01. Are We? Will We? 3:22
02. Issinair 3:07
03. Cutt Me Off 2:36
04. An Apparition 3:06
05. Dust 3:34
06. Less Talk 4:05
07. Lydia 2:49
08. Upstart 3:35
09. Family Ties 3:26
10. Nightmarer 2:45
11. I'm American 2:10
12. Danger Kids 4:07

01 Prelude
02 Kiara
03 Kong
04 Eyesdown ft. Andreya Triana
05 El Toro
06 We Could Forever
07 1009
08 All in Forms
09 The Keeper ft. Andreya Triana
10 Stay the Same
11 Animals
12 Black Sands

Teen Island star Justin Bieber's newest single, "Baby" featuring Ludacris is the newest single from his forthcoming album, MY WORLD 2.0.

Justin just appeared at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards telecast on CBS-TV and joined fellow Def Jam artist Rihanna and an all-star cast of NFL players at the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam LIVE concert in South Beach televised on VH1. MY WORLD (released November 17th) crossed the RIAA platinum plateau in just seven weeks, for U.S. sales in excess of 1 million units. The album contains his premiere quartet of Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, "One Time" (certified RIAA platinum), "One Less Lonely Girl," "Love Me," and "Favorite Girl." Justin is the first solo artist in history to send four songs from a debut album into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 prior to his album's release.

Now plans call for MY WORLD 2.0 to be issued on March 23rd. "Baby" is the first new track to be released from that upcoming CD. Meanwhile, Justin has surpassed 100 million YouTube.com video views (the first 50 million of them as an amateur starting in 2007, posting renditions of his favorite hip-hop and R&B songs).

Born in Stratford, Ontario, Justin Bieber is a multi-talented pop/soul singer, and a self-taught musician on drums, guitar, piano, and trumpet. His manager Scooter Braun intro¬duced Justin to the music industry in Atlanta two years ago. There he met multi-platinum superstar Usher, who signed the 13 year-old to his first professional deal and formed the RBMG joint-venture label with Braun and Antonio `L.A.' Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group.

1. Baby (feat Ludacris) (3:34)
2. Somebody To Love (3:40)
3. Stuck In The Moment (3:42)
4. U Smile (3:16)
5. Runaway Love (3:32)
6. Never Let You Go (4:24)
7. Overboard (feat Jessica Jarrell) (4:11)
8. Eenie Meenie (feat Sean Kingston) (3:22)
9. Up (3:54)
10. That Should Be Me (3:52)

A lot happened to Charlotte Gainsbourg between the release of 5:55 and IRM. Along with appearing in I'm Not There as one of Bob Dylan's wives, a 2007 water skiing accident pushed her brain to the side and filled her skull with blood, a condition that should have killed or paralyzed her. After emergency surgery, Gainsbourg was fine physically, but still convinced she could die at any moment, undergoing several MRI scans to prove she was all right. She also took one of her most daring roles as an actress, appearing in Lars Von Trier's uncompromising film Antichrist as a violently deranged, grieving mother who disfigures herself and her husband. This mix of fragility and boldness is also the heart of IRM, Gainsbourg's collaboration with Beck. As with 5:55, which featured Nigel Godrich, Jarvis Cocker, and Air, her choice of collaborators is perfect, but the results couldn't be more different. Where her previous album was ethereal and ephemeral, IRM is exciting and eclectic. Beck and Gainsbourg bring out the best in each other: His songwriting and production are so sympathetic and wide-ranging that he's like a director guiding Gainsbourg to inspired performances. Meanwhile, she brings an emotionality and presence to Beck’s flights of fancy that make them more grounded than they would have been as his own songs. IRM still offers plenty of beautiful French atmosphere, but it’s more mussed than on 5:55: The way the strings turn from romantic to a little sinister on the slinky “Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes” is decidedly jolie laide, while “La Collectioneuse” is as eerie as it is lovely. However, the album delivers much more than looser versions of where Gainsbourg has been before. IRM’s title track is a hallucinatory meditation on Gainsbourg’s post-surgery experiences that incorporates the sound of MRI scans (IRM is the French abbreviation of MRI) with a tribal, distorted beat and detached vocals that are closer to Broadcast than any of her previous music. Elsewhere, she dives into deceptively simple folky pop with “Me and Jane Doe” while “Trick Pony”’s breathy sexuality and strutting beats feel like Beck repaying the favor of sampling Serge Gainsbourg’s “Melody Nelson” on Sea Change’s “Paper Tiger.” The pair gets more daring as IRM unfolds, with Beck casting Gainsbourg as a world-weary siren on “Dandelion”’s bluesy shuffle, and a sneering rebel on the brittle “Greenwich Mean Time,” which makes more noise than all of the songs on 5:55 put together. Gainsbourg’s mental and physical healing process unites the album’s experiments, making them personal. “Heaven Can Wait”’s joyful stomp is self-explanatory, but when she sings “you could learn to crawl where you used to walk” on “Vanities,” or “It doesn’t take a miracle to raise a heart from the dead” on “Time of the Assassins,” it adds even more depth. Playful, heartfelt, and unexpected, IRM gives Gainsbourg’s music a new lease on life.

