Ultra (1997)
Depeche Mode’s ninth studio album would mark the start of two regularities that still apply today (Okay, things changed from “Memento Mori” onwards!). Firstly, a new DM record is released exactly every four years, one year before the World Cup. Record, tour, get down. Secondly, sound creators and pioneers became competitors: Depeche Mode continued to play a role in electronic music, but no longer moved forward, instead looking for producers who represented current trends. Alan Wilder was missing here.
With Tim Simenon, Bomb The Bass’ short-term prodigy in the 80s, Martin Gore at least chose a producer that no one would have thought of. But Simenon tried out a sound that oscillated between dirty electro and Bristol. “Home”, perhaps the most popular song from “Ultra”, with its strings is reminiscent of the slightly artificial orchestral sound of Massive Attack, Gore’s voice jumps like that of Erasure singer Andy Bell. Everything on this record was just way too thin.
Dave Gahan left no doubt that from now on he sees himself as a survivor. But as a survivor who does not accept the victim role assigned 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 for “Barrel of a Gun,” the musicians painted eyes on their eyelids: people who close their eyes to the world without the world noticing.
It’s the smaller songs that haven’t lost any of their liveliness on a 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 favor. Plus “Freestate” and “Insight,” which is characterized by the sound of a beating heart; However, Gahan’s assurance “The Fire Still Burns” anticipates his own later, rather simple lyrics.