The album. The singles. The songs. The tour.
Everything Counts
The first single from the album, July 1983. The perfect introduction to the new era, a real masterpiece that quickly became a highlight of the live shows as well. The video for the song marks the return of Clive Richardson (who was responsible for the band's very first video, "Just Can't Get Enough" in 1981), and he became their resident director at the time, shooting 6 consecutive videos, a concert film and then (following 3 more experimental promos done with Peter Care) one final video in 1986 for "A Question Of Lust", before the band started to work with Anton Corbijn. In all of these films, Mr. Richardson heavily relies on 2 tricks: multiple images blended into one, and trying to translate the music quite literally into visuals.
Work Hard
The B-side is the only non-instrumental DM song credited to Gore/Wilder, forshadowing the work theme, the heavy use of sampling and the quite industrial sound of the forthcoming album. It was fun at the time, but it's not the kind of song that I frequently return to nowadays.
CONSTRUCTION TIME AGAIN
August, 1983.
A giant leap forward, to say the least. With a proper musician (Alan Wilder) and a great engineer (Gareth Jones) onboard, the band completely reinvented their sound. Sampling was quite new at the time, and most acts used it to sample instruments or other people's records, Depeche Mode used it to create their own sounds, recording all kinds of noises, messing around with the result and playing melodies with these found sounds. Also - probably thanks to Gareth Jones' idea to play the synths through amplifiers - their songs no longer sounded as tinny as most other electronic acts, and they didn't use the preset sounds that most other acts used. They combined their experimental approach with pop melodies, creating something that was both groundbreaking and accessible.
Lyrically this album stands out in the Depeche Mode catalogue. Martin usually writes about emotions and personal things, but on this occasion he (and Alan Wilder as well, who wrote 2 songs for the album) turned his attention to the world, commenting on social and political issues. Due to the heavy industrial sound and less personal lyrics, this album lacks a bit of emotional impact compared to the band's other works, but the innovation and the overall quality makes up for it.
Love, In Itself
The album opens with a slighty softer song (compared to the rest) that has a quite weird speed up - slow back down - speed up again chorus, and features some brief guitar playing.
More Than A Party
This songs takes no prisoners, full of metallic sounds and with an unusually fast tempo that gets even faster and faster towards the end.
Pipeline
From fastest to slowest, but despite the pace and Martin taking the lead, this is not a ballad, but a work song. The sound experimentation is taken to the farthest here, resulting in a song as far from teen-pop (which many people thought the band was at the time) as possible. It took me some time to get used to this song, but it's still getting better and better with each listen.
Everything Counts
From weirdest to catchiest, the album's stand out track and big hit single closes Side One (named "Work One" on the sleeve).
Two Minute Warning
"Work Two" kicks off with the first composition by the "new boy" in the band, Alan Wilder. The song fits in perfectly both musically and lyrically, with a nice long instrumental ending.
Shame
A not so melodic track that might seem challenging at first, but it turned into a very effective song live.
The Landscape Is Changing
The second song on the album written by Mr. Wilder, just as good as the previous one, with a nice long instrumental ending.
Told You So
A good song and a live favourite at the time, for some reason I don't like it as much as I used to, but it's still OK.
And Then...
The last track listed on the sleeve creates a nice frame returning to the slightly softer sound of the opening song (featuring some brief guitar playing as well), and with its kind of "things coming to an end" feeling, it works well at the end of the tracklist.
Everything Counts - reprise
The album closes with a nice little hidden track, a reprise from the big hit, an excerpt from the 12" version featuring the chorus over a minimal backing.
*
Love, In Itself
Second single, September 1983.
Although the album was full of great songs, none of them were obvious singles apart from "Everything Counts". If I'm not mistaken, "Told You So" (which probably would have worked better as a single) and "And Then..." were also considered, but they ended up choosing this one. It was the first time for the band to release a song on a single that was previously available (and this could be the cause for not making the UK Top 20 for the first time since "Dreaming Of Me"), so the single version - titled "Love, In Itself ·2" - was slightly remixed, to inspire fans to buy the single despite having the song on the album already. The 12" release included the usual extended version ("Love, In Itself ·3") plus a very interesting lounge version ("Love, In Itself ·4"), a completely re-recorded take with new vocals and acoustic instruments (plus a drum machine), and knowing that the "unplugged" thing only became fashionable many years later, this was more than unusual, especially for an all-electronic band.
All 3 singles released by Depeche Mode in 1983 had a limited edition 12" featuring the same artwork with different colours ("Get The Balance Right!" - blue, "Everything Counts" - red, "Love, In Itself" - green). These records played the 7" version on the A-side (although "Love, In Itself" is actually a slighty longer variation of the 7" remix), and 4 live tracks taken from a 1982 show on the B-side.
Fools
The B-side was written by Alan Wilder, and although he's not too fond of it (writing lyrics turned out to be not his strong point), it's not bad at all, but it's not as good as the songs that made it onto the album.
Construction Time Again Tour
Everything Counts
Now, This Is Fun
Two Minute Warning
Shame
See You
Get The Balance Right!
Love, In Itself
Pipeline
The Landscape Is Changing
And Then...
Photographic
Told You So
New Life
More Than A Party
The Meaning Of Love
Just Can't Get Enough
Boys Say Go!
September - December 1983 (UK & Europe)
February - March 1984 (additional dates in the UK, Italy and Spain)
A quite interesting setlist. All 9 songs from the current album, only 2 from the previous one, 4 from the first one, and for the first time, 2 singles not included - the lack of "Dreaming Of Me" is not that surprising, it was not a big hit and it never really was a stand out track or a particularly big song live, but skipping a band-favourite like "Leave In Silence" is quite weird. Another unusual choice is the return of a B-side, "Now, This Is Fun", although it works quite well here. This tour also marks Martin's live debut as lead vocalist on "Pipeline" (which was replaced by the instrumental song "Big Muff" on the 1984 dates). On a personal note, "Get The Balance Right!" and "Photographic" (the latter based on the album version for the first time) are particular highlights for me, "Now, This Is Fun", "Shame" and "Just Can't Get Enough" are very good versions, and I definitely would have preferred "Leave In Silence" (maybe paired with "The Sun & The Rainfall" as a first encore, it's not very fitting for set closer) over "Boys Say Go!", a very weak track in my opinion, but probably a fan favourite at the time.
BBC Radio recorded the show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in October 1983. I've come across 2 different 13-track broadcasts, "And Then..." and "Boys Say Go!" are missing from both. The more common version also lacks "Everything Counts" and "The Meaning Of Love" and includes an edited version of "Two Minute Warning". The other version has the 2 singles plus the full length version of "Two Minute Warning", but omits "The Landscape Is Changing" and "Told You So". Great sound quality and very good performance, they're well worth having.
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