Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward - The 12'' Singles

Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward | The 12" Singles is a deluxe collector's edition vinyl box set released on 14 December 2018 by Mute, Columbia, and Sony Music. This numbered, limited-edition release features six 12-inch discs pressed on audiophile-quality 180g heavy vinyl, with audio entirely remastered from the original tapes at Abbey Road Studios. The box set serves as a definitive physical archive for the band's landmark 1984 industrial synth-pop era, which solidified their international success.

The collection meticulously replicates the original UK 12-inch singles and artwork from the Some Great Reward album cycle. It features the iconic tracks People Are People, Master And Servant, and the double A-side Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody. Included in the set are both the standard retail 12-inch releases and the rare, limited-edition "L" series variants, providing a comprehensive deep dive into the band's mid-80s output.

Musically, the box set highlights the pioneering remix culture of the 1980s, specifically featuring the work of legendary producer Adrian Sherwood. Listeners can explore heavy, experimental reworkings like the "Slavery Whip Mix" of Master And Servant and the On-U Sound remixes of People Are People. The set also introduces unique track configurations, such as the original Blasphemous Rumours 7-inch EP compiled on a 12-inch vinyl format for the first time, alongside historic live recordings from the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

Designed for hardcore fans and audiophiles, the box set includes high-value physical bonuses. Inside the custom street-art styled outer box, collectors will find a replica of the original Blasphemous Rumours promotional marketing poster and a digital download card for high-quality audio files. The individual records maintain their original, distinct sleeve designs, preserving the visual legacy of Depeche Mode's breakthrough era.

Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward

Some Great Reward, released in September 1984, represents the definitive moment Depeche Mode transitioned from lightweight synth-pop hitmakers into serious pioneers of dark alternative electronic music. Recorded primarily at the legendary Hansa Mischstudio in West Berlin, the album captures the grit and tension of the Cold War era. The band heavily embraced industrial sampling, using synths and sequencers to morph everyday metallic clangs, machinery noises, and concrete rhythms into pop hooks. This sonic evolution created a dense, textured backdrop that perfectly complemented singer Dave Gahan's increasingly confident and commanding vocal delivery, securing the band's massive breakthrough in both West Germany and the United States.

Lyrically, the album stands as a bold exploration of provocative, adult themes written primarily by Martin Gore. The tracklist fearlessly tackles institutional religion and cosmic injustice in "Blasphemous Rumours," examines BDSM and sexual power dynamics in "Master and Servant," and confronts racial and social prejudice in the global smash hit "People Are People." Balancing this aggressive industrial edge is "Somebody," a stark, vulnerable piano ballad that showcased the band's emotional versatility. By pairing mainstream melodic sensibilities with transgressive themes and avant-garde production, Some Great Reward established the dark, brooding blueprint that would define Depeche Mode's legendary career throughout the late 1980s and 1990s.

Depeche Mode - Construction Time Again - The 12'' Singles

Depeche Mode - Construction Time Again | The 12" Singles is a deluxe audiophile box set released by Sony Music on 14 December 2018. It marks the third installment in the band's chronological campaign to reissue their entire 12-inch catalog on high-quality vinyl. Every track in this collection was meticulously remastered from the original studio master tapes at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The set serves as a definitive sonic archive of the band's pivotal transition into industrial pop during the early 1980s.

The collection features six individual 12-inch vinyl discs pressed on heavy 180-gram wax. It includes the standard and limited-edition configurations for the hit singles "Everything Counts" and "Love, In Itself". Additionally, the box set includes the non-album transitional single "Get The Balance Right!", which bridged the gap between their second and third studio albums. The tracking lists preserve the extended mixes, dub versions, and rare B-sides that defined the band's dancefloor presence in 1983.

A major highlight for collectors is the inclusion of extensive live material across three of the limited-edition discs. These tracks were captured live at the London Hammersmith Odeon on 25 October 1982 during the See You tour. They showcase energetic, raw synth-pop performances of early staples like "New Life", "Just Can't Get Enough", and "Photographic". This addition transforms the box set from a simple singles collection into an important historical document of their early live era.

The physical presentation matches the premium nature of the audio. The outer slipcase features a street-art inspired design that complements the industrial themes of the original album. Each vinyl is housed in a sleeve that precisely replicates the original artwork, textures, and labels from the 1983 UK releases. To complete the premium package, Sony Music included a rare, full-sized reproduction of the original promotional marketing poster from the era.