1. "Master's Hands" 2:49
2. "IRM" 2:35
3. "Le Chat du Café des Artistes" 4:03
4. "In the End" 2:00
5. "Heaven Can Wait" 2:41
6. "Me and Jane Doe" 3:21
7. "Vanities" 3:38
8. "Time of the Assassins" 2:46
9. "Trick Pony" 2:53
10. "Greenwich Mean Time" 2:25
11. "Dandelion" 3:18
12. "Voyage" 4:05
13. "La Collectionneuse" 5:15

Even though 5:55 isn't technically Charlotte Gainsbourg's first solo album (that would be Charlotte for Ever, which was released when she was 13), it is her first solo album as an adult and, with the help of a dream team of collaborators, it's a fittingly sophisticated set that touches on her father Serge's brilliantly louche, literate pop without being overshadowed by it. Air's Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin (who paid tribute to Serge Gainsbourg particularly well on 10,000 Hz Legend's "Wonder Milky Bitch") wrote 5:55's delicate music, while Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon penned its lyrics. This mingling of French and English influences is mirrored in Gainsbourg's subtly expressive voice and accent, which provides the perfect complement to the album's lush sounds and vivid imagery. On "AF607105" -- the most Air-like song here -- she's a stewardess recounting the most glamorous plane crash ever; she performs an autopsy on a relationship on "The Operation," finally stating that "the heart was rejected by the host." As good as the atmospheric heartache of the first half of 5:55 is, it's on the second half, when Gainsbourg and her crew stretch out a bit, that the album really gets interesting. "Jamais," a slightly tough, witty cautionary tale about literally acting like you're in love, is a standout, while the sexy, obsessive "Beauty Mark" and "Everything I Cannot See" would make her father proud.

1. 5:55 (4:52)
2. AF607105 (4:30)
3. The Operation (3:59)
4. Tel Que Tu Es (3:09)
5. The Songs That We Sing (2:57)
6. Beauty Mark (3:07)
7. Little Monsters (3:46)
8. Jamais (4:37)
9. Night-Time Intermission (2:44)
10. Everything I Cannot See (5:46)
11. Morning Song (5:08)
12. Set Yourself On Fire (bonus track) (4:09)
13. Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping (bonus track) (3:45)

Just when it seemed 2009’s trash-brat electro scene (3OH!3, LMFAO, Shwayze) was about crumble under its own weight, rapper/singer/songwriter Ke$ha became the genre’s biggest star, graduating from being Flo Rida’s backup singer (she provided the hook on the rapper’s massive single “Right Round”) to superstar when her debut single, “TiK ToK,” set a digital sales record with over 600,000 downloads in a week. Her climb to the top includes bizarre factoids like she once lived in the house where the Eagles recorded Hotel California, plus she once vomited in Paris Hilton’s closet. Working on Hilton's album was the reason she was at the house, so it’s hard not to appreciate how Animal makes Ke$ha sound nothing like an industry vet who used to write for the Veronicas. Here, she’s a gum-snapping, alcohol-abusing Facebook jockey straight out of the suburbs who spits sophomoric but fun putdowns, come-ons, and sig files all over electro beats. Opening with “Maybe I need some rehab/Or maybe just need some sleep,” Animal is upfront about its unwillingness to face the real world, and prefers a garbage chic reality with a liberal shot of the ‘80s. “Party at a Rich Dude’s House” could have fallen off the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack, while the word “gross” makes a serious comeback throughout the album. The music is heavy on gimmicks — Auto-Tune, vocoders, and silly samples are all here in abundance — while able folks like Dr. Luke plus Mim and Liv Nervo are in charge of the colorful electro-pop productions. As far as subversion goes, “Boots and Boys” presents the lusty, “Suicide Blond”-type track from a rare female point of view, but a couple of unexpected and completely unsatisfying ballads are the type of fluff anyone with an edge would avoid. Snooty taste makers and parents should avoid Animal at all costs, but with so many fun, “TiK ToK”-type tracks, the album has plenty for both brats and the bratty at heart.

