Depeche Mode albums

  1. Violator (1990)
  2. Black Celebration (1986)
  3. Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)
  4. Playing the Angel (2005)
  5. Music For the Masses (1987)
  6. Some Great Reward (1984)
  7. Ultra (1997)
  8. Construction Time Again (1983)
  9. Sounds of the Universe (2009)
  10. Speak and Spell (1981)
  11. A Broken Frame (1982)
  12. Exciter (2001)
  13. Delta Machine (2013)

This list was a little tricky to decide on. The albums in the middle I wouldn’t consider middle of the road, but DM has so may good albums, many get pushed to the bottom. Take #11 for instance. “A Broken Frame” is a really excellent album, but pretty much all the other ones were better. “Speak and Spell” really only get’s ahead of it because to me is was pretty unique compared to the others, and though wildly different, it was strong and interesting.

“Exciter” and “Delta Machine” I suspect are on most people’s lists as the worst 2 albums. Both can be safely ignored. The singles from those albums are weak and the production on both albums are really bad. For “Exciter”, I can’t decide if the album is over-produced or under-produced, but it doesn’t sound like anything original, the lyrics are pretty bad, and it just isn’t listenable. “Delta Machine” is just underproduced. I like the direction they were going in “Sounds of the Universe”, but “Delta Machine” feels like discarded outtakes from the SOTU sessions. In fact, the actual SOTU outtakes were excellent, as good as the “Violator” outtakes were 19 years before.

Beating out “Sounds of the Universe” is “Construction Time Again”. Both are great albums. I gave the preference to CTA because in the history of Depeche Mode, this was the first one with Alan Wilder, and was a start for more mature sound that was solidified in the following year’s “Some Great Reward”. CTA was the album where DM was found their “sound”.

“Sounds of the Universe” was a great album, in a way, they found another “new sound” by embracing older synths and going a little “old school”. But 28 years earlier, with “Speak and Spell”, they were using arguable the same instruments, 2 years later, hitting their stride with CTA. At this point, 28 as a band, They could have done something more. I’ll admit, this is a tough choice, and one I will probably change (moving up in the list), there is so much to like about SOTU.

“Ultra” is a great album. It has an interesting story that perhaps warrants it being a little more on the “worst” side of things. This was recorded during the most troubled time of the band, Dave Gahan was abusing drugs, Alan had already left the band, and much of the instruments were played by session musicians. I like the album not only because it managed to get done during a time that the band was at it’s breaking point. Martin’s songwriting is some of the best he’s done. It wasn’t very groundbreaking, but was a solid follow-up to their prior album, “Song’s of Faith and Devotion”. It managed to retain it’s sound even after Alan’s departure, something that can’t be said about the subsequent album, “Exciter”. “Exciter” was proof that they couldn’t do it without Alan.

“Some Great Reward” was the album that got DM on the map in the U.S. 1984 was a great year in music anyways. This album has a similar flavor the previous year’s album (“Construction Time Again”), but SGW was an album where they definitely found their “sound”. It doesn’t age as well as the later albums, but there’s some really strong tracks, and they begin to explore a little more of a “darker” sound that is perfected in their next album they released two years later: “Black Celebration”.

Number 5 on the list is “Music For the Masses”. It’s hard to believe there can be 4 other albums better than this. This album is probably my first proper introduction to DM after listening to their live “101” album recorded during the tour for this album. The sound of this album separates their earlier work from what they would do later, it was more “rock” oriented than previous albums, and serves as a start of their more modern sound that peaked with “Songs of Faith and Devotion” 6 years later. For the casual DM fan, this album is highly recommended.

Rounding out the top 4 are “Playing the Angel”, “Songs of Faith and Devotion”, “Black Celebration”, and “Violator”. Each album can take a post on it’s own, so I will keep these comments short. PTA is great because it’s a “comeback” album. It was the first great album in a decade since Alan Wilder left the band. “Songs of Faith and Devotion” is a whole new sound for DM and was a strong and original follow-up to “Violator” 3 years before. “Black Celebration” in a way is the “ultimate” (yet on this list the “penultimate”) DM album. Thoroughly modern, and a perfect album except for a couple of tracks that were best left off the album. “Violator” is just a perfect album. I just can’t find a flaw with it. Every track is strong, the order of songs is perfect, and the B-sides that came out of this album can at least fill an E.P. that would make it in the top 5.