Depeche Mode Album: “People Are People”

Description :

Depeche Mode: Martin Gore (vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer); David Gahan (vocals); Andy Fletcher (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Alan Wilder (keyboards, background vocals). <p>Recorded between December 1981 and January 1984 in Shoreditch, Blackfriars and Kreuzburg. <p>Depeche Mode's fourth American album is more a patchwork compilation of singles documenting a rather confusing period in the band's career. After the twinkly synthpop of their 1981 debut SPEAK AND SPELL, founding songwriter Vince Clarke left the band in the hands of alternate songwriter Martin Gore, a transition documented on the uneven but intriguing A BROKEN FRAME and CONSTRUCTION TIME AGAIN. <p>Gore escaped Clarke's musical and lyrical shadow with the release of "People Are People," a semi-industrial anthem with a clanking arrangement that sounded slightly more like Throbbing Gristle than A Flock of Seagulls, and semi-politicized lyrics concerning themes which would come to dominate Gore's writing over ensuing albums. Elsewhere, this collection features "Get the Balance Right," a near-forgotten gem of a single, and the long version of their 1983 hit "Everything Counts."

This is my favorite of all their albums. I bought this tape 15, 18 years ago. It's lively with great synthesizer work. Great songs like Get the Balance right, and Everything Counts, makes you think but not too hard. This is a fun album. I guess after this one things start to get dark for them which is evident in their later albums.

This is actually an early 80's collection, that I'm suprised is still in print. I have it on both vinyl and cassette, and still play it often. The bigger tracks here are "Get The Balance Right", "Everything Counts", and of course "People Are People". But to be honest, I like "Now This Is Fun" and "Love In Itself" just as much. As I said, this is still a great album, but at this point you may just want "Singles 81>85", as it's longer and includes much of what's here. Also, nothing beats live Mode, "101".

Four songs from "Construction Time Again," one from "A Broken Frame," one from "Some Great Reward," with only three new songs...not bad. This CD is more like a Promo for Depeche Mode music. Something to convince club owners to play their music. "Everything Counts," "Love In Itself," "People Are People," "Now This is Fun," and "Leave In Silence" are the best ones. "Pipeline" is a little...stupid. "Told You So" isn't too bad, and "Work Hard" is interesting. "Get The Balance Right" is pretty good too. Overall, maybe not worth the money, but its something to dance to, and it some of Depeche Mode's better songs anyway. Besides...it's Depeche Mode...how can you go wrong?

PAP are not so bad as a lot of reviews say they are. This is overall not a bad album to start with... in fact I've sampled all the songs and I'm beginning to wish I had the album. Although some songs such as "Pipeline" can be pretty annoying, you can always change the tracks. Although "Work Hard" is known to be one of the most annoying songs on the album, I kind of liked it... this album makes me laugh and really, the annoyance is the fun in it. But what you really need to do is put yourself in another pair of shoes (not literally) to really enjoy this album.