Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 18, 2018 12:42:46 GMT
Artist: Depeche Mode
Album: Some Great Reward
Genre: Synthpop
Year: 1984
Standout tracks: Something to Do, Lie to Me, People are People, Master and Servant and Blasphemous Rumours
Another of their albums I have owned for years but rarely heard through all of it, only a couple of the big hits, which this do have a few of, I think.
Anyway, coming up from two disappointing album in a row, I am beginning to believe it might be more promising stuff a head and hopefully this is the drastic change for better things to come, as I really need something positive to boost up my motiviation to dig further into their music catalog.
01. Something to Do - Wastes no time at all, and gets straight on with it right away. A very promising start and while I am not sure if I have heard this one before, it do end up sounding strangely familiar, but in a great way. Their best album opener since New Life.
02. Lie to Me - Now this is more like it. A great follow up, very mysterious and cool number which has the potential of becoming another favorite gem of theirs. Also to be noted, what a huge and impressive difference in the production as well, this sounds ten times better than most of the stuff on Construction Time Again. A big improvement and also one which has a great melody and lyrics.
03. People Are People - This I have heard, several times but one which never gets old. Begins in the same industrial manner as some of the stuff from their third release, but here it is also backed up by a ridiculous catchy chorus and is surely one of their best singles to come out of the early 80s.
04. It Doesn't Matter - Coming up after three very energy filled cuts, this quiet but soulful number hints out a bit of what to come within their next release as Martin Gore takes to the microhpone and delivers a solid performance.
05. Stories of Old - Not a bad one, but still without much of a memorable melody to it along with too much of that awful 80s production from Constuction Time Again going strong at times, this only ends up falling way behind the four great opening cuts.
06. Somebody - Once more a quiet and atmospheric Martin Gore number.
07. Master and Servant - One of the main reasons to why I picked up this album, was the great use of clips from the 101 music documentary that I saw back in summer of 2005.
08. If You Want - Takes a little time before settling in, but gets more pacy as it goes on. Not a bad one this either but one which ends up getting stuck in between two far superior numbers.
09. Blasphemous Rumours - A haunting yet very catchy song where everything I was hoping for in both music, melodies and lyrics all come together and makes it into a majestic and dark masterpiece which surely has to be their best moment of everything they did up till that point of time.
4 great ones and one fantastic out of 9 is surely not bad, and while the rest is not "horrible" they are not really anywhere close to the stand out cuts and while maybe a bit harsh naming them as "fillers", they are easy come, easy go at least to me and I really wanted to give the album a higher rating, as here it is not hard to see how much improvement they have done both as musicians and song writers but the production is also a huge step up and for me this their best album out of the first four, without a doubt. Maybe with time, I might rate it higher, but as of now I end up with a solid:
6,5/10