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Rating:
I apologize to all DeBaserians for my deep insistence on analyzing Depeche Mode and their works, at least those that I consider important and fundamental for understanding their musical biography.
"Ultra" is, along with "Songs Of Faith And Devotion," the album that encapsulates the essence of the dark period of the British band. But while "Devotion" is the "aperitif," "Ultra" is the "dessert," in short, the work that definitively closes that artistic direction taken since '87 with "Music For The Masses". The decade 87-97 is considered by many, including myself, as the creative apex of the Mode, the years of Personal Jesus and other finely crafted musical gems, especially when analyzed in light of the semi-tragic events that have shaken this musical formation.
But let's get to the point. 1997. Gahan, a long-time heavy user of drugs, the damned rocker of "Songs Of Faith And Devotion," is nearly killed by a fatal mix of drugs. He survives by a whisker, but his psyche is more than fragile; it's a jumble of confusion, unconsciousness, curse, illusion. Not only that. Alan Wilder, due to the treacherous artistic and image direction of Mode and Gahan's excesses, leaves a band on the brink of collapse. Everything seems to foreshadow the word "the end" to the breathtaking tale of Depeche Mode, yet once again the miracle happens. And the first phase of this miracle is "Ultra."
An extremely dark album, "Ultra" is a first attempt at recovery post-"Devotional", and indeed one can perceive in many of the 11 tracks still that rock sound that had characterized the previous work. But that exaggerated rock of "I Feel You" has vanished, giving way to much lighter and softer melodies, less angry, yet always rich with that theatrical and mysterious, dark atmosphere almost with a taste of curse. A striking example is the first track and first single, "Barrel Of A Gun," a musical summary of what Gahan was at the beginning of 1997, a fragile individual, psychologically unstable, almost morally impaired: his distorted voice, to the point of wanting to show the listener a damned world, combined with a semi-psychedelic rock sound (I apologize to readers for this definition), instills a sort of "terror," a "mystery". And the video created to accompany the song is the apotheosis of nothingness, of human fragility and individual psychosis, with Gahan crawling down a staircase, making soap bubbles in a bathtub, writing taken by madness, trembling and confused on a white billboard practically illegible phrases, wandering lost through a village.
A song I am particularly attached to is "It's No Good." It perhaps represents the most successful mix of rock and electronics achieved by the Mode, in which Gahan returns to his typical tone, less "desperate" and "angry," not distorted, pure, simple and direct, self-assured. The clip of "It's No Good" can also be conceived as the end of Dave Gahan's scruffy beard and long hair in the style of Kurt Cobain, a style he had inaugurated with "Devotion" and continued until the video of "Barrel Of A Gun." Now Gahan returns to being "orderly," less transgressive, a "back to the origins" in full compliance.
However, that power, that ancient vigor, that dynamism typical of "Violator," of "Devotion," seem to have disappeared in this album: electric guitar riffs, decisive and strong electronic bases and beats give way to less energetic sounds, in some cases languid, almost depressed, sad. This deprivation of energy is fully translated into The Love Thieves, Useless, Sister Of Night and Freestate. A sort of "almost" positivity is present only in the keyboards of The Love Thieves.
Being a not entirely convinced "Depechemodian," I dare say that only a few songs performed by Gore manage to hit me: "Home" is one of them, particularly intense and lyrical, nostalgic and melancholic but just right. A rarity, therefore, since Gore has only managed in very few other songs (such as, for example, Blue Dress, "Violator", 1990, ed.) to combine that his vocal tone tending to the acute with melodies that could adapt to it in a right and pleasant combination.
"Ultra" is the album of turning points: with this work, Depeche Mode inaugurate the positive trend of "instrumental tracks" (Uselink, Jazz Thieves and the final hidden track Junior Painkiller), which will continue with the following albums.
