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Playing the Angel

 
Album Review: Playing the Angel
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Playing the Angel

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  • Artist: Depeche Mode
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: October 18, 2005
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

When Ultra was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion. When Exciter was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have also forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion, in addition to having found a roundabout way of saying that it was merely better than Ultra. There's no doubt this time: Playing the Angel is both the band's best album since Violator and, more significantly, an album that is near Violator in stature. The biggest clue dropped by the band prior to its release was a quote from Dave Gahan, who said that being in Depeche Mode is better than it has been in 15 years. Some quick math reveals that Gahan was hinting at the Violator era, a time when the band's creativity and popularity peaked synchronously. It also turns out that this is a time as good as any other to be paying attention to the band. Playing the Angel lacks Songs of Faith and Devotion's end-to-end chest-beating, Ultra's grinding murk, and Exciter's desiccated patches. It takes the best qualities from those releases, combines them with a few subtle allusions to Violator -- tiptoeing the border that separates retread from reinvention -- and makes for a highly concentrated set of songs that all but demand to be heard in one uninterrupted shot. Gahan, still riding the confidence he gained as a songwriter from Paper Monsters, his 2003 solo debut, contributes three songs co-written with band associates Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott. Though none of them vie to be the album's centerpiece, it's apparent that the move wasn't a concession of desperation on anyone's part. The friendly competition seems to have kicked chief songwriter Martin Gore into high gear; he's in top form. Musically, a lot of analog gear was used, and it's apparent that the arrangements and extra sounds were less fussed over than they have been in the recent past. You get the sense that everything fell into place, as opposed to being forced or aimlessly manipulated. Despite the favoring of older gear, there's no other year in which any of the songs could've been made. Like the best Depeche Mode, almost everything on the album will make an initial wowing impact while remaining layered enough in subtle details to surprise and thrill with repeated listens. It is not the kind of album a 25-year-old band is supposed to make. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
A Pain That I'm Used To Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:11)
John the Revelator (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (3:42)
Suffer Well (Lyrics) Depeche Mode (3:49)
The Sinner in Me Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:56)
Precious (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:10)
Macro (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:03)
I Want It All (Lyrics) Depeche Mode (6:09)
Nothing's Impossible (Lyrics) Depeche Mode (4:21)
Introspectre Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (1:42)
Damaged People (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (3:29)
Lilian (Lyrics) Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (4:49)
The Darkest Star Martin L. Gore Depeche Mode (6:55)

Credits

Steve Fitzmaurice (Mixing), Martin L. Gore (Group Member), Richard Morris (Programming), Richard Morris (Engineer), Anton Corbijn (Art Direction), Anton Corbijn (Photography), Anton Corbijn (Cover Design), Dave McCracken (Piano), Dave McCracken (Programming), Andrew Phillpot (Programming), Nicolás Sevilla (Assistant), Emily Lazar (Mastering), Ben Hiller (Producer), Ben Hiller (Engineer), Ben Hiller (Mixing), Sarah Register (Mastering Assistant), Rudyard Lee Cullers (Assistant), Christian Eigner (Programming), Arjun Agerwala (Assistant), Devin Workman (Assistant), Kt Rangnick (Assistant)
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Wikipedia: Playing the Angel
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Playing the Angel
Studio album by Depeche Mode
Released 17 October 2005
Recorded January - July 2005
Genre Alternative dance
Electronica
Industrial rock
Length 52:12
Label Mute
Sire/Reprise (US/Canada)
Producer Ben Hillier
Professional reviews
Depeche Mode chronology
Exciter
(2001)		 Playing the Angel
(2005)		 Sounds of the Universe
(2009)
Singles from Playing the Angel
  1. "Precious"
    Released: October 3, 2005 (2005-10-03)
  2. "A Pain That I'm Used To"
    Released: December 9, 2005 (2005-12-09)
  3. "Suffer Well"
    Released: March 20, 2006 (2006-03-20)
  4. "John the Revelator / Lilian"
    Released: June 4, 2006 (2006-06-04)

Playing the Angel, released on 17 October 2005, is the eleventh full-length album by Depeche Mode. It was supported by the Touring the Angel tour.

The name "Playing the Angel" is taken from a lyric in the closing song "The Darkest Star". It is the fourth Depeche Mode album to get its name from a lyric in its album, the other three being Construction Time Again, Some Great Reward and Black Celebration.

Contents

Overview

The album is the first of Depeche Mode's to feature Dave Gahan as co-writer: three of the tracks' ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All" and "Nothing's Impossible").[1] Gahan wrote the lyrics to theses songs, while Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott wrote the music. Gahan is the lead singer on all songs except for the instrumental "Introspectre", and Martin Gore-sung tracks "Macro" and "Damaged People". Gahan also sings backing vocals on "Macro", which was the first time he had sung backing on one of Gore's songs since Violator's "Sweetest Perfection".

