Retro Spins: Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell

While my buying of Depeche Mode albums initially started out with albums which I knew songs from, a rabbit hole soon formed, and down I went. I found myself exploring other tunes from them, mainly from the playlist of 10,000 80's songs I had discovered some time ago. This lead me to liking more and more from them, until there was only one album left from the 80's which I didn't own. Well, there was no point in that gap in my collection, so it too joined the fold.

Now with all these albums in my collection, you'd think it was time to start listening to them. Well, no. Truthfully, I've only made my way through their 1984 released, Some Great Reward. However, in retrospect of that review, I wasn't able to make a determination of the album at that time, and really didn't have much to say about it as a result. As such, I may need to revisit it during this process.

The origins of Depeche Mode go back to 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a band called No Romance In China. The two would go on to form the group, Composition Of Sound, in 1980. They would be joined by Martin Gore relatively early upon its inception, and Dave Gahan would be asked to join after being heard singing a rendition of David Bowie's Heroes by Clarke.

As Composition Of Sound, they would make their first appearance in June of 1980. However, the guys would soon start to rethink their band name, considering many others, but ultimately landing on French fashion magazine title, Dépêche Mode, after Gore mistranslated the title to mean "hurried fashion" or "fashion dispatch". However, the more accurate translation of the magazine's name turned out to be "Fashion News" or "Fashion Update".

Accidents aside, they would make their recording debut as Depeche Mode on the 1981 compilation album, Some Bizzare Album with the song Photographic. The track would later be re-recorded for use on their debut studio album, Speak & Spell.

Though the group was approached relatively early on for potential recording deals, they were more so interested in an offer from Mute Records founder, Daniel Miller, who wanted the boys to record a single for his label. The selected single, Dreaming Of Me, would be released in February 1981, and reach number 57 in the UK charts. Encouraged by this, they recorded and release the follow up single, New Life, which went even higher, reaching number 11. This success would also garner them an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

Their third single, Just Can't Get Enough, would break the top ten, and be followed by the release of their debut album, which peaked at number 10 on the UK album charts. Unfortunately, Clarke started to voice concerns with their sudden popularity, stating that because of all the photoshoots and interviews, he never had time to do anything else. He would leave the group in November of 1981. He would go on to join up with Alison Moyet, and form Yazoo, and then in 1985 form Erasure with Andy Bell.

Well, before we go any further, let's take a pause to dig into Speak & Spell.

It starts up with the hit, New Life, and from there continues to deliver delicious 80's synth pop. In addition to the first track, Boys Say Go, Nodisco, Photographic, and Tora! Tora! Tora all stood out. However, it was final track, I Just Can't Get Enough, which is what ultimately led me to buying the album, and my favorite from the bunch.

Speak & Spell is just a nice synth pop journey. It's experimental for its time, yet musically, simplistic in nature. There are a lot of layers hidden within each song, and this is perhaps its strongest point. Each tune is always delivering something for your ears to pick up on, keeping you invested as you try to take in every little bit.

It was also one of those occasions that I frequently long for when doing these play sessions. Wherein it leaves me excited to dive into the next release, and really broaden my horizons with an artist / band. I'm looking forward to 1982's A Broken Flame, and trying to resist firing it up even as I type this sentence. While I'm eager to hear it, I don't want to experience fatigue with Depeche Mode, another common mistake I make when doing these back to back discography reviews. I want each album to have an opportunity to breath. Leave its impact, so to speak, regardless of whether that's good or bad.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
September 8, 1984

 

Speak & Spell, Speak & Math And Speak & Read (Texas Instruments)

 

I don't recall having any "educational" toys as a kid, and I'm fine with that because educational toys are stupid. There was nothing worse than hearing people say, "Want to go to the toy store?" and then they go to Zany Brainy. Ugh....Awful.

As a result of only having cool toys, I don't know much about the various ones designed to teach children, but I do recall one specifically. One which was featured in the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Texas Instrument's Speak & Spell.

