Depeche Mode "Spirit (Deluxe Edition, Japan, Sony Music Japan, SICP-30937-8)"

Spirit is the fourteenth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 17 March 2017 by Columbia Records and Mute Records. The album was recorded with new producer James Ford, and was preceded by the single "Where's the Revolution". It was the final Depeche Mode studio album to feature co-founder and keyboardist Andy Fletcher before his death on 26 May 2022. The album produced three singles.

Much of the inspiration behind Spirit arose from their distaste for the political climate in both the United States and the United Kingdom. In an interview with Vevo, Dave Gahan stated, "We're really kind of upset about what's going on in the world." In the same interview, when hearing of being praised by alt-right activist Richard Spencer, Gahan rejected the praise and did not want to be associated with him or the alt-right.

Depeche Mode would embrace their political message heavily in the music video for "Where's the Revolution", which represents the band in a very Marxist style. One of the themes that appears is climate change as Martin confirmed: "'The Worst Crime' is about destroying the environment. We are not just destroying it for those of us who live in the present. We are condemning the planet and the next generations, our children and our grandchildren." Gore confirmed that the opening track "Going Backwards" is about the regression of society as well as technology's role in the regression, but Gore also believed "that new technologies would bring the world together – the world would be united by them. We were all enthusiastic about the Arab Spring, when people started organizing themselves with social media and fought for their freedom. But then everything went wrong: the Middle East seems to be falling apart".

One of the major differences about the delivery on Spirit compared to past albums is how direct and straightforward some of the lyrics are. Gahan told Billboard, "There are songs that are quite literal on the album. 'Scum' for instance, it was a lot of fun recording that song and singing it." Perhaps the closing track "Fail" is one of the band's most direct and angry songs as it is the first time they used profanity in their music. When asked about why "Fail" was chosen to be the closing track, Gore explained that it "sums up the album in a way. The good thing about it is the lyrics might be depressing but the music is so pretty". The song "So Much Love", was the last song written for the album. Martin Gore stated in an interview "I felt that I had to write something positive. I felt that I had to say that, with all this going, it doesn't matter what you do to me, there is still a lot of love in me." When the band was deciding on the tracklist, Gahan wanted to end the album on a happy note with So Much Love, but was ultimately outvoted by the other members.

Depeche Mode does not only tackle political subject matter on Spirit. The track "Poison Heart" is written like a breakup song, but Gahan explained that it is not a breakup song and is about the inability to relate to other people. Gore wrote the track "Eternal" for his younger daughter and, despite its dark tone and dramatic composition, Gore believes that "it's my way of romance. I think that when you put a child into this era, you have to take the worst into account".

Gahan revealed that Gore had many instrumentals left over from his solo album MG (2015). One of those instrumentals was later developed into the track "You Move". "You Move" was also the first time Gore and Gahan wrote a song together that had made it onto an album (excluding deluxe editions). Some of the tracks ended up with a very cinematic composition such as "Cover Me". According to an interview with keyboard programmer Matrixxman, working on "Cover Me" was initially difficult, but Gahan inspired everyone to get very creative on that track. In the same interview, Matrixxman confirmed that there were several tracks that didn't make it onto the album but they never made it past the demo stage. It was also his first time working with modular synthesizers. Compared to 2013's Delta Machine, Spirit is in many ways more electronic-oriented compared to the blues-inspired sound on the previous album, but the track "Poorman" still sees the band explore their blues influences.

During the making of Spirit the band faced many tensions, producer James Ford recalled "The tensions between the band were really high at that point. It was a really difficult record to make. There was lots of like passive aggressive animosity.", stating that "it got to the point where they nearly split up." He even remembered arguing with Martin Gore over track listings and which songs would make the final cut. Songs that would feature on the album played a large part in these tensions that fraught the Spirit sessions. Dave Gahan recalled that “In the end James was kind of, ‘I’ve had enough of this! I want everyone out of studio. I just want Martin and Dave to sit in here and we’re going to talk about this.’ Fellow bandmate, Andy Fletcher was very upset with the idea and initially opposed, "Fletch did not like that. He literally had to get manhandled out of the studio by our manager. I mean, kicking and screaming. ‘I’m in the band! Why aren’t I in this conversation?’” When Gahan and Gore had begun talking to one another they realised their issues were more wide-ranging than they had thought. “We had these unspoken things. Martin was like, ‘Well, you get this and you can walk on stage and everybody goes nuts. And I write the songs.’”...“How many songs can I have then?”...“Well if there’s 12 you can have four at the most.”...“Fine! Now I know, right? So I won’t bother writing 10!” Gahan then said in the end "we hugged it out and told each other how much we loved each other." and that "A certain amount of tension, I actually believe, is very important when you're working on music,".

