I think its fair to say that a large % of Order fans also have some inclinations to Depeche Mode. For me nothing beats their Masses / Violator / Devotion trilogy of LPs, and although post-Wilder there have been some top quality tunes, overall to me there have been diminishing returns album on album. I'm curious to hear from fellow NOOLers on their impressions of Mode's latest. I'll share mine...

I got the Spirit 2CD edition yesterday, and by & large am completely underwhelmed.

I have to say the dour tone of this and the last few albums is wearing thin, and the band can't seem to break away from a modus operandi that's now 20 years old: abrasive electronic with an emphasis on distorted tone and texture rather than melody and hooks. Depeche at their best = Melody.

The artwork is yet more of the same from a seemingly bored Anton Corbijn; grey and lifeless with yet another bandname 'logo' and photos of them all looking miserable and gaunt in a staged setting, holding some sort of prop (in this case sledgehammers and - slightly ridiculously - chopper motorcycles). There are a couple of exceptions, the back sleeve photo is good and one of the photos inside with them standing in front a red backdrop is good, otherwise I'm over their 'look' - particularly Fletch. FFS he hasn't contributed in a meaningful way for 30 years and has kept the same sourpuss expression throughout that time. What I wouldn't give for Wilder's return.

Contrast this with New Order and Music Complete. Chalk and cheese, and not just because I'm biased.

So - the songs... lyrically there's a consistent we're fucked message throughout, which I suppose is timely... but the whole album? Best tracks (which I'd rate no higher than 7 or 8/10) for me are Scum (mainly for the 'Pull The Trigger' lines and chords), Cover Me (mainly for the instrumental Blade Runner-esque outro) and No More (some nice synth ambience in and around the verses). Of the Gore-sung tracks the last one Fail is the least worst (mainly for the synth work in the breaks and ending). The 'Revolution single is OK too I suppose but its no Policy of Truth, In Your Room, or Never Let Me Down.

Most of the rest is forgettable dirge.

WTF? Is it the producers? Answers on a postcard please... or here.

Here in Oz in our remoteness we're probably less militant about such divisional lines and weren't party to all their home county issues, and yes we probably share the US and European tolerance and occasional enjoyment (historically anyway) of DM.

I rate their 88-93 period but the rest...

Well...yeahh.Back in the 80s in the UK and before there was a lot of tribal rivalry between bands' fans. That's just the way it was back then with us stoopid Brits.New Order fans hated U2 and even The Smiths to a certain extent.But you just don't get that kind of thing anymore and probably for a reason.Times change.

I do fondly though remember reading some journalist once writing about the difference between New Order and Depeche Mode and he or she said "Depeche Mode just don't have the cheeky spunk of New Order" .I'm not sure i would have chosen those exact words but i totally could see and agree where he/she was, um, coming from if you pardon the unintended pun.

I find that these days DM come across as a board of directors locked into a seemingly endless and meticulously planned album/stadium tour cycle. They are basically the electro Rolling Stones topping up their pensions. Not that there is anything wrong with making money but it's fairly predictable watching DM Ltd. crank into life every 3 years like clockwork with almost identical results each time. They don't even look particularly happy on-stage or maybe that's just my perception (or a part of the act). I basically un-liked them on Facebook recently because their "DM fan takeover" updates were overrunning my news feed which was annoying. Even when I told FB I wanted to see less of them it didn't seem to make a difference and so I simply un-liked the page.

The latest album - which I paid for - I found to be really hard work and a bit of a grinding dirge. Even the "Revolution" single came across as bit half-baked... the Ewan Pearson Remix salvaged it somewhat. At this rate, I don't think I'll be bothering with the next LP. The last album of theirs I liked was "Sounds Of The Universe" from bizarrely almost 10 years ago now (well 8). The recent LPs all tend to just merge together as the same old (Delta Machine passed me by) and I agree with some of the comments above that they've not really moved their sound on even slightly in what seems like forever.

The early stuff is obviously great. I also have a soft spot for "Ultra" and "Exciter" as even they're infinitely preferable to recent output. I recall some cracking Richard Morel mixes of "Dream On" from around 2001 which I still give a spin now and then.

Ah well.

So the O2 last night - a decent enough show,(but I still preferred them in the good old days without a proper drummer) but with that many people in an arena (I was about halfway back in the standing area and Dave Gahan looked like a performing flea from that distance, God know what you could see right at the back, apart from the bar), it all felt a bit too impersonal, but fuck me, the prices: £6.50 for a pint of Budweiser, £6.80 for Stella, £7 for 'craft' beer, £30 each for a range of dull, shit looking t-shirts and £15 for a 'souvenir' programme that looked like it costs 50p to knock out - when they sang 'the grabbing hands, grab all they can, everything counts in large amounts' they weren't joking...