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                         "EXCITER" by DEPECHE MODE
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released by Venusnote Limited / MUTE records

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Here it is, after 4 years of absence  DEPECHE MODE showing up that they're still
here, sticking any other band into the bag. In the middle of the nineties, after
Dave Gahan's two tries to suicide in 1995 and 1996, nobody ever thought that the
cult band of the eighties, that definded the synth pop genre, will see the light
of the  new millenium. After  "Songs Of Faith And Devotion", the  album that was
used to say that it dragged their electronical history to grave, and the massive
Devotional tour  with its many concerts and 1,5 years of touring, all ended very
abruptly... untill 1997  their "ULTRA" album showed up  that brought  us musical
pearls that still ruling many underground clubs.

Lately  their Singles Concert  tour brought  back the hype  to life again, I was
there and  just want to say, you missed the gods of Synthpop... :) Anyway, their
sound changed, was  going more  ambient and  minimalistic, and their  single for
the Singles Tour, "Only When I Loose Myself" was a sign of the changing sound...
But that it changed so much, nobody knew then...

Before I will write more about the album, let's check the tracklist...

o1 - Dream On
o2 - Shine
o3 - The Sweetest Condition
o4 - When The Body Speaks
o5 - The Dead Of Night
o6 - Lovetheme
o7 - Freelove
o8 - Comatose
o9 - I Feel Loved
1o - Breathe
11 - Easy Tiger
12 - I Am You
13 - Good Night Lovers

So what can you  see right after checking this list? Right, a massive use of the
words "Love" and  common words... And yes, that says a lot about the contents of
the album, and  to say it  right yet, it's a pure love songs stuffed one, mostly
ballads and slow and quiet songs... But let's check the single songs out...

o1 - Dream on

The known song... this first single started from zero to place one in the german
charts, even if it isn't a  typical DeMo song anymore... it still sounds in some
way like Depeche Mode, but after all it has lost the DeMo spirit...

o2 - Shine

This is the first, real  ballad on the album, starting with a bunch of synthetic
soundscapes, and  a Dave Gahan, who  sings as  touchful  as in  the times of the
"SOFAD" album...

o3 - The Sweetest Condition

Another  slow  song, bringing  us  Dave  and  Martin, singing  together  in  the
refrains... This song reminds in its style even more to "SOFAD"...

o4 - When The Body Speaks

Without any doubt that is one of the coolest songs on the whole album! Maybe one
of the most  impressive ballads  done by Depeche Mode at all... The spare use of
synth  sounds, acoustic guitar  and Dave's  intonation  is rising  this song far
above over  the most of  the other songs... if you  have your  girlfriend by the
hand, just lean back, put  your arms  around her, close  the eyes and dream... a
truly great love song...

o5 - The Dead Of Night

The most  aggressive  song in  here, with  distorted  noises, stretched samples,
rough singing  by Dave, who seems to act like a little rockstar-wannabe here. In
the refrain  the song even matches it to remind to the sounds of the time of the
late 8oies, but only in  the refrain, since  the strange  soundscapes destroying
any harmonies and even in parts in the melody as well...

o6 - Lovetheme

The  first  little  break, just  to come  back to  breath  again, only  a  small
instrumental

o7 - Freelove

And finally  they're on the  ballads trip again, but  it's not my favourite song
in here, even  if it  was played  in radio  very often, I  think it's one of the
weakest songs of the whole album... just a small unspectacular popsong :/

o8 - Comatose

And martin goes  on to give us a real blow, but  unfortunately he didn't matched
it to connect  to his  great ballads, esp. from the eighties... like "it doesn't
matter"... he's trying hard but finally fails on his own genious songs, too bad.

o9 - I Feel Loved

One of the  few real dancefloor  able songs, reminding  a bit  to the  synth pop
mode's even  if the  slight technoing  beats didn't  match completely  to Dave's
voice, if you know what I mean.

1o - Breathe

And Martin is  doing it again, a  song that  reminds in  his style again hard to
"SOFAD", but again, even if this is a cool one, he fails on the standards he has
sat once, it seems  as he  will never compose and intonise another creamy ballad
as he did years ago...

11 - Easy Tiger

And before  we enter the last part  of the album, another instrumental comes up,
again some soft synth stuff with many atmospheric waves.

12 - I Am You

And again  a slow  song, starting  very calm, with  Dave's  delayed  voice, many
electronic  noises, sparse used, maybe minimal electro... the refrain is without
any doubt the highlite, letting Dave's voice clear...

13 - Goodnight Lovers

Whuuu, huuuuu... the last song of this ballads album wants to leave us back with
a warm  feeling, just like  a good night  song. It does his job, but after all I
wonder why it was chosen as single?! There are much more impressive songs on the
album and I really would like to have "When The Body Speaks" as single version..


Final words...

Without any doubt  this is the softest album ever done by  Depeche Mode, but for
me it seems as they're trying to be as mature as possible, changing the sound in
a style nobody has expected... At some points it is a bit disturbing to see them
leaving slowly  their roots. I don't  want to see  them as the  synth poppers as
they were in the 8oies, but I would have  liked it if  they had developped their
sound from "Ultra", since this album has got some songs that were pure DeMo even
if they came along in a new sound style.
After all this album will find its  lovers for sure, but it doesn't makes me too
anxious to see their next album if the development will go further in this way..

.tSCc.                                                          moondog . o2/2k2
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