On 11 October 2016, the band announced that they would embark on the Global Spirit Tour to support the album. The tour began in Stockholm, Sweden, on 5 May 2017 and ended on 25 July 2018 in Berlin, Germany. The Global Spirit Tour went on to become the band's largest tour, and saw the band play to more than 3 million fans around the world. The final two shows of the Global Spirit Tour were recorded by long-time visual collaborator Anton Corbjin for their concert film and documentary Spirits in the Forest, released in theaters in November 2019. The full concert film later received a home release on 26 June 2020.

The album was also promoted by three singles, "Where's the Revolution", released on 3 February 2017, "Going Backwards", released on 23 June 2017 and "Cover Me", released on 6 October 2017.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore, except where noted. All lead vocals by Dave Gahan, except where noted

1. "Going Backwards" 5:43
2. "Where's the Revolution" 4:59
3. "The Worst Crime" 3:48
4. "Scum" 3:14
5. "You Move" Gore/Dave Gahan    3:50
6. "Cover Me" Gahan/Peter Gordeno/Christian Eigner     4:52
7. "Eternal" Gore 2:25
8. "Poison Heart"  Gahan/Gordeno/Eigner     3:17
9. "So Much Love" 4:29
10. "Poorman" 4:26
11. "No More (This Is the Last Time)"   Gahan/Kurt Uenala     3:13
12. "Fail" Gore 5:07

Total length: 49:23

Deluxe edition bonus disc

1. "Cover Me" (alt out)  Gahan/Gordeno/Eigner  4:27
2. Scum" (Frenetic mix) 5:26
3. "Poison Heart" (Tripped mix)    Gahan/Gordeno/Eigner   4:16
4. "Fail" (Cinematic cut) 5:38
5. "So Much Love" (Machine mix) 7:20

Total length: 27:07

James Ford – production, mixing

Jimmy Robertson – engineering, mix engineering

Connor Long – studio assistance

Óscar Muñoz – studio assistance

David Schaeman – studio assistance

Brendan Morawski – studio assistance, mix assistance

Brian Lucey – mastering

Depeche Mode "Barrel Of A Gun (Single & Video)"

"Barrel of a Gun" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released as the first single from their ninth studio album, Ultra (1997), on 3 February 1997. The song reached number one in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain and Sweden while reaching the top 10 in several other countries, including Finland, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom. In North America, the song reached number 47 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Canadian RPM Alternative 30.

"It's about understanding what you're about and realising that you don't necessarily fit into somebody else's scheme of things," said keyboardist Martin Gore. Singer Dave Gahan, who was weakened from his battle with substance abuse at the time, added, "The song sums up the way I was treating myself and everybody around me. That's what life had in store for me every day. It's a really powerful statement. When you're in that kind of row, the last thing on your mind is dying.

Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "One of the true pioneering acts of electro-pop ends a lengthy break from the airwaves with a thoroughly satisfying if often caustic blend of techno synths and metallic guitars. Singer Dave Gahan has a field day digging into Martin Gore's typically heavy lyrics, comfortably swerving back and forth between hypnotic lethargy to white-knuckled intensity. Producer Tim Simenon wisely underlines the track with the kind of hip-hop motion needed to crack the pop market, while carefully weaving the instrumentation so that rockers and clubheads alike can happily jam on this one—and they will."

Dominic Pride from Music & Media noted that Depeche Mode "serve up the sombre, industrial sound for which they've become huge in Europe, but with Simenon adding some open space to the production." He added that Gahan's "distorted vocals bring a touch of Nine Inch Nails to the party." A reviewer from Music Week rated the song four out of five, commenting, "After four years away, this atmospheric epic hints at an even darker approach from the 'Mode. As the first taster for their new album, this is a certain smash."

