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In their forty years of distinguished career, Depeche Mode have proven to be a formidable singles machine, especially in the '80s and '90s, when they churned out classics one after another with almost embarrassing ease. However, beware of limiting yourself only and exclusively to the singles. Depeche Mode have always released albums that were fully worthy of their most famous, radio-friendly tracks. Rest assured: when their singles were masterpieces, the rest of the album's songs were too, and this list will try, once and for all, to prove it. The twenty tracks are not ranked in order of preference, but simply listed in chronological order, as is only right. In the list that follows, we've tried to represent as much of the Basildon band's discography as possible, including tracks from their less inspired, more recent albums.

1. Tora! Tora! Tora!

The vast majority of the songs on "Speak & Spell", the 1981 debut album, were written by Vince Clarke, who would shortly afterwards leave Depeche Mode to found Yazoo. Martin Gore only took the reins of the band the following year, with the subsequent "A Broken Frame", yet on "Speak & Spell" he did pen two songs, proof that the early signs of a talented pop songwriter were already all there. The two songs in question are the instrumental "Big Muff" and, indeed, this jarring "Tora! Tora! Tora!".

At the start of the track you can still hear the closing notes of the previous song, "Photographic", after which an explosive synth bassline kicks in, perfectly capturing the wartime atmosphere described in the lyrics. The reference is obviously to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese army during World War II. The lyrics are written in the first person and tell of a man who dreams of being an American during the tragic events of that day. Indeed, towards the end, the phrase "I played an American" is repeated obsessively (referring, of course, to the nightmare). Dave Gahan's voice was perhaps a touch raw at the time, but it should also be considered that he was just a nineteen-year-old on his debut record.

2. My Secret Garden

"A Broken Frame", Depeche Mode's second effort, released in 1982, is certainly not among the British band's best-known and most acclaimed records, yet it's nonetheless a watershed album in their career. It's the first record whose songs were all composed by Martin Gore. Alan Wilder joined Depeche Mode during the "A Broken Frame" tour, so he wasn't credited as a band member in the booklet. It's true that Martin Gore would deliver his best songwriting later on, but it's equally true that the album already contained more than worthy tracks, such as "My Secret Garden", indeed. The song starts off as a sort of lament, but despite its slow beginning it almost sounds like a mini-suite full of variations, especially from the line "I loved her" onward. It's a track with an unusual structure for Depeche Mode. The title most likely alludes to the famous children's novel "The Secret Garden" by writer Frances Hodgson Burnett. The meaning of the lyrics is rather mysterious, since it could just as easily be a glimpse into childhood ("My secret garden's not so secret anymore") as it could allude to a man repenting some deed he committed. The line "I loved her" sounds rather sinister in that respect. The song also mentions a secret being revealed. What that secret actually is, however, we're never told. In the end, the secret is safe!

3. Satellite

Depeche Mode and reggae? Well, yes! "A Broken Frame" also contains a track in that style, practically a one-off in their entire career. The song's protagonist is someone who, let down by friends (or perhaps by their girlfriend), decides to isolate themselves and hate everyone. To that end, they vow to be like a satellite, always operational and ready to hate.

I will function, operate

I will be a satellite of hate

4. Pipeline

Among Depeche Mode's first four studio albums, this writer has a particular fondness for 1983's "Construction Time Again". The album's standout track is of course the single "Everything Counts", which later became legendary thanks to the live performance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in June 1988. The rest of the album's tracks, however, are far from mere filler. "Pipeline" is the only track on the record sung by Martin Gore, as well as the longest, clocking in at nearly six minutes. In English, a pipeline is one of those long metal tubes used to supply water or gas. The track opens with dark, mumbling voices, as if suggesting workers heading off to their shift; then come metallic clangs, which in some ways anticipate the industrial sounds of the following album, "Some Great Reward"; after that, once Martin Gore starts singing, you can even hear a ping-pong ball bouncing on a table. The song's opening line also contains the phrase that gives the album its title.

Get out the crane

Construction time again

(⟦Q1⟧)

The track's chorus, finally, describes the exploitative conditions of workers employed in that kind of industrial environment.

Working on a pipeline

Taking for the greedy, giving to the needy

(⟦Q2⟧)

5. The Landscape Is Changing

Another track selected from "Construction Time Again". The incipit is entrusted to synthesizers simulating the sound of a trumpet, before moving on to delightful percussion (probably a marimba) with a Caribbean flavor. The lyrics are a heartfelt appeal against environmental devastation, and the opening lines make that unmistakably clear.

