|
|
 |
Depeche Mode's American career took the British synthpop band from hipster curios to cult artists to teenage heroes to, with 1989's VIOLATOR, genuine alternative-rock superstardom. It's a majestic album that reflects the buildup of angst over ... Full Descriptiona decade of playing; it stays true to the outfit's basic form while exploring new aural worlds.
The album contains three massive MTV hits, the unusually guitar-oriented "Personal Jesus," the more typical but still obtuse "Enjoy the Silence," and the off-kilter and emphatic "Policy of Truth." Martin Gore's songs explore his usual themes of sex ("Blue Dress"), redemption ("Clean"), and desperation ("Waiting for the Night"), but the arrangements are more detailed and lush than on the band's spartan early albums; it's a new style that suits Dave Gahan's deepening voice well. VIOLATOR's commercial success may have brought turmoil to Depeche Mode's career and lives, but it remains one of the band's finest and (unlikely enough) truest albums. With VIOLATOR, the band pulls off the not unremarkable feat of becoming a household name without losing much of its soul.
Recorded at Logic Studios, Milan, Italy; Puk Studios, Denmark; The Church and Master Rock Studios, London, England; Axis, New York, New York.
Depeche Mode: Andrew Fletcher, David Gahan, Alan Wilder, Martin Gore.
Engineers include: Peter Iversen, Pino Pischetola, Goh Hotoda.
Rolling Stone (p.74) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[With] heavier hooks, cinematic arrangements and sleek sonic detail."
Spin (p.58) - Ranked #9 in Spin's "The 10 Best Reissues of 2006" -- "[T]his was an emotional bloodletting, complete with dark drone..."
Q (p.129) - Ranked #6 in Q Magazine's "10 Essential Reissues Of 2006."
Q - 4 Stars - Excellent - Included in Q's list of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990.
CMJ (1/6/03, p.15) - Included in CMJ's list of "Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time" Hide Description Depeche Mode Violator Songs Purchase Violator CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Depeche Mode Ultra CD (1997)
Violator album
 $7.29   
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 ...
| | Depeche Mode Some Great Reward CD (1984)
Violator CD music
$7.29
Depeche Mode's U.S. breakthrough album, 1984's SOME GREAT REWARD, expanded the U.K. synth band's American following from a small cult of Anglophiles to the same sort of teenage adulation that the Cure had started attracting around the same time. Featuring the Top 20 U.S. hit "People Are People," along with cult faves such as the intensely mopey "Blasphemous Rumours," the fashionably S&M-tinged "Master and Servant," and the disarmingly earnest love ballad "Somebody," this is the album on which Depeche Mode finally shed the stigma of founding songwriter Vince Clarke's departure.
SOME GREAT REWARD finds Martin Gore coming into his own as a songwriter, with Alan Wilder taking Gore's place in the George Harrison role, adding two fine tunes of his own. The addition of mechanical factory noise to several songs, as well as the more introspective tones and more intricate constructions, aligned the band more with darker industrial bands than with sunny technopop groups. Meanwhile, Gahan's vocals started hinting at a deeper, moodier tint, foreshadowing ...
| | Depeche Mode Black Celebration CD (1986)
Violator music CDs
$7.29 
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. ...
| | Depeche Mode Music For The Masses CD (1987)
Violator songs
$9.85
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 seemed less regimented. Vocalist Dave Gahan excelled, as his voice grew in power. In a year or two they would become stadium rock stars, and ...
| | Depeche Mode Songs Of Faith And Devotion CD (1993)
Violator album
$7.29
SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION finds the band reinventing itself somewhat via lyirics that largely abandon the bleakness of the band's previous forays in favor of cautious optimism and spiritual questions.
Depeche Mode's tenth album, SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION, finds the band reinventing itself somewhat. Not that it'd been exactly treading water, but its last several albums had explored and refined a particular aesthetic of dark lyrical themes and minor-key synthesizer atmospherics.
