Spirit (Depeche Mode album)

Spirit
Depeche Mode studio album
Publication (s)	17th March 2017
admission	April – August 2016
Label (s)	Sony Music , Columbia Records
Genre (s)	Synth pop , synth rock , alternative rock
Title (number)	12
running time	49:18
occupation	Dave Gahan Martin Gore Andrew Fletcher
production	James Ford
Studio (s)	Sound Design (Santa Barbara), Jungle City (New York City)
Location (s)	Santa Barbara, New York City
chronology Delta Machine (2013) Spirit -
Single releases 2nd February 2017 Where's the revolution 23rd June 2017 Going backwards October 6, 2017 Cover Me

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Spirit   DE 1 March 24, 2017 (20 weeks)   AT 1 March 31, 2017 (11 weeks)   CH 1 03/26/2017 (16 weeks)   UK 5 03/30/2017 (6 weeks)   US 5 04/08/2017 (2 weeks)

Singles

Where's the revolution   DE 29 02/10/2017 (3 weeks)   CH 57 02/12/2017 (2 weeks)

Spirit is the fourteenth studio album by British group Depeche Mode . It was released worldwide on March 17, 2017. In addition to the mandatory CD version, the album was also released as a deluxe edition with two CDs.

Emergence

After the end of the Delta Machine tour in early 2014, the band members initially went their separate ways. Dave Gahan worked with the Soulsavers on the album Angels & Ghosts (2015), which was followed by a small mini-tour. Martin Gore revised unpublished demos that were originally supposed to appear on the previous album Delta Machine , and released them as a solo album under the title MG .

In April 2016, the band began recording their next studio album. James Ford was hired as producer , who also did the mixing and played the drums. As with the previous albums , Anton Corbijn took over the cover . The recordings ended in August 2016.

In contrast to the two previous albums, Spirit also contains songs that were written for the first time by Dave Gahan with Peter Gordeno and Christian Eigner .

Track list

Standard album

1. Going Backwards - 5:43
2. Where's the Revolution - 4:59
3. The Worst Crime - 3:48
4. Scum - 3:14
5. You Move - 3:50 (Dave Gahan, Martin Gore)
6. Cover Me - 4:52 (Dave Gahan, Peter Gordeno, Christian Eigner)
7. Eternal - 2:25
8. Poison Heart - 3:17 (Dave Gahan, Peter Gordeno, Christian Eigner)
9. So Much Love - 4:29
10. Poorman - 4:26
11. No More (This is the Last Time) - 3:14 (Dave Gahan, Kurt Uenala)
12. Fail - 5:07

Unless otherwise stated, the songs were written by Martin Gore.

Deluxe edition

In addition to the standard album, the edition includes a second CD with five remixes and a hardcover booklet.

CD 2 - bonus tracks Cover Me (Alt Out) - 4:27 Scum (Frenetic Mix) - 5:26 Poison Heart (Tripped Mix) - 4:16 Fail (Cinematic Cut) - 5:38 So Much Love (Machine Mix) - 7:20

Single releases

Where's the revolution

The first single from Spirit was released on February 2, 2017, Where's the Revolution . The single premiered exclusively on Polskie Radio 3 in Poland . In Germany, the single was initially released as a download version, before a maxi CD with four remixes on it under the title Where's the Revolution (Remixes) was released on March 3rd .

The video for Where's the Revolution was shot by director Anton Corbjin.

Going backwards

On June 23, 2017, Going Backwards was released as a second single for download, which was released on September 1 as a remix CD / vinyl. A studio session (highline sessions) was published as a video for this.

Cover Me

On October 6, 2017, Cover Me was the third release for download and as a CD / remix CD / vinyl. Dave Gahan wrote the piece together with Peter Gordeno and Christian Eigner. In addition to the radio version, it includes six remixes and one remix by So Much Love . The video for this was published in early September.

publication

The album was released on March 17, 2017 as a standard CD , deluxe album with bonus CD, as well as double vinyl and download. In the vinyl edition, three sides are recorded, the fourth side contains an engraving of the Spirit lettering. In addition, a Japanese Deluxe Edition was released as a Blu-spec CD in Japan on March 22, 2017 .