The music video for the song, shot in Morocco by Anton Corbijn, features Gahan with long hair singing with his eyes closed, with eyeballs drawn on his eyelids to make it seem like they are open.

Track listings

All songs were written by Martin Gore.

UK and European CD single

1. "Barrel of a Gun"
2. "Painkiller"
3. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld soft mix)
4. "Barrel of a Gun" (One Inch Punch mix)

UK and US 12-inch single

1. A1. "Barrel of a Gun" – 5:31
2. A2. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld hard mix) – 9:36
3. B1. "Barrel of a Gun" (3 Phase mix) – 5:25
4. B2. "Barrel of a Gun" (One Inch Punch mix (V2)) – 5:29
5. B3. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld soft mix) – 6:29

UK limited-edition 12-inch vinyl

1. A1. "Painkiller" (Plastikman mix)
2. A2. "Painkiller"
3. B1. "Barrel of a Gun" (One Inch Punch mix)
4. B2. "Barrel of a Gun" (United mix)

US CD single

1. "Barrel of a Gun" – 5:30
2. "Barrel of a Gun" (United mix) – 6:34
3. "Painkiller" (original mix) – 7:28

US 7-inch single

1. A. "Barrel of a Gun" – 5:30
2. B. "Painkiller" (original mix) – 7:28

Canadian CD single

1. "Barrel of a Gun" (single version) – 5:29
2. "Painkiller" (Plastikman mix) – 8:39
3. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld soft mix) – 6:27
4. "Barrel of a Gun" (One Inch Punch mix) – 5:25
5. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld hard mix) – 9:36

Australian CD single

1. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld hard mix)
2. "Barrel of a Gun" (United mix)
3. "Painkiller" (Plastikman mix)

Japanese CD single

1. "Barrel of a Gun"
2. "Painkiller"
3. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld soft mix)
4. "Barrel of a Gun" (One Inch Punch mix)
5. "Barrel of a Gun" (Underworld hard mix)
6. "Barrel of a Gun" (United mix)
7. "Painkiller" (Plastikman mix)

Recorded at Abbey Road, Eastcote, Westside, Strongroom, RAK (London, England), Electric Lady (New York City), and Larrabee West (Los Angeles)

Mastered at The Exchange (London, England)

Depeche Mode "I Feel You (Single & Video)"

"I Feel You" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 15 February 1993 as their 27th UK single and the first single from their eighth studio album, Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993). The song peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and also made number one and number three on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. It is one of the band's highest-charting singles worldwide. The accompanying music video was directed by Anton Corbijn.

"I Feel You" demonstrates a more rock-oriented sound, using more non-electronic instruments than ever before. For example, Alan Wilder plays drums, and Martin Gore plays the guitar, but with electronic sounds still included, like the synthesized tyre screeching intro. "I Feel You" has a compound time signature of 6/8. The 7" version of "I Feel You" is the same as the album version. The "Throb" mix is the 12" version, but with incomplete lyrics. A part of the "Swamp" mix is used as an interlude on the Songs of Faith and Devotion album between "Get Right with Me" and "Rush"; this was also used in the intro for the live arrangements of "I Feel You" that were played during their Devotional/Summer tours.

The single release contained "One Caress", a track from Songs of Faith and Devotion sung by Martin Gore. In the US, Sire/Reprise released "One Caress" as a promotional single. One promotional copy has the original version, and the other has the version from Songs of Faith and Devotion Live. There is no remix for the song.

In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "In a similar vein to "Personal Jesus" the track may not have quite the momentum to go Top 3 and is unlikely to win them any new fans." David Quantick from NME viewed it as "a song which takes INXS's arena bluster and turns it into a dark and mean glitter stomp." Sam Wood from Philadelphia Inquirer described it as "a screeching blast of hellish white noise. A claustrophobic electro-blues shackled to a two-note guitar figure, "I Feel You" trumpets the onrush of a terrifying mystical experience."

The black-and-white music video for "I Feel You" was directed by Anton Corbijn. The woman in the video is English actress Lysette Anthony. There is also a music video for "One Caress", directed by Kevin Kerslake, that was filmed during one of the off-days of the Devotional Tour in the US. It is a promotional video that was later released on The Videos 86>98. Prior to its inclusion on The Videos 86>98, the music video for "One Caress" was frequently broadcast on MTV's Alternative Rock video block 120 Minutes and Sky One. On 2 September 1993, "I Feel You" was nominated in the MTV Video Music Awards.

