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Rating:
If in these times of greater or lesser (the opinion is absolutely impersonal) creative musical and artistic flourishing one asks what electronic music is in the melodic field, I believe that 90% would respond by mentioning a large number of names of DJs like Guetta, Sinclair, Tiesto, and why not, many would mention Lady GaGa. Well, I believe there is a notable difference between what is meant by electronic music and its direct derivatives and electro-pop/electro-dance/electro-house.
The Depeche Mode can, I believe, be unanimously considered the pioneers of electronic music in the strictest sense, with a career that is nothing short of enviable not so much for sales numbers, but rather for the quality and originality of their thirty-year repertoire. A rich, renewed, dense, creamy and full of passion repertoire, which began in the distant 1981 with the album Speak & Spell and the hit Just Can't Get Enough, continued with People Are People, Never Let Me Down Again, Personal Jesus, I Feel You, It's No Good, Precious, Wrong, just to remind the audience of some of the most famous songs of the British band. Despite countless problems encountered over these years of activity, from the loss of Wilder and Clarke, to the definitive collapse of Dave Gahan due to a deadly mix of drugs he had been consuming since the early '90s, Depeche Mode did not give up, they did not abandon their energy and power, continuing on a well-defined and compact musical learning path which managed to hold its own against all the pitfalls and crises encountered (see also the dark period of Songs Of Faith And Devotion edt.).
With this review, I am about to discuss the album of their consecration, their creative/artistic peak, their pride and joy, namely "Violator". To an audience ignorant about Depeche Mode, it is enough to just mention the songs Personal Jesus and Enjoy The Silence to get the idea. To this day, it is their most appreciated album, with more than 10 million copies sold (a result not achieved anymore in the years to follow) and represents the culmination of the second part of their career, the darker and "dark" one, a musical and image choice already undertaken in previous works such as Black Celebration and Music For The Masses. In Violator, Depeche Mode also attempt to add a precious element of theatricality that could make the work more uniform as a whole.
It begins with World in My Eyes and one has the initial impression that the album's atmosphere is not as gloomy and dark as might have been expected: Gahan's voice is decisive, fluid, open, nothing indicates what is to come, already with Sweetest Perfection, performed by Gore, where you immerse yourself in a world of distorted, dark sounds, almost like a thriller/horror movie, with backgrounds that further highlight that dark theatricality mentioned.
With Personal Jesus, the emblematic song of the group, known, copied, and used as a sample in other songs by numerous other artists (Marilyn Manson...) one notices that original blend of electronics, rock, folk, country, and even a bit of funky as the background of a text that collectively analyzes themes of sex and religion (in this it recalls Madonna's Like a Prayer).
A sense of restlessness and general insecurity is also noted in Halo, while in the next two tracks the dark skies begin to clear and the clouds disperse. Perhaps not so much in Waiting For The Night, but certainly in the very famous Enjoy The Silence where it seems even as if the album is about to take a final turn dictated by a more concise serenity and cheerfulness. Enjoy The Silence is also the Depeche Mode song that comes closest to the dance-house sounds very popular in the early '90s.
While Policy Of Truth warms the hearts before the final shock with melodies that are, all things considered, calm and peaceful, without particular dark electronic distortions, you approach the end of the work (Violator contains only 9 tracks, few are the Depeche Mode albums where you find a large number of inserted songs). Gore, with his interpretation of Blue Dress, resumes the dark atmospheres, but with less conviction than the previous tracks, inserting a pinch of lyricism. The conclusion of the album is represented by Clean which seems to anticipate the sounds of the subsequent Songs Of Faith And Devotion, much more rockish than the previous ones, remembered above all as the crisis album.