1. Your Love Is My Drug (3:07)
2. Tik Tok (3:19)
3. Take It Off (3:35)
4. Kiss N Tell (3:27)
5. Stephen (3:32)
6. Blah Blah ft. 30H!3 (2:52)
7. Hungover (3:52)
8. Party At A Rich Dude's House (2:55)
9. Backstabber (3:06)
10. Blind (3:17)
11. Dinosaur (2:55)
12. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (3:29)
13. Boots & Boys (2:56)
14. Animal (3:57)

2005's Playing the Angel proved to be one of Depeche Mode's strongest albums — the combination of Ben Hillier's production, the emergence of David Gahan as a songwriter following his initial solo effort and a clutch of striking songs that openly embraced arena-level bombast following the much more subtle Exciter resulted in wide praise and a well-received tour. As a result — especially given the return of Hillier, the first producer to work on two Depeche albums in a row since Flood's heyday with Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion — Sounds of the Universe was initially suspected of being Playing the Angel redux, something the swaggering lead single "Wrong" didn't undercut at all. After all these years, though, Depeche can still pull out surprises, and what's quite astonishing about Sounds is how they've returned to the equipment and textures of their early-'80s work in particular while reworking it to match both Gahan and Martin Gore's current lyrical and songwriting techniques. On balance, Sounds is one of Depeche's lower-key albums, but not without explosive or dramatic moments by any means, though. "Come Back," one of Gahan's three songwriting contributions, captures a sudden sense of vast space right from its start, the deep-chugging percussion and reverberation perfectly contrasting the soft chimes on the verses, while "Peace," with an opening bassline straight out of the days of the band's pop-industrial phase, and a stellar vocal turn from Gahan, is an absolute high point. But "In Chains," the slow-building start to the disc, sets the tone best for Sounds as a whole, with a hushed keyboard introduction, Gahan's swoon-worthy vocals (showcasing some of his best falsetto work yet), Gore's compressed funk guitar blasts and, above all else, the sense of older styles and sounds — classic drum machines, early synthesizers, a rumbling bass undercarriage — serving new purposes. More overt nods to earlier days appear with songs such as "Fragile Tension" and "In Sympathy," both featuring keyboards and beats sounding beamed in from A Broken Frame days but also with beautiful vocals that the younger Gahan could never have so easily done and guitar textures that the younger Gore had yet to fully embrace. "Perfect," meanwhile, almost reaches back to Speak & Spell thanks to an opening keyboard line that immediately calls the song "Puppets" to mind, but again it's more of a launching point for the current band's sound rather than a simple exercise in retrospection. Gore's sole lead vocal appears towards the end of the album on the enjoyable if understated "Jezebel," but his uncanny knack for harmonizing with Gahan throughout remains intact, with stand-out performances including the understated clatter and chime of "Little Soul" and his bravura turn toward the end of "Wrong." On the whole, Sounds of the Universe is a grower, relying on a few listens to fully take effect, but when it does, it shows Depeche Mode are still able to combine pop-hook accessibility and their own take on "roots" music for an electronic age with sonic experimentation and recombination — not bad for a band with almost three decades under its collective belt.

1. In Chains 6:53
2. Hole To Feed 3:59
3. Wrong 3:13
4. Fragile Tension 4:09
5. Little Soul 3:31
6. In Sympathy 4:54
7. Peace 4:29
8. Come Back 5:15
9. Spacewalker 1:53
10. Perfect 4:33
11. Miles Away / The Truth Is 4:14
12. Jezebel 4:41
13. Corrupt 6:14

When Ultra was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion. When Exciter was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have also forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion, in addition to having found a roundabout way of saying that it was merely better than Ultra. There's no doubt this time: Playing the Angel is both the band's best album since Violator and, more significantly, an album that is near Violator in stature. The biggest clue dropped by the band prior to its release was a quote from Dave Gahan, who said that being in Depeche Mode is better than it has been in 15 years. Some quick math reveals that Gahan was hinting at the Violator era, a time when the band's creativity and popularity peaked synchronously. It also turns out that this is a time as good as any other to be paying attention to the band. Playing the Angel lacks Songs of Faith and Devotion's end-to-end chest-beating, Ultra's grinding murk, and Exciter's desiccated patches. It takes the best qualities from those releases, combines them with a few subtle allusions to Violator -- tiptoeing the border that separates retread from reinvention -- and makes for a highly concentrated set of songs that all but demand to be heard in one uninterrupted shot. Gahan, still riding the confidence he gained as a songwriter from Paper Monsters, his 2003 solo debut, contributes three songs co-written with band associates Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott. Though none of them vie to be the album's centerpiece, it's apparent that the move wasn't a concession of desperation on anyone's part. The friendly competition seems to have kicked chief songwriter Martin Gore into high gear; he's in top form. Musically, a lot of analog gear was used, and it's apparent that the arrangements and extra sounds were less fussed over than they have been in the recent past. You get the sense that everything fell into place, as opposed to being forced or aimlessly manipulated. Despite the favoring of older gear, there's no other year in which any of the songs could've been made. Like the best Depeche Mode, almost everything on the album will make an initial wowing impact while remaining layered enough in subtle details to surprise and thrill with repeated listens. It is not the kind of album a 25-year-old band is supposed to make.

