Track Listing

1. Never Let Me Down Again
2. Things You Said
3. Strangelove
4. Sacred
5. Little 15
6. Behind The Wheel
7. I Want You Now
8. To Have And To Hold
9. Nothing
10. Pimpf

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18183 in Music
• Released on: 2006-04-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

From Amazon.com
This album is a culmination of Depeche Mode's middle-period experimentation. More informed by Goth than techno, it is still anchored by plenty of the larger-than-life-baritone melodrama so distinctive of David Gahan's vocals. The most experimental track is "Pimpf"--a song that heave-hoes along with the synthesized emulation of a Russian men's choir. Although nowhere near fast enough to be danceable, the commanding "Never Let Me Down" ranks as the best single on the track, with the most hummable "Strangelove" coming in at a close second. Each song is a praiseworthy accomplishment, but the singles here set off the experimental tracks, making the album seem thematically schizophrenic. --Beth Bessmer

CD Description
One of the bands that not only dominated the charts for most of the 80s, but they also typified the type of music that will be looked back on as 'the sound of the 80s'. Their sometimes Germanic electronic pop became softer on this album. They were becoming more of a band, and they were 'rockin', just a little. Keyboards still dominated but the melody seemedless regimented. Vocalist Dave Gahan excelled, as his voicegrew in power. In a year or two they would become stadium rock stars, and change forever. The reissued CD had a number of excellent bonus tracks including some interesting remixedmaterial.

Customer Reviews

THIS IS HOW THE mid80s SOUNDED - AND THEY SOUNDED GREAT!!!
MTV had been already established as mainstream, the BOSS was getting soft in the Tunnel of Love, BON JOVI were more about the hair than ever - and the British invented Alternative music. Two such post-punk groups, THE CURE and DEPECHE MODE, better than most others, were able to grasp the decade's vibrations and broadcast them back as UNBELIEVABLE MUSIC. Whereas the CURE were mostly edges, the DEPECHE MODE were mostly technopoetry.

This was the first album I ever bought as a CD - and I remember bringing it home to my new JVC HiFi, anxious to listen to the "crisp, digital sound" (little did I know that, only some years later, we would come to miss the fullness and richness of the old vinyl records). I was right to be anxious though: this was ONE OF THE GREATEST ALBUMS - EVER!

MUSIC FOR THE MASSES is one of those rare albums that can be listened to from start to finish. No filler material here. The voices are atavisticly haunting; the keys persistently penetrating; and the lyrics stay with you for ever.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!