Depeche Mode – Violator (DVD-Video/CD U.S. Set)
Picture: C+
Sound: B+/B Extras: B- Music: A-
It was 1990. New
Wave was dead, but Rock was still alive.
The world was in a state of boredom, political troubles and economic
troubles it did not need and the record labels were starting to run into new
kinds of trouble as money-people who knew little about music were succeeding
the talent that made the industry possible.
In all this, Depeche Mode was one of the great bands, but never had the
kind of huge success a band that talented or savvy deserved. Violator changed all that, with huge
hit classics like Personal Jesus, Enjoy The Silence and Policy
Of Truth. It would turn out to be
their biggest commercial success and remains a strong critical and fan
favorite.
A new double set of the album has arrived with new
multi-channel mixes of the classics, some bonus material and more on the
album’s 15th anniversary.
Flood joined the band to produce and a new second era of the band was in
full swing, taking them from a great albums and singles band (People Are
People, Master & Servant) to a powerhouse equal to that of U2 or
any other band in the genre. The songs
here include:
1) World In
My Eyes
2) Sweetest
Perfection
3) Personal
Jesus
4) Halo
5) Waiting
For The Night
6) Enjoy
The Silence
7) Policy
Of Truth
8) Blue
Dress
9) Clean
Between the amazing musicianship and lead singer David
Gahan’s grossly underrated vocals, the band could have continued being a
singles act and fallen into obscurity or just become a spoof of itself. Instead, they were always pushing boundaries
and capturing in the music and lyrics deep personal insights like few other
bands of the 1980s and 1990s ever did.
Every song here is a winner and that a whole album could be so great or
that this is what bands used to strive for is amazing and seems so distant, but
it was not that long ago music used to be this great all the time. Now, most people could care less.
There has always been a no-B.S. counterculture attitude in
their music that was always fascist-free and real in ways that only the most
mature human beings could grasp, yet their youngest audiences always caught
onto how for-real they were being. No
wonder they attract so many solid fans, because this is what the best bands are
all about and accomplish. There is also
a freedom of sex in their music and attitude that does not have to try so hard,
including a constant theme about human contact that seems lost on most
songwriters today. In songs like Clean
and Personal Jesus, what such contact means is more explicit, but they
are savvy enough to know sex is more than just intercourse, physical contact is
never as easy to trivialize as the desensitized tout and people are deeper than
they ever get credit for. The album is
aptly named.
The 1.78 X 1 image on the DVD-Video documentary is mixed
like the typical documentary, but is pretty good under the circumstances and
offers regular surround sound. The
music alone sounds even better. On the
PCM 16bit/44.1kHz CD, the music sounds as good as it ever has in its classic
mixes, though the U.K. versions have DSD 5.1 and 2.0 Super Audio CD
tracks. The DVD-Video has the same PCM
tracks, but with 48kHz and 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS 96/24 versions of the 5.1
from the SACD, all off of the original master tapes. The 2-channel versions are fine, but the new 5.1 mixes will
surprise fans with their stunning fidelity and unveiling of details, depth and
nuances in the classic recordings that reaffirm the greatness of the band, as
well as how ahead of their time they still are. If the DTS 96/24 is this stunning, one wonders how the DSD SACD
tracks must sound.
Extras include the six bonus tracks, the DVD-Video has a
great documentary about the making of the album Depeche Mode: 1989 – 1990
(If you want to use guitars, use guitars) and includes interviews with
producers, engineers, the band members then and now, plus their groundbreaking
Music Video director Anton Corbijn, who has a great collection of his work
including some of their best clips as sampled in this special. The look of his videos only enhanced the
great music. You can read more about
that at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2731/Work+Of+Anton+Corbijn+(Directors+Label)
There is also a lyrics booklet that has a new opening
essay and tech notes about the set.
This is one of three such sets released in the U.K. as SACD/DVD-Video
and in the U.S. as CD/DVD-Video along with Speak & Spell and Music
For The Masses. Mute, Reprise &
Rhino have done a great job here and we can only hope this band and other great
acts like them get the same treatment soon.
Don’t miss this set.
- Nicholas Sheffo