The landscape is changing

The landscape is crying

Thousands of acres of forest are dying

 6. It Doesn't Matter

"Some Great Reward", the fourth studio album released in 1984, features Martin Gore on vocals for two tracks: the poignant single "Somebody" and the track in question. The magnificent cover art, depicting a newlywed couple near an industrial warehouse, aptly captures the album's sound, rich in romanticism and industrial atmospheres. "It Doesn't Matter" is among the most emblematic tracks in that respect. Depeche Mode have tackled the most disparate themes in their songs, and love, of course, could not be left out. "It Doesn't Matter" simply recounts the good things ("I am happy that I have you"), but also the difficulties that love can bring:

It doesn’t matter if this all shatters

Nothing lasts forever

But I’m praying that we’re staying together

(“Non importa se tutto quanto va in frantumi/ nulla dura per sempre/ ma prego affinché restiamo insieme”)

7. It’s Called A Heart

We said no singles, right? And yet a single still sneaks in! But there's a good reason for it. In 1985 Depeche Mode released their first anthology, titled "The Singles 81→85". That compilation included every single released from their debut up to that point, including tracks left off the albums, like "Dreaming Of Me" and the magnificent "Get The Balance Right". "The Singles 81→85" also featured two previously unreleased tracks: one was "Shake The Disease", a song always well loved and also performed live at the historic Rosebowl show in Pasadena in 1988 (which is why it also ended up on the live album "101"). The other unreleased track on the '85 compilation was "It's Called A Heart". The fact that it came out as the second single after "Shake The Disease" certainly doesn't make it any less worthy. So here's a great chance to rediscover this hugely underrated episode in the Basildon band's catalogue. "It's Called A Heart" is an upbeat, punchy track, built on a powerful, tribal rhythm section. The lyrics aren't the most sophisticated, but they're enjoyable all the same. The video, shot in Japan, is also lovely.

There’s something beating here inside my body

And it’s called a heart

(“There's something beating here inside my body/ and it's called a heart”)

8. Black Celebration

Depeche Mode have always been wary of so-called title tracks. Indeed, out of the fourteen studio albums released over their forty-year career, "Black Celebration" from 1986 is the only one that features a song sharing its title. "Black Celebration" was the single most important turning point in the English band's entire career. An album that truly marked a before and after. "Black Celebration" was first and foremost a record that showed a more mature, and also darker, sound compared to the past. Then there's the start of the partnership between Depeche Mode and Anton Corbijn, impossible not to mention. The Dutch photographer/director's images were decisive in cementing the band's image, marking their passage from adolescence into adulthood. Those photos, combined with the iconic video for "A Question Of Time" (the first of many videos Corbijn would go on to shoot with Depeche Mode), almost seem to say: "we're not a boy band anymore, it's time you took us seriously!"

Coming to the song itself, "Black Celebration" opens the album. The instrumental intro is a long one, giving the listener the time needed to sink into the album's atmosphere. In fact, you have to wait more than a minute before hearing Dave Gahan sing "Let's have a black celebration" and get to the heart of the record.

9. New Dress

Look closely at the Basildon band's career and you'll notice there's been no shortage of socially conscious songs. Among their politically charged lyrics, one of the sharpest is that of "New Dress", the closing track of "Black Celebration". The song opens with a pounding rhythm that almost seems to foreshadow the techno music of the following decade, and closes with the same piano figure that opened "Stripped". In between, the song is a ferocious critique of how the press and public opinion in general focus their attention on frivolous matters at the expense of serious ones. The verse lists a string of tragic events (a thirteen-year-old girl stabbed, planes shot down, earthquakes, famines, fires in the poorest neighbourhoods), while the chorus makes sure to let us know that Lady Di is wearing a new dress. "Princess Di is wearing a new dress", sings Dave Gahan, his voice run through a filter. This indictment of a certain kind of trashy news coverage shows just how little today's problems differ from yesterday's.