1. "A Pain That I'm Used To" – 4:11
2. "John the Revelator" – 3:42
3. "Suffer Well" – 3:49
4. "The Sinner in Me" – 4:56
5. "Precious" – 4:10
6. "Macro" – 4:03
7. "I Want It All" – 6:09
8. "Nothing's Impossible" – 4:21
9. "Introspectre" – 1:42
10. "Damaged People" – 3:29
11. "Lilian" – 4:49
12. "The Darkest Star" – 6:55

It's rare to find bands capable of keeping their own best qualities to the fore while trying something new each time out, but Depeche Mode demonstrate that balance in full on the marvelous Exciter. Arguably the first album made by the group as a cohesive unit since Violator (and bearing some resemblance to that record in overall title and song names — compare "The Sweetest Condition" with "The Sweetest Perfection"), Exciter finds the trio again balancing pop catchiness with experimental depths. As with Ultra, an outside producer helps focus the end results in new, intriguing directions — in this case, said producer is Mark Bell, known for his work with Björk but also as part of Warp Records' flagship act LFO, which always acknowledged their own debut to Depeche. Bell's ear for minimal, crisp beats and quick, subtle arrangements and changes suit Martin Gore's songs beautifully. If there are few storming arena-shaking numbers this time out, the exquisite delicacy throughout is addicting, with Gore's guitar providing slippery and stinging leads to the smoky, romantic flow of Exciter. "When the Body Speaks" is a particular winner, his gentle work and a backing string section combining just right. David Gahan's voice, already audibly benefiting from lessons on Ultra, is even more supple and passionate than before, ranging from the fuller delivery on the snaky charm of "Shine" to the haunting album-closer, "Goodnight Lovers," a romantic lullaby with perfect counterpoint backing vocals. Gore's own singing remains equally fine, as does his lyrical obsessions on, well, obsession — "Breathe," which quotes more Bible names per verse than most preachers, makes for a good example on both fronts. When the band fully crank it up, the results work there too — "The Dead of Night" makes for a far superior nod to Gore's glam roots and Depeche's own industrial dance descendants than Songs of Faith and Devotion's "Rush" did.

1. "Dream On" – 4:19
2. "Shine" – 5:32
3. "The Sweetest Condition" – 3:42
4. "When the Body Speaks" – 6:01
5. "Dead of Night" – 4:50
6. "Love Theme" – 2:02
7. "Freelove" – 6:10
8. "Comatose" – 3:24
9. "I Feel Loved" – 4:20
10. "Breathe" – 5:17
11. "Easy Tiger" – 2:05
12. "I Am You" – 5:10
13. "Goodnight Lovers" – 3:48

When news surfaced in 1995 that Alan Wilder had departed Depeche Mode to concentrate on his solo project Recoil, the immediate concern among fans was whether the band would be able to hit past heights again. Though Wilder's profile was always much lesser than that of Martin Gore and David Gahan — and almost even that of Alan Fletcher, whose nonperformance live has always been a running joke in the fan community and who freely admits to generally being around merely to maintain a vibe with his childhood friend Gore — his capability at arranging the songs over the years gave the band its increasingly distinct, unique edge. Combined with Gahan's near suicide and lengthy recovery from drugs, things looked bleak. Happily, Ultra turned out a winner; hooking up with Tim Simenon, longtime U.K. dance maven and producer of arty fare such as Gavin Friday's Adam 'n' Eve, Depeche delivered a strong album as a rejuvenated band. The most immediate change was Gahan's singing; for the first time ever, he took singing lessons beforehand, and his new control and projection simply shines, especially on the marvelous "It's No Good," a pulsing, tense, yet beautiful song with another deeply romantic Gore lyric. Opener "Barrel of a Gun" continues in the vein of arena-level stompers like "Never Let Me Down Again" and "I Feel You," with huge drum slams and scratching to boot, but Ultra mostly covers subtler territory, such as the slightly creepy "Sister of Night" and the gentle "The Love Thieves." Gore sings two winners: the orchestral, slow dance groove "Home" and "The Bottom Line," featuring steel guitar and Can's Jaki Liebezeit on drums, distinctly different territory for Depeche. Closing with "Insight," a quite lovely, building ballad, Ultra showed Depeche wasn't ready to quit by any means.

