Catching Up With Depeche Mode

Rate It! Avg: 4.5 (61 ratings)
Sample Album
Catching Up With Depeche Mode album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 13   Total Length: 51:47

eMusic Review 0

Avatar Image
philip sherburne

eMusic Contributor

Electronic music columnist for eMusic.com; writer for fishwrap like The Wire, XLR8R, SF Weekly, RES, Nylon, and Wired; columnist for Pitchfork; blogger (www.phi...more »

01.12.10
Back catalog highlights from the founding fathers of synthpop
2009 | Label: Rhino/Warner Bros.

Released the year after Some Great Reward, Catching Up With Depeche Mode is a sort of companion to the US-only People Are People, which aimed to build the band's growing Stateside popularity by introducing listeners to back-catalogue highlights. Reprising four of Some Great Reward's best cuts, the comp surveys six worthy cuts from the band's first three albums, ranging from the peppy electro-pop of "Dreaming of Me," "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough" to the darker, more ambivalent "The Meaning of Love."

The new songs "Flexible" and "It's Called a Heart," also released as singles around the same time, sound today like curios, though the former is significant as one of the band's first forays into country-fried electro-pop. But things get more interesting with "Shake the Disease," a plaintive pop treatise on illness as romantic metaphor, and "Flies on the Windscreen," a rapturously nihilistic anthem that would serve as one of the keystones of the album Black Celebration, released the following year.

Write a Review 2 Member Reviews

Please register before you review a release. Register

user avatar

got it

rcaccappolo

thanks for reminding me how good it is

user avatar

the early greatest

schmo

It was the perfect title - fitting for the relatively unknown DM at that time. Some of their best stuff is on thei CD. Get it.

Recommended Albums

eMusic Features

Label Profile: Mute Records
0

Label Profile: Mute Records

By Philip Sherburne, eMusic Contributor

File under: One of the richest (and most diverse) catalogs in independent music Flagship acts: Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Liars, Apparat, Erasure, S.C.U.M. Based in: London, England For an artist who adopted the moniker theNormal, Daniel Miller's life and career have been anything but. In 1978, he one-upped punk rock with an analog synthesizer: Since the keyboard required no musical knowledge whatsoever, he reasoned, it must be even more punk than an over-driven Gibson Les Paul. He founded his… more »

Icon: Depeche Mode
0

Icon: Depeche Mode

By philip sherburne, eMusic Contributor

Depeche Mode is one of the unlikeliest success stories of fin-de-siecle rock: a band that rose from humble (if inspired) synth-pop origins to become an arena-filling behemoth, with a stature nearly on par with the likes of R.E.M. or U2, by virtue of what might seem to be insurmountable contractions and obstacles. They've flirted with androgyny, yet bare-chested singer Dave Gahan is one of the most macho frontmen in the last few decades. They've embraced… more »

They Say All Music Guide

Like its predecessor, People Are People, Catching Up With Depeche Mode attempts to fill in gaps in the group’s extensive discography by compiling singles and album tracks taken from their four previous studio LPs. Dating back to the band’s Vince Clarke-penned hits (“Just Can’t Get Enough,” “Dreaming of Me”), the set culminates with tracks like “Master and Servant” and “Blasphemous Rumours,” which bear the full fruit of Martin Gore’s dark obsessions; a preview of Black Celebration is even offered via “Fly on the Windshield.” – Jason Ankeny

Activity