Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. New Life
2. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead
3. Puppets
4. Boys Say Go
5. Nodisco
6. What's Your Name
7. Photographic
8. Tora Tora Tora
9. Big Muff
10. Any Second Now (Voices)
11. Just Can't Get Enough
12. Dreaming Of Me

Disc 2:

1. Depeche Mode 1980-1981
2. New Life
3. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead
4. Puppets
5. Boys Say Go
6. Nodisco
7. What's Your Name
8. Photographic
9. Tora Tora Tora
10. Big Muff
11. Any Second Now (Voices)
12. Just Can't Get Enough
13. Dreaming Of Me
14. Ice Machine
15. Shout
16. Any Second Now
17. Just Can't Get Enough

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18337 in Music
• Released on: 2009-03-16
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .34 pounds

From Amazon.com
It's always good to know where a band came from so you can see how far they've come. Speak and Spell is really the work of Vincent Clarke, who, with Andy Bell, would later form the happy-go-lucky pop-dance megaforce Erasure. And it shows in the catchy, upbeat songs "New Life," "Boys Say Go," "Photographic," and the most famous single, "Just Can't Get Enough." When Martin Gore took over the songwriting, Depeche Mode veered toward a different thematic direction by developing the goth-pop that would become their signature. Still, it's an important album not only because it is Depeche Mode's first but also because it is one of the best representations of early-'80s minimalist synth music. --Beth Bessmer

CD Description
Influenced by Kraftwerk, Eno and the punk DIY ethic as it extended to synthesizers, these boys from Basildon were one of the first and most influential synth-pop bands. Along withOMD, Human League and others, Depeche Mode combined the early-'80s New Romantic aesthetic of post-Roxy Music electronics and faddish androgyny with pure pop songcraft straight outof the '60s pop-rock tradition. Theirs was a fresh sound, bubbling over with youth and enthusiasm. With the use of sequencers as well as real-time playing they constructed frothy,infectious pop/dance tunes on their effervescent debut. Vince Clarke was the musical mastermind, and his arrangements layered several melody lines over one another, eschewing fullchords almost completely. Tunes like "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough" struck a chord with those enamored of the "New Wave" sound but ready to hear something besides electricguitars (DM initially used synths exclusively). A vastly important and influential album, SPEAK & SPELL is virtually ground zero for British synth-pop.

Customer Reviews

the 5.1 mixes are sublime.
Ive already written a review for a broken frame and all I can say is...natch.

yet again, with the 5.1 mixes, Ive noticed that some of the synth leads in some songs have had a bit of tinkering- poss use of fixed filter bank or something, and extra bits of delay et al here and there- but the overall effect makes everything sound almost contemporary. Listen to the vast difference in the moog prodigy guitar-esque lead used in photographic. Or the totally different use of seperation technology and mix balancing for every song. Like everything else that ever gets remixed in 5.1, you need a very good set of ears and an ability to not overcook the egg(s), which yet again as daniel miller supervised, thankfulyl meant that these 26 year old songs havent been.

The enclosed documentary and sacd version just put more layers and icing on the cake. Ive got all the remasters in original form and having been a fan of the band since i was 7 year old innocent, all i can say is that marketing glitz aside, even this, their first album, sounds incredible in 5.1.

Speak and Listen
Depeche Modes first album in 5.1 surround. All I can say is what an excellent job and usage of the 5.1 mix, which is presented in both Dolby Digital and DTS mixes, this new mix makes the vocals really stand out. You can actually hear little things which you cant hear on the normal CD version, also the 5.1 DVD version. Well woth the purchase just to hear the new vocal mixes which really makes Dave Gahans Voice stand out in the mix.....

Expanded reissue of the Mode's debut album from 1981
Depeche Mode are long overdue a reissue programme of their potent back catalogue - this reissue of debut 'Speak & Spell' is more than welcome and will give way to the rest of their career being reissued as they're 'Touring the Angel' globally. Like the recent Talking Heads' reissues, 'Speak & Spell' comes with two discs - the second a DVD-A disc with 5.1 stereo sound and some extras that exploit the medium. Personally, I'm not that fussed by extras - but some people like them and it adds to just remastering/adding bonus tracks.

