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Construction Time Again

 
Album Review: Construction Time Again

  • Artist: Depeche Mode
  • Rating: StarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1983
  • Total Time: 49:43
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

The full addition of Alan Wilder to Depeche Mode's lineup created a perfect troika that would last another 11 years, as the combination of Martin Gore's songwriting, Wilder's arranging, and David Gahan's singing and live star power resulted in an ever more compelling series of albums and singles. Construction Time Again, the new lineup's first full effort, is a bit hit and miss nonetheless, but when it does hit, it does so perfectly. Right from the album's first song, "Love in Itself," something is clearly up; Depeche never sounded quite so thick with its sound before, with synths arranged into a mini-orchestra/horn section and real piano and acoustic guitar spliced in at strategic points. Two tracks later, "Pipeline" offers the first clear hint of an increasing industrial influence (the bandmembers were early fans of Einstürzende Neubauten), with clattering metal samples and oddly chain gang-like lyrics and vocals. The album's clear highlight has to be "Everything Counts," a live staple for years, combining a deceptively simple, ironic lyric about the music business with a perfectly catchy but unusually arranged blending of more metallic scraping samples and melodica amid even more forceful funk/hip-hop beats. Elsewhere, on "Shame" and "Told You So," Gore's lyrics start taking on more of the obsessive personal relationship studies that would soon dominate his writing. Wilder's own songwriting contributions are fine musically, but lyrically, "preachy" puts it mildly, especially the environment-friendly "The Landscape Is Changing." ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Love in Itself (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:27)
More Than a Party (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:30)
Pipeline (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (6:08)
Everything Counts (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:24)
Two Minute Warning Martin L. Gore, Alan Wilder Depeche Mode (4:10)
Shame (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (3:50)
The Landscape Is Changing Martin L. Gore, Alan Wilder Depeche Mode (4:46)
Told You So (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:25)
And Then... (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (5:40)
Everything Counts [Long Version][*] Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (7:23)

Credits

Depeche Mode (Producer), Depeche Mode (Main Performer), Andrew Fletcher (?), David Gahan (?), Martin L. Gore (?), Gareth Jones (Producer), Gareth Jones (Engineer), Daniel Miller (Producer), Corrine Simcock (Engineer), Corrine Simcock (Assistant Engineer), Alan Wilder (?), Ian Wright (Illustrations), Martyn Atkins (Design), Brian Griffin (Photography)
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Wikipedia: Construction Time Again
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Construction Time Again
Studio album by Depeche Mode
Released August 22, 1983
Recorded April — July 1983
Genre Synthpop, New wave
Length 49:43
Label Mute, Sire (US/Canada)
Producer Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller
Professional reviews
Depeche Mode chronology
A Broken Frame
(1982)
Construction Time Again
(1983)
Some Great Reward
(1984)
Singles from Construction Time Again
  1. "Everything Counts"
    Released: July 11, 1983 (1983-07-11)
  2. "Love, in Itself"
    Released: September 19, 1983 (1983-09-19)

Construction Time Again is the third studio album by the British synthpop band Depeche Mode, released in 1983. This was the first Depeche Mode album with Alan Wilder, who composed the songs "Two Minute Warning" and "The Landscape Is Changing" (as well as the B-side "Fools"). The title comes from the second line of the first stanza of "Pipeline".

The album was recorded at John Foxx's Garden studios in London, engineered by Gareth Jones (who had also engineered Foxx's seminal electronic album, Metamatic). It was mixed in the famous Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin (where much of David Bowie's trilogy of seminal electronic albums featuring Brian Eno had been produced).

The album's cover artwork features the Matterhorn mountain.

Contents

Rerelease

In 2007, Construction Time Again was re-released with a bonus DVD. The first CD was remastered and (except in the USA) was released on a CD/SACD hybrid. The bonus DVD includes B-sides in addition to the single and B-side for "Get the Balance Right", a one-off single recorded prior to the album. The album is released as originally intended and does not include the bonus extended mix of "Everything Counts", but does keep the reprise.

The DVD includes a documentary on the album. The double-documentary discusses both "Get the Balance Right" and Construction Time Again, its two singles, the making of the cover, the lyrics, and the sampling technology used during the album's production. It also discusses Alan Wilder and Gareth Jones, a new member and a new engineer (respectively) and their impact on the band's sound. It also includes footage of the Construction Time Again tour from 1983, as well as excerpts from the music video for "Get the Balance Right".

The remastered album was released on "deluxe" vinyl in April 2007 in Europe only.