Track listings:

UK 7-inch and cassette single

1. "I Feel You" – 4:34
2. "One Caress" – 3:30

UK 12-inch single

1. A1. "I Feel You" (Throb mix) – 6:47
2. A2. "I Feel You" (seven inch mix) – 4:34
3. B1. "I Feel You" (Babylon mix) – 7:53
4. B2. "One Caress" – 3:30

UK limited-edition 12-inch and CD single

1. "I Feel You" (Life's Too Short mix) – 8:35
2. "I Feel You" (Swamp mix) – 7:28
3. "I Feel You" (Renegade Soundwave Afghan Surgery mix) – 4:58
4. "I Feel You" (Helmet at the Helm mix) – 6:41

UK and Japanese CD single

1. "I Feel You" (seven inch mix) – 4:34
2. "One Caress" – 3:30
3. "I Feel You" (Throb mix) – 6:47
4. "I Feel You" (Babylon mix) – 7:53

US 12-inch and maxi-cassette single

1. A1. "I Feel You" (Babylon mix) – 7:53
2. A2. "I Feel You" (Helmet at the Helm mix) – 6:41
3. A3. "I Feel You" (Afghan Surgery mix) – 4:58
4. A4. "One Caress" (album version) – 3:31
5. B1. "I Feel You" (Life's Too Short mix) – 8:33
6. B2. "I Feel You" (Swamp mix) – 7:26
7. B3. "I Feel You" (Throb mix) – 6:47

US maxi-CD single 1

1. "I Feel You" (single mix) – 4:35
2. "One Caress" (album version) – 3:31
3. "I Feel You" (Throb mix) – 6:47
4. "I Feel You" (Babylon mix) – 7:53

US maxi-CD single 2

1. "I Feel You" (Life's Too Short mix) – 8:33
2. "I Feel You" (Swamp mix) – 7:26
3. "I Feel You" (Afghan Surgery mix) – 4:58
4. "I Feel You" (Helmet at the Helm mix) – 6:41

The "Life's Too Short" mix and the "Swamp" mix are by Brian Eno; the "Throb" mix and the "Helmet at the Helm" mix are by Mike Stent; the "Babylon" mix is by John Crossley and Supereal; and the "Afghan Surgery" mix is by Danny Briottet and Renegade Soundwave.

Depeche Mode "Songs Of Faith And Devotion (USA, Sire/Reprise Records, 9 45243-2)"

Songs of Faith and Devotion is the eighth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 22 March 1993 in the United Kingdom by Mute Records and a day later in the United States by Sire Records and Reprise Records. The album incorporated a more aggressive, darker rock-oriented tone than its predecessor Violator (1990), largely influenced by the emerging alternative rock and grunge scenes in the United States.

Upon its release, Songs of Faith and Devotion reached number one in several countries, and became the first Depeche Mode album to debut atop the charts in both the UK and the US. To support the album, Depeche Mode embarked on the fourteen-month-long Devotional Tour, the largest tour they had undertaken to date.

Recording the album and the subsequent tour exacerbated growing tensions and difficulties within the band, prompting Alan Wilder to quit in 1995, making this album the final one with him as a band member, and also the final album of the band to be recorded as a quartet. The ordeal had exhausted their creative output following the enormous success they had enjoyed with Violator, leading to rumours and media speculation that the band would split. Depeche Mode subsequently recovered from the experience, and released Ultra in 1997.

Songs of Faith and Devotion was recorded over eight months in a rented villa in Madrid during 1992, as well as later sessions in Hamburg and London. Following his work on U2's seventh studio album, Achtung Baby, producer Flood suggested the idea of building their own studio in a rented house where the band would live and work, the same process having yielded huge successes for U2. A studio was set up in the basement of the villa, with two drum kits using different spaces to achieve different sounds. The recordings from the kits could then be processed through synthesizers, such as the large Roland System 700 the band had installed in the studio. The band had become aware of getting caught in easy routines in the studio leading to boredom and thus wanted to change as many aspects to their approach to the recording as possible.

