After the “Exotic Tour” of 1994, sound designer Alan Wilder, who despite his formative arrangements was only allowed to be the fourth man from Depeche Mode, left the band. Andy Fletcher had a nervous breakdown during the concert tour and had himself represented on stage. Martin Gore became addicted to bottles and Dave Gahan to heroin, and the 32-year-old suffered a mild heart attack. A year later, he was clinically dead for two minutes after an overdose.
Gahan proved to be unpredictable, he had to go to court, paparazzi filmed him rambling in front of official buildings and fleeing in cars. Depeche Mode were about to split up. Songwriter Gore considered taking new material away from the band and using it for his solo album. But Gahan didn’t want to let go. For weeks he painstakingly recorded his singing. Many days he, who entered rehab, couldn’t do anything at all.
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Depeche Mode’s ninth studio album, “Ultra”, was released in May 1997 and it would mark the beginning of two regularities that are still valid today. Firstly, a new DM record comes out exactly every four years, one year before the soccer World Cup. The musicians needed this rhythm from now on. Record, tour, come down. Secondly, sound creators and pioneers became competitors: Depeche Mode continued to play a role in electronic music, but no longer progressed, instead looking for producers who stand for current trends. Alan Wilder was absent here.
In albums like “Some Great Reward” the band perfected an industrial sound made of electro and everyday noises in 1984 with the help of Gareth “Einsturzenden Neubauten” Jones. Released in 1993, “Songs Of Faith And Devotion” still represents a voluminous pairing of rock, gospel and pop that producer Flood is probably the only one to claim could have sounded even better.
With Tim Simenon, the short-term prodigy of Bomb The Bass in the 80s, Martin Gore chose at least one producer that no one would have thought of. But Simenon tried out a sound that oscillated between dirty electro and Bristol. “Home,” perhaps Ultra’s most popular song, is reminiscent of the slightly artificial orchestral sound of Massive Attack with its strings, while Gore’s voice jumps like that of Erasure’s Andy Bell. It was just all too thin on this record.
With “Useless” and “It’s No Good” there are two singles (also the only two uptempo tracks among the twelve) that are undersold by rather monotonous choruses. The pre-release, “Barrel Of A Gun”, touted by the band as “the heaviest song we’ve ever done,” also lurks rather than peaking.
Ultra: The Survivor’s Album
Gahan left no doubt that he sees himself as a survivor from now on. But as a survivor who refuses to accept the victim role attributed to him by the media. Colleague Gore wrote the corresponding text on his chest: “Whatever I’ve done / I’ve been staring down the barrel of a gun / Is there something you need from me / Are you having your fun / I never agreed to be /Your holy one.” In the video, the musicians drew eyes on their eyelids: people who close their eyes to the world without the world noticing.
In the UK, Depeche Mode hit number four with “Barrel of a Gun” – along with “People Are People” their biggest hit to date. So the interest in the “DeMo” comeback was there. “Ultra” itself made it to number one in the album charts there. Your last to date.
It’s the smaller songs that haven’t lost any of their liveliness on this work that’s all about survival. Gore’s “The Bottom Line”, for example, on which Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit can be heard rather unnoticed, but the striking inconspicuousness was certainly in his interest. Plus “Freestate” and “Insight”, which is characterized by the sound of a beating heart; However, Gahan’s assurance “The Fire Still Burns” anticipates the later own, rather simple lyrics.
Many fans refer to “Ultra” as the work that draws the dividing line from Depeche Mode. As their last really good or as their first rather bad. The musicians themselves were just happy that the record could be made. Gore still enjoys dedicating himself to the tracks today, taking over Gahan’s “Insight”, performing “The Bottom Line”, “Sister Of Night” or the B-side “Surrender”. All of these songs almost came out as solo material. We are only waiting for the live premiere of the beautiful “The Love Thieves” until today.
As keyboardist Andy Fletcher said, there was no way the band could have toured with “Ultra.” The effort scared them, the bad experiences with the “Exotic” trip kept them from it. There were short warm-up parties, that’s it. “Ultra” is the band’s only record not touring.
But just one year later, Depeche Mode provided the appropriate reassurance that they were still good as a live band. Her “The Singles Tour” for the best-of of the same name presented the hits from 1986 to 1998. Hardly any of her concert tours was celebrated like this. Depeche Mode were ready again.
Band phase number two was established: managing the reputation, starting the machine every four years.
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