The album has been called a more organic record for using more analog synths than digital ones. In addition, most of the soundscapes presented are harsher and groovier than the more mellow Exciter.

In mid-July 2005, the unfinished video for "Precious" was leaked online. It is believed to have been leaked through the website of the production team that helped make the video.

Tracks recorded during the Playing the Angel sessions that did not make the album include "Martyr", which was originally planned to be the lead single but was eventually deemed too poppy for the album and saved for their new The Best Of, Volume 1 album. Other songs include "Free," which ended up on the "Precious" single and the Japanese version of Playing the Angel.

The album was released as a standard CD and a deluxe SACD/DVD version (CD/DVD version in the U.S.) which includes the album on hybrid multi-channel SACD as the main disc and a bonus DVD featuring an exclusive studio performance of "Clean" (from Violator), the video for "Precious," a photo gallery and a 5.1 mix of the album. There's also a documentary on the making of the album. All ten of the earlier Depeche Mode albums were re-released in similar format to Playing the Angel, a CD/SACD hybrid (in the US simply a remastered CD) with a DVD featuring a 5.1 mix of each album and a documentary, though Playing the Angel's documentary is far less extensive and also shorter than the classic ones.

The iTunes deluxe edition of the album has several bonuses, including another "bare" version of a Violator track — "Waiting for the Night", and the music video for "Precious". People who placed the album on pre-order were eligible to participate in a ticket pre-sale for most Touring the Angel concerts – the first time such an offer was made by iTunes and Ticketmaster.

In the UK the album debuted at #6, and in the U.S. it debuted at #7 with sales of 98,000 copies.[2] Both are improvements on the band's previous effort, Exciter, which charted at #9 and #8, respectively. With worldwide sales of 3.6 mil. copies, Playing the Angel is Mute Records' best selling album in the 2000s.

Track listing

All songs written by Martin Gore except where noted.

  1. "A Pain That I'm Used To" – 4:11
  2. "John the Revelator" – 3:42
  3. "Suffer Well" (Dave Gahan, Christian Eigner, Andrew Phillpott) – 3:49
  4. "The Sinner in Me" – 4:56
  5. "Precious" – 4:10
  6. "Macro" – 4:03
  7. "I Want It All" (Gahan, Eigner, Phillpott) – 6:09
  8. "Nothing's Impossible" (Gahan, Eigner, Phillpott) – 4:21
  9. "Introspectre" – 1:42
  10. "Damaged People" – 3:29
  11. "Lilian" – 4:49
  12. "The Darkest Star" – 6:55

Bonus tracks

  • "Free" – 5:11 (on the Japanese version of the album)
  • "Clean (Bare)" – 3:44 (on the DVD version of the album)
  • "Waiting for the Night (Bare)" (iTunes pre-order bonus track)

Reaction

Reviews have been mostly strong for Playing the Angel. E! Online and Entertainment Weekly gave the album high scores. Indie music website Pitchfork Media gave the album a positive review but criticized its lack of innovation. There are some negative reviews however - Rolling Stone magazine, historically unfriendly to Depeche Mode albums, gave the album a 2.5 out of 5, lower than what Exciter received.

The album was #20 on E! Online's top 20 albums of 2005 list and #68 on Woxy 97.7's top 97 albums of 2005.

The album is considered by numerous fans to be poorly mastered [1] [2], relying on heavy compression to intentionally and artificially boost the output. Due to the format's inherent characteristics, vinyl versions are unaffected by the perceived poor mastering of the CD versions.

Album art

The character on the album cover is a little creature called "Tubby Goth" (by the band) and "Mister Feathers" (by the label, the webmaster and the fans.) The cover design by Anton Corbijn is a tip of the hat to a famous still photograph of The Cure's Robert Smith circa "Boys Don't Cry".


Personnel

  • Andy Fletcher – keyboards, bass
  • Dave Gahan – lead vocals (except "Macro" and "Damaged People"), backup vocals ("Macro")
  • Martin Gore – keyboards, guitar, bass ("Suffer Well"), backup vocals, lead vocals ("Macro" and "Damaged People")
  • Ben Hillier – producer, mixer, engineer
  • Steve Fitzmaurice – mixer
  • Dave McCracken – programming, piano on "The Darkest Star" (miscredited to "I Want it All" in booklet)
  • Richard Morris – programming, engineer
  • Christian Eigner – drums, programming ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All," and "Nothing's Impossible")
  • Andrew Phillpott – programming ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All," and "Nothing's Impossible")

