Some Great Reward [Sacd/CD Hybrid] [+ Bonus DVD] [Hybrid SACD]

again, as with my other reviews, i know it's the fans that are buying these so all I can say is....DONT HESITATE HERE EITHER.

some great reward was the 2nd album of the hansa trilogy that DM made, and although BLACK CELEBRATION was the pinnacle, this is an absolute corker.

But to the important parts. The songs are all superb on this - from something to do , to blasphemous rumours- and hearing them in 5.1 surround is an absolutely sublime experience...you really have to hear it to believe it.

I cant recommend how much of a difference the 5.1 remix makes here, as IMHO, the original mixes of this are a bit...flat.

superb re-rendering of a classic album.

This is my favourite Depeche album. On this album, the framework the band would follow pretty much until now in terms of songwriting style was layed down. This was the one where they found their voice. From the start, the album sounds much harder and harsher. It is arguably their first album that flows comfortably. It is also not afraid to experiment, not only sonically but in terms of people's perception of what was "acceptable". It does have sonic similarities to "construction time again" but on this album they are not afraid to be molre challenging - it's hard to imagine that 22 years ago "Blasphemous Rumours" and "Master and Servant" shocked some radio 1 DJs, but they did.

As for a broken frame, the accompanying short film is very strong with lots of old archive footage - watch out for Alan complaining that Martin has gone on holiday while he mixes the album. The "berlin" effect is reflected nicely - Berlin was where Bowie recorded "Low" and these days it is known as a techno city. Nice to see that Depeche's "up the ante" album was tied into this vibe as well.

Discounting the debut LP 'Speak & Spell', which was mostly penned by Vince Clarke & indebted to Silicon Teen Daniel Miller, the Mode's albums up to 'Some Great Reward' had been patchy. 'A Broken Frame' contender for their worst album (though 2001's 'Exciter' still seems dull)with several poor tracks like 'Monument', 'The Meaning of Love', 'Satellite' & 'Shouldn't Have Done That.' By the time of 1983's 'Construction Time Again', the band had moved on - proto-Detroit techno single 'Get the Balance Right!' and the arrival of Alan Wilder strenghened the band. 'Construction...' is more good than bad (still some duff moments), the band fusing pop, politics and Neubauten-style sampling. 'Some Great Reward' was the next step on, like 1986's 'Black Celebration' and 1987's 'Music for the Masses' it fuses electronics, pop and sampling and was recorded in the fabled Hansa Studios in (then) West Berlin...

The original 9-track album still pretty much stands up, though the Mode's first classic album to me remains 'Black Celebration' - 'Stories of Old' is perhaps closer to the Clarke-vision of the band, while it should be noted that several tracks were released as singles: 'People are People', 'Master & Servant', and the double a-side single 'Blasphemous Rumours/Somebody.' 'If You Want' is one of Alan Wilder's best moments, alongside 'Two Minute Warning' and 'People are People' b-side 'In Your Memory' (found on the bonus disc here). Martin Gore's songwriting was certainly moving on, while his lead vocals on the sublime 'It Doesn't Matter' and fan favourite 'Somebody' would set the tone for later Gore-lead songs such as 'Things You Said', 'A Question of Lust' & 'Home.'

This was the album that saw the Mode generally drop the political thing, though 'People are People' does have a universal utopian vibe to it amid the shattering metallic beats and the slightly silly lyrics (1986's 'New Dress' would be their last political style moment). Misery and sex seem to be the order of the day - S&M anthem 'Master and Servant' still sounds great, as does opener 'Something to Do' - a pulsing electronic anthem with a hint of perversion ("I'd put your leather boots on"). The 'Metal Mix' of this track is amusingly Missy Elliot's 'Get Ur Freak On'...decades before!. 'Lie to Me' seems an undervalued Mode-moment, while the concluding 'Blasphemous Rumours' has the same creepy life-support machine sample as found at the start of the album and is a gothic anthem of woe that many find appealing. I'm with Neil Tennant's classic Smash Hits review, "a routine slab of gloom in which God is given a severe ticking off" - unlike 'It's a Sin'!!!!!

This reissue is in line with the prior two-disc SACD reissues of 'Music for the Masses', 'Speak & Spell' & 'Violator' - including SACD-versions of the album, an audio element/interview from the period, and some releated recordings. 'Master & Servant' b-side 'Set Me Free (Remotivate Me)' has dated well, I like the idea of a b-side relating in theme to the a-side and like certain Mode b-sides ('Shout', 'Ice Machine', 'Now This is Fun', 'Work Hard', 'Happiest Girl'), this is too good to be on a b-side!

'Some Great Reward' was the breakthrough and the place where the classic Mode sound from 1986 to 1992 would come from. It makes sense alongside such records as Cabaret Voltaire's 'Microphonies', Psychic TV's 'Dreams Less Sweet', Soft Cell's 'This Last Night in Sodom', & Scraping Foetus off the Wheel's 'Hole'...which is odd for a pop act who were in Smash Hits and had hit singles! 'Some Great Reward' has dated well, and is a fine precursor to the classic Mode period that immediatly followed it...