1. "Barrel of a Gun" – 5:35
2. "The Love Thieves" – 6:34
3. "Home" – 5:42
4. "It's No Good" – 5:58
5. "Uselink" – 2:21
6. "Useless" – 5:12
7. "Sister of Night" – 6:04
8. "Jazz Thieves" – 2:54
9. "Freestate" – 6:44
10. "The Bottom Line" – 4:26
11. "Insight" – 6:26
12. "Junior Painkiller" – 2:11

In between Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion, a lot happened: Nirvana rewrote the ideas of what "alternative" was supposed to be, while Nine Inch Nails hit the airwaves as the most clearly Depeche-influenced new hit band around. In the meantime, the band went through some high-profile arguing as David Gahan turned into a long-haired, leather-clad rocker and pushed for a more guitar-oriented sound. Yet the odd thing about Songs of Faith and Devotion is that it sounds pretty much like a Depeche Mode album, only with some new sonic tricks courtesy of Alan Wilder and co-producer Flood. Perhaps even odder is the fact that it works incredibly well all the same. "I Feel You," opening with a screech of feedback, works its live drums well, but when the heavy synth bass kicks in with the wailing backing vocals, even most rockers might find it hard to compete. Martin Gore's lyrical bent, as per the title, ponders relationships through distinctly religious imagery; while the gambit is hardly new, on songs like the centerpiece "In Your Room," the combination of personal and spiritual love blends perfectly. Outside musicians appear for the first time, including female backing singers on a couple of tracks, most notably the gospel-flavored "Condemnation" and the uilleann pipes on "Judas," providing a lovely intro to the underrated song (later covered by Tricky). "Rush" is the biggest misstep, a too obvious sign that Nine Inch Nails was a recording-session favorite to unwind to. But with other numbers such as "Walking in My Shoes" and "The Mercy in You" to recommend it, Songs of Faith and Devotion continues the Depeche Mode winning streak.

1. "I Feel You" – 4:35
2. "Walking in My Shoes" – 5:35
3. "Condemnation" – 3:20
4. "Mercy in You" – 4:17
5. "Judas" – 5:14
6. "In Your Room" – 6:26
7. "Get Right with Me" – 3:52
8. "Rush" – 4:37
9. "One Caress" – 3:32
10. "Higher Love" – 5:56

In a word, stunning. Perhaps an odd word to use given that Violator continued in the general vein of the previous two studio efforts by Depeche Mode: Martin Gore's upfront lyrical emotional extremism and knack for a catchy hook filtered through Alan Wilder's ear for perfect arrangements, ably assisted by top English producer Flood. Yet the idea that this record would both dominate worldwide charts, while song for song being simply the best, most consistent effort yet from the band could only have been the wildest fantasy before its release. The opening two singles from the album, however, signaled something was up. First was "Personal Jesus," at once perversely simplistic, with a stiff, arcane funk/hip-hop beat and basic blues guitar chords, and tremendous, thanks to sharp production touches and David Gahan's echoed, snaky vocals. Then "Enjoy the Silence," a nothing-else-remains-but-us ballad pumped up into a huge, dramatic romance/dance number, commanding in its mock orchestral/choir scope. Follow-up single "Policy of Truth" did just fine as well, a low-key Motown funk number for the modern day with a sharp love/hate lyric to boot. To top it all off, the album itself scored on song after song, from the shuffling beat of "Sweetest Perfection" (well sung by Gore) and the ethereal "Waiting for the Night" to the guilt-ridden-and-loving-it "Halo" building into a string-swept pounder. "Clean" wraps up Violator on an eerie note, all ominous bass notes and odd atmospherics carrying the song. Goth without ever being stupidly hammy, synth without sounding like the clinical stereotype of synth music, rock without ever sounding like a "rock" band, Depeche here reach astounding heights indeed.

