Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 14/10/06
Label: Mute

It's a strange feeling to review a record from one of your favourite bands of all time, featuring some of your favourite songs of all time and yet still find it sadly lacking. Such is the case with "The Best Of Depeche Mode Volume 1", the latest collection of hits from Basildon's finest. The first problem with this record is inherent in its very existence. After all, it's hardly been that long since the release of the excellent double-header of "Singles 1981-1985" and "1986-1998", two records that perfectly chart the rise of Depeche Mode from tinny synth poppers via a bit of goth to the stadium-packing crowd pleasers they are today.

The justification could therefore be that "The Best Of..." allows the band to include songs released since 1998, along with more interesting tracks that never made it to a single release. Yet when the collection opens with "Personal Jesus", closely followed by "Just Can't Get Enough", the collating of the record instantly feels clumsy, the dark, bouncing pop that shouldn't really be pop of the former contrasting awkwardly with the instant trashiness of the latter. There's no build, just a clobbering of the listener with two of the band's most recognisable hits - even for anyone with a casual interest (the kind of person for whom this collection is perhaps intended), the choice of opening feels peculiar.

The flow gets better as the album moves on, however, "Enjoy The Silence", "Shake The Disease" and "See You" making for an interestingly coupled triumvirate. Yet only four of the eighteen tracks here present were never featured on the two singles compilations. "Suffer Well " and "Precious" are both taken from this year's "Playing The Angel", while "Dream On" is the sole entry from 2001's underrated "Exciter". The only stand-alone track is recent single "Martyr", itself partly released to help with the promotional push of this parent compilation.

But maybe we're just splitting hairs here? If you ignore the laziness that's gone into preparing this record, there's no denying the brilliance of pretty much every track, reasserting Depeche Mode's status as one of the finest British acts of the past 25 years. Interestingly, it also serves to show that the more recent material holds up in direct comparison to the classics that made the band so enormous that Dave Gahan was forced to die every now and again before he got clean a few years back. And here's hoping that any forthcoming Volume Two might choose to follow roads less travelled - as it is, this collection's merely perfect for the Mondeo multi-changers of Depeche Mode's fellow Basildonians.

    by Luke Turner