Wilder recalled on Violator the band had relied heavily on sequencing; though the album used a great deal more live recorded audio than previous Depeche Mode releases, the audio had been quantised to the exact beats of the bars, resulting in a slick but sequenced feel. For making Songs of Faith and Devotion, the band wanted the sound to be looser and less programmed. Tracks such as "I Feel You" included drums performed live by Wilder which were then sampled and sequenced to form drum loops using Cubase, in a different structure to how they were originally performed, keeping all the dynamics and inherent mistakes of a human performance. Embellishments like reversed cymbals were added later at the behest of Wilder, who often suggested such experimentation.

Further techniques used in recording included the reversed piano on the conclusion to the track "Mercy in You". The introduction of the track "Judas" has uilleann pipes recorded with reversed reverberation mixed into the sound, to achieve a haunting, atmospheric feel. "Walking in My Shoes" included a piano part which was processed through a guitar processor to add distortion. A harpsichord sample was then played and recorded over the top, giving a unique, layered sound to the riff. Early demos for "Condemnation" included all four band members performing in the same space—Andy Fletcher bashing a flight case with a pole, producer Flood and Dave Gahan clapping, Alan Wilder playing a drum and Martin Gore playing an organ. The sound produced was very embryonic; however, it gave the band a direction as to how the track should sound. Guitars were processed through devices such as Leslie tone cabinets, originally designed for organs, to achieve different sounds.

Following the success of Violator and the subsequent tour, the band had taken a long break from each other. Upon returning, they found it difficult to collaborate, with several factors contributing to the more difficult atmosphere that the band experienced recording the album. The band living and working together in the same house meant that they rarely got breaks from each other as opposed to previous albums whereby the band would go to work in a studio, and then return to their respective homes or hotels at the end of each day. Fletcher described the band living together as "claustrophobic", and the lack of a break from each other as a factor in contributing to the stress. Gore felt pressured to write tracks that could live up to the success of the previous album, Violator, despite encouragement from Fletcher that he wrote better under pressure. Gahan had moved to Los Angeles following Violator and had been spending time with up and coming alternative rock bands such as Jane's Addiction and Soundgarden, which inspired him to create a rock-oriented record, leading to creative differences with the rest of the band. Not helping was that Gahan was dealing with drugs at this point. The band also began to jam together, something which they had not previously done in terms of album writing, only for fun. The lack of success of coming up with musical ideas from such jams led to intense frustration.

Unlike the previous albums, there was very little pre-production, where the band would listen to demos created by Gore and then suggest ideas to establish a creative framework. Flood recalls the lack of pre-production as a big mistake that adversely affected the early recording sessions. Due to these frustrations, the first recording batch of four weeks was largely unusable, which Wilder described as "a complete fucking waste of time" in a sarcastic toast to Flood at the airport on their way back home. The lack of progress increasingly frustrated everyone involved. Flood compared the collective effort of Violator where the band would contribute as a whole, and while there were disagreements, it was in recognition that it was for a greater good, whereas in the making of Songs of Faith and Devotion, the band members were highly adamant of their own individual ideas, leading to considerable tension. Flood described the atmosphere as "like pulling teeth" and emotionally draining. Gore, Gahan, and Daniel Miller shared his sentiments, comparing the party-like atmosphere of creating Violator to the stale atmosphere on Songs of Faith and Devotion. Though Wilder would say the band members had drifted as far apart as they had ever been, the emotional stress contributed to some of Depeche Mode's best tracks, including "In Your Room" and "Walking in My Shoes", which many felt were indicative of Gore's greatest works.

Gahan downplayed his role on the album, stating the only thing he felt he contributed was what he considers his greatest vocal performance for "Condemnation". Conversely, Wilder praised his role, stating that on previous releases, Gahan's studio contribution was often only vocal performance, and thus did not get in the way much; but during the recording of Songs of Faith and Devotion Dave often offered a lot of positive encouragement, and Wilder's creative differences with Gore were actually the real source of the tension in the band. Flood recalls Wilder and Gore having a very heated argument over the mix to "Judas", and that there were constant disagreements throughout the recording process between the members of the band and Flood himself. Despite the feeling the band were realising one of their greatest works, Flood commented that the "little things" of the recording process never ran smoothly, leading to constant, largely non-constructive, arguing. Conditions improved between the band when the recording sessions moved to Hamburg, largely in part as it was a return to normal studio routine, as opposed to living together.