1. "World in My Eyes" – 4:26
2. "Sweetest Perfection" – 4:43
3. "Personal Jesus" – 4:56
4. "Halo" – 4:30
5. "Waiting for the Night" – 6:07
6. "Enjoy the Silence" – 6:12
7. "Policy of Truth" – 4:55
8. "Blue Dress" – 5:41
9. "Clean" – 5:28

Initially the title must have sounded like an incredibly pretentious boast, except that Depeche Mode then went on to do a monstrous world tour, score even more hits in America and elsewhere than ever before, and pick up a large number of name checks from emerging house and techno artists on top of all that. As for the music the masses got this time around, the opening cut, "Never Let Me Down Again," started things off wonderfully: a compressed guitar riff suddenly slamming into a huge-sounding percussion/keyboard/piano combination, anchored to a constantly repeated melodic hook, ever-building synth/orchestral parts at the song's end, and one of David Gahan's best vocals (though admittedly singing one of Martin Gore's more pedestrian lyrics). It feels huge throughout, like they taped Depeche recording at the world's largest arena show instead of in a studio. Other key singles "Strangelove" and the (literally) driving "Behind the Wheel" maintained the same blend of power and song skill, while some of the quieter numbers such as "The Things You Said" and "I Want You Now" showed musical and lyrical intimacy could easily co-exist with the big chart-busters. Add to that other winners like "To Have and to Hold," with its Russian radio broadcast start and dramatic, downward spiral of music accompanied by Gahan's subtly powerful take on a desperate Gore love lyric, and the weird, wonderful choral closer, "Pimpf," and Depeche's massive success becomes perfectly clear.

1. "Never Let Me Down Again" – 4:47
2. "The Things You Said" – 4:02
3. "Strangelove" – 4:56
4. "Sacred" – 4:47
5. "Little 15" – 4:18
6. "Behind the Wheel" – 5:18
7. "I Want You Now" – 3:44
8. "To Have and to Hold" – 2:51
9. "Nothing" – 4:18
10. "Pimpf" – 5:25

Whether the band felt it was simply the time to move on from its most explicit industrial-pop fusion days, or whether increased success and concurrently larger venues pushed the music into different avenues, Depeche Mode's fifth studio album, Black Celebration, saw the group embarking on a path that in many ways defined their sound to the present: emotionally extreme lyrics matched with amped-up tunes, as much anthemic rock as they are compelling dance, along with stark, low-key ballads. The slow, sneaky build of the opening title track, with a strange distorted vocal sample providing a curious opening hook, sets the tone as David Gahan sings of making it through "another black day" while powerful drums and echoing metallic pings carry the song. Black Celebration is actually heavier on the ballads throughout, many sung by Martin Gore — the most per album he has yet taken lead on — with notable dramatic beauties including "Sometimes," with its surprise gospel choir start and rough piano sonics, and the hyper-nihilistic "World Full of Nothing." The various singles from the album remain definite highlights, such as "A Question of Time," a brawling, aggressive number with a solid Gahan vocal, and the romantic/physical politics of "Stripped," featuring particularly sharp arrangements from Alan Wilder. However, with such comparatively lesser-known but equally impressive numbers as the quietly intense romance of "Here Is the House" to boast, Black Celebration is solid through and through.

1. "Black Celebration" – 4:55
2. "Fly on the Windscreen (Final)" – 5:18
3. "A Question of Lust" – 4:20
4. "Sometimes" – 1:53
5. "It Doesn't Matter Two" – 2:50
6. "A Question of Time" – 4:10
7. "Stripped" – 4:16
8. "Here Is the House" – 4:15
9. "World Full of Nothing" – 2:50
10. "Dressed in Black" – 2:32
11. "New Dress" – 3:42

The peak of the band's industrial-gone-mainstream fusion, and still one of the best electronic music albums yet recorded, Some Great Reward still sounds great, with the band's ever-evolving musical and production skills matching even more ambitious songwriting from Martin Gore. "People Are People" appears here, but finds itself outclassed by some of Depeche Mode's undisputed classics, most especially the moody, beautiful "Somebody," a Gore-sung piano ballad that mixes its wit and emotion skillfully; "Master and Servant," an amped-up, slamming dance track that conflates sexual and economic politics to sharp effect; and the closing "Blasphemous Rumors," a slow-building anthemic number supporting one of Gore's most cynical lyrics, addressing a suicidal teen who finds God only to die soon afterward. Even lesser-known tracks like the low-key pulse of "Lie to Me" and the weirdly dreamy "It Doesn't Matter" showcase an increasingly confident band. Alan Wilder's arrangements veer from the big to the stripped down, but always with just the right touch, such as the crowd samples bubbling beneath "Somebody" or the call/response a cappella start to "Master and Servant." With Reward, David Gahan's singing style found the métier it was going to stick with for the next ten years, and while it's never gone down well with some ears, it still has a compelling edge to it that suits the material well.