Even as I put this post together, I was stunned by how many variations had been released between its inception in 1979 and today. Not only that, but by how many different "branding" versions there were. I never knew until I started looking into this that there was Math, Reading and (UK Exclusive) Writing versions.

For today's post, I'm going to be looking at the 1979 to 1988 era, and for the most part, just the actual devices, and not the the cartridges. However, in doing so, I will be focusing in specifically on 1982.

Speak & Spell was launched in 1978, and with it came a slew of modules for use with the basic unit. These included, but again, are not show, Vowel Power, Super Stumpers 4 - 6, Super Stumpers 7 - 8, Basic Builders, and Mighty Verbs.

In addition to its United States, or  North America  release, the basic unit also got distributed in the United Kingdom. However, only two of the modules were distributed for the latter; Vowel Power and Mighty Verbs.

The "console" became such a successful educational tool that by 1980, Texas Instruments began expanding on the product. They not only reissued the original Speak & Spell, this time with a red banner at the top left of the package, but also included all new modules; Homonym Heroes, Noun Endings, Magnificent Modifiers, and Vowel Ventures.

Texas Instruments also branched out into two all new units in the "speak" series with Speak & Read, and Speak & Math.

Though the units served their purpose as educational toys during these noted years, 1982 would bring it to the forefront in a big way, when it was not only featured in the blockbuster film, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, but utilized heavily to advance the story.

Now obviously, E.T. is a stupid movie that is ultimately pointless thanks to the gaping plot hole in the film. I've talked about it before, but I'll sum it up again. When E.T. lift's Elliot's bike into the air for the iconic flying scene, the entire weight of the film comes crashing down. If E.T. could fly, why did he stand on the ground to be left behind by the very slow ship lifting off at the beginning? Just fly up to it, pop open a hatch, in, gone, done.

Despite the poor film writing, Texas Instruments made sure to cash in on the Speak & Spell's cameo appearance. This first began with a sticker being adhered to boxes in noting that this was the toy as seen in the film.

What's interesting about this is that Texas Instrument also slapped the label on the Speak & Read and Speak & Math, neither of which were in the film.

Texas Instruments would then double down on this advertising opportunity by releasing not only an E.T. boxed basic unit, but also a module, which I will show, entitled, E.T. Fantasy Module.

I don't honestly know if this helped to sell more Speak & Spell's in 1982, but if nothing else, the boxes are cool, and nostalgic E.T. fan's dream come true for fun and unique products to hunt down.

TI followed up this release with the redesigned Speak & Spell Compact, however the unit didn't sell well, and was ultimately recolored and shuffled off to the UK, where the majority of the stock was sold.

In addition to this, the UK also saw the exclusive release of the Speak & Write Compact. France also received the exclusive Speak & Math Compact. However, due to their limited releases, I was not able to obtain a sufficient photo of the boxes to post here.

There wouldn't be a "new" package design for the Speak series until 1984, when Texas Instruments released these very colorful iterations. It's funny how they incorporated a bunch of children on the box with the unit, as if it were some form of group activity, or video game console.

What's interesting to note is that if there were any new modules released during this time, nobody seems to have a list of them. Did TI really try to float these based on just the original ones? I honestly don't know.

The 80's saw one final release for the Speak & Spell, this time with the newly designed Super edition.

Super Speak & Spell, released in 1987, featured all sorts of upgrades, such as all new buttons and a new display. Additionally, the unit was designed with a flip cover, making it more sleek and mature. There was however one drawback to this. The new design also featured slimmer module cartridges, meaning all the older ones were not compatible with it. A Super Speak & Math followed this release in 1990.

Since then, Texas Instruments has released classic versions of their Speak & Spell unit throughout the past decades. However, in this growing age of digital learning, Smart devices and other such handheld items that many children have at their fingertips, I can't help but feel that it's more so as a nostalgic nod, aimed at the adult collector, versus a child. Much like the calculator, there's really no reason for its existence other than to serve as memories of a time long gone.

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