10. Sacred

The aura of sacredness that somehow permeated "Black Celebration" carries on into the following album, "Music For The Masses" from 1987, which saw Depeche Mode produced not by their trusted Daniel Miller but by David Bascombe, who had previously worked as sound engineer for artists such as Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel. "Music For The Masses" can very plausibly be considered the band's best album of the '80s, as well as one of the high points of their entire career. It's one of those albums where the peak of sonic experimentation coincided with melodic inspiration of the highest order. The same, if you like, could be said of the 1990 bestseller "Violator".

As for "Music For The Masses", singles like "Strangelove", "Never Let Me Down Again" and "Behind The Wheel" obviously speak for themselves. But the rest of the album is no less impressive, and in some cases sounds, if anything, even darker than "Black Celebration" or certain moments on "Violator" — take the pairing of "I Want You Now"/"To Have And To Hold" (one of the most experimental moments in Depeche Mode's entire career), or the song we're about to look at. "Sacred", the album's fourth track, opens with a churchlike atmosphere. Almost twenty seconds in, Dave Gahan and Martin Gore begin singing, almost in unison, the following lines:

Sacred, Holy

To put it in words, to write it down

That is walking on hallowed ground

But it’s my duty, I’m a missionary

(“Sacro/ tradurlo in parole, scriverlo/ è come camminare su una terra consacrata/ ma è il mio dovere, sono un missionario”).

Then comes the rhythmic section (absent up to that point), driven by drums and bass, plus one of the finest synth foundations of their entire career. Depeche Mode have written religiously-themed lyrics on more than one occasion, and "Sacred" is certainly among the high points of this peculiar corner of their songbook.

11. PIMPF

A close look at Depeche Mode's career reveals that instrumental tracks were not actually all that rare in their discography. In fact, nearly half of their albums contain at least one instrumental piece, not to mention 1997's "Ultra", which features as many as three, one of them a hidden track. "Music For The Masses", on the other hand, closes with this "PIMPF", an instrumental number in which Depeche Mode completely shed their synth-pop skin and even venture toward classical music. A bold, risky move, brilliantly pulled off.

12. Halo

It's hard to add anything that hasn't already been said about a landmark masterpiece like 1990's "Violator", which can reasonably claim ten million copies sold. Songs like "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy The Silence" have by now become common heritage for pop music listeners everywhere. Still, one must not forget the album's other two splendid singles: "Policy Of Truth" and "World In My Eyes". Among the "non-singles", "Halo" arguably stands out the most. The track opens with a dark beat, and after nearly twenty seconds the synths kick in, exceptional as ever. The same synths also appear just before the second verse, as well as after the second chorus. Depeche Mode have always poured obsessive care into their songs. "Halo" literally means a ring of light around a saint's head, but the song isn't about saints or paradise - on the contrary, the term is used metaphorically, as a passage not toward salvation, but toward damnation. This is indeed the opening:

You wear guilt

Like shackles on your feet

Like a halo in reverse

I can feel

The discomfort in your seat

And in your head it’s worse

(“Porti la colpa/ come catene ai tuoi piedi/ come un’aureola al contrario/ riesco a sentire/ il disagio sulla tua sedia/ e nella tua testa è ancora peggio”).

13. Blue Dress

There can be no Depeche Mode album without songs sung by Martin Gore. And on "Violator" too, the man behind almost all of the British band's songs carves out his own space with two sumptuous vocal performances: "Sweetest Perfection" and "Blue Dress" (not to be confused with the aforementioned "New Dress" from "Black Celebration"). "Blue Dress" ranks among Depeche Mode's most delicate and sensual ballads, especially in the pre-chorus, when Gore sings:

Can you believe

Something so simple

Something so trivial

Makes me a happy man

(“Riesci a credere che/ qualcosa di così semplice/ qualcosa di così banale/ mi renda un uomo felice?”)

Gore's voice is so seductive on this track that after the second chorus we're left wishing to hear more of it. Instead, the song closes out with a long instrumental coda. In its final minute, "Blue Dress" features an interlude built around a dirge-like mass, which serves to introduce "Clean", the track that brings "Violator" to a magnificent close.