Chart positions

Chart (2005) Peak
position		 Certification Sales
Australian Albums Chart[3] 45
Argentina 30,000+
Austrian Albums Chart[4] 1 Platinum 30,000+
Belgium Albums Chart[5] 4
Brazil 10,000+
Canada 1 Gold 70,000+
Czech Albums Chart[6] 1
Danish Albums Chart[7] 1
Dutch Albums Chart[8] 11 Gold 25,000+
Finnish Albums Chart[9] 1 Gold 17,000+
French Albums Chart[10] 1 Platinum[11] 240,000+
German Albums Chart[12] 1 2x Platinum/Gold[13] 500,000+
Irish Albums Chart[14] 15
Italian Albums Chart[15] 1 x2 Platinum 225,000+
Mexico Gold 65,000+
Norwegian Albums Chart[16] 1
Portuguese Albums Chart[17] 1
Russian Albums Chart 3x Platinum 60,000+
Spanish Albums Chart[18] 2 Platinum 90,000+
Swedish Albums Chart[19] 1 x2 Platinum 65,000+
Swiss Albums Chart[20] 1 x2 Platinum 40,000+
UK Albums Chart[21] 6 Gold 120,000+
US Billboard 200[22] 7 550,000+
Europe Sales 1 Platinum 1,550,000+
Worldwide Sales Platinum+Gold 3,600,000+

External links

References

  1. ^ Quan, Denise. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/12/depeche.mode/index.html?eref=rss_latest "A Sobering Interview with Depeche Mode"]. CNN.com. May 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Whitmire, Margo. "Simpson Strikes Back: Ashlee Scores 2nd No. 1". billboard.com. October 26, 2005.
  3. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Australian chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  4. ^ "Discography Depeche Mode". AustrianCharts.at. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  5. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Belgium chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  6. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Czech chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  7. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Danish chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  8. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Dutch chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  9. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Finnish chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  10. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel French chart. Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  11. ^ "Depeche Mode Platinum certification". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  12. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel German chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  13. ^ "Gold/Platin-Datenbank". MusikIndustrie.de. Retrieved 14 May 2009. Note: User must define 'Sie können nach Titel, Jahr oder Interpret suchen' search parameter as "Depeche Mode".
  14. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Irish chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  15. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Italian chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  16. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Norwegian chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  17. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Portuguese chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  18. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Spanish chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  19. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Swedish chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  20. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel Swiss chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  21. ^ "Depeche Mode Playing the Angel UK chart". Acharts.us. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  22. ^ "Depeche Mode > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
v • d • e
Depeche Mode
Dave Gahan · Martin Gore · Andrew Fletcher
Former members: Vince Clarke · Alan Wilder
Touring members: Christian Eigner · Peter Gordeno
Studio albums
Compilation
albums
Live albums
Singles
"Dreaming of Me" · "New Life" · "Just Can't Get Enough" · "See You" · "The Meaning of Love" · "Leave in Silence" · "Get the Balance Right!" · "Everything Counts" · "Love, in Itself" · "People Are People" · "Master and Servant" · "Blasphemous Rumours"/"Somebody" · "Shake the Disease" · "It's Called a Heart" · "Stripped" · "A Question of Lust" · "A Question of Time" · "But Not Tonight (US)" · "Strangelove" · "Never Let Me Down Again" · "Behind the Wheel" · "Little 15" · "Strangelove'88 (US)" · "Everything Counts (Live)" · "Personal Jesus" · "Enjoy the Silence" · "Policy of Truth" · "World in My Eyes" · "I Feel You" · "Walking in My Shoes" · "Condemnation" · "In Your Room" · "Barrel of a Gun" · "It's No Good" · "Home" · "Useless" · "Only When I Lose Myself" · "Dream On" · "I Feel Loved" · "Freelove" · "Goodnight Lovers" · "Enjoy the Silence 04" · "Precious" · "A Pain That I'm Used To" · "Suffer Well" · "John the Revelator"/"Lilian" · "Martyr" · "Wrong" · "Peace" · "Fragile Tension"/"Hole to Feed"
Videos
Tours
New Life Tour · Speak & Spell Tour · See You Tour · Broken Frame Tour · Construction Time Again Tour · Some Great Reward Tour · Black Celebration Tour · Music for the Masses Tour · World Violation Tour · Devotional Tour/Exotic Tour · Ultra Parties · The Singles Tour · Exciter Tour · Touring the Angel · Tour of the Universe
Tribute albums
I Sometimes Wish I Was Famous · For the Masses · Color Theory Presents Depeche Mode" · Goth Electro Tribute to Depeche Mode · Techno Tribute to Depeche Mode · Electronic Tribute to Depeche Mode · String Quartet Tribute to Depeche Mode · Enjoy the Sounds (A Tribute to Depeche Mode) · Destruction Time Again by Louis Guidone
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Playing the Angel".  Read more

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