Depeche Mode - Construction Time Again

Depeche Mode’s third studio album, Construction Time Again (1983), represents the pivotal turning point where the band transitioned from naive synth-pop to a darker, sophisticated industrial sound. It marked the full-time introduction of multi-instrumentalist Alan Wilder, whose classical training and technical skills transformed the band’s musical depth. Moving away from the breezy romance of their earlier work, primary songwriter Martin Gore infused the lyrics with biting social commentary, tackling corporate greed, environmental decay, and Cold War anxieties. This thematic shift gave the band a new, mature identity that separated them from their pop peers.

Sonically, the album is celebrated as a groundbreaking masterclass in early sampling technology. The band famously traversed London and Berlin with portable recorders, capturing the sounds of clanging metal pipes, industrial machinery, and falling bricks to construct their rhythm tracks. This gritty, found-sound architecture was seamlessly blended with pop melodies, best exemplified by the hit single "Everything Counts." While retrospective critics occasionally note that a few experimental tracks feel unpolished, the consensus cements Construction Time Again as the vital, courageous blueprint that made the band's future masterpieces possible.

Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame - The 12'' Singles

A Broken Frame - The 12" Singles is a deluxe collector's box set released by Sony Music as part of Depeche Mode's definitive chronological vinyl series. This collection focuses on the band's pivotal 1982 sophomore album, marking a transitional era where Martin Gore took over as the primary songwriter following Vince Clarke's departure. The set contains three 12" maxi-singles pressed on audiophile-grade 180-gram vinyl, with audio meticulously remastered from the original master tapes at Abbey Road Studios. Each record features extended remixes, club mixes, and rare instrumental B-sides that defined the band's evolving synth-pop sound on the dance floors of the early 1980s.

True to the series' high production standards, the box set meticulously replicates the original United Kingdom artwork, tracklists, and physical presentation. It includes the standout singles "See You," "The Meaning of Love," and "Leave in Silence," housed in heavy-duty sleeves featuring the iconic textured street-art iconography. Beyond the music, collectors receive a replica of the album's original promotional marketing poster alongside a digital download card for high-quality audio files. This release serves as an essential historical archive for audiophiles and dedicated fans tracking the dark, melodic origins of Depeche Mode's legendary career.

Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame

Martin Gore has famously noted that Depeche Mode stopped worrying about its future when the first post-Vince Clarke-departure single, "See You," placed even higher on the English charts than anything else Clarke had done with them. Such confidence carries through all of A Broken Frame, a notably more ambitious effort than the pure pop/disco of the band's debut. With arranging genius Alan Wilder still one album away from fully joining the band, Frame became very much Gore's record, writing all the songs and exploring various styles never again touched upon in later years. "Satellite" and "Monument" take distinct dub/reggae turns, while "Shouldn't Have Done That" delivers its slightly precious message about the dangers of adulthood with a spare arrangement and hollow, weirdly sweet vocals. Much of the album follows in a dark vein, forsaking earlier sprightliness, aside from tracks like "A Photograph of You" and "The Meaning of Love," for more melancholy reflections about love gone wrong as "Leave in Silence" and "My Secret Garden." More complex arrangements and juxtaposed sounds, such as the sparkle of breaking glass in "Leave in Silence," help give this underrated album even more of an intriguing, unexpected edge. Gore's lyrics sometimes veer on the facile, but David Gahan's singing comes more clearly to the fore throughout; things aren't all there yet, but they were definitely starting to get close.

Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell - The 12'' Singles

"Speak & Spell | The 12" Singles" is a premium collector's box set that serves as a definitive audio archive of Depeche Mode's debut era. Released in August 2018, this deluxe compilation features audiophile-quality, 180-gram vinyl pressings mastered at Abbey Road Studios. It meticulously reproduces the band's first three 12-inch singles—"Dreaming Of Me", "New Life", and the iconic synth-pop anthem "Just Can't Get Enough"—complete with their original, striking cover artwork. The set also includes a rare replica of the 1981 FlexiPop magazine disc, alongside a commemorative poster and a digital download code.