1. "Something to Do" – 3:47
2. "Lie to Me" – 5:03
3. "People Are People" – 3:52
4. "It Doesn't Matter" – 4:44
5. "Stories of Old" – 3:13
6. "Somebody" – 4:27
7. "Master and Servant" – 4:12
8. "If You Want" – 4:41
9. "Blasphemous Rumours" – 6:22

The full addition of Alan Wilder to Depeche Mode's lineup created a perfect troika that would last another 11 years, as the combination of Martin Gore's songwriting, Wilder's arranging, and David Gahan's singing and live star power resulted in an ever more compelling series of albums and singles. Construction Time Again, the new lineup's first full effort, is a bit hit and miss nonetheless, but when it does hit, it does so perfectly. Right from the album's first song, "Love in Itself," something is clearly up; Depeche never sounded quite so thick with its sound before, with synths arranged into a mini-orchestra/horn section and real piano and acoustic guitar spliced in at strategic points. Two tracks later, "Pipeline" offers the first clear hint of an increasing industrial influence (the bandmembers were early fans of Einstürzende Neubauten), with clattering metal samples and oddly chain gang-like lyrics and vocals. The album's clear highlight has to be "Everything Counts," a live staple for years, combining a deceptively simple, ironic lyric about the music business with a perfectly catchy but unusually arranged blending of more metallic scraping samples and melodica amid even more forceful funk/hip-hop beats. Elsewhere, on "Shame" and "Told You So," Gore's lyrics start taking on more of the obsessive personal relationship studies that would soon dominate his writing. Wilder's own songwriting contributions are fine musically, but lyrically, "preachy" puts it mildly, especially the environment-friendly "The Landscape Is Changing."

1. "Love, in Itself" – 4:29
2. "More Than A Party" – 4:23
3. "Pipeline" – 6:15
4. "Everything Counts" – 4:19
5. "Two Minute Warning" – 4:13
6. "Shame" – 3:50
7. "The Landscape Is Changing" – 4:47
8. "Told You So" – 4:24
9. "And Then..." – 4:34
10. "Everything Counts (Reprise)" – 1:05

Martin Gore has famously noted that Depeche Mode stopped worrying about its future when the first post-Vince Clarke-departure single, "See You," placed even higher on the English charts than anything else Clarke had done with them. Such confidence carries through all of A Broken Frame, a notably more ambitious effort than the pure pop/disco of the band's debut. With arranging genius Alan Wilder still one album away from fully joining the band, Frame became very much Gore's record, writing all the songs and exploring various styles never again touched upon in later years. "Satellite" and "Monument" take distinct dub/reggae turns, while "Shouldn't Have Done That" delivers its slightly precious message about the dangers of adulthood with a spare arrangement and hollow, weirdly sweet vocals. Much of the album follows in a dark vein, forsaking earlier sprightliness, aside from tracks like "A Photograph of You" and "The Meaning of Love," for more melancholy reflections about love gone wrong as "Leave in Silence" and "My Secret Garden." More complex arrangements and juxtaposed sounds, such as the sparkle of breaking glass in "Leave in Silence," help give this underrated album even more of an intriguing, unexpected edge. Gore's lyrics sometimes veer on the facile, but David Gahan's singing comes more clearly to the fore throughout — things aren't all there yet, but they were definitely starting to get close.

1. My Secret Garden (Live At Hammersmith) (7:31)
2. See You (Live At Hammersmith) (4:10)
3. Satellite (Live At Hammersmith) (4:22)
4. Nothing To Fear (Live At Hammersmith) (4:27)
5. The Meaning Of Love (Live At Hammersmith) (3:13)
6. A Photograph Of You (Live At Hammersmith) (3:31)
7. Now, This Is Fun (Bonus Track) (3:27)
8. Oberkorn (It's A Small Town) (Bonus Track) (4:09)
9. Excerpt From: My Secret Garden (Bonus Track) (3:18)

Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time — perhaps least of all the band! — Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a groundbreaking release. While various synth pioneers had come before — Gary Numan, early Human League, late-'70s Euro-disco, and above all Kraftwerk all had clear influence on Speak & Spell — Depeche became the undisputed founder of straight-up synth pop with the album's 11 songs, light, hooky, and danceable numbers about love, life, and clubs. For all the claims about "dated" '80s sounds from rock purists, it should be noted that the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup of rock is almost 25 years older than the catchy keyboard lines and electronic drums making the music here. That such a sound would eventually become ubiquitous during the Reagan years, spawning lots of crud along the way, means the band should no more be held to blame for that than Motown and the Beatles for inspiring lots of bad stuff in the '60s. Credit for the album's success has to go to main songwriter Vince Clarke, who would extend and arguably perfect the synth pop formula with Yazoo and Erasure; the classic early singles "New Life," "Dreaming of Me," and "Just Can't Get Enough," along with numbers ranging from the slyly homoerotic "Pretty Boy" to the moody thumper "Photographic," keep everything moving throughout. David Gahan undersings about half the album, and Martin Gore's two numbers lack the distinctiveness of his later work, but Speak & Spell remains an undiluted joy.