"Violator" represents an important brick in the "Palace of Music", a cohesive work, compact and rich, despite the scarcity of songs, scarcity that is immediately compensated with a series of avant-garde sounds and melodies.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 World in My Eyes (04:22)
Let me take you on a trip
Arround the world and back
And you won't have to move
You just sit still
Now let your mind do the walking
Let my body do the talking
Let me show you the world in my eyes
I'll take you to the highest mountain
To the depths of the deepest sea
And we won't need a map, believe me
Now let my body do the moving
Let my hands do the soothing
Let me show you the world in my eyes
That's all there is
Nothing more than you can feel now
That's all there is
Let me put you on a ship
On a long, long trip
Your lips close to my lips
All the islands in the ocean
All the heavens in the motion
Let me show you the world in my eyes
That's all there is
Nothing more than you can touch now
That's all there is
Let me show you the world in my eyes
(repeat 6x)
03 Personal Jesus (04:52)
Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there
Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer
Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there
Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Reach out and touch faith
04 Halo (04:25)
You wear guilt
Like shackles on your feet
Like a halo in reverse
I can feel
The discomfort in your seat
And in your head it's worse
There's a pain
A famine in your heart
An aching to be free
Can't you see
All love's luxuries
Are here for you and me
And when our worlds they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
Bring your chains
Your lips of tragedy
And fall into my arms
And when our worlds they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
06 Enjoy the Silence (06:12)
Words like violence
Break the silence
Come crashing in
Into my little world
Painful to me
Pierce right through me
Can't you understand
Oh my little girl
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
Vows are spoken
To be broken
Feelings are intense
Words are trivial
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
Enjoy the silence...
07 Policy of Truth (04:52)
You had something to hide
You should have hidden it, shouldn't you
Now you're not satisfied
With what you've being put through
It's just time to pay the price
For not listening to advice
And deciding in your youth
On the policy of truth
Things could be so different now
It used to be so civilized
You will always wonder how
It could have been if you'd only lied
It's too late to change events
It's time to face the consequence
For delivering the proof
To the policy of truth
Never again is what you swore, the time before
Never again is what you swore, the time before
Now you're standing there tongue tied
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell
You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue
The policy of truth
Never again is what you swore, the time before
09 Clean (05:23)
Clean
The cleanest I've been
An end to the tears
And the in-between years
And the troubles I've seen
Now that I'm clean
You know what I mean
I've broken my fall
Put an end to it all
I've changed my routine
Now I'm clean
I don't understand
What destiny's planned
I'm starting to grasp
What is in my own hands
I don't claim to know
Where my holiness goes
I just know that I like
What is starting to show
Sometimes
Clean
The cleanest I've been
An end to the tears
And the in-between years
And the troubles I've seen
Now that I'm clean
You know what I mean
I've broken my fall
Put an end to it all
I've changed my routine
Now I'm clean
As years go by
All the feelings inside
Twist and they turn
As they ride with the tide
I don't advise
And I don't criticise
I just know what I like
With my own eyes
Sometimes
Clean
The cleanest I've been
An end to the tears
And the in-between years
And the troubles I've seen
Now that I'm clean
Sometimes
You know what I mean
I've broken my fall
Put an end to it all
I've changed my routine
Now I'm clean
Sometimes
Now I'm clean
The cleanest I've been
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Other reviews
By giov
The phrase that opens this little masterpiece of electronic music… manages to nicely summarize the intentions of Depeche Mode towards the listeners: to make people travel with closed eyes.
Many bands are inspired by DM, stealing here and there, but no one has yet taken up their legacy… it’s a matter of soul and, in Martin Gore’s soul, there was quite a lot to bring out.
By Kobe-Bryant
Oh my God guys, what an emotion every time I hear this album!!!!
Violator came out in the distant 1990 and it represents one of the most beautiful albums by Depeche Mode.
By myork
Depeche Mode definitively managed to impose a new way of making music and made it their unmistakable trademark.
'Personal Jesus' conveys the warmth of rock’n’roll with the coldness of electronics, culminating in one of the absolute peaks in music concerning the use of synthesizers.
