Depeche Mode: Collection (1981-1986) [Japanese Pressing]

English electronic music band formed March 1980 in Basildon, Essex, and named after a popular French fashion magazine. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards), and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter from 1980 until 1981). Depeche Mode released their debut record in 1981, "Speak & Spell," bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Clarke left the band after the release of the album, leaving the band as a trio to record "A Broken Frame," released the following year. Gore took over lead songwriting duties and, later in 1982, Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, occasional songwriter) officially joined the band to fill Clarke's spot, establishing a line up that would continue for the next thirteen years.

The band's last albums of the 1980s, "Black Celebration," and "Music for the Masses," established them as a dominant force on the mainstream electronic music scene. A highlight of this era was the band's concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where they drew a crowd in excess of 60,000 people. In the new decade, Depeche Mode released "Violator," a mainstream success. The subsequent album, "Songs of Faith and Devotion," and the supporting "Devotional Tour," exacerbated tensions within the band to the point where Alan Wilder quit in 1995, leading to intense media and fan speculation that the band would split. Now a trio once again, the band released "Ultra," in 1997, recorded at the height of Gahan's near-fatal drug abuse, Gore's alcoholism and seizures and Fletcher's depression. The release of "Exciter," confirmed Depeche Mode's willingness to remain together, the subsequent, and very successful, "Exciter Tour," being their first tour in support of an original album in eight years since the "Devotional Tour," although the band had toured in 1998 to support "The Singles 86–98," compilation album.

Depeche Mode have had fifty songs in the UK Singles Chart and thirteen top 10 albums in the UK charts, two of which debuted at No. 1. Depeche Mode have to this day sold over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the most commercially successful electronic bands and one of the world's best-selling music artists. Q magazine calls Depeche Mode "the most popular electronic band the world has ever known," and included the band in the list of the "50 Bands That Changed the World!" Depeche Mode also rank number 98 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time."

Current lineup:
Martin L. Gore: keyboards, guitar, vocals
Dave Gahan: lead vocals
Andrew Fletcher: keyboards

Former members:
Vince Clarke (1980-81): keyboards, backing vocals
Alan Wilder (1982-95): keyboards, drums, backing vocals

~ discogs

Tracklist LP01. 1981 - Speak & Spell (Mute P-11218, Japan 1982):

A1 New Life
A2 Puppets
A3 Dreaming Of Me
A4 Boys Say Go!
A5 Nodisco
A6 What's Your Name?
B1 Photographic
B2 Tora! Tora! Tora!
B3 Big Muff
B4 Any Second Now (Voices)
B5 Just Can't Get Enough






Tracklist LP02. 1982 - A Broken Frame (Mute P-11294, Japan):

A1 Leave In Silence
A2 My Secret Garden
A3 Monument
A4 Nothing To Fear
A5 See You
B1 Satellite
B2 The Meaning Of Love
B3 Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden
B4 A Photograph Of You
B5 Shouldn't Have Done That
B6 The Sun And The Rainfall






Tracklist LP03. 1983 - Construction Time Again (Mute P-11412, Japan):

A1 Love In Itself
A2 More Than A Party
A3 Pipeline
A4 Everything Counts
B1 Two Minute Warning
B2 Shame
B3 The Landscape Is Changing
B4 Told You So
B5 And Then…






Tracklist LP04. 1984 - Some Great Reward (Mute P-13052, Japan):

A1 Something To Do
A2 Lie To Me
A3 People Are People
A4 It Doesn't Matter
A5 Stories Of Old
B1 Somebody
B2 Master And Servant
B3 If You Want
B4 Blasphemous Rumours






Tracklist LP05. 1985 - The Singles 81-85 (Mute P-13201, Japan):

A1 Dreaming Of Me
A2 New Life
A3 Just Can't Get Enough
A4 See You
A5 Leave In Silence
A6 Get The Balance Right
A7 Everything Counts
B1 Love In Itself
B2 People Are People
B3 Master And Servant
B4 Blasphemous Rumours
B5 Shake The Disease
B6 It's Called A Heart






Tracklist LP06. 1986 - Black Celebration (Mute P-13279, Japan):

A1 Black Celebration
A2 Fly On The Windscreen - Final
A3 A Question Of Lust
A4 Sometimes
A5 It Doesn't Matter Two
B1 A Question Of Time
B2 Stripped
B3 Here Is The House
B4 World Full Of Nothing
B5 Dressed In Black
B6 New Dress