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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Any band namechecked by LFO is good enough for me, 15 Dec 2006
This review is from: Violator [CD + DVD] (Audio CD)
I have never written a review for Amazon before, but felt that I had to after reading the last missive by someone who clearly has no idea what they are talking about. The misguided goon was obviously expecting some kind of proto-Ministry type dirge with lyrics about drug abuse set to industrial clanking. The poor lamb probably does not have an ear for anything of a pure electronic persuasion. Best stick with Slipnot, eh?
Violator was released in 1990 when house and techno were in Acsendence. Depeche Mode had been making consistant dark electro since 83's 'Construction Time Again' ( I'll concede that 'Speak and Spell' and 'A Broken Frame' are a bit thin and a little too poppy), but Violator was when they hit paydirt after not being taken seriously by the rock press for most of the prvious decade. US techno producers such as Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and the UK's own Mark Bell from LFO had all been listening intently to the Mode's music for much of the eighties and had the savvy to realise that this was a group who belonged to the great linage of electronics groups going back to Kraftwerk and continuing with Caberet Voltaire etc. The singles from this album are great pop music but beneath that lies some of the most intricate production, engineering and drum programming heard, and still sounds fresh sixteen years later. The fact that this group have influenced everyone from Bomb the Bass to Nine Inch Nails demonstrates that they were no 'bland eighties synth act'. A friend and myself were listening to 'Some Great Reward' recently and were marvelling at the drum patterns, how fresh they sounded. Violator still sounds vital, as it shows an exciting time in music when a seemingly 'mainstream' act could bear a huge influence on the dance underground. If you are not familar with Depeche Mode's music prior to the 'tonight Matthew I'm going to be Perry Farrell' years, then please ingnore the witless nonsense written below, do yourself a favour and spend some cash on a little bit of electro history. Cheers.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
1990's masterpiece and the Mode's peak..., 13 Mar 2006
This review is from: Violator [CD + DVD] (Audio CD)
Following the success of the film and soundtrack to '101', the Mode set about its follow-up after some brief side projects (Martin Gore's covers-e.p., Wilder's Recoil project)- the 1989 single 'Personal Jesus' (later covered by Johnny Cash and Marilyn Manson - not at the same time sadly!)being the initial release and a pervy-pop song that blended the devotional and the dirty in a manner as great as Madonna's 'Like a Prayer.' 'Violator' (a deliberately Spinal Tap style title!) was the conclusion of the Mode's European outlook, the contribution of Francois Kevorkian aligned it to the electronic past of Kraftwerk and Moroder. 'World in My Eyes' (the fourth single released) opens the LP, a minimal electronic pop song that is Andy Fletcher's favourite Mode track. 'Sweetest Perfection' is the first of Martin Gore's lead vocals, blending bluesy guitar with electronics - setting the tone for 'Personal Jesus' and live favourite 'Halo' - the latter is one of Gore's greatest pop-songs and should have been a single (especially with the hilarious promo they shot found on 'Strange Too'). Following these highs we shift into the epic electronic ballad 'Waiting for the Night' which finds Gahan alone in an artificial universe until Gore supplies some harmonies: pure machine-soul. The sequencing on 'Black Celebration' and 'Music for the Masses' is advanced on here - the latter four tracks are generally linked together by smaller pieces of music - we move from 'Waiting for the Night' to Top 5 hit 'Enjoy the Silence' - a key song in the Mode's back catalogue and single of the year at the Brits the following year (not that they bothered to turn up!). '...Silence' is followed by 'Policy of Truth' (the third single)- an anthemic track later covered by some grunge band I've forgotten the name of! The album concludes on a darker note, Gore's second lead vocal 'Blue Dress' drifts between a sensitive 'Somebody'-style ballad and something more sinister. The model for later Gore-fronted tracks such as 'Home', 'Comatose', 'Damaged People' and 'Macro.' Finally there is 'Clean', which opens with electronics that recall Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Yellow Magic Orchestra before shifting into a downbeat anthem in which Gahan unconvincingly sings "I'm the cleanest I've been..." - kind of at odds with his infamous addictions and issues that followed... As with the 'Speak & Spell' and 'Music for the Masses' reissues, this is a twin disc set with the album on DVD/A in 5.1 and stereo (my original copy of 'Violator' on CD sounds terrible on my mp3 player...a more than welcome reissue).There is another audio feature (the Mode and co exploiting the possibilities of this new format wonderfully) like the other two reissues and several bonus tracks. These are basically b-sides of the singles - 'Dangerous' is a fair enough pop-song that was the flipside of 'Personal Jesus', while instrumentals 'Memphisto' and 'Sibeling' were on 'Enjoy the Silence.' Another instrumental 'Kaleid' ('Policy of Truth') was used as the intro to the 'World Violation' tour and the final two songs ('Happiest Girl' and 'Sea of Sin') featured on the 'World in My Eyes' single from Autumn 1990. All nice additions, but 'Kaleid' apart nothing as great as the album proper...(& tracks most Mode fans are likely to posess on several formats already!) 'Violator' was the Mode's peak I feel - follow-up 'Songs of Faith & Devotion' had a flawed production (sort of grungey-'Achtung Baby!') and the two albums that followed were patchy ('Playing the Angel' is more succesful). 'Violator' was the pinnacle of the Mode's achievment, building on the fine 'Construction Time Again'/'Some Great Reward' and fellow masterpieces 'Black Celebration' and 'Music for the Masses.' What's great here is that the Mode stayed true to themselves and released an LP that was naturally them - no trying to be Alice in Chains or Nirvana here! It's also a great collection of pop-songs that show how great the pop-song was before the return to the 50s style of recent years (though of course Girls Aloud and Sugababes have Mode-elements in their music thanks to Richard X!). 'Violator' is the best Mode album and one of the classic albums of the early 1990s alongside 'Chill Out', 'Heaven or Las Vegas', 'Fear of a Black Planet', 'Loveless', 'Behaviour', 'Blue Lines' & 'Selected Ambient Works I.' What more can I say?
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DMs Tour De Force?, 11 April 2006
This review is from: Violator [CD + DVD] (Audio CD)
It's well known, at least amongst the DM community that Violator is their pinnacle, their greatest achievement. While, that may be true, I for one hope that future releases eclipse this album, which after all was released 16 years ago. A lot has happened since it's release, Alan's left, Dave's nearly died, the band nearly imploded, but they've come out the other side and released some great material. Back to Violator. This expanded edition includes a DVD with interviews from band members, including the much-missed Alan. You get DVDA versions of the whole album plus various b-sides, some nothing to write home about, others which are, for me, some of Martin's finest work, Sea Of Sin and Happiest Girl. It's a shame that these b-sides weren't included on the audio cd, but that's just me being picky. I also mentioned in the review to Music For The Masses that it was a shame the band didn't sieze the opportunity to go down the same route the Cure did on their Deluxe editions by having demos and previously unreleased material included, again just a minor niggle really. The album is rich and beautiful and dark. The singles included were probably the greatest quartet of tracks released by the band, Policy Of Truth, World In My Eyes, Personal Jesus and the seminal Enjoy The Silence, one of the greatest songs ever. Other highlights are the gorgeous Clean (see the DVD included with Playing The Angel for a great acoustic version) and Halo, which would have made a great single, but maybe would have been one single too many from the album. For anyone starting a jouney on the good ship Mode, then this is the place to start. Buy, listen, enjoy and then kick yourself that you could've been listening to this 16 years ago. Shame on you!
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