Musically, the collection captures the vibrant, upbeat energy of Depeche Mode’s earliest configuration, heavily driven by primary songwriter Vince Clarke before his departure to form Yazoo and Erasure. The tracks showcase a raw, minimalist electronic sound that defined early 1980s British synth-pop, moving from the infectious hooks of the main singles to the darker, moodier textures of B-sides like "Ice Machine" and "Any Second Now". By preserving the extended "Schizo Mix" and "Rio Mix" versions, this box set provides fans with a historic look at how the young band from Basildon first conquered dancefloors and laid the groundwork for their legendary four-decade career.

Depeche Mode - Speak And Spell

Speak & Spell is the debut studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released in October 1981 by Mute Records. Driven by light, upbeat synthesizer hooks, the record stands out as a unique entry in the band's catalog because it was written almost entirely by original member Vince Clarke. Clarke left the group shortly after the album's release to form other successful synth-pop acts like Yazoo and Erasure. His knack for infectious melodies defined the album's commercial success, spawning iconic top-10 UK singles such as "New Life" and the enduring dance-floor classic "Just Can't Get Enough".

While the majority of the album is defined by this bright, optimistic pop energy, it also contains the first hints of the band's future creative direction. Tracks written by Martin Gore, such as "Tora! Tora! Tora!", alongside moody album cuts like "Puppets" and "Photographic", introduced a darker, more melancholic edge. When Gore took over as the primary songwriter following Clarke's departure, this atmospheric, textured sound became Depeche Mode's signature style. Ultimately, Speak & Spell remains a foundational landmark of the 1980s new wave movement, capturing a pioneering electronic band at the very beginning of their sonic evolution.

At the time, no-one could envisage anything of the kind, and Depeche Mode was little more than a new and charming addition to the fast-growing synth-pop genre. One must recall, I think, that back in 1981 good pop hits were the rule rather than the exception, and that there was no shame in producing them. And however quaint this sounds today, at the time, like most synth pop, it was fresh and exciting. “New Life” sounded terrific on the radio, one of the best hits of the year, and still a firm favourite of mine.
That nothing else here measures up to that breakthrough hit is neither here nor there, for these are still pretty accomplished pop songs. There’s not much point in digging beneath the surface, but then Speak And Spell hardly set itself up as anything but a pop album, albeit early enough in the day for the instrumentation to sound exotic and futuristic. If the twisted, tormented, tortured Mode of the nineties would come closer to being “real artists” (whatever that is), there’s something to be said for the early incarnation that wanted to muck about, have a good time and, hopefully, get on Top of the Pops.
And yet even that’s unfair, for there are hints of things lurking beneath the surface; it’s just that no-one has worked out quite where to go with them. So there’s an ambivalent feel to “Photographic”, a vaguely prophetic, celebratory dystopianism, but they were all at that kind of thing in those days. Unsurprisingly, the Martin Gore composition “Tora! Tora! Tora!” comes closest to the future direction of Depeche Mode with its Numanesque air of being lost to forces beyond mortal control.
And in retrospect, Speak And Spell is more of a dry run for Yazoo than for the future Depeche Mode – what are “Boys Say Go!” and “Nodisco” if not prototypes for “Situation” and “Don’t Go”? What is fun here became more interesting when Vince Clark teamed up with someone in Alison Moyet who was capable of countering the artificiality of the electronics with bluesy humanity through her vocals.
At any rate, you underestimate the influence of this LP at your peril. Stuff like this made large numbers of boys just entering their teenage years badger their parents to buy them a synthesizer for Christmas. Even an earworm the size of Brazil like “Just Can’t Get Enough” has stood the test of time surprisingly well. I’m sure you can get enough of it, but I haven’t. At least not yet.

Depeche Mode - Classics Rarities Revelations

Rarely do I pick up Mojo Magazine as it’s usually full of dross, but the front of February’s mag had this freebee CD on the front. I still didn’t buy the mag as I found a rip on the interweb that satisfied my curiosity. The standard here is pretty good considering the various sources used to compile the compilation. Even so, it’s a must for fans of electronic pop and rock, as Depeche Mode raid their own catalogue to present 15 Classics, Rarities & Revelations. Includes an acoustic Enjoy The Silence, alternate Never Let Me Down Again, and more! Well, the mag would try to convince you to part with your hard earned sheckles, and now that it’s out of stock the internet sellers are asking up to 100 Euros for each copy.