On the day the album was released, a one-hour release concert took place in front of a thousand people in the Funkhaus Nalepastraße in Berlin, which was broadcast live worldwide on the Internet. In addition to older titles, four pieces from the new album were performed.

reception

The album received rather mixed reviews. It was noted that, in contrast to all previous albums , Spirit is much darker. Some of the songs on the album deal with political upheavals as well as the associated dangers of relapse into autocracy or the like. Michael Schuh criticizes laut.de for the fact that there are “no more standout tracks” in this “pale Ford imagination” and misses creativity in the composition. For Jens Uthoff from the taz , the "album number 14 is really not a high point in the career of the [...] band", he criticizes the lyrics of the pieces, "which are full of phrases" and even describes the album as "embarrassing". The reviewers agree that Depeche Mode is no longer a synth pop band. Jörn Karstedt from Sonic Seducer praises the album and recommends not to throw it "into the corner" right away, as it takes some time for the listener to understand the music. "If you [...] are still in the mood for synth pop, listen to synth pop, if you want to experience a damn good album, please deal with 'Spirit'." Oliver Götz from Musikexpress sees it similarly: "But also in one with ambient surfaces, steel guitar and white noise layered play of shapes and colors around the neatly delimited theme of 'frostbite fantasy in synthesizer pop', the DeMo / Ford combination shows all the deadly 'atmospheric electronics' acts out there how to do it right. "

Global fuel tour

At the press conference when the album was announced, the Global Spirit Tour was also announced. The tour started on May 5, 2017 in Solna in Sweden, ended on July 25, 2018 in the Berlin Waldbühne and led through Europe, North America and Latin America. It comprised a total of 130 concerts with 2.5 million visitors. The last two concerts in the Waldbühne were recorded with cameras.

Web links

• Official site of Depeche Mode (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
2. ↑ Booklet from the Spirit Deluxe edition
3. ^ Sven Plaggemeier: Behind the Scenes: Where's the Revolution. In: depechemode.de. March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Sven Plaggemeier: Amazon lists Remixes from Going Backwards for September. In: depechemode.de. August 2, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Sven Plaggemeier: Depeche Mode release their third single “Cover me”. In: depechemode.de. October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Depeche Mode: The Archives - discography / albums - Spirit. In: depechemode.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017 (English). 
7. ↑ CDJapan: Depeche Mode "Spirit" Japanese Blu-spec CD2 Edition. In: cdjapan.co.jp. February 2, 2017, accessed March 21, 2017 . 
8. ^ Sassan Niasseri: Depeche Mode live in Berlin: Grandiose appearance in front of a small audience. In: rollingstone.de. March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Steffen Rüth: "We want to get people to think": Depeche Mode are back. In: aargauerzeitung.ch. Aargauer Zeitung, March 5, 2017, accessed on March 11, 2017 . 
10. ^ Jean-Martin Büttner: Depeche Mode and the slow farewell. In: tagesanzeiger.ch. February 22, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017 . 
11. ↑ Michael Schuh: "Spirit" by Depeche Mode: Music For The Troll Army. In: laut.de. March 17, 2017, accessed on March 17, 2017 (score: 2/5). 
12. ↑ Jens Uthoff: Review: Depeche Mode "Spirit". In: taz.de. March 19, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Nordbuzz: Review: Difficult times require clear words. In: nordbuzz.de. March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2017 . 
14. ↑ Jörn Karstedt: Review: Depeche Mode "Spirit". In: sonic-seducer.de. March 17, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Oliver Götz: Review: Depeche Mode "Spirit". In: musikexpress.de. March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Sven Plaggemeier: Depeche Mode are going on tour again in 2017. In: depechemode.de. October 11, 2016, accessed March 11, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Sebastian Leber: Depeche Mode in the Berlin Waldbühne: happiness for the masses. In: tagesspiegel.de. July 24, 2018, accessed July 30, 2018 .