14. Mercy In You

After "Violator", the band is now at the peak of its career, convinced it has the world practically in its grasp. The most convinced of all, in this respect, is Dave Gahan, who grows his hair out, moves to Los Angeles, gets a string of tattoos and, above all, declares his intention to cut ties with the pop sound of the past. It's time for the band to make rock music! The only snag is that, in the process, Gahan also ends up embracing drug addiction. So what kind of album is 1993's "Songs Of Faith And Devotion"? For some it was a fine turning point, for others a kind of betrayal, given that the band ended up partly embracing the grunge sounds that were enjoying their golden age at the time. In this writer's opinion, however, the 1993 album is the ideal continuation of "Violator", since some of the future rock sound had already been hinted at in the razor-sharp blues guitar riff of the famous "Personal Jesus". Finding new ideas after an album of the calibre of "Violator" was certainly no easy feat, but Depeche Mode pulled off this extremely difficult task. That's partly because, on one hand, there's a noticeable rock turn compared to the past, while on the other, the band's style doesn't come out remotely distorted. "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" is a Depeche Mode record through and through.

Continuity between the '90 album and the '93 one was ensured by Flood's production, whose CV of artistic collaborations is nothing short of impressive (Cabaret Voltaire, U2, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, to name a few). Among the non-single tracks of this new phase for the band, one that stands out is precisely this "Mercy In You", in which, after roughly twenty seconds of guitar-and-drums intro, Dave Gahan, with his warm, deep voice, utters these words:

You know what I need

When my heart bleeds

I suffer from greed

A longing to feed

On the mercy in you

(“Sai di cosa ho bisogno/ quando il mio cuore sanguina/ soffro di avidità/ desidero nutrirmi/della tua pietà”).

15. The Love Thieves

A great deal happened in the four years between "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" and "Ultra": the punishing Devotional tour, Alan Wilder leaving the band, and Dave Gahan's physical and mental health problems, which kept worsening until they culminated in a suicide attempt. Fortunately, all's well that ends well, and despite every difficulty, Depeche Mode arrived in 1997 at their ninth studio album, titled "Ultra". Compared to its predecessor, the register changes completely. Depeche Mode flirt with trip-hop, handing production duties to electronic music producer Tim Simenon. The average track length is noticeably longer than usual, since, aside from the two-minute instrumental pieces, almost all the songs run well past the five-minute mark. For this writer, "Ultra" was the English band's last true masterpiece, as well as their most consistently accomplished album, alongside "Music For The Masses" and "Violator". Unlike those two, however, "Ultra" has never managed to enjoy the same level of general acclaim.

If we're looking to pinpoint a possible forerunner, we should turn our ears less to Depeche Mode's own past albums than to that progressive house and techno masterpiece "Dubnobasswithmyheadman" by Underworld, released just three years earlier. The lovely thing is that Depeche Mode's influence was quite noticeable on that album's magnificent track "Dirty Epic", just as, among the various remixes of "Barrel Of A Gun", the first single lifted from "Ultra", there's also one by Underworld. As you can see, there was a nice little exchange of references between the two British bands during that period.

"The Love Thieves" holds down the number two spot in the running order of "Ultra" and boasts a rather stretched-out structure, clocking in at around 6:30. The backing track is one of those languid, relaxing ones, which in a way acts as a counterweight to the aggression of "Barrel Of A Gun". The lyrics, written as always by Martin Gore, could well be read as a reference to the period of great suffering Dave Gahan went through, whose voice comes in after about fifty seconds:

Oh the tears that you weep

For the poor tortured souls

Who fall at your feet

With their love begging bowls

(“Versi lacrime/ per le povere anime straziate/ che cadono ai tuoi piedi/ con le loro ciotole per elemosinare amore”).

To discover the song's chorus, however, you'll have to wait a good two and a half minutes:

Love needs its martyrs

Needs its sacrifices

They live for your beauty

And pay for their vices

(“L’amore ha bisogno dei suoi martiri/ ha bisogno dei suoi sacrifici/ essi vivono per la tua bellezza/ e pagano per i loro vizi”).

At one point in the song, the word “halo” even appears (“Your body is a halo”). Does that ring a bell?

16. Freestate

Continuing the discussion of “Ultra”, the structure of “Freestate” is no less sprawling: an acoustic-tinged track that would lend itself well to a live unplugged rendition. The second verse doesn't even begin until three and a half minutes in. The chorus, meanwhile, resolves into an anthem to the will to live and to freedom:

Step out of your cage

And onto the stage

It’s time to start

Playing your part

Freedom awaits

Open the gates

Open your mind

Freedom’s a state

(“Esci dalla tua gabbia/ e sali sul palcoscenico/ è ora che cominci/ a fare la tua parte/ la libertà ti attende/ apri i cancelli/ apri la tua mente/ la libertà è uno stato [mentale]”).

