Black Celebration

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Untitled

Black Celebration is the fifth proper studio album by Depeche Mode. Released by Mute Records on March 17, 1986, it further cemented the darkening sound that was initially hinted towards on their album Construction Time Again.

Overview

Black Celebration is considered to be a fan-favourite, despite (or because of) its darkness and lack of "notable" singles. It didn't do as well as other albums did and none of the three singles were big hits. The album is one of their darkest as well, and focuses more on the band's bleak side rather than the poppy side, like their earlier albums.

Black Celebration is the Depeche Mode album that has the most songs with Martin Gore on lead vocals: "A Question of Lust", "Sometimes", "It Doesn't Matter Two", and "World Full of Nothing". The remaining tracks are sung by David Gahan.

The track "Fly on the Windscreen" had already been released as the B-side of the "It's Called a Heart" single. The band decided to rework the song (adding new effects and making it more stereophonic) and released it as the "Final" version on this album. It was later performed live, and given a slight hip hop edge during the 1993 Devotional Tour. A recorded performance of this version is featured in the live video Devotional and a special live single of "In Your Room".

Rerelease

In 2007, Black Celebration was re-released with a bonus DVD. It was released as a part of the third wave of re-issues (along with Construction Time Again). The first CD was remastered and (except in the USA) was released on a CD/SACD hybrid. The bonus DVD includes the B-Sides in addition to the singles and B-Sides for "Shake the Disease" and "It's Called a Heart", two songs that were recorded a little bit before the album and were released too early to be put on the album. There are also several live versions of some of the songs from Black Celebration. The album is released the way it was originally intended and ends with "New Dress" (not "Black Day" or "But Not Tonight").

Like the other re-issues, the DVD includes a documentary on the album. The title (seen below) is Martin paraphrasing Daniel Miller about his demos for Black Celebration in the film. The double-documentary discusses both The Singles 81>85 and Black Celebration, its more challenging commercial success (especially the song "Stripped") and all five related singles. It also includes a plethora of behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Black Celebration and the ensuing tour. Highlights include the band meeting The Cure, and behind the scenes footage of several of the music videos. The documentary is nearly an hour.

It was released March 20, 2007 in the USA, March 26 in the UK and April 2 in the rest of Europe.

The remastered album was released on "deluxe" vinyl April 2, 2007 in Europe only.

Track listing

All songs written by Martin Gore, except "Black Day" written by Martin Gore/Alan Wilder/Daniel Miller.

UK LP

  1. "Black Celebration" – 4:55
  2. "Fly on the Windscreen (Final)" – 5:18
  3. "A Question of Lust" – 4:20
  4. "Sometimes" – 1:53
  5. "It Doesn't Matter Two" – 2:50
  6. "A Question of Time" – 4:10
  7. "Stripped" – 4:16
  8. "Here Is the House" – 4:15
  9. "World Full of Nothing" – 2:50
  10. "Dressed in Black" – 2:32
  11. "New Dress" – 3:42

Bonus tracks on CD version:

  1. "Breathing in Fumes" – 6:07
  2. "But Not Tonight (Extended Remix)" – 5:13
  3. "Black Day" – 2:36

US LP/CD

  1. "Black Celebration" – 4:55
  2. "Fly on the Windscreen (Final)" – 5:18
  3. "A Question of Lust" – 4:20
  4. "Sometimes" – 1:53
  5. "It Doesn't Matter Two" – 2:50
  6. "A Question of Time" – 4:10
  7. "Stripped" – 4:16
  8. "Here Is the House" – 4:15
  9. "World Full of Nothing" – 2:50
  10. "Dressed in Black" – 2:32
  11. "New Dress" – 3:42
  12. "But Not Tonight" – 4:15

The U.S. version of "A Question of Time" has a slightly different intro (the screeching sound is repeated twice, while the original version is smooth).

2007 re-release

Mute: DM CD 5 (CD/SACD + DVD) / CDX STUMM 26 (CD/SACD)

  • Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer.
  • Disc 2 is a DVD which includes "Black Celebration" in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo plus bonus material
  1. "Black Celebration" – 4:55
  2. "Fly on the Windscreen (Final)" – 5:18
  3. "A Question of Lust" – 4:20
  4. "Sometimes" – 1:53
  5. "It Doesn't Matter Two" – 2:50
  6. "A Question of Time" – 4:10
  7. "Stripped" – 4:16
  8. "Here Is the House" – 4:15
  9. "World Full of Nothing" – 2:50
  10. "Dressed in Black" – 2:32
  11. "New Dress" – 3:42

Live in Birmingham, April 1986 (in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM Stereo):

  1. "Black Celebration"
  2. "A Question Of Time"
  3. "Stripped"

Bonus Tracks (PCM Stereo):

  1. "Shake the Disease"
  2. "Flexible"
  3. "It's Called A Heart"
  4. "Fly on the Windscreen" [original]
  5. "But Not Tonight"
  6. "Breathing In Fumes"
  7. "Black Day"
  8. "Christmas Island"

Additional Material:

  1. Depeche Mode 85-86 (The songs aren't good enough, there aren't any singles and it'll never get played on the radio) [57 minute video]

Singles

  1. "Stripped" (10 February 1986)
  2. "A Question of Lust" (14 April 1986)
  3. "A Question of Time" (11 August 1986)
  4. "But Not Tonight" [North America-only] (22 October 1986)

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1986 US 90
1986 UK 4

Singles

Year Song Chart Position
1986 A Question of Time Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles sales 34

Credits

Miscellaneous

  • The voice at the beginning of "Black Celebration" is Daniel Miller (impersonating Winston Churchill) saying, "A brief period of rejoicing."
  • Black Celebration is the only Depeche Mode album that has a title track. However, there are three other Depeche Mode albums that get their names from lyrics in songs on the albums: Construction Time Again, Some Great Reward and Playing the Angel.
  • Black Celebration is the only Depeche Mode album which does not have a track featured on The Best Of: Volume 1 although the DVD edition carries both "Stripped" and "A Question Of Time".
  • Black Celebration was the last Depeche Mode album to feature Brian Griffin as cover photographer.
  • The song "Stripped" has been covered by Kent, Scooter, Rammstein, She Wants Revenge, Shiny Toy Guns, and Brainclaw.
  • The song "Here is the House" has been covered by Andain.
  • The song "World Full of Nothing" has been covered acoustically by Steve Thompson.
  • The b-side "Black Day" is a new composition that reprises lyrics from "Black Celebration", sung by Martin Gore.
  • The lyrics of "Dressed in Black" are quite similar to the song "Baby's in Black" by The Beatles.
  • On the back of the cover a quote reciting Life in the so called space age can be read. This quote gave inspiration to God Lives Underwater, who released an album with such a title, in 1998.
  • The intro from "But Not Tonight" is heavily sampled in Dntel's song, "Don't Get Your Hopes Up."
  • The 1986 film Modern Girls used the song "But Not Tonight". The track was released as a single in North America only, and was not included on most foreign versions of Black Celebration.
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