A very intimate album, rich in positive and negative facets, complex to listen to and consequently to understand. The end of an era, the beginning of a new one, a new dawn of creativity for Depeche Mode. Recommended to those who intend to immerse themselves 360° into the musical world of Mode without prejudices and with the conscious will to face a very complex period of their thirty-year biography.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Barrel of a Gun (05:35)
Do you mean this horny creep
Set upon weary feet
Who looks in need of sleep
That doesn't come
This twisted, tortured mess
This bed of sinfulness
Who's longing for some rest
And feeling numb
What do you expect of me
What is it you want
Whatever you've planned for me
I'm not the one
A vicious appetite
Visits me each night
And won't be satisfied
Won't be denied
An unbearable pain
A beating in my brain
That leaves the mark of Cain
Right here inside
What am I supposed to do
When everything that I've done
Is leading me to conclude
I'm not the one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Is there something you need from me
Are you having your fun
I never agreed to be
Your holy one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
03 Home (05:42)
Here is a song
From the wrong side of town
Where I'm bound
To the ground
By the loneliest sound
That pounds from within
And is pinning me down
Here is a page
From the emptiest stage
A cage or the heaviest cross ever made
A gauge of the deadliest trap ever laid
And I thank you
For bringing me here
For showing me home
For singing these tears
Finally I've found
That I belong here
The heat and the sickliest
Sweet smelling sheets
That cling to the backs of my knees
And my feet
But I'm drowning in time
To a desperate beat
And I thank you
For bringing me here
For showing me home
For singing these tears
Finally I've found
That I belong
Feels like home
I should have known
From my first breath
God send the only true friend
I call mine
Pretend that I'll make amends
The next time
Befriend the glorious end of the line
And I thank you
For bringing me here
For showing me home
For singing these tears
Finally I've found
That I belong here
04 It's No Good (05:58)
I'm gonna take my time
I have all the time in the world
To make you mine
It is written in the stars above
The gods decree
You'll be right here by my side
Right next to me
You can run but you cannot hide
Don't say you want me
Don't say you need me
Don't say you love me
It's understood
Don't say you're happy
Out there without me
I know you can't be
'cause it's no good
I'll be fine
I'll be waiting patiently
Until you see the signs
And come running to my open arms
When will you realise
Do we have to wait till our worlds collide
Open up your eyes
You can't turn back the tide
Don't say you want me
Don't say you need me
Don't say you love me
It's understood
Don't say you're happy
Out there without me
I know you can't be
'cause it's no good
I'm gonna take my time
I have all the time in the world
To make you mine
It is written in the stars above
Don't say you want me
Don't say you need me
Don't say you love me
It's understood
Don't say you're happy
Out there without me
I know you can't be
'cause it's no good
Don't say you want me
Don't say you need me
Don't say you love me
It's understood
Don't say you're happy
Out there without me
I know you can't be
'cause it's no good
06 Useless (05:12)
Well it's about time
It's beginning to hurt
Time you made up your mind
Just what is it all worth
All my useless advice
All my hanging around
All your cutting down to size
All my bringing you down
Watch the clock on the wall
Feel the slowing of time
Hear a voice in the hall
Echoing in my mind
All your stupid ideals
Got your head in the clouds
You should see how it feels
With your feet on the ground
Here I stand the accused
With your fist in my face
Feeling tired and bruised
With the bitterest taste
All my useless advice
All my hanging around
All your cutting down to size
All my bringing you down
All your stupid ideals
You've got your head in the clouds
You should see how it feels
With your feet on the ground
09 Freestate (06:43)
I can hear your soul crying
Listen to your spirit sighing
I can feel your desperation
Emotional deprivation
Let yourself go
Let yourself go
Let your feelings show
Picking up the conversations
Deep in your imagination
Tune in to the lonely voices
Talking of their only choices
Let yourself go
Let yourself go
Let your spirit grow
Step out of your cage and onto the stage
It's time to start playing your part
Freedom awaits
Open the gates
Open your mind
Freedom's a state
I can taste the tears falling
The bitterness that's inside you calling
Yearning for a liberation
Emotional emancipation
Let yourself go
Let yourself go
Let your senses overflow
Step out of your cage and onto the stage
It's time to start playing your part
Freedom awaits
Open the gates
Open your mind
Freedom's a state
11 Insight (06:26)
This is an insight
into my life
this is a strange flight
I'm taking
my true will
carries me along
This is a soul dance
embracing me
this is the first chance
to put things right
moving on
guided by the light
And the spirit of love
is rising within me
talking to you now
telling you clearly
the fire still burns
Wisdom of ages
rush over me
heighten my senses
enlighten me
lead me on
eternally
And the spirit of love
is rising within me
talking to you now
telling you clearly
the fire still burns
I'm talking to you now
the fire still burns
whatever you do now (you've got to give love)
the world still turns
I'm talking to you now.
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Other reviews
By DS
"Ultra is a child of suffering, introspection, and the hoped-for rebirth."
"Listening to Ultra is like traveling at night through a large deserted city, capturing darker and melancholic aspects hidden by daylight."
By il gringo
Gahan’s voice rises above the drum/bass/keyboard wall, reminding me that sometimes fate is cruel and brings us back to suffering.
'Home' begins, a ray of light penetrating the darkness of the night: excellently sung by Martin Gore.
