Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel (Special Edition/+DVD) (CD 2005)

Who'd have thought that a band 25yrs into their career could almost create another pinnacle album?

Well, that's what Depeche Mode have done on Playing The Angel; the band's 3rd long player post-Alan Wilder's (former engineer who left in '95) departure.

Where '01's Exciter underwhelmed many fans with it's over-delicate production and passable songwriting, PTA returns to a format that is reminiscent of the sounds of Ultra (1997) with the musical chops of Music For The Masses (1988).

When I say 'almost pinnacle' I really do mean that in two ways. Firstly, it's about half of the album that is instantly flawless while the other half would have benefited from more time in the oven or complete replacement. And then the quality of the said first half does seem to mirror past glories, but not obviously so in their defence.

Dave Gahan's voice however is the best I've heard in a long time. He seems indebted to his healthier lifestyle.

Ben Hillier is perhaps the best producer for the band since Flood and coupled with Martin L. Gore's songwriting (plus 3 Dave Gahan and personal team penned tunes) they have completely surpassed their past two LP's, but it's still not a patch on either the seminal Violator (1990) or Songs Of Faith And Devotion [the last Alan Wilder album] (1993); nor are there any singles that could nestle up with Stripped or Never Let Me Down Again.

But then if Depeche merely churned out more of the old style people would still complain. The fact that there is development and matureness on this album makes it worthy of attention.

The first five tracks and the second last are the cream of the crop, and perhaps Macro (a very bizarre Martin Gore sung ballad) and Introspectre (this album's 2 minute instrumental filler) are the only real dissapointments.

A Pain That I'm Used To matches the dirtiness of Mechanical Animals era Marilyn Manson, John The Revelator seems to be a revamp of SOFAD era DM with a beat that hints at Personal Jesus... (1990), Suffer Well is a grown-up A Question Of Time (1986), The Sinner In Me is Barrel Of A Gun's (1997's) baby brother and the 1st single Precious hints at Enjoy The Silence (1990) and Lilian could easily fit on the Music For The Masses album.
My references to past songs doesn't hint that they're recycling their back catalogue of material, rather their rediscovering things that their best at without being overtly revisionist.

In the latter half of the album Nothing's Impossible delivers a gothic dose of brooding synths which is paired up by ending song The Darkest Star. Songs like I Want It All are fine but lack longevity and Damaged People is the second of two Martin Gore sung ballads that again doesn't quite cut it.

Had Depeche written just a few more corkers this album may have been considered flawless, but at the same time it's only a few rungs below that and shows their fanbase that their is life after Alan Wilder.
The defining fact is that this is perhaps the best album da Mode could deliver in '05 and they did it!

The SACD (which plays in standard players) edition comes with a DVD with a 5.1 mix of the album (an emerging post-stereo quality that is getting attention due to drops in 5.1 speaker prices) and an artistic video of Precious and a stripped down video of an acoustic version of Clean from the Violator album.
A short making of also juices up some space as does a useless picture gallery of distant (but colourful) shots of the band and their gear. DVD's with albums do seem to be a 'if-we-must' addition in order to tempt fans to buy tangible album packages these days than just download them. The rounded CD case and Anton Corbijn art should be enough to please the DM fan base.

Having been a fan for 25 years, i had to buy this new album from one of britains most successful bands over a career of over 25 years.The style of the album takes me back to some of their earlier work, with them once again using analogue synths.The first 3 tracks are worthy of any of their best albums (Music for the masses,Songs of faith and devotion,Violator),and their last single (John the Revelator) has already become a bit of an anthem.I saw them twice on the tour,and they were once again excellent.The best tour since Songs of faith and devotion.I think this album will attract new fans to the band along with the multitudes of diehard DM devotees.If you have not heard much of DM's music, i would recommend this to be a good introduction to their massive back catalogue.