However, in 1993's grunge era, lyrical mopeyness was endemic and keyboards were rapidly becoming out of date. Wisely, Depeche Mode sought to change both elements of its music, not just one. Incorporating guitars--most notably on the oddly blues-derived "I Feel You"--and other instruments into its songs was a canny move, but the stroke of genius is in Martin Gore's lyrics, which largely abandon the bleakness of the band's more recent work in favor of cautious optimism and ...
| | John Denver: The Wildlife Concert DVD (1995)
Violator CD music
 $10.75 
In celebration of the Wildlife Conservation Society's 100th anniversary, popular country singer and American icon John Denver is joined by James Burton and Jim Horn in a concert for the environment. Among the exclusive interview clips and twenty-four musical numbers are such favorites as "Sunshine on My Shoulder," "Annie's Song" and "Rocky Mountain High."
This DVD of the live concert seen on the A&E channel ce lebrates the Wildlife Conservation Society. It includes 24 songs: Rocky Mountain High, I'd Rather Be a Cowboy ...
| | Frank Zappa Waka/Jawaka CD (1972) Remastered
Violator music CDs
$10.15 
While performing at England's Rainbow Theater on December 10, 1971, Frank Zappa sustained a serious injury when an overzealous fan pushed him off the stage. Zappa was forced to keep a low profile while recovering from this traumatic event, but he was in the middle of a very fertile recording period--his classic albums HOT RATS, BURNT WEENY SANDWICH, and CHUNGA'S REVENGE had all recently been released. Instead of moping around, Zappa immersed himself in writing new music, and 1972's WAKA/JAWAKA was his first album to appear since his accident.
Although not as instantly rewarding as the aforementioned HOT RATS, WAKA/JAWAKA is still a solid Zappa album. Like its predecessors, the album contains elements of Frank's instantly recognizable jazz-rock fusion. But due to its gritty rock production, the four-song album (two tracks are very lengthy, the others shorter) is not your normal fusion effort. The opener, "Big Swifty," leans more towards rock (thanks to Zappa's distorted guitar riffs), while the closing title track is jazzier, as a horn section plays the tune's multiple ...
| | Various Artists Unleashed CD (2005)
Violator songs
$14.29
| | Various Artists Sounds Of Nature: Ocean Melody CD (2005)
Violator album
$8.59
| | Various Artists Summer Fun Vol. 2 CD (2005) Bonus DVD
Violator CD music
$5.95
| | Flotation Toy Warning Bluffer's Guide To The Flight Deck CD (2005)
Violator music CDs
$13.15
| | Josephine Cameron Every Night When The Sun Goes In CD (2003)
Violator songs
$11.39
| | Uncle Jim Funky As A Diaper CD (2004)
Violator album
$17.09
| | John Lee Hooker Cream CD (2007) (Import)
Violator CD music
$20.55
| | Grupo Limite Partiendome El Alma CD (1996) Remastered
Violator music CDs
$8.59
|
|
Violator Music Review Average Rating: (4.6 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews One of DM's Very Best!! :)
Indeed, Violator is one of Depeche Mode's best albums. Their latest one, Playing The Angel is also beautiful.
Some of my favorite songs on this CD are: Sweetest Perfection (i'm in love with this one) Enjoy the Silence, Clean and Blue Dress.
Overall, a must buy. You cant be a DM fan without having this masterpiece in your collection! :)
Submitted by Nonami (I wont tell) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Enjoy it...
along with "Songs of..." this is DM best album, classics like Enjoy The Silence,Halo,Personal Jesus,World In my Eyes makes this a must have in your collection! DM was in my eyes the best band in the world during late 80s and up untill the mid 90s. No doubt!
Submitted by madshit80 (Eskilstuna, Sweden)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  Not all the music is bearable.
I ordered this CD for "Personal Jesus",its great! I got one bonus, a hit from the 80's. The rest of the tracks are so similar they become annoying. The synthesizer style goes only so far.
Submitted by shuart (Ft. Lauderdale, Fl)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
Depeche Mode's greatest album
This album is an experience in itself. It is clearly their best.
Submitted by a reviewer (New York NY USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Great album, but too friggin' short!!!
By the end of this album, I was blown away but...unfulfilled. I was really getting into it and then it just ended. I was bummed but I suppose it was good though because it made me crave more and I ended up buying three more DM albums. Contains the hits "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence." My favorite off the disc is "Policy of Truth." Buy it...but buy at least one other Depeche Mode cd so that you'll have something to fill the craving afterward.
Submitted by a reviewer (Palmdale, CA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No List All Reviews | Have you heard this album? |  |
|
|
|
|
|
860 
buttons below to play song samples
Adobe Flash
