I am completely fucking sick of.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 11:01 (eighteen years ago)

Their 80s output, particularly from "Construction Time Again" onwards, is terribly underrated. Not only on ILM though.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 11:42 (eighteen years ago)

I love Violator to bits but there are four albums I would rank above it (Construction Time Again, Black Celebration, Some Great Reward, Playing the Angel; I think it is on par with Music For the Masses and Ultra).

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 13:37 (eighteen years ago)

I mostly agree with Hi Dere, although I'd definitely rank "Violator" above "Music For The Masses".

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

This is outrageous.

― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 17 July 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

nine months pass...

Sometime over the course of the past few weeks A Broken Frame has become my favorite Depeche Mode album. This occurred to me when I realized all the songs kick ass.

― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 05:42 (seventeen years ago)

But all the songs on every DM record kick ass. You cannot win.

― stephen, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 06:17 (seventeen years ago)

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