Going from Iron Maiden to this
next artist was definitely a jump in styles.
Disc 680 is…. Black Celebration
Artist: Depeche
Mode
Year of Release: 1986
What’s up with the Cover? I can’t entirely
tell. Definitely a cityscape, with what looks like giant tulips reflected
against the glass walls. The tulip is one of my favourite flowers, but at that
size they’d really throw the balance of a garden out. Also, it would be very
hard to make a bouquet for your girl with tulips that big.
The
black banners hanging down the side of the building (the ‘black celebration’?)
are more troubling. It makes it feel like you are in some sort of totalitarian
future, where Big Tulip has cornered the market on floral arrangements and
taken over the world. Not good, but at least in a Depeche Mode future, you know
there’ll be plenty of sex among the flowers.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to Depeche
Mode. She had this album on tape back when it came out, and I am told she
played the living hell out of it.
How It Stacks Up: We have three Depeche Mode albums (we used to have
four but we sold “Exciter” shortly after I reviewed it back at Disc 244).
Of the three, I put “Black Celebration” second, and a strong second at that. It
may even finish first before this whole thing is over.
Rating: 4 stars
Back in 1986 when we small town metal-heads were listening
to Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere in Time,” urban alternative folks like my future
wife were having a black celebration of their own, with bands like Depeche
Mode.
“Black Celebration” is an appropriate name for this
record, which embraces the darkness around us and inside us, and channels that
darkness into starkly industrial drum lines and hauntingly inspirational melodies.
Musically, Depeche Mode isn’t quite doing the
computer-like work of bands like Kraftwerk, but there are definitely elements
of what would eventually become electronica on “Black Celebration.” Ordinarily,
I would consider this a bad thing, but the songs on this album have a purpose
and direction that perfectly combines the slow anticipation of ‘what happens
next’ from pop music and the ambient beat and rhythm that is so hypnotic in the
best electronica.
While the progressions here are solidly pop, the
song constructions are innovative and engaging. The strange gasping and voice
samples at the beginning of “Fly on the
Windscreen – Final” would ordinarily annoy me, but Depeche Mode works them
seamlessly into the song that makes them not only add to the song’s groove, but
be fundamental to it working.
As when I reviewed “Exciter,” Dave Gahan’s signature voice again impressed me. His voice is dramatic, with hints
of pomp and sexual danger spilling off the sides of it. His range isn’t huge,
but his voice is always strong whether he is singing at the top or the bottom
of his register.
“Black Celebration” plays to Gahan’s strength, keeping
him low and haunting most of the time, and occasionally rising up to hit a
poignant point. On “A Question of Lust”
this use of his higher voice adds just the right amount of tenderness into a
darkly sexual song.
Lyrically and musically this album is sexy as hell.
Not the ‘close your eyes and think of England’ variety of sexy either. These
are songs where lovers willingly surrender to their basic desires; the ones whisper
to one another only when they are feeling very bold, or it is very dark.
Gahan is perfect for such dark whispers. On “Stripped” when he sings…
“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”
Don’t just take your clothes off, he says. Strip.
And unlike “Exciter,” “Black Celebration” never loses its musical focus, letting
each song build slowly and deliberately. “Stripped”
starts off with a whimsical keyboard riff that feels like you are going for a
friendly walk in the woods, but the woods get dark quickly as the song until
the darkness soaks right into your bones. There’s a blackness, of course, but
it is a cause for celebration, not concern.
Even a line like this little bit of self-pity from “Sometimes”…
“Sometimes
Only sometimes
I question everything
And I’m the first to admit
If you catch me in a mood like
this
I can be tiring”
…weirdly works, because it is delivered with
conviction and because we’ve all felt like this. It’s just nice that someone is
admitting it for all of us.
There is even a brief foray into political discourse,
with “New Dress” which juxtaposes all
the inequities and injustices in the world with the public’s obsession in 1986 with
what Princess Diana is wearing.
“Black Celebration” ends with the surprisingly
upbeat “But Not Tonight” which brings
a last minute warmth and optimism to the record, but not so much so as to feel
jarring. It is the cup of coffee after a heavy meal, designed to pick you up
and get you moving again.
This album was a pleasant surprise – so much so I’ve
kept listening to it for three days straight, and I’ll be playing it a lot more
often in future. Big Tulip wins again, I guess.
Best tracks (with artists): Fly on the Windscreen – Final, A
Question of Lust, Sometimes, Stripped, Dressed in Black, New Dress, But Not
Tonight
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