Depeche Mode has always been one of my favorite groups, thanks to their awesome songwriting skills and the infectious style that is uniquely their own.

I recently went through the song list on my iPod Touch and compiled a list of my favorite DM tunes of all time. It contains quite a few “old school” songs, but also some very recent ones:

• Behind the Wheel - One of the first DM songs I ever heard, which I immediately fell in love with.
• Black Celebration - I first heard this on 101, and fell in love with it even more when I saw the live version in the 101 movie.
• Things You Said - Another early favorite, which I originally heard in its studio version on a cassette tape that a coworker gave to me. Soon after, I bought 101, and liked the live version even more!
• Strangelove - How can you not love this song?!
• Halo - An excellent song off of the amazing Violator album, from 1990. I love the way the vocals and synths punctuate this song!
• In Your Room - Spooky, moody DM at its best.
• Never Let Me Down Again - One of the biggest crowd favorites at any live DM performance - and rightly so!
• Personal Jesus - One of the closest things that DM has ever had a to a pop hit.
• Sister of Night - Another brooding, classic song off the Ultra album. I love the synth solo at the end of the song. Gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.
• Waiting for the Night - Also from Violator, the lyrics of this song paint a rich word picture. Cool!
• Higher Love - A great song from Songs of Faith & Devotion.
• In Chains - One of my favorite songs from DM’s latest release, Sounds of the Universe. It’s got a definite bluesy feel to it.
• Perfect - Probably my favorite song from Songs of the Universe. It has a real classic DM sound to it.
• Little Soul - This odd little number from SOTU caught my ear for some reason. I just like it a lot - I can’t explain why, though.
• Sacred - I first became acquainted with this song on the local alternative radio station in Milwaukee, WMSE. Heard it while driving to Chicago one day, and was amazed by its vocal harmonies and punchy synths. I think this song was what pushed me over the edge to buy 101, which I nearly wore out in my car’s tape player during the next few years!
• Stripped - I love the live version of this song from the 101 movie (and the live album).
• World in My Eyes - Another solid hit from Violator with punchy synths and great lyrics.

What are your favorite DM songs?

(Flickr image by leeno used under Creative Commons license)

As a DM fan from way back who hasn’t been satisfied with any of their releases since Ultra, I was prepared not to like their new release, Sounds of the Universe. In fact, when I listened to the 30-second clips of the first two songs released on iTunes about a month ago, I wasn’t impressed at all. It met my expectations - from what I could hear, the songs sounded aimless and uninspired. In retrospect, that just goes to show you how limiting a 30-second song clip can be. Last week, I listened to a number of the full tracks on YouTube, and was impressed enough to download the entire album from iTunes.

Now that I’ve had a chance to listen to it (nearly non-stop) for several days, here’s my verdict:

Sounds of the Universe is Depeche Mode’s best effort in many years! Their latest release takes a retro turn; Martin Gore utilized analog synthesizers on this album, which gives many of the tracks a more interesting and colorful sound. Also prevalent on a number of songs is a rather fuzzy sounding electric guitar, which is used with great effect to punctuate many of the well-written songs. Each track has little touches that make it a delight to listen to on headphones. I listened to the entire album for the first time on my iPod Touch while walking at the local health club, and found myself smiling again and again, and going “Wow - what a cool song!” more than once. My favorite tracks include In Chains, Little Soul, Perfect, Miles Away, Corrupt and Oh Well (Black Light Odyssey Mix).

As a whole, Sounds of the Universe is an amazingly strong effort from the group that helped to define the synthpop genre over 20 years ago. Two thumbs way up!