'Speak & Spell' was mostly the vision of Vince Clarke - the principal songwriter here who would leave the following year and return with Yazoo, The Assembly & Erasure. 'Speak & Spell' has more in common with Yazoo's work than the later darker work of the Mode - perhaps the missing link between Silicon Teens' 'Music for Parties' and Yazoo's 'Upstairs at Erics'? Daniel Miller (Mute label owner, The Normal/Silicon Teens) is also key as one of the producers - as his own work and the production he did on Soft Cell's 'Memorabilia' demonstrates, he was a great producer of electronic music.

The album opens with the classic second single and first top 20 hit 'New Life' which is simply perfect electronic music and everything Miller had dreamed up with Silicon Teens. 'I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead' (later remixed as 'Deathwish') has a gloomy title but is really a perky pop moment - something Clarke has rarely deviated from! The darker 'Puppets' like tracks such as 'Shout', 'Ice Machine' & 'Photographic' hint at the bleaker side of things the Mode would explore. There's still a fine pop song at the heart of it!

'Boy's Say Go!' would remain a live favourite until the 'Black Celebration' tour and could have been a single - like the 'Just Can't Get Enough'-video (the leather caps boys...) and the dire 'What's Your Name?' it showcases the homoerotic/camp side of the Mode and fits more with Clarke's subsequent career than the pervy-goth-pop Martin Gore favoured. 'Nodisco' is very much of its era and the original first side of the LP concludes on the abysmal 'What's Your Name?' - a song namechecked by Andy Fletcher and Gore on Channel 4 last year as the worst recording the Mode have made. It's hard to disagree - the refrain of "Hey you're such a pretty boy/Hey you're such a pretty boy/Hey you're such a pretty boy/You're so pretty/P-R-E-T-T-Y" is cheeseworthy and as camp as a it gets. It's more Dollar than D.A.F! You can see why the Mode weren't taken seriously - hardly measures up to 'Sex Dwarf', 'I Travel', 'Adrenalin', 'Life Kills', 'Split Second Feeling', 'Messages' or much else their peers were doing. I suppose it could find it's place on a Camp compilation and admirers of Magnetic Fields might locate some appeal!

The second half improves with the dark new romantic pop of 'Photographic', a re-recording of the track that featured on Stevo's 'Some Bizarre' album the previous year (now an extra track on 'Singles 81-85')- again, this would feature in their live-set for several years after and it fits well with later Mode material. Gore's first songwriting contributions are up next - 'Tora!Tora!Tora!' which is bleak poppiness that nods to the film of the same name and the single entendre titled 'Big Muff' - which is surprisingly good and stood out on Rough Trade's 'Electronic I' compilation a few years ago. There is indication that Gore would become a fine songwriter - though he wouldn't really carry an album til 'Some Great Reward' (or maybe even 'Black Celebration' as 'SGR' had one Alan Wilder-composition?)

Gore offers up his first lead vocals on the 'Voices' version of 'Any Second Now' (the bonus tracks feature the instrumental version originally found on the 'Just Can't Get Enough'-single)- which is gorgeous stuff and would be the best Gore lead vocal until 1984's double whammy 'It Doesn't Matter' & 'Somebody.' The album then concludes on the classic top ten single 'Just Can't Get Enough' (back in the current live-set!) and the bonus track 'Dreaming of Me' - the sublime electro pop single that was the Mode's debut release and scraped in the top 60!

The bonus tracks found on the original cd release of 'Speak & Spell' are here - it seems bizarre that 'Ice Machine' & 'Shout' didn't make the album proper - both seem the dark template that Gore ran with on subsequent releases (though I'd say the live version of 'Ice Machine' on the 'Somebody/Blasphemous Rumours' 12" is superior).

'Speak & Spell' is a fine debut, the dud moments are outweighed with the inclusion of gold like 'Dreaming of Me', 'Ice Machine' & 'Shout.' Fans of electronic-pop should love this and it doesn't have any of the political, pervy or goth elements of later Mode releases (I have met people who think this is the best Mode LP! - I'm more a Black Celebration/Masses/Violator soul myself). Next stop - the patchy 'A Broken Frame'...