[.ca] Construction Time Again

Was great when it was new -- does not hold up today:
This was my favorite Depeche Mode album for a long time. But like a lot of earlier Depeche Mode, I just don't think this holds up anymore. It's not the timeless pop classic that Violator is, and doesn't have the sophistication of Songs of Faith and Devotion. Pretty much everything before Music for the Masses is just hard to appreciate now except in a historical sense. If you're exploring the early years of Depeche Mode, or trying to round out the collection, it's a worthwhile buy. If you are new to DM and are looking for just any DM to buy, first get Violator and SOFAD if you don't already have them.

This is a great work!:
This is the first really great Depeche album. It's probably also the biggest step forward taken in their career. Although some songs are better than others, there's not a dud on the album. It's also the first DM album to feature the exellent Alan Wilder. "and Then.." is a beautiful song and I really like, unlike most of these reviews, "Pipeline". I don't think it's boring at all.

Mostly a Good Album:
Most of the album is good, but a few tracks are very boring. The best track is "And Then" following with the two Alan Wilder tracks. Everything counts is a good song, but I feel a much strongerv version can be found on the 101 album or 86-98. I would only reccomend this album to hardcore fans.

Mind Traveled too far:
This is in response to mind traveler...You should check out Recoil, then compare it to Depeche Mode now... You mention you hate this album out of all of them...but then you mention you hated Ultra and Exciter...the albums that Alan wasn't on... For he made their sound more full and interesting... with the piano and strings and deep analog bass... back in the day Alan was the only one that had any musical talent in the band... and the other band members admited it... Violater, and Love, Faith, Devotion was most influenced by Alan... You should check your facts better...

Depeche Mode Go Industrial:
This album remains one of my favourites in the dM catalogue. With this album the band pretty much leave behind the purely pop-oriented songs of their early days, and instead transition fully into a unique industrial sound with a more experimental feel. (Here I mean industrial in its true sense with sampled metallic sounds, etc.) Brilliant use of sampled sounds accented by instruments such as metallaphones keep the songs fresh and interesting. The album's tracks really do have a unique vibrancy and texture to them. While "Everything Counts" is indeed a classic, my favourites on this album are the darker tracks: Pipeline, Shame, Two Minute Warning, and The Landscape is Changing (the latter two of which are under-rated rare compositions of Alan Wilder). The lyrics of the album give it a somewhat young and naive feel, intermixed with a sense of injustice. In this way, the raw sentiments behind the lyrics match the interesting and sometimes erratic feeling of the instrumentation. The album cover and title bring together the blue-collar, industrial theme of the album, a marked improvement over dM's somewhat unfocused previous album "A Broken Frame".

• Love in Itself
• More Than a Party
• Pipeline
• Everything Counts
• Two Minute Warning
• Shame
• Landscape Is Changing
• Told You So
• And Then...
• Everything Counts \oLong Version\c\o*\c