Artist: Depeche Mode
Label: Mute Records
Released: 1987
Rating: 4.5/5
“Music For The Masses” was a kind of release-valve album for Depeche Mode. After “Black Celebration”, which demanded a long production phase, the band was pretty worn out, despite the great results the album achieved. They needed fresh inspiration and creative momentum, so Daniel Miller stepped away from the producer’s seat and was replaced by Dave Bascombe, who co-produced “Music For The Masses” with the band. At the time, the Tears For Fears sound was extremely hot. Bascombe had created that sound, and Depeche Mode leaned on it noticeably on “Music For The Masses”. On the new album David left a real stamp on the whole sound, and the record carries completely fresh, recognizable arrangements that the band had never used in its musical expression before. The contrasts between vocals, electronic sound samples and rhythms are strikingly clear, and at the same time they carry an extraordinary sonic depth that surpasses “Black Celebration”. Still, the two albums are wildly different from each other, so the easiest thing is to take the Solomonic way out and conclude that each simply wears the production that suits its own overall image. But in terms of maturity, “Music For The Masses” is a step forward for Depeche Mode. Even if we follow some of the palettes of vocal harmonies that back the lead vocal, and the duets themselves, across the record, you can hear a new upgrade in them.
“Music For The Masses” is the brighter sibling of its predecessor “Black Celebration” (1986), which is marked by a strong sensual depth but also a distinctly dark look. On “Music For The Masses”, Depeche Mode struck a real middle path between their dark and light sides. The album is easily accessible to anyone, just like its title says. The first four tracks fly by incredibly fast, carrying the album on the big pop-techno wings the band is known for. Little 15 and then Behind The Wheel are the moments on the record that flip the switch to a gloomy mood that keeps deepening all the way to the end. Behind The Wheel is built on a solid electronic pattern and, on the other side, stands on a danceable techno beat that firmly grounds the track from there on. Honestly, it doesn’t need anything more. Just Dave’s unique vocal, which breathes the Depeche Mode soul into the song.It’s only a handful of easy, simple tricks, measured out in a thoroughly rational “thrifty” way, but the effect of that simplicity is the creation of a unique atmosphere. Something Depeche Mode have always done with flying colors, and something that gave the band its unmistakable identity.
Alan Wilder made the biggest contribution to the album. It opens with what has by now become a “folk-classic” anthem, Never Let Me Down – a mandatory staple of the band’s live shows (even today), which offers the band’s typical trick. A basic motif that the guys masterfully layer, pattern on pattern, building a complex sonic accordion-fold. In Never Let Me Down, Depeche Mode backed the main motif with guitar too, which they had previously avoided like the plague, and the effect of emphasizing the depth of the sonic picture is that much more contrasting in the track. The record is accompanied from start to finish by a seductive interplay between Dave’s lead vocal and Martin’s back vocals, which breathe life into the electronic “cold intellect”, and the depth of feeling comes to life with ease. Besides Never Let Me Down, in 1987 Depeche Mode launched two more singles from “Music For The Masses”, namely the superb electro dance-pop banger Strangelove and the obscure Behind The Wheel, and the two of them are too (judging by their structure), while Little 15 came out as a single a year later. Two more “hit single” candidates on the record are The Things You Said and Sacred, which only confirms how strong “Music For The Masses” was in its consistency. The release of “Music For The Masses” finally brought the band huge success in the US, where the album went platinum. Up to that album, Depeche Mode had a few big hits that dangerously shook the tops of the charts around the world, there was People Are People,… so it was a prior sequence of events, and the release of “Music For The Masses”, which the crowd had been waiting for so feverishly, was just the cherry on top. It’s proof that Depeche Mode built their cult status of success slowly, but very surely. Suddenly Depeche Mode were filling arena stadiums across the pond. That’s also where the documentary film “101” came from, which captured the band’s concert at the Rosebowl stadium (Pasadena, USA), where Depeche Mode played in front of 80,000 people.
“Music For The Masses” is a big step forward for the band, both compositionally and commercially. It’s a product that presents the band at the point of reaching a recognizable maturity, a maturity that left the rebellious fury behind. With “Music For The Masses”, the band offered just the right balance between the dark experimental side, where the hidden thoughts of all the possible darkest images of eternal longing come alive, and the band’s bright, easygoing, punchy techno-pop face. With this album, Depeche Mode stepped into one of the brightest periods of their musical career.
The DVD included in the reissue offers the music in PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 “surround” and DTS 5.1, and contains the B-sides of three released singles plus four 5.1 remixes. This edition is something special for the 37-minute documentary film alone, titled “Depeche Mode: 1987-88 (Sometimes You Do Need Some New Jokes)”, which explores the period of the band in which the album “Music For The Masses” was made, with recent interviews with band members on how the album came together, and it also covers the tour that followed the album’s release, especially the closing concert, which D.A. Pennebaker put on film for the movie “101”.
Lineup
David Gahan – vocals
Martin Gore – vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesyzer
Alan Wilder – keyboards, synthesizer, programming
Andrew Fletcher – keyboards, synthesizer
Production
Depeche Mode & David Bascombe
Track list
CD 1.:
(hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer)
1. Never Let Me Down Again (4:47)
2. The Things You Said (3:55)
3. Strangelove (4:38)
4. Sacred (5:01)
5. Little 15 (4:14)
6. Behind the Wheel (5:17)
7. I Want You Now (3:28)
8. To Have and to Hold (3:08)
9. Nothing (4:12)
10. Pimpf (3:56)
Album length: 44:06
CD 2.(DVD):
(“Music For The Masses” in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1)
1. Never Let Me Down Again (4:47)
2. The Things You Said (3:55)
3. Strangelove (4:38)
4. Sacred (5:01)
5. Little 15 (4:14)
6. Behind the Wheel (5:17)
7. I Want You Now (3:28)
8. To Have and to Hold (3:08)
9. Nothing (4:12)
10. Pimpf (3:56)
Bonus Tracks (in PCM Stereo):
1. Agent Orange (5:05)
2. Pleasure, Little Treasure (2:53)
3. Route 66 (4:11)
4. Stjarna (4:25)
5. Sonata No.14 in C#m (Moonlight Sonata)(5:36)
Bonus 5.1 Mixes (DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo):
1. Agent Orange (5:31)
2. Never Let Me Down Again [Aggro Mix](4:58)
3. To Have And to Hold [Spanish Taster](2:36)
4. Pleasure, Little Treasure [Glitter Mix] (5:38)
Additional Material:
“Depeche Mode 87-88 (Sometimes You Do Need Some New Jokes)” [37 Minute video]