It was during the recording of the album that Wilder decided he had to leave the band, although he wouldn't leave until after the subsequent tour. Wilder later was comparing the friction between the members of the Beatles during the recording of The White Album to conditions working on Songs of Faith and Devotion: "we were in the worst possible state as members but we were creating some of our best work. The stories I hear about them [The Beatles] not being even in the same room together – that was very much the same with us, when one person would be in the studio and the other would be in another city, and then the next day that person would come and do their vocal and you'd go away, because you couldn't bear to be in the same room. ... at the time, it was a living hell. During the making of that album, I really made a decision to leave the group; even though I didn't leave until two or three years later, I remember thinking 'I'm never going to make another record under these circumstances again, because it's so much not fun'. And music should be fun – there should be some sort of enjoyment there."

The album was mixed at the Olympic Studios in London by Wilder, Flood and Mark "Spike" Stent.

Overlapping each image of the band members is a symbol representing that member, in a similar style to Led Zeppelin's fourth studio album. The symbols first appeared on the cover of lead single "I Feel You", which did not feature the band members, and as such, each featured its member's birthdate in the right-hand corner to identify the member.

Songs of Faith and Devotion became Depeche Mode's first studio album to reach number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It also topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland.

The album received largely positive reviews from critics and peers of Depeche Mode. The Guardian critic Adam Sweeting dubbed Songs of Faith and Devotion an "astonishingly powerful album" and a "masterpiece". David Quantick of NME called it "a very fine record indeed", while Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that "the songs make desire more desperate, and more alluring, than ever". A mixed review came from Rolling Stone's Arion Berger, who wrote that the album "documents how Depeche Mode's savvy justifies its worst instincts; like the band itself, it's gloomy, pretentious and winning." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice assigned the album a "dud" rating. In a retrospective review, Ned Raggett of AllMusic stated that "Songs of Faith and Devotion continues the Depeche Mode winning streak", and in 1999, he ranked the album at number 18 on his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties" for Freaky Trigger. Q later included it on their list of "In Our Lifetime: Q's 100 Best Albums", along with Violator.

Band member Alan Wilder stated he felt "In Your Room" and "Walking in My Shoes" as some of the best works the band had ever done, a sentiment agreed upon by producer Flood, who commented that "many people" involved in the project shared such sentiments. Fellow musician Gary Numan also stated that Songs of Faith and Devotion was the album that saved his career, noting, "[after listening to this album] [my] music changed dramatically. It became much darker. At school I was excused from religious instruction because I had no faith and Songs of Faith and Devotion suddenly gave me something to write about and something to be bothered about. [...] I love Depeche Mode, always will."

The subsequent Devotional Tour to support the album was the largest Depeche Mode had undertaken to that point. The tour spanned fourteen months, visiting twenty-seven countries and played to over two million people over 158 dates. The tour covered 100,000 miles and required 90 tonnes of equipment. The huge scale of the tour was to cover the sponsoring costs. Anton Corbijn designed the elaborate stage design, the first time he had ever done so. The huge scale of the tour took its toll on the band members. Despite Fletcher's comment that "Dave was loving it [the tour]...he was on a different planet", his heroin addiction had increased, Gore was drinking excessively and had several seizures, Fletcher was suffering from clinical depression to the point where he was replaced by Daryl Bamonte on all dates from April and the grueling nature of touring had taken its toll on Wilder. Gore later commented, "I don't think anyone was ever the same after that tour", highlighting the tense nature of the tour, and Q magazine would later refer to the Devotional Tour as "the most debauched rock tour ever".

Following the tour, the experience of Songs of Faith and Devotion and the subsequent supporting tour had taken too hard a toll on Wilder, who announced his departure from the band on his 36th birthday in 1995, highlighting a highly uneven workload distribution, lack of acknowledgement from his bandmates, creative differences within the band and overall lack of cohesion. Wilder's departure and the internal strife within the band, specifically Gahan's growing heroin addiction led many to speculate that the band was finished. The band managed to recover from the loss of Wilder, releasing Ultra in 1997.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore. All lead vocals by Dave Gahan, except where noted

