•
Rating: Dark and very distant voices, almost subliminal, the ticking of a bell growing louder and louder, deep and sinister sounds intertwining in a healthy harmony, Gahan's voice entering and singing "Let's have a black celebration tonight."
This is how the fifth studio album of the four boys from Basildon begins, entirely written by his majesty Martin Gore in Berlin during a particularly unique phase of his life, with almost minimal but touching lyrics.
This 1986 album produced by Gareth Jones between London and Berlin, will remain the last work entirely played with electronic instruments, an album that will mark the end of a period in terms of production and style. Eleven songs in the original version plus some bonus tracks in the subsequent CD versions, where the sounds and metallic percussions of the previous "Some Great Reward" are almost completely abandoned, instead we find a unity and compactness of sound that is incredible, yes the sound is the peculiarity of the entire work, dark, gloomy and decadent, subtle and deep, gothic and nostalgic.
This album is perhaps the only one by Depeche Mode where the songs, apart from some exceptions (Stripped, A Question of Time) do not contain true hit pieces, which has always been a norm in previous works, and certainly even more so in future ones. This should not mean that the entire work is inferior; on the contrary, the songs are almost all of excellent level, perhaps more leveled but always excellent, like the sweet "Sometimes" – piano, voice (M.Gore) with choirs that feel very much like gospel, and the romantic "Here is the House" or the physical and political as well as metropolitan "Stripped," an icon of that period, not to forget "Fly on the Windscreen" or the nostalgic "A Question of Lust" and not even the sweet and deep "It Doesn't Matter Two," also performed in the latest tour. And how can one forget Gore's lyrics, especially in "New Dress," where he recites this ambiguous phrase: "Sex-drived husband murders wife... Princess Di is wearing a new dress" with a chorus that goes... "You can't change the world/ But you can change the facts/ And when you change the facts/ You change points of view/ If you change points of view/ You may change a vote/ And when you change a vote/ You may change the world..."; or in "Stripped": "Let me hear you/ Make decisions/ Without your television/ Let me hear you speaking/ Just for me..."
Just these lines should suffice to convey the level of the album. Anyone who has not yet had the chance to listen to it and is a fan of this genre cannot let it slip away, this that could have been the last work of DM (rumors at the time said it was written by Gore in total disagreement with the rest of the band, which was on the brink of breaking up) but fortunately it was not, thanks to the fans who once again sided with that little (and perhaps unpleasant to some) man, who knows and has always known how to write music, managing to make the most of one of the most beautiful voices still around. Give it a listen!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Black Celebration (04:57)
Let's have a black celebration
Black celebration
Tonight
To celebrate the fact
That we've seen the back
Of another black day
I look to you
How you carry on
When all hope is gone
Can't you see
Your optimistic eyes
Seem like paradise
To someone like
Me
I want to take you
In my arms
Forgetting all I couldn't do today
Black celebration
Black celebration
Tonight
To celebrate the fact
That we've seen the back
Of another black day
I look to you
And your strong belief
Me, I want relief
Tonight
Consolation
I want so much
Want to feel your touch
Tonight
Take me in your arms
Forgetting all you couldn't do today
Black celebration
I'll drink to that
Black celebration
Tonight
05 It Doesn't Matter Two (02:47)
As I lay here with you
The shame lies with us
We talk of love and trust
That doesn't matter
Though we may be the last in the world
We feel like pioneers
Telling hopes and fears
To one another
And oh, what a beautiful feeling
Inside of me
It might last for an hour
Wounds aren't healing
Inside of me
Though it feels good now
I know it's only for now
The feeling is intense
You grip me with your eyes
And then I realise
It doesn't matter
06 A Question of Time (04:09)
I've got to get to you first
Before they do
It's just a question of time
Before they lay their hands on you
And make you just like the rest
I've got to get to you first
It's just a question of time
Well now you're only fifteen
And you look good
I'll take you under my wing
Somebody should
They've persuasive ways
And you'll believe what they say
It's just a question of time
It's running out for you
It won't be long
Until you do
Exactly what they want you to
I can see them now Hanging around
To mess you up
To strip you down
And have their fun
With my little one
It's just a question of time
It's running out for you
It won't be long
Until you do
Exactly what they want you to
It won't be long
Until you do
Exactly what they want you to
Sometimes I don't blame them
For wanting you
You look good
And they need something to do
Until I look at you
And then I condemn them
I know my kind
What goes on in our minds
It's just a question of time
It should be better
It's just a question of time
It should be better with you
It's just a question of time
07 Stripped (04:16)
Come with me
Into the trees
We'll lay on the grass
And let the hours pass
Take my hand
Come back to the land
Let's get away
Just for one day
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Metropolis
Has nothing on this
You're breathing in fumes
I taste when we kiss
Take my hand
Come back to the land
Where everything's ours
For a few hours
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me hear you
Make decisions
Without your television
Let me hear you speaking
Just for me
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me hear you speaking
Just for me
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me hear you crying
Just for me
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me hear you speaking
Just for me
08 Here Is the House (04:16)
Here is the house
Where it all happens
Those tender moments
Under this roof
Body and soul come together
As we come closer together
And as it happens
It happens here
In this house
And I feel your warmth
And it feels like home
And there's someone
Calling on the telephone
Let's stay home
It's cold outside
And I have so much
To confide to you
With or without words
I'll confide everything
Here is the house
Where it all happens
Those tender moments
Under this roof
Body and soul come together
As we come closer together
And as it happens
It happens here
In this house
So we stay at home
And I'm by your side
And you know
What's going on inside
Inside my heart
Inside this house
And I just want to
Let it out for you
And I feel your warmth
And it feels like home
And I feel your warmth
And it feels like home
Here is the house
Where it all happens
Those tender moments
Under this roof
Body and soul come together
As we come closer together
12 Breathing in Fumes (06:05)
Nothing of this
I taste when we kiss
Come back to the land
For a few hours
Let me see you stripped down to the bone
I taste when we kiss
I taste when we kiss
You're breathing in fumes
I taste when we kiss
Let me see you stripped down to the
I taste when we kiss
I taste when we kiss
Let me see you stripped down to the
I taste when we kiss
I taste when we kiss
Let me see you stripped down to the
Come back to the land
Come back to the land
Let me see you stripped down to the bone
Breathing in fumes
I'm breathing in fumes
Breathing in fumes
You're breathing in fumes
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By ApriGliOcchi
"Black Celebration is the beginning of a darker period... an album continuously postponed but that will then mark a turning point for Depeche Mode."
"You can't change the world, but you can change the facts, and if you change the facts you can change points of view..."
By Stefano90
Black Celebration is an incredible container of great music, no track seems exempt from the others, they are all perfectly constructed together.
New Dress is Gore’s compositional peak and one of the absolute tops of the band, the masterpiece within the masterpiece.
By paolofreddie
"Black Celebration is one of the most representative pieces of the dark wave, an anthem to this genre."
"It is by fighting for love that people stay united."
By jeff3buckley
The "black celebration" covers the tracks with a gothic and dark atmosphere like never before, and there is a deeper exploration of the sonic nuances.
A record that marks an extraordinary turning point in the musical landscape of the time, charting the path to follow for a genre, new wave.
