Black Celebration

Performer: Depeche Mode
Engineer: Dave Allen
Producer: Gareth Jones; Daniel Miller
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Depeche Mode: Martin Gore (vocals, guitar, synthesizer, keyboards); David Gahan (vocals); Alan Wilder, Andrew Fletcher (synthesizer, keyboards, background vocals). Recorded at Westside, London, England and Hansa, Berlin, Germany. Whether the band felt it was simply the time to move on from its most explicit industrial-pop fusion days, or whether increased success and concurrently larger venues pushed the music into different avenues, Depeche Mode's fifth studio album, Black Celebration, saw the group embarking on a path that in many ways defined their sound to the present: emotionally extreme lyrics matched with amped-up tunes, as much anthemic rock as they are compelling dance, along with stark, low-key ballads. The slow, sneaky build of the opening title track, with a strange distorted vocal sample providing a curious opening hook, sets the tone as David Gahan sings of making it through "another black day" while powerful drums and echoing metallic pings carry the song. Black Celebration is actually heavier on the ballads throughout, many sung by Martin Gore -- the most per album he has yet taken lead on -- with notable dramatic beauties including "Sometimes," with its surprise gospel choir start and rough piano sonics, and the hyper-nihilistic "World Full of Nothing." The various singles from the album remain definite highlights, such as "A Question of Time," a brawling, aggressive number with a solid Gahan vocal, and the romantic/physical politics of "Stripped," featuring particularly sharp arrangements from Alan Wilder. However, with such comparatively lesser-known but equally impressive numbers as the quietly intense romance of "Here Is the House" to boast, Black Celebration is solid through and through. ~ Ned Raggett BLACK CELEBRATION, Depeche Mode's fifth album not counting compilations, reflects a band coming into its own, exploring new sounds yet staying true to the electronic New Wave that catapulted the foursome to icon status. The production and arrangements move further into the atmospheric, somewhat industrial realm first tentatively explored on the preceding SOME GREAT REWARD, with more impressive results. "Fly On the Windscreen," a song previewed in a much different arrangement on the singles compilation CATCHING UP WITH DEPECHE MODE, sounds more convincing in this form, and it's one of the band's best-ever efforts. As a whole, BLACK CELEBRATION is a landmark Goth-pop album. Martin Gore's lyrics are less strident and more personal--even the politicized "New Dress" is couched in humanistic detail instead of slogans--and his mostly minor-key melodies have a certain dark majesty. David Gahan's unearthly vocals lend borderline-orperatic songs like "A Question of Lust" and the title track a Weill-esque sinister undertone. In the middle of it all lies "Stripped," a haunting pop track straddling the line of love and control, an apt harbinger for what was to come, both from the band itself and from goth-industrial in general.

Rolling Stone (p.66) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n instant classic for the band's fans..." Q (7/95, p.139) - 3 Stars - Good - "...show[s] how distant from their chart peers Depeche Mode were becoming." NME (Magazine) (7/1/95, p.50) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Mephisto...advised Depeche Mode to make BLACK CELEBRATION, and what they created was an eerie thing somewhere between the pop songs of A BROKEN FRAME and the full-on goth pop of VIOLATOR..."

Depeche Mode (French for "hurried fashion") was one of the first and best of the British synth-pop bands, combining breathless, melodic pop with perky electronics. With main songwriter Vince Clarke's departure for Yaz, Martin Gore took the reigns, and the band's sound became darker and harder, though still true to their trademark synth-driven accessibility. The post-Clarke band's moody dance-pop brought Depeche Mode worldwide superstardom in the second half of the '80s. The band survived overexposure, drug problems, and all the other traditional rock-star travails, and came out older and wiser, entering the 2000s as a fully functioning, mature unit.

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