Woke up this morning in a world where the new Depeche Mode single, Wrong, was already doing rounds on the internet. DM fans were naturally creaming their pants all around the world. There’s nothing wrong (hah!) with that in itself – after all, I used to be part of that crowd myself. Any new material from DM was greeted with great enthusiasm, with not a sliver of critical thinking affecting my commentary. Once Alan Wilder departed, my mindless devotion was tempered with a healthy dose of cynicism, resulting in carefully measured optimism and wishful thinking. Every news of them going back to the studio sprang thoughts in the vein of “Oh, they’re going back to their synth roots this time… I hope”. It’s been a rather disappointing 14 years, I don’t mind telling you.
After their 2005 album, Playing The Angel, and especially after the dismal world tour that followed, I had pretty much given up on Depeche Mode. I couldn’t fathom them recording another album, much less a brilliant one. When the news of another album broke, my reaction was quite simply “Meh”. Then came the rumours. Martin spending a lot of money buying old analog synths on eBay; DM allegedly embracing their electronic past; the new logo and album art reminiscent of their Black Celebration era… and I have to admit getting my hopes up, again.
Only to have them smashed brutally against the rocks as the YouTube video of DM performing ‘Wrong’ live (as if!) on Echo Awards 2009 played on my screen for the first time. What…the…hell.. was that? Did they play a single B-side by accident? (And a poor B-side at that, I might add.) Seems to me the song consists of a bunch of verses without a chorus, unless the chorus was that bit where Gahan chants “WRONG!” a few times in FX-laden monotone. No, really, where’s the FRACKIN’ CHORUS?! FFS, honestly! Has Gore’s well of catchy choruses dried up this badly? Sure, the signs have been there for years but I hadn’t realized the situation was this dire.
Then there’s the production. It’s basically a rock song with growling synths on top. The funny thing is that I can hear a wall of synths there, but the song in whole doesn’t sound at all electronic. Is that a good thing? Not in my books. Much of the synths are simply random bleeps and squelches filling in the spectrum; there’s no proper melody there. Remember when their songs used to be filled with fantastic melodies played on solo synths?
The YouTube video managed to add insult to injury, too. I had been extremely disappointed with DM’s previous two world tours, referring to them as Monsters of Rock tours. Light on synths, heavy on guitars and live acoustic drums. I first saw DM live on the Black Celebration Tour: three guys behing synths, as it should be. Now it’s Gore strumming a guitar at the edge of the stage with a live drummer banging away like he’s auditioning for Metallica. This YT video showed there’s no change in their live set-up. That pretty much means Tour of the Universe will be the first Depeche Mode tour I won’t be attending in almost 25 years.
I was going to say that you’re wrong (clever, huh?).
Alas: the song is a little lacking in the melody department and the arrangement isn’t that interesting either.
I’ll still wait for the whole album before passing judgement.
I was actually about to write another post on the subject, but who’d want to read that? Exactly. Anyways, it’s not “a little lacking”, it’s severely lacking in melody. Just listen to the verses: vocal melody is practically a two-note affair! The entire songs simply reeks of laziness in every possible way. Cue Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda: “Disappointed!”
I think Wrong is like Precious as first single, neither is representavite of the whole album. Most SOTU songs sound more synthetic.
(Yeah, I couldn’t wait for the release now that it got leaked as I have allready bought tickets for 6 summer shows…just had to know into *what* I was investing in :D )
I have to strongly disagree, BT. Unlike Precious, Wrong is very much in line with the rest of the album. Lazy song writing and uninspired melodies hiding behind a wall of sound wankery that is both misguided and unimaginative. Throwing everything and the kitchen sink at a song does not make poor song writing brilliant — never has, never will.
Also, don’t get fooled into thinking some tracks are ‘electronic’ or ‘synthetic’ simply because they open with a monotone synth bassline. Skip forward a couple of minutes and there’s little left of the electronic feel of the first few seconds. I don’t know why DM is suddenly so afraid of sounding properly electronic, but they seem almost terrified of the concept.
Based on the album, the previous tour and the performance at Echo Awards I’ve decided to pass on this tour. I’ve been a fan of the band since 1981 and seen them perform live at least twice on every tour since the Black Celebration Tour, but I won’t be attending this tour. The shark has been jumped, the well is utterly empty and DM has nothing left to give.
Well, after more listening SOTU doesn’t sound anymore so synthetic. It is not great album but I do like Jezebel, Corrupt, Peace, Spacewalker and even Wrong. I don’t have any of the Dave’s songs on my playlist..but I did that already with PTA too.
Actually, I haven’t even bothered to find out which tracks are Dave’s. They could all be his for all I care; there’s very little of the old Martin in the songs as it is. Shame, really.
Realized earlier today that I’m supposed to write a review of SOTU for a magazine. I doubt EMI will be pleased by what I have to say.
I could still tell which songs were Dave’s just by listening (well, I knew Come Back in advance..).