The album "Ultra" would be followed a year later by the compilation "The Singles '86-'98", which collects all the singles from those years, plus the splendid previously unreleased track "Only When I Lose Myself", produced by Tim Simenon, the same producer behind "Ultra".

17. I Am You

It's a common opinion that 2001's "Exciter" was a rather weak chapter in Depeche Mode's career. Its successor, "Playing The Angel", already seems to enjoy a much better reputation. This writer, however, believes "Exciter" was actually a great album, and indeed the best Depeche Mode record of the post-2000 era. Sure, given a title promising something "exciting", one might have expected livelier music rather than a string of nocturnal slow numbers, but on the whole the songs are all more than solid, starting with the singles. Radio hits like "Dream On", "I Feel Loved" and – above all – "Freelove" are worthy of the band's finest work. Production on the album was handled by Mark Bell, the deus ex machina behind numerous Bjork records. Among the non-single tracks, we've chosen "I Am You", the twelfth and second-to-last track. The opening electronic groove, combined with Dave Gahan's filtered vocals, suggests less a nocturnal mood and more a morning song to kick off the day. The lyrics, meanwhile, offer up a classic love story, in which the two lovers can no longer be parted. Nothing groundbreaking, but the song works and is a pleasure to listen to. In the chorus, the filters on Gahan's voice disappear:

There's no turning back

We’re in this trap

No denying the facts

No, no, no

No excuses to give

I’m the one you’re with

We've no alternative

No, no, no

(“Non si torna indietro/ siamo in questa trappola/ non possiamo negare i fatti/ no, no, no /niente scuse/ sono io quello con cui stai/ non abbiamo alternative/no, no, no”).

18. The Sinner In Me

In 2005, the release of "Playing The Angel" was met with great enthusiasm by critics (including here on OndaRock). More than a few hailed it as a masterpiece at the time, but time has probably ended up scaling back that assessment somewhat. Either way, "Playing The Angel" still holds up today as a good record, thanks largely to the single "Precious". Sonically, the album doesn't bring any particular innovations compared to the past, although the production has become more abrasive than ever. At the helm is Ben Hillier, who would also go on to produce the following "Sounds Of The Universe" and "Delta Machine". With hindsight, we can say his work with Depeche Mode wasn't among his best, given that the CD's audio quality on "Playing The Angel" was dreadful, a casualty of the so-called loudness war. In particular, the opening track "A Pain That I'm Used To" was practically unlistenable with those hammering sirens.

In 2003, between the albums "Exciter" and "Playing The Angel", Dave Gahan released "Paper Monsters", his first solo album. For the occasion, the songs were written by Gahan himself, with help from multi-instrumentalist Knox Chandler. Buoyed by the release of "Paper Monsters", a decent but hardly exceptional record, the frontman tried every which way to assert his weight as a songwriter within the band, clashing with Martin Gore. In the end he won the right to pitch at most three of his own songs, together with his trusted collaborators Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott. Eigner and Phillpott would also work with Gahan on 2007's "Hourglass", his second solo album.

Turning to the album's non-single tracks, we've chosen "The Sinner In Me". A track built on trip-hop sounds, which from the second chorus onward unfolds into a long instrumental interlude, before closing with Gahan singing the opening verse again. The lyrics are certainly not among the band's most original – telling the story of a man who first leads a dissolute life and then pulls himself back up thanks to the love of someone dear to him – but they're just as enjoyable.

Here are the words of the opening verse...

If I could just hide

The sinner inside

And keep him denied

How sweet life would be

If I could be free

From the sinner in me

(“Se solo potessi nascondere/ la colpa che è in me e negarla/ come sarebbe bella la vita/ se potessi liberarmi/ dal peccatore che è in me”).

…and of the chorus

But you’re always around

You can always be found

To pick me up when I’m on the ground

(“Ma tu sei sempre vicina a me/ posso sempre trovarti/ quando devi rialzarmi dopo che sono caduto a terra”).

In 2006, Depeche Mode released the compilation “The Best Of, Vol. 1”, which included, among other things, the excellent unreleased track “Martyr”. The tracklist choice is somewhat questionable, however, given the total absence of singles from “Black Celebration”, as well as tracks of the caliber of “Policy Of Truth” and “Barrel Of A Gun”.

