Depeche Mode – Speak and Spell

So, here we go, I’m sure I’ll hear about this. Yes, I like that electronic group whose music careens back and forth between brilliant and banal. And sadly, the group’s debut album was – at least to me – more banal than brilliant. Though Depeche Mode really didn’t start finding its more familiar voice until after founding member Vince Clarke left, there are a few shining moments amid the primitive drum-machine- and-synth droning of the first album; “New Life” and “Dreaming Of Me” are worth a listen, though “Photographic”, a song which a high school friend of mine often played which was one of my first points of interest in Depeche Mode, has never quite fascinated me as much as the group’s later tunes. The same can be said for much of the rest of this album. I know it was revolutionary at the time, but Sgt. Pepper it’s not.

1. New Life (3:56)
2. Puppets (3:57)
3. Dreaming of Me (3:42)
4. Boys Say Go! (3:04)
5. Nodisco (4:13)
6. What’s Your Name? (2:41)
7. Photographic (4:58)
8. Tora! Tora! Tora! (4:24)
9. Big Muff (4:21)
10. Any Second Now (Voices) (2:33)
11. Just Can’t Get Enough (6:41)

Released by: Sire
Release date: 1981
Total running time: 44:30