Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame - Album Review - 1982

[by All4one]

Late 1981 was a tough time for Depeche Mode. All seemed to be going well, and everything seemed just fine. Their debut album "Speak & Spell" had just been released that year, and they were still going strong of the success of that, especially in their hometown, where it reached #10 on the UK Album Charts. Then, seemingly out of the blue, their primary songwriter Vincent Clarke decided to depart and form a new band, Yazoo, who released their debut album "Upstairs at Eric's" in 1982. As for Depeche Mode, they were left in the dust without their guiding voice.

Why did Vincent leave, though? No one really knows for sure. Some say that Vincent's more freewheeling, care-free pop styling mingled negatively with the rest of the band wanting to go in a moodier, edgier direction.

No matter how things went down, the bottom line is Depeche Mode were at a very unsure place in their history. Would they be able to go on without their primary songwriter? Would they even be able to have as much success? All these worries were conquered when their first post-Vincent single, "See You", reached #6 on the UK Charts, higher than any previous single of theirs. 

With this in mind, the band became more confident to work on their follow-up, "A Broken Frame". Keyboardist Martin Gore, having written all 10 tracks on the album, at this point seemed to had filled the songwriting shoes once worn by Vincent Clarke. 

And with this album, Depeche Mode became the band that Vincent never would have let them been - a moody, thought-provoking band that, unlike most of the other synthpop bands of 1982, was interested in writing about something more than simple love affairs and just having a good time. This album touches upon heartbreak, the inner beauty of the world, and mental re-evaluation. 

The more upbeat moments on the record are mostly the singles. While "Leave in Silence" does have the contemplative, atmospheric tone of the rest of the record, "See You" and "The Meaning of Love" take a similar aesthetic in a somewhat jauntier guise.

It all sounds like a great album in the making, so why is it such a forgotten relic in the Depeche Mode discography? Martin Gore once dismissed the record as "our worst album". Those are pretty harsh words, but are they deserved?

Well, for all of its great triumphs, the album is far from flawless. The album's distant, misty tone does provide a nice atmosphere, but it can also be as much of a turn-off as it is a benefit. This was also Martin's first time writing a full-length album all by himself, so it's understandable that not every track would be an absolute masterpiece. Sometimes his songs seem to come a bit short of what is promised, and even the singles aren't as memorable or catchy as future ones would be.

But when the album works, it can completely enthrall you into its brooding ambiance, for example when the chilly, breath-taking finale "The Sun & The Rainfall" comes raining down upon the listener. And as the song fades to black, closing the curtain on the album, the song doesn't simply fade away - it flutters away into the distance gracefully, with a glistening shimmer of hope on the horizon.

Overall the album is far from perfect, and there are some moments where the album doesn't quite gel together. But as mentioned before, there are still excellent, beautiful moments on this album that will be rewarding to even those not acquainted with the band. Depeche Mode would later go on to accomplish even greater things, but "A Broken Frame" proved that they were headed in the right direction, even in the absence of their former frontman.

RATING - 6/10