Product Description

With Alan Wilder now gone, ULTRA is Depeche Mode's first album as a trio. But in many ways it marks a return to form for the band. Producer Tim Simenon gives ULTRA a rich, lush sound that rejects the straight-ahead rock and analog experimentation of VIOLATOR and SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION. Instead, ULTRA moves deftly between the sparseness of Depeche Mode's legendary early work and the complex, hard-edged sounds the band came to experiment with. The wide dynamic range allows for seamless interplay between thick, atmospheric keyboards; snaking intertwining programming lines; and an expansive palette of guitar textures.
"The Bottom Line" features a blend of sweet pedal-steel guitar (played by session great B.J. Cole) and plaintive, soaring synth sounds alongside two DM trademarks: ominous, low-end synth and David Gahan's reverb-soaked baritone. "Barrel Of A Gun" is driven by raspy distorted vocals and a wild, throbbing backing track. "It's No Good", with its insistent hook hidden in bitter industrial longing, gives the band its deftest pop song in almost a decade. For all that this band has picked up in 17 years, it hasn't forgotten where it came from.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Barrel Of A Gun
2. Love Thieves
3. Home
4. It's No Good
5. Uselink
6. Useless
7. Sister Of The Night
8. Jazz Thieves
9. Freestate
10. Bottom Line
11. Insight
12. Junior Painkiller
13. Barrel Of A Gun
14. Love Thieves
15. Home
16. It's No Good
17. Uselink
18. Useless
19. Sister Of The Night
20. Jazz Thieves
21. Freestate
22. Bottom Line
23. Insight
24. Junior Painkiller

Disc 2:

1. A Short Film: Depeche Mode: 1995 - 98 (()
2. Barrel Of A Gun
3. Love Thieves
4. Home
5. It's No Good
6. Uselink
7. Useless
8. Sister Of The Night
9. Jazz Thieves
10. Freestate
11. Bottom Line
12. Insight
13. Junior Painkiller
14. Barrel Of A Gun
15. It's No Good
16. Useless
17. Painkiller
18. Slowblow
19. Only When I Lose Myself
20. Surrender
21. Headstar
22. Barrel Of A Gun
23. Love Thieves
24. Home
25. It's No Good
26. Uselink
27. Useless
28. Sister Of The Night
29. Jazz Thieves
30. Freestate
31. Bottom Line
32. Insight
33. Junior Painkiller
34. Barrel Of A Gun
35. It's No Good
36. Useless
37. Barrel Of A Gun
38. Love Thieves
39. Home
40. It's No Good
41. Uselink
42. Useless
43. Sister Of The Night
44. Jazz Thieves
45. Freestate
46. Bottom Line
47. Insight
48. Junior Painkiller
49. Barrel Of A Gun
50. It's No Good
51. Useless

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12858 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-01
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Hybrid SACD, SACD
• Dimensions: .35 pounds

From Amazon.com
In the bestselling DM canon, this is one of their very best--mature, Euro-elegant, smartly contemporary (thanks to producer Tim "Bomb the Bass" Simenon), honest ("Insight"), edgy ("Barrel of a Gun"), and armed with at least one killer single in "It's No Good." --Jeff Bateman

Customer Reviews

TEN YEARS ON FROM THE HALO OF GAHAN'S REHAB, THIS IS A REALLY GOOD ALBUM...REALLY CRISP IN 5.1!
In my humble opinion, this is a better album than SOFAD simply because it doesnt sound as pompous or hubristic. Don't get me wrong, SOFAD deservedly went to number one, but it almost verges into prog rocky hubris, probably because one poor overworked man was responsible for most of the production and arranging on it; he then left in 1995...

Tim simenon did a really sterling job with this, and the 5.1 mixes prove how good the original production was. This still has the BIG sounds that depeche are known and noted for, and the balance of stripping down the arrangements is just right. Im glad this album is enjoying a bit of a renaissance as Simenon deserves a lot of praise for the 2 odd years he had to "keep his hand in" to steer this to finish.

Really heartfelt performances, musicianship, and songwriting. Perhaps this will get the same praise as BLACK CELEBRATION one day...

DM save money on therapists - they make 'Ultra'
Depeche Mode have always been more than a music group to their fans. Members of Generation X who found themselves outside the rockier, faddier or simply plain cheesier streams of the years from the early 80's to the early noughties found something far, far more visceral and penetrating through the Mode. Euphoria, pain, addiction, akwardness, hope for a more subtle world - Depeche Mode gave a literal narrative philosophy to outsiders everywhere.
Then, in 1995, implosion. Dave Gahan almost dead. Martin Gore on the verge of breakdown. Andy Fletcher a burnout case. Alan Wilder - much the 'music meister' from Black Celebration (1986)onwards - out of the band.
What now? Surely the end?
We should have known better. They came back, they hired Tim Simenon to produce the album and made what some would argue as their most heartfelt and powerful body of work. This album is not only music, it is a story of pain and redemption, of bleak expectations and astonishing self-discovery. Musically, each track is impeccable - electronic meditation of the inner self and a call to action for the jaded ones among us. On 'Freestate'..'let yourself go, let your senses overflow, open the gate, freedom's a state' - you see, Depeche Mode being not just a music group again. Something else comes through on 'Ultra', something much greater and more compassionate than anything they did before. This album is full of things that will bring tears to your eyes whilst stiffening your spine for the journey ahead. Is this not what the Mode are all about in the end? Highly recommended stuff.

Their best from the 'sans Wilder' era
People were expecting a danceable DM album, and they got a dark side from their pop side. They did something similar with the release of SOFAD, but this time it was softer, not that edgy.
I recall the first time I listened to Barrel of a Gun on the radio, and became obsessed with the song. "Gee, this guys really know how to rock without Wilder's trademark production".
The songs are painful, almost too sad (with the exception of back-to-old-Dm It's No Good and Barrel), and could easily fit in one depressive night, but at the same time every detail and sound is so beautiful it's uplifting.
I rate Ultra right beside Black Celebration, SOFAD and Some Great Reward as one of DM's most lush and delicate recordings.
Kudos to the original version of Useless with that awesome bass, Love Thieves' twisted romanticism and Sister of Night's haunting ending. This CD is a total winner.

BTW... please skip Freestate. That song is really boring.