I just finished sitting here reading the liner notes while I heard the last two tracks. This isn't technically one of the occupations I'm allowed based on the rules sidebar, but I think it is in the spirit of the rule.
Besides, with all the snow, I haven't done a review in almost a week, and I was jonesing to move on. Anyway, here it is.
Disc 244 is...Exciter
Artist: Depeche ModeYear of Release: 2001
What’s Up With The Cover?: It's a close up of some kind of green flower, but I don't have enough flora lore to know what it is. I like this cover's simplicity. I think when you 'couple' this picture with the album's title, it is fairly suggestive - not unlike many Depeche Mode songs.
How I Came To Know It: I believe Sheila bought this album, but when I asked her she thought maybe I had bought it for her. Whatever the case may be, neither one of us puts it on, so I hardly know it at all.
How It Stacks Up: We have four Depeche Mode albums. Of the four I only really listen to one, and this isn't it. Sheila listens to three of the four, but not this one, so based on those realities, I have to put this one fourth, or last.
Rating: 2 stars.
This is a much later album in the Depeche Mode discography, as they've been making records as far back as 1981. I'm not one to dismiss a record simply because it comes later in a band's career. After all the list of bands making great music well into their careers is long and storied (Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Steve Earle etc).
So instead, I'll dismiss this album for the usual reason - it just failed to inspire me. Granted, Depeche Mode's blend of pop melody and dance-hall electronica is hardly in my wheelhouse - it isn't even on the same ship, but it is more than that. I absolutely love their 1990 album "Violator" which is in exactly the same style, but "Exciter" didn't do it for me.
The record isn't offensively bad; it still has the catchy beats and synth-bass (is that an expression?) that Depeche Mode are good at. It still has the haunting vocals of Dave Gahan, who I don't think gets nearly enough credit for how unique and seductive his voice is. It just doesn't quite go anywhere - it comes off more as a mood piece and at its worst I could imagine it filling in as the score for some avant garde but low budget German film (like Run, Lola, Run - only not good).
There are a couple of songs where the tempo picks up that I could see myself seriously cutting a rug to, (in particular, the disco-dancy "I Feel Loved") but since I wasn't in a nightclub surrounded by young women in their Saturday night finery, I had to admit it wasn't great music when standing on its own merits.
Lyrically, Depeche Mode returns to what is common ground for them, with most of the songs having strong sexual overtones. This, I enjoyed; these guys are not afraid to express what gets them up in the morning, and they generally do it well. How ever, even here "Exciter" fails to compare to the other albums we have of theirs. It fails to...what's the verb I'm searching for...?
If it belonged to me, I'd probably sell it, but since it is Sheila's, I'll put it back on the shelf and look forward to brighter days - and superior Depeche Mode albums - in the journey ahead.
Best tracks: The Dead of Night
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