RhoDeo 1241 Aetix

Hello, Aetix time again and todays band has been shy'd away from these past years, not that I didn't like them but I felt they've had plenty of attention these last decades and plenty of global success, something that certainly wasn't apparent at the start of their career. Originally a product of Britain's new romantic movement, Depeche Mode went on to become the quintessential electro-pop band of the 1980s. One of the first acts to establish a musical identity based completely around the use of synthesizers, they began their existence as a bouncy dance-pop outfit but gradually developed a darker, more dramatic sound that ultimately positioned them as one of the most successful alternative bands of their era. For starters their first three albums where control switched each time, yet growing and preparing for the big success that was to come.

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In 1979 Clarke had formed French Look, another duo featuring guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore; Fletcher soon signed on, and the group rechristened itself Composition of Sound. Initially, Clarke handled vocal chores, but in 1980 singer David Gahan was brought in to complete the lineup. After one final name change to Depeche Mode, the quartet members jettisoned all instruments excluding their synthesizers, honing a slick, techno-based sound to showcase Clarke's catchy melodies.

After signing to Mute Records, they issued "Dreaming of Me" in early 1981; while neither the single nor its follow-up, "New Life," caused much of a stir, their third effort, "Just Can't Get Enough," became a Top Ten U.K. hit, and their 1981 debut LP, Speak and Spell, was also a success. Just as Depeche Mode appeared poised for a major commercial breakthrough, however, principal songwriter Clarke abruptly exited to form Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet, leaving the group's future in grave doubt.As Gore grabbed the band's songwriting reins, the remaining trio recruited keyboardist Alan Wilder to fill the technological void created by Clarke's departure.

While 1982's A Broken Frame deviated only slightly from Depeche Mode's earlier work, Gore's ominous songs grew more assured and sophisticated by the time of 1983's Construction Time Again. Some Great Reward, issued the following year, was their artistic and commercial breakthrough, as Gore's dark, kinky preoccupations with spiritual doubt ("Blasphemous Rumours") and psychosexual manipulation ("Master and Servant") came to the fore; the egalitarian single "People Are People" was a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic and typified the music's turn toward more industrial textures.

Released in 1986, the atmospheric Black Celebration continued the trend toward grim melancholy and further established the group as a commercial force; it eventually sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S., which earned it gold status. Released in 1987, Music for the Masses, featuring three Hot 100 singles in "Strangelove," "Never Let Me Down Again," and "Behind the Wheel," propelled the group into the mainstream. The album would sell over a million copies in the U.S. alone. A subsequent sold-out tour yielded the 1989 double live set 101.

With the alternative music boom of the early '90s, Depeche Mode emerged as one of the world's most successful acts. The triple-platinum Violator, released in 1990. Their 1993 LP Songs of Faith and Devotion -- featuring a significant change in its heavy use of electric guitars -- entered the charts in the number one slot. However, at the peak of its success, the group began to unravel, beginning with Wilder's 1995 exit. Gahan attempted to take his own life and later entered a drug rehabilitation clinic to battle an addiction to heroin.

After a four-year layoff, Depeche Mode continued onward as a trio and released 1997's Ultra,  A year later, the band embarked on a tour playing 64 shows in 18 countries for over one million fans. Exciter, the band's follow-up to Ultra, was released in 2001. After some solo work, the bandmembers soon resumed working together, and Playing the Angel, their 11th studio album, became a Top Ten hit upon its release in October 2005. It topped the album charts in 18 countries and went multi-platinum and/or gold in 20 countries.

Depeche Mode went on to play for more than two and a half million fans worldwide, and the DVD release Touring the Angel: Live in Milan (2006) captured one of the band's greatest shows. Sounds of the Universe, also made with the assistance of Hillier, arrived in early 2009 and debuted at number three in the U.S.

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For all the claims about "dated" '80s sounds from rock purists, it should be noted that the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup of rock is almost 25 years older than the catchy keyboard lines and electronic drums making the music here. On Speak & Spell -- Depeche became the undisputed founder of straight-up synth pop with the album's 11 songs, light, hooky, and danceable numbers about love, life, and clubs. Credit for the album's success has to go to main songwriter Vince Clarke, who would extend and arguably perfect the synth pop formula with Yazoo and Erasure; the classic early singles "New Life," "Dreaming of Me," and "Just Can't Get Enough," along with numbers ranging from the slyly homoerotic "Pretty Boy" to the moody thumper "Photographic," keep everything moving throughout.

Depeche Mode ‎– Speak & Spell (flac  264mb)

01 New Life 3:46
02 I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead 2:18
03 Puppets 3:56
04 Boys Say Go! 3:08
05 Nodisco 4:15
06 What's Your Name? 2:45
07 Photographic 4:43
08 Tora! Tora! Tora! 4:38
09 Big Muff 4:24
10 Any Second Now (Voices) 2:35
11 Just Can't Get Enough 3:44
12 Dreaming Of Me 4:03

Depeche Mode ‎– Speak & Spell (ogg 111mb)

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Martin Gore has famously noted that Depeche Mode stopped worrying about its future when the first post-Vince Clarke-departure single, "See You," placed even higher on the English charts than anything else Clarke had done with them. Such confidence carries through all of A Broken Frame, a notably more ambitious effort than the pure pop/disco of the band's debut. With arranging genius Alan Wilder still one album away from fully joining the band, Frame became very much Gore's record, writing all the songs and exploring various styles never again touched upon in later years.

Depeche Mode ‎– A Broken Frame (flac  232mb)

01 Leave In Silence 4:51
02 My Secret Garden 4:47
03 Monument 3:16
04 Nothing To Fear 4:19
05 See You 4:33
06 Satellite 4:44
07 The Meaning Of Love 3:07
08 A Photograph Of You 3:04
09 Shouldn't Have Done That 3:15
10 The Sun & The Rainfall 4:58

Depeche Mode ‎– A Broken Frame  (ogg 95mb)

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The full addition of Alan Wilder to Depeche Mode's lineup created a perfect troika that would last another 11 years, as the combination of Martin Gore's songwriting, Wilder's arranging, and David Gahan's singing and live star power resulted in an ever more compelling series of albums and singles. Construction Time Again, the new lineup's first full effort, is a bit hit and miss nonetheless, but when it does hit, it does so perfectly.  It offers the first clear hint of an increasing industrial influence (the bandmembers were early fans of Einstürzende Neubauten), with clattering metal samples and oddly chain gang-like lyrics and vocals. The album's clear highlight has to be "Everything Counts," a live staple for years, combining a deceptively simple, ironic lyric about the music business.

Depeche Mode ‎– Construction Time Again (flac  263mb)

01 Love, In Itself 4:30
02 More Than A Party 4:44
03 Pipeline 5:55
04 Everything Counts 4:22
05 Two Minute Warning 4:14
06 Shame 3:45
07 The Landscape Is Changing 4:49
08 Told You So 4:25
09 And Then... 4:35
10 Everything Counts (Reprise) 1:05

Depeche Mode ‎– Construction Time Again (ogg 102mb)

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