Depeche Mode – Black Celebration

Why reissue the standard CD/DVD 10 times, but this not even once?

Note for any collectors: the later 2014 reissue/repressing of this CD/DVD :
https://www.discogs.sitioby.com/release/5547434-Depeche-Mode-Black-Celebration/image/SW1hZ2U6MjIxNjA3MjQ= scrimps on the embossed symbols which are not printed on the digipak front cover nor the four black s inside the gatefold. The only surviving element is the tulips image at the bottom of the right with 'life in the so-called space age' legend. Bit disappointing for this to not be done as it is an integral part of the album's artwork!

Somewhat satisfied that they had taken the fusing of industrial and pop as far as it could go, Depeche Mode headed into darker and musically amped-up territory with their fifth studio album, "Black Celebration", which generated sonic, tonal and lyrical characteristics that would shape and set the mood of their subsequent work. From Martin Gore's embracing of more controversial subject matter and angst-ridden, introspective lyrics to Alan Wilder and Andy Fletcher's intricate compositions and compelling arrangements derived from components of rock and dance music, the album is an aggressive, groovy divagation from their crowd-pleasing teenybopper days. Comprised mostly of intensely romantic, emotionally charged ballads and stark, dramatic anthemic rockers, the songs exude melancholy and ion despite being ripe with nihilism. "World Full of Nothing" and "Sometimes" could not be further apart in of substance and tone, with the former being cynical and the latter being intimate and bittersweet, though both are expressly sombre and sharply defined by an overt sense of solitude and reflection. It is this consistency that enables each song to flow seamlessly into the next, carving out its own identity whilst also possessing striking similarities to every other track, as evidenced by "A Question of Lust" and "A Question of Time", which are interrelated whilst being disparate semantically, thematically and sonically.

Gore presides emotively and prettily over the ballads, whereas Dave Gahan adopts an even more sultry, dissonant and deep vocal than ever before, imbuing the more dynamic songs with an insular, haunting quality. "Stripped", defined by its thorny sexual politics, is elevated by Gahan's powerful baritone, creating a wider soundstage that only enhances the dramatic, provocative nature of the song's contentious topic. Continuing the sampling fixation that composed their industrial pop phase, the tracks are scattered with distorted vocals, metallic pings, echoes and strange effects, all of which magnify the album's cold, brooding and menacing essence, albeit enveloped by measured suspense, explosive sensuality and galvanic zeal. Enthusiastically seizing the deducible seriousness of their former outlook and running with it, Depeche Mode's wistful yet stimulating fifth effort is celebrated as the musical interface between their industrial fusion period and electronic rock. Such is the album's nocturnal, perverse approach and man versus machine concept that it failed to achieve the lasting appeal of their later more commercially viable works, but the evocative musical backdrop, in all of its gloomy glory, signposts the band's appropriation of rock instead of pop. Exploring high technology and social disease and nostalgic lamenting the modern way of life, the album is their most pessimistic. Constructing the constantly melodic and at times complex foundation of the music is the eerily omnipresent synthesizers and keyboards, which are less thin-sounding and as conducive to the conversely brittle, bleak and sanguine atmosphere as Gahan's coarse delivery of Gore's indelicate, incendiary lyrics.

"Black Celebration" is indeed just that, unabashedly showcasing and cementing the band's darkening sonic formula, slicker arrangements, denser production and explicit despair at almost every aspect of life. It is perhaps their most dispirited, compelling and commanding album with a grim, future-facing dystopian slant reminiscent of later synth-driven subgenres such as dark wave and industrial metal. An unjustifiably forgotten classic that should now be universally praised as one of the most influential of the 1980s. In all respects, this was the first Depeche Mode record to comprehensively demonstrate the cinematic, ominous principles taken to greater heights on "Music for the Masses", but there is nothing quite like the dejection and darkness of this album in the band's canon. It has been overlooked for far too long and anyone unfamiliar with its diversified, unified, contrasting content should be made aware of it with immediate effect.

Rating: 5/5

One of the greatest albums ever gets a makeover. By far this is my fave Depeche record and the remaster is fully justified. "It Doesn't Matter two" and "A Question Of Time" sound excellent in the new version. Vocals are stronger and clearer and of course the record contains "Stripped", possibly the best Depeche single.
And the documentary is good also and at 45 minutes long, it makes this remaster the best of the bunch in my opinion.