1. New Life (3:45)
2. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead (2:17)
3. Puppets (3:59)
4. Boys Say Go! (3:02)
5. Nodisco (4:16)
6. What's Your Name? (2:43)
7. Photographic (5:11)
8. Tora! Tora! Tora! (4:12)
9. Big Muff (4:25)
10. Any Second Now (Voices) (2:34)
11. Just Can't Get Enough (3:43)
12. Dreaming Of Me (3:41)
13. Ice Machine (4:05)
14. Shout (3:48)
15. Any Second Now (3:10)
16. Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix) (6:43)

Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time — perhaps least of all the band! — Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a groundbreaking release. While various synth pioneers had come before — Gary Numan, early Human League, late-'70s Euro-disco, and above all Kraftwerk all had clear influence on Speak & Spell — Depeche became the undisputed founder of straight-up synth pop with the album's 11 songs, light, hooky, and danceable numbers about love, life, and clubs. For all the claims about "dated" '80s sounds from rock purists, it should be noted that the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup of rock is almost 25 years older than the catchy keyboard lines and electronic drums making the music here. That such a sound would eventually become ubiquitous during the Reagan years, spawning lots of crud along the way, means the band should no more be held to blame for that than Motown and the Beatles for inspiring lots of bad stuff in the '60s. Credit for the album's success has to go to main songwriter Vince Clarke, who would extend and arguably perfect the synth pop formula with Yazoo and Erasure; the classic early singles "New Life," "Dreaming of Me," and "Just Can't Get Enough," along with numbers ranging from the slyly homoerotic "Pretty Boy" to the moody thumper "Photographic," keep everything moving throughout. David Gahan undersings about half the album, and Martin Gore's two numbers lack the distinctiveness of his later work, but Speak & Spell remains an undiluted joy.

1. New Life (3:46)
2. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead (2:18)
3. Puppets (3:56)
4. Boys Say Go! (3:08)
5. Nodisco (4:15)
6. What's Your Name? (2:45)
7. Photographic (4:43)
8. Tora! Tora! Tora! (4:38)
9. Big Muff (4:24)
10. Any Second Now (Voices) (2:35)
11. Just Can't Get Enough (3:44)
12. Dreaming Of Me (4:01)

During their 27-year career, Chumbawamba haven’t made three albums in a row that could broadly be put into the same genre.

So it’s a strange sensation to sit down with this album and find that it almost follows on neatly from the two that preceded it. Since they slimmed down to a four-piece (officially augmented for the last two albums by Phil Moody’s accordion) for 2005’s A Singsong and a Scrap, they’ve released three albums with guests including such folk luminaries as the Oysterband and Coope, Boyes and Simpson.

The Oysterband, along with O’Hooley & Tidow and Jon Boden of Bellowhead, appear again on this new album. ABCDEFG takes as its cue the broad church that is music and its power to inspire fear, joy and togetherness and – of course – its employment as a tool of protest.

The bases touched upon in the songs are as educational, humorous and disparate as ever. We get the true story of an East German band being told that they don’t exist (You Don’t Exist); George Melly repelling a would-be robber by reciting Dadaist sound poems (Ratatatay); and the wonderful image of Metallica's frontman being tortured by listening to Chumbawamba at ear-splitting volume (Torturing James Hetfield) among many, many others. Another obvious highlight is Singing Out the Days, which stomps along with gusto and brings to mind the old protest anthems seen on the band’s English Rebel Songs album.

The true standout, though, is Wagner at the Opera, the story of a concentration camp survivor disrupting a Wagner recital in Israel in 2000 by waving a football rattle. The verses tell the story atop a simple backing made from washboard, tin drum, a whistle and the rattle itself, before a simple, repeated one-line chorus tops it all off. It sums up everything about the band – a story that you didn’t know beforehand from a group with a propensity for writing songs that you can’t stop singing. Above all, it’s something different.

The new slimmed-down version of the band still retains the capacity to make you smile, dance, laugh and furrow your brow – sometimes all at the same time.

1. Introduction
2. Voices, That's All
3. Pickle
4. Wagner at the Topera
5. Underground
6. Torturing James Hetfield
7. The Devil's Interval
8. Hammer, Stirrup and Anvil
9. Puccini Said
10. That Same So-So Tune
11. Singing Out the Days
12. You Don't Exist
13. The Song Collector
14. Missed
15. Ratatatay
16. New York Song
17. Dance, Idiot, Dance