Track listing

1983 release

LP: Mute / Stumm 13 (United Kingdom)

  1. "Love, in Itself"  – 4:29
  2. "More Than a Party"  – 4:23
  3. "Pipeline"  – 6:15
  4. "Everything Counts"  – 4:19
  5. "Two Minute Warning"  – 4:13
  6. "Shame"  – 3:50
  7. "The Landscape Is Changing"  – 4:47
  8. "Told You So"  – 4:24
  9. "And Then..."  – 4:34
  10. "Everything Counts (Reprise)"  – 1:05 [hidden track]

CD: Sire / 9 23900-2 (United States)

  1. "Love, in Itself"  – 4:27
  2. "More Than a Party"  – 4:30
  3. "Pipeline"  – 6:08
  4. "Everything Counts"  – 4:24
  5. "Two Minute Warning"  – 4:10
  6. "Shame"  – 3:50
  7. "The Landscape Is Changing"  – 4:46
  8. "Told You So"  – 4:25
  9. "And Then..."  – 5:40
  10. "Everything Counts (Long Version)"  – 7:23
  • "Everything Counts (Reprise)" appears at the end of "And Then..." on this release, instead of appearing as its own track.

2007 re-release

CD: Mute / DM CD 3 (CD/SACD + DVD)

  • Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer. Disc one also released as stand-alone CD (CDX STUMM 19)
  • Disc 2 is a DVD which includes Construction Time Again in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo plus bonus material
  1. "Love, in Itself"  – 4:29
  2. "More Than A Party"  – 4:45
  3. "Pipeline"  – 5:54
  4. "Everything Counts"  – 4:19
  5. "Two Minute Warning"  – 4:13
  6. "Shame"  – 3:50
  7. "The Landscape Is Changing"  – 4:47
  8. "Told You So"  – 4:24
  9. "And Then..."  – 4:34
  10. "Everything Counts (Reprise)"  – 0:59 [hidden track]

Bonus Tracks (in PCM Stereo):

  1. "Get The Balance Right!"
  2. "The Great Outdoors!"
  3. "Work Hard"
  4. "Fools"
  5. "Get The Balance Right (Combination Mix)"
  6. "Everything Counts (In Larger Amounts)"
  7. "Love, In Itself 4"

Additional Material:

  1. "Depeche Mode 83 (Teenagers, growing up, bad government and all that stuff )" [31 Minute video]
  • All songs were written by Martin L. Gore except "Two Minute Warning", "The Landscape Is Changing" and "Fools" written by Alan Wilder, "The Great Outdoors!" and "Work Hard" written by Gore & Wilder.
  • David Gahan sings lead vocals on all songs except "Pipeline", which is sung by Gore.
  • "Everything Counts (In Larger Amounts)" is identical to the "Long Version" of the song.
  • On the 2007 remastered edition, part of the intro to "Pipeline" is tacked onto the end of "More Than a Party", hence why the lengths of these two tracks differ from the original LP.

Credits

Produced by Daniel Miller and Depeche Mode
Tonmeister: Gareth Jones
Assistant engineer on "Two Minute Warning": Corinne Simcock

Recorded at The Garden, London
Mixed at Hansa Mischraum, Berlin

Cover Photography: Brian Griffin
Illustrations: Ian Wright
Design: Martyn Atkins

Charts and certifications

Chart (1983) Peak
position
Certification Sales
France 100,000+
German Albums Chart[1] 7 Gold[2] 450,000+
Italy 75,000+
Netherlands 34 20,000+
Spain 50,000+
Swedish Albums Chart[3] 12 50,000+
Swiss Albums Chart[4] 21
UK Albums Chart[5] 6 Gold[6] 200,000+
US Billboard 200 300,000+
Europe Sales 1,210,000+
Worldwide Sales 2,800,000+

References

  1. ^ "Suchergebnis". Charts-Surfer.de. Retrieved 24 February 2009. Note: User must define 'neuer suchbegriff' search parameter as "Depeche Mode".
  2. ^ "Gold/Platin-Datenbank". MusikIndustrie.de. Retrieved 24 February 2009. Note: User must define 'Sie können nach Titel, Jahr oder Interpret suchen' search parameter as "Depeche Mode".
  3. ^ "Discography Depeche Mode". SwedishCharts.com. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  4. ^ "Discography Depeche Mode". SwissCharts.com. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  5. ^ "Chart Stats: Depeche Mode". ChartStats.com. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  6. ^ "Construction Time Again UK gold certification". British Phonographic Industry. 10 November 1983. Retrieved 24 February 2009.

 
 

 

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