After an album of rather varied quality in "A Broken Frame", Depeche Mode really comes together for "Construction Time Again". Maybe it's the arrival of Alan Wilder, or the marked improvement in both Martin's songwriting and David Gahan's vocals. I believe that it's a combination of all three. Whereas "A Broken Frame" saw Martin trying to fill the void that Vince Clarke left by attempting to fill his shoes in the songwriting department, "Construction Time Again" saw Martin Gore trying to write songs like Martin Gore instead of like Vince Clarke.

As for the songs themselves, Martin has his first truly great song in "Everything Counts", one that seems to get better with each listen. Over 12 minutes of this CD are devoted to two versions and a reprise of "Everything Counts" and I never tire of it for a minute. Other highlights of this album come from Martin's "Love, In Itself" and "And Then..." and underrated songwriter Wilder's "Two Minute Warning" and "The Landscape is Changing". I often wonder why Wilder stopped writing Depeche Mode songs after the "Some Great Reward" album as his tunes are among my favorite early DM tunes.

There are only a couple downsides on the album (and they aren't that significant). One is the song "Pipeline" which honestly is pretty stupid but is almost saved by vocals from Martin Gore. The other is the whistle-like bit of the song, "Shame". What was that? Random notes on a toy recorder? It's a pity that's in there because I like the song other than that, and I still listen to this album all the way through.

Although I'm a big Vince Clarke fan, I'd have to call "Construction Time Again" the best pre-"Black Celebration" Depeche Mode, just beating out "Speak & Spell". This is truly an underrated and too often overlooked album that every fan of Depeche Mode should own.

01. Love, In Itself
02. More Than A Party
03. Pipeline
04. Everything Counts
05. Two Minute Warning
06. Shame
07. The Landscape Is Changing
08. Told You So
09. And Then..
10. Everything Counts

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Contruction Time Again
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It's always good to know where a band came from so you can see how far they've come. Speak and Spell is really the work of Vincent Clarke, who, with Andy Bell, would later form the happy-go-lucky pop-dance megaforce Erasure. And it shows in the catchy, upbeat songs "New Life," "Boys Say Go," "Photographic," and the most famous single, "Just Can't Get Enough." When Martin Gore took over the songwriting, Depeche Mode veered toward a different thematic direction by developing the goth-pop that would become their signature. Still, it's an important album not only because it is Depeche Mode's first but also because it is one of the best representations of early-'80s minimalist synth music.



01. New Life
02. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead
03. Puppets
04. Boys Say Go!
05. Nodisco
06. What's Your Name ?
07. Photographic
08. Tora! Tora! Tora!
09. Big Muff
10. Any Second Now (Voices)
11. Just Can't Get Enough
12. Dreaming Of Me

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Speak And Spell
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