19. Miles Away/The Truth Is

We'd be lying to ourselves if we said that the Depeche Mode of the third millennium are comparable to the band of the '80s and '90s. Still, even within the much-maligned “Sounds Of The Universe” from 2009, there are some worthwhile moments. Sure, the album gets lost in a few too many longueurs, between filler tracks and ones that drag on for too long (anyone say “In Chains”?). Still, on more than one occasion a genuinely compelling track manages to emerge, and one of these is “Miles Away/The Truth Is”, one of the three tracks on the album written by Dave Gahan, in collaboration with the aforementioned Eigner and Phillpott. The other two tracks by the Gahan/Eigner/Phillpott trio, namely “Hole To Feed” and “Come Back” (a shame only for the somewhat heavy-handed sound), are also more than good, if not among the best tracks on the album. According to the band, “Sounds Of The Universe” makes extensive use of analog synthesizers. Interesting news in itself, but it's not out of the question that the statement served mostly to throw smoke in listeners' eyes about the fact that more than one track is really quite weak melodically. Coming back to “Miles Away/The Truth Is”, the track has the great merit of presenting itself with lean, well-balanced sounds, whereas other tracks came across as a touch redundant. Taken as a standalone episode, it deserves a place on this list. The lyrics, personally written by Dave Gahan, are quite likely a reference to his past drug addiction and the risk of it resurfacing:

It’s one of those conversations we’ve, we’ve had them before

The ones that leave you empty and wanting for more

Your eyes they tell me something that I understand

Your eyes they hold the truth and the truth is:

You’re miles away

(“È una di quelle conversazioni che abbiamo già avuto in passato/ una di quelle che ti lasciato svuotato e desideroso di averne altre/ i tuoi occhi mi dicono qualcosa che già capisco/ i tuoi occhi custodiscono la verità e la verità è che/ sei lontana [tante] miglia”).

20. Alone

The last three studio albums (“Sounds Of The Universe”, “Delta Machine” and “Spirit”) unfortunately show Depeche Mode in a clear downward phase. There was a time when we saw them turn out nothing but masterpieces; nowadays, at best, they merely produce ordinary records. Sonically, they increasingly struggle to keep up with the times and offer anything innovative, and there's also a marked drop in melodic inspiration. Between “Delta Machine” and “Spirit”, there's no shortage of good tracks, but the trouble is that on more than one occasion Depeche Mode now offer up songs that amount to outright self-plagiarism of their past masterpieces. “Broken” is practically a copy of “Little 15”, “Soothe My Soul” of “Personal Jesus”, “Goodbye” has the exact same guitar riff as “I Feel You”, and “So Much Love” sounds like a cover band attempting “A Question Of Time”.

Among the tracks worth saving from Depeche Mode's last two albums, however, we can certainly mention “Alone”, which on “Delta Machine” comes right after the excellent single “Should Be Higher”. The synthesizers between verse and chorus trace out a lovely melody, and the dark, hammering percussion-driven backing track also provides the right sonic setting for a song with deeply anguished lyrics, which effectively capture how friends show up when you need them most.

I was there when you needed me most

I was there when you wanted me least

I was your father, your son and your holy ghost and priest

Through your failings and success

Through your losses and gains

I didn’t see much happiness or pain

(“Ci sono stato quando tu hai avuto più bisogno di me/ ci sono stato quando tu mi volevi di meno/ sono stato tuo padre, tuo figlio, il tuo spirito santo e il tuo prete/ attraverso i tuoi fallimenti e i tuoi successi/ attraverso le tue perdite e le tue conquiste/ non sono riuscito a vedere né molta felicità, né dolore”).

And with "Alone" this thrilling journey of almost forty years comes to a close. Rumor has it that Depeche Mode might return to the studio in 2022 to record new material. As we've seen, it now seems hard to expect from them anything more than albums that, at best, offer a decent rehash of their sound. Still, it would be unfair to ask for more, given that the former Basildon boys can now boast a body of work that, in both quality and quantity, has very few equals in the history of popular music.

(In memory of Andrew John Fletcher, July 8, 1961-May 26, 2022)

Special thanks to the Italian fan site depechemodeitalia.com, an invaluable source of information regarding the translations of Depeche Mode's lyrics.

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23/12/2025