Speak and Spell (album)

Overview

This was the only Depeche Mode album with Vince Clarke as a member of the band. Clarke wrote most of the songs for the band, before departing to form Yazoo and later Erasure.

The album is significantly lighter in tone and melody than their later work, a direction which can largely be attributed to Clarke's writing. After he left, Martin Gore took over songwriting duties, writing almost all of the band's material. Later albums written by him would explore darker subjects and melodies.

The album title alludes to the then-popular "Speak & Spell" electronic toy.

When interviewed by Simon Amstell for Channel 4's Popworld programme in 2005, Gore and Fletcher both stated that the track "What's Your Name?" was their least favourite Depeche Mode song of all time.

Critical reception

Melody Maker praised the album, saying the singles "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough" "sound as fresh and unflagging as every new number" of their time. Although reviewer Paul Colbert noted that there are a few songs like "Nodisco" that tend to "repeat earlier thoughts and feels", he praised "the gleefully untroubled surface" of "What's Your Name", [...] "the moody whisper" of "Puppets" and the tautly sketched around octave-leaping bass lines and dark vocals of "Photographic".

In a five-star review, Record Mirror noted that the album is composed by "eight sparkling songs and one instrumental, much to admire and little to disappoint". Reviewer Sunie particularly praised the track "Photographic" and wrote: "Photographic" is "like [Gary] Numan at his best, but better; all the sinister phrases, both lyrical and musical, but with a rapid, danceable beat instead of the solemnity that Gazza always laid on with a sequinned trowel."

In a less enthusiastic review for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau called the album catchy, one-dimensional nonsense that "crosses Meco (without the humble functionalism), Gary Numan (without the devotion to surface), and Kraftwerk (without the humor—oh, definitely without the humor)." He did however favorably compare "New Life" to Brian Eno, and named it the sixteenth-best single of 1981 in his list for the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.

2006 re-release

The album was re-released on 3 April 2006 (along with Music for the Masses and Violator) as part of Mute's extensive Depeche Mode reissue schedule. This special edition release was a double disc set that included a Hybrid SACD/CD and a DVD. This format included the album in 5 formats - multi-channel SACD, stereo SACD, PCM stereo CD, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1.

In the United States, the album was not re-released until 2 June 2006. The US version was only a CD rather than a SACD/CD Hybrid, though it still included the DVD which was identical to the European one (barring some different copyrights and logos).

The re-release somewhat preserves the album as it was originally intended. As such, while it is mostly the same as the British version, North America got a completely new version with some songs that have never been released there. For example, "New Life" was the original version, not a remix, and "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" finally debuted (on a Depeche Mode release) in North America. However, "Dreaming of Me", the band's very first single which was not on the original album, was put at the end. The four bonus tracks on the original CD release in the UK, were omitted from the re-issued CD, but were on the DVD.

Also included was a 28-minute documentary about the making of the album entitled Depeche Mode: 1980–1981 (Do We Really Have To Give Up Our Day Jobs?) featuring interviews with the group (including Vince Clarke) and other relevant personnel such as Daniel Miller. There is various footage of the group's appearances on Top of the Pops including their very first appearance from 1981 performing "New Life". There is also vintage BBC footage of the Speak & Spell Tour from the same year.

The remastered album was released on "deluxe" vinyl in March 2007.

Track listing

For all versions, all songs were written by Vince Clarke, except for "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Big Muff" written by Martin Gore. Dave Gahan performs lead vocals on all songs except "Any Second Now [Voices]", which is sung by Martin Gore. "Big Muff" and the original version of "Any Second Now" are instrumentals.

US LP/CD

1. "New Life" [Remix] – 3:56
2. "Puppets" – 3:57
3. "Dreaming of Me" – 3:42
4. "Boys Say Go!" – 3:04
5. "Nodisco" – 4:13
6. "What's Your Name?" – 2:41
7. "Photographic" – 4:58
8. "Tora! Tora! Tora!" – 4:24
9. "Big Muff" – 4:21
10. "Any Second Now (Voices)" – 2:33
11. "Just Can't Get Enough" [Schizo Mix] – 6:41

2006 re-release

Mute: DM CD 1 (CD/SACD + DVD) / CDX STUMM 5 (CD/SACD)

1. "New Life" – 3:46
2. "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" – 2:18
3. "Puppets" – 3:58
4. "Boys Say Go!" – 3:07
5. "Nodisco" – 4:15
6. "What's Your Name?" – 2:45
7. "Photographic" – 4:44
8. "Tora! Tora! Tora!" – 4:37
9. "Big Muff" – 4:24
10. "Any Second Now (Voices)" – 2:35
11. "Just Can't Get Enough" – 3:44
12. "Dreaming of Me" – 4:03

Bonus tracks

In DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM Stereo:

1. "Ice Machine"
2. "Shout!"
3. "Any Second Now"
4. "Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)"

Additional material

1. "Depeche Mode 80–81 (Do We Really Have to Give Up Our Day Jobs?)" (28-minute documentary video)

Personnel