1. "I Feel You" 4:35
2. "Walking in My Shoes" 5:35
3. "Condemnation" 3:20
4. "Mercy in You" 4:17
5. "Judas" Gore 5:14
6. "In Your Room" 6:26
7. "Get Right with Me" (includes "Interlude #4", starting at 2:59) 3:52
8. "Rush" 4:37
9. "One Caress" Gore 3:32
10. "Higher Love" 5:56

Depeche Mode – production, mixing

Flood – production, mixing

Mark Stent – mixing

Steve Lyon – engineering

Chris Dickie – engineering

Paul Kendall – engineering

Jeremy Wheatley – engineering assistance

Marc Einstmann – engineering assistance

Shaun de Feo – engineering assistance

Volke Schneider – engineering assistance

Kevin Metcalfe – mastering

Daryl Bamonte – album coordination

Depeche Mode "Black Celebration (Germany, Mute Records, 846-818)"

Black Celebration is the fifth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 17 March 1986 by Mute Records. Daniel Miller devised “a plan to capture the essence of the dark works” that Martin Gore created because Martin Gore had no intention of compromising the mood that his demos had set. With the release of the album, Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones presented Black Celebration which they produced to be more like an environment rather than a collection of songs. Their production created “a tech-noir future dystopia” that “glitters of gloom.”

Black Celebration reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, and has been cited as one of the most influential albums of the 1980s. To promote the album, the band embarked on the Black Celebration Tour. Three years after its release, Spin ranked it at number 15 on its "25 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

The album was promoted by the single "Stripped" released 10 February, and was followed by "A Question of Lust", released 14 April, "A Question of Time" released 11 August. Instead of "Stripped", "But Not Tonight" was released as a single in the US, due to its more commercial appeal on 22 October.

The band wanted to change their working routine yet again to make sure that things would not lead to boredom or lack of production. Daniel Miller stated: "I was a bit frustrated because I couldn't get the guys to think about working in different ways." He admired the working methods of the German film director Werner Herzog, which meant that the band had "lived the album", meaning they attended the studio every day and worked endlessly on the songs and production. Miller felt that he wanted "a kind of intensity", as he had felt that production was slowing down since their debut Speak & Spell, which had snappy recording and production, with the exception of Construction Time Again, which he claims was due to there being "so many new things going on.".

With regard to the recording processes and song formation, samples were yet again at the forefront of the sound. Gareth Jones stated that they would always use their own samples and tried to avoid using samples from other sources. For example, the opening title track initially was to have samples of Winston Churchill saying "A brief period of rejoicing" because they enjoyed "that idea of a brief moment of rejoicing." However, instead of sampling Churchill saying it, they had Miller say the quote instead. He said that, though they admired hip hop, they had no desire to sample in the same fashion. "We didn't want to collage other people's work and drop it into Martin's songs. We used samplers to grab real sounds from the real world to make sure our samples were original." On the song "Fly on the Windscreen", Jones recalled: "You can hear a rather young sounding Daniel again saying 'over and done with.' The breath sample noise at the start is interesting too." On Alan Wilder's Shunt website, in the Q&A section, he stated that these "breath samples" were in fact Miller saying "'Horse' repeatedly very fast."

The tour began with a European leg, starting in Oxford, England in late March 1986 and finishing in Rüsselsheim, West Germany in late May. A North American jaunt followed in early June, commencing in Boston and culminating mid-July in Irvine, California. Shortly after the North American leg, the group headed to Japan to play three dates.

In early August, the group began a second run of European shows, starting in Fréjus, France. The group performed four additional dates in France, as well as two shows in Italy, before wrapping up the tour in Copenhagen.

Book of Love joined the tour as the opening act on 29 April in Hanover, West Germany, and continued for the rest of the first European leg and throughout all tour dates of the North American leg (ending on 15 July)

Track listing

All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore, except where noted. All lead vocals by Dave Gahan, except where noted

1. "Black Celebration" 4:55
2. "Fly on the Windscreen – Final" 5:18
3. "A Question of Lust" Gore 4:20
4. "Sometimes" Gore 1:53
5. "It Doesn't Matter Two" Gore 2:50
6. "A Question of Time" 4:10
7. "Stripped" 4:16
8. "Here Is the House" Gahan/Gore  4:15
9. "World Full of Nothing" Gore 2:50
10. "Dressed in Black"   Gahan/Gore  2:32
11. "New Dress" 3:42

Total length: 41:01