With new member Alan Wilder onboard, work commenced on Depeche Mode's third studio album, 1983's Construction Time Again. The album saw yet another shift in musical direction from the band, which was mainly driven by Wilder and Martin Gore sampling real world sounds, which were then manipulated with the synclavier and E-mu Emulator.
Gore also took an interest in introducing an industrial sound to the group after attending an Einstürzende Neubauten concert. It's this latter, which is the most present in the direction of the album. Additionally, the lyrics took on a darker, and more politically charged tone. The overall end result is a very different Depeche Mode album from what one would have expected based on prior material.
The single, Everything Counts, would reach number six on the UK charts, as well as become a top thirty hit in Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, South Africa, and West Germany. However, once again, the band would fail to chart in the USA.
Playing through Construction Time Again, it definitely sounds...different. Sadly, not in an enjoyable way. It's as if the entire thing is literally just a bunch of sound effects thrown together to create songs. For me, it really doesn't work, and the song Pipeline, is a standout track for just how bad it can be. It's long, bloated in length, and depressing.
Even the single, Everything Counts, while okay, was nothing to really write home about. It wasn't even close to being among my favorites from Depeche Mode....but of course, I'll add it to my shuffle list because I don't know any better.
I'll also give a slight nod of approval to Told You So. However, overall, this album wasn't really my cup of tea. It more so fell into background noise as I lost interest in it.
As for Depeche Mode, things were only about to get bigger and better for them with their 1984 follow up, Some Great Reward. It would not only continue to boost their popularity across the globe, but garner their first US Billboard Hot 100 hit. I listened to that one quite a while ago, and when I did, wasn't sure what I thought. I stated in my initial review that I wanted to give it another playthrough, and well, now seems like the best time for that.
It continues the themes, and overall style from Construction Time Again, and having seen the evolution of their music up to this point, I can certainly appreciate it more than I did the first time around. Tracks Something To Do, Lie To Me, Stories Of Old, Somebody, and of course, People Are People stand out, and ultimately became the ones I added to my shuffle. Hearing this one again also helps to segue myself into their 1986 follow-up, Black Celebration, which I'll dive into tomorrow.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS September 10, 1983 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS September 10, 1988 |
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