| Young and silly...but on the rise (review from amazon.com) |
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This month, I bought my second installment in the remastered CD/DVD set, A Broken Frame. After buying Speak & Spell last month, I thought I pretty much knew what to expect--a remastered CD, a DVD with material you can't put on your iPod, and the cheesy synthesizers prevalent in DM's early days.
But I must say, I was very impressed. I can't fall in love with it too much--the record feels a bit awkward at times, like the songs are only loosely connected. (Probably not surprising, considering that the band was still trying to find itself after the sudden departure of Vince Clarke). I know that the songs are a bit quirky, and nothing on here quite lives up to "Just Can't Get Enough" or probably even "New Life."
Nevertheless, there is something unique about this record. Singles "See You," "The Meaning of Love," and particularly "Leave in Silence" have started to grow on me in the short time I have owned this album. I love "My Secret Garden" and "The Sun and the Rainfall" to pieces--I think they have beautiful melodies. And there is something wickedly cool about "Monument" and "Satellite," despite the fact that the first chord of "Satellite" is oddly missing from the remastered CD. (And, unfortunately, it's kinda obvious.)
In contrast with Speak & Spell, the bonus DVD material is not merely a video and B-sides. This time, you get six live tracks along with the video and three B-sides. I enjoy the first live track, "My Secret Garden," particularly--weighing in at over 7 minutes, but worth each one. The video is funny, too--the band looked hilarious in the brief footage of the two music videos! Of course, the album sounds good in surround, too.
I think this was one of the better purchases I've made lately. It isn't as solid and refined as Speak & Spell, but it did take the band in the right direction--away from the bubblegum pop and into that dark, futuristic sound that has characterized them straight into 2009.
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| a broken band (review from amazon.com) |
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First off. I like Depeche Mode but always find their music kind of limiting. It has been very hard for me to listen to any of their albums in
their entirety.
And I don't care for Speak and Spell at all
Vince Clark leaving the band was probably a good thing.
A Broken Frame is a broken band trying to find it's sound. And boy does it show. Most of the songs are teenybopper synthpop drudgery. Makes sense since Martin Gore was forced into main songwriter position and just wasn't ready. There are a few gems to be found. "Leave In Silence" the instrumental "Nothing To Fear"(a jean michele jarre knockoff to my ears...but it is pretty good). and the best song of the album "The Sun And The Rainfall". What is amazing is the amount of maturity the band showed in going from this sub-par release to "Construction Time Again". I think I have to credit label owner Daniel Miller and his Synclavier.
One more added note. From the DVD included on this reissue one finds out that Alan Wilder was hired as a touring keyboard player and was not a member of the band. The idea was the band did not want the public thinking that the band needed help with Vincent Clark leaving. Guess what..they did.
This is evident in Wilder's constantly underrated role as sound designer/arranger on later records.
Oh and just to show that I am not a total Vince Clark hater...i loved the work he did with members of wire on Duet Emmo.
end
kdc
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| Amazing, visionary, daring, laugh-out-loud funny (review from amazon.com) |
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| A Broken Frame is easily my favorite Depeche Mode album of them all (next to Black Celebration). It's brooding yet it's full of dark humor that cracks me up every time. Depeche Mode clung to their dark image as their career progressed but their sense of humor seemed to fade away fast. Never was it so abundant as on A Broken Frame. For instance on "See You", my favorite track, Gore entreats an old ex of his to see him again (that's all he wants!) but it's obvious there's more on his agenda: "I'll try not to kiss you and I'll try not to hold you, though I think I still love you! All I want to do is see you, Don't you know that it's true?!". You can guess why the relationship ended in the first place. So clever and endearing. Other standout tracks include "The Meaning of Love" "Leave in Silence" and "My Secret Garden" although every track on the album stands out in its own way. Compared to Speak and Spell I find A Broken frame much more inviting with lusher intrumentation, less monotony and an over all better production quality. A Broken Frame is full of innocence and light-heartedness that Depeche Mode would never see the likes of again.
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| Gahan & Gore's Growing Pains (review from amazon.com) |
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| Considering this was 1982 and the band was left high & dry following Vince Clark's departure, I think A Broken Frame takes a lot of undue flack. Sure, Gore's lyrics leave something to be desired at times, but Depeche Mode showed they were capable of moving-on musically without missing a beat. "Leave In Silence", "See You", and "The Sun & The Rainfall" are highlights, and "Shouldn't Have Done That" is completely different from anything else the band had recorded to date. I think too often people forget that Speak & Spell wasn't without its faults (Anybody remember "Boys Say Go!"?), and while A Broken Frame wasn't Dark Side of the Moon, it did show musical progression and was evidence that the band was gonna be just fine.
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| All Gore (review from amazon.com) |
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A BROKEN FRAME is Depeche Mode's sophomore album and first without co-founding member Vince Clarke, who was the principal songwriter on the band's debut, Speak & Spell. With A BROKEN FRAME, Martin Gore filled this void by penning each of the album's ten tracks. A BROKEN FRAME, however, is not one of DM's strongest albums, even the musicians involved will own up to that sentiment, yet despite the songwriting being wildly uneven it still holds up as an enjoyable record.
Working against A BROKEN FRAME is it's indecision on kind of album it wants to be. Although sections on this album foreshadowed the direction of darker DM songs soon to come, there are interruptions of oddly upbeat songs such as "See You" (which I love), "The Meaning of Love" (tolerable), and "A Photograph of You" (one of DM's worst ever). "Leave In Silence" , "My Secret Garden", "Nothing to Fear", and "The Sun and the Rainfall", are all excellent, up-tempo numbers without diluting the band's spirit and distinctive sound. More intriguing are the songs that open up to the wider possibilities of DM's experimental side, such as the quirky percussive sounds of "Monument" and the odd musical-detours and sound effects in "Shouldn't Have Done That".
Rhino's CD/DVD reissues of DM's backcatalog have been an eye-opener for fans in North America who have enjoyed altered versions of the band's early records without knowing that some of our favorite tracks were bonus material for Stateside audiences. The new reissues are based on the original UK releases. For A BROKEN FRAME this leaves a shorter "Leave In Silence" and the omission of "Further Excerpts From My Secret Garden". The bonus material, three B-sides and a half-dozen live selections from a 1982 concert, is a generous offering, but to regulate it to the DVD side only is frustrating. Couldn't the B-sides at least fit onto the end of the CD? I don't want to sit in front of my TV everytime to listen to this material.
The DVD documentary included, "The Beginning of Their So Called Dark Phase" (perhaps a bit over-dramatic statement for this early in their career), focus on the time leading up to and the release of the recorded music, including those awkward first steps in regaining their footing after Vince Clarke's departure. There are some funny "Spinal Tap"-ish moments in music video and TV performances that I'm sure the band would rather have their fans forget. It is also here that future DM member Alan Wilder enters into the picture, if only as a touring member in support of A BROKEN FRAME.
I can't comment on the audio quality of the mixes offered on the DVD, as I don't have the proper equipment to truly experience what the disc offers.
Final rating (for the music): 3.5 out of 5 stars
Final rating (for the CD/DVD reissue format): 2.5 out of 5 stars
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