A Broken Frame is the second studio album by the English electronic band Depeche Mode, released on 27 September 1982 by Mute Records. The album was written entirely by Martin Gore and recorded after the departure of Vince Clarke, who had left the band to form Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet. Alan Wilder was part of a second tour in the United Kingdom occurring prior to the release of this album, but he had not officially joined the band yet, and thus, does not appear on the album.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Critical reception and legacy
Writing in Smash Hits, Peter Silverton observed that A Broken Frame, in contrast to the group's early post-Vince singles, which he thought showed up "a lack of purpose", "makes a virtue of their tinkly-bonk whimsy". In contrast Melody Maker wrote that, although "ambitious and bold", "A Broken Frame - as its name suggests - marks the end of a beautiful dream", a comment on the departure of main songwriter and electronics genius Vince Clarke. Reviewer Steve Sutherland considered the songs "daft aspirations to art", the album's musical and thematic "larcenies" sounding like "puerile infatuations papering over anonymity". At the same time, Sutherland acknowledges that the group's increasing complexity "sounds less the result of exterior persuasion than an understandable, natural development", although he finally concludes that Depeche Mode remain (in contrast to Clarke's new group Yazoo) "essentially vacuous".
The comments of Noise! magazine's 'DH' (most likely Noise! contributor Dave Henderson) showed greater prescience. 'DH' said that the album "falls together well and shows we can expect a lot more from the clean cut quartet", adding "[a]t times it reaches high points far exceeding their first album."
In a retrospective review for Allmusic, Ned Raggett describes A Broken Frame as "a notably more ambitious effort than the pure pop/disco of the band's debut" with much of the album "forsaking earlier sprightliness... for more melancholy reflections about love gone wrong". He adds: "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."
Photo Frame Reviews Video
Cover image
The cover artwork is a photograph, but is intended to resemble a painting. It depicts a woman cutting grain in an East Anglian field, near Duxford in Cambridgeshire. It was taken by Brian Griffin (who had previously done the cover photograph for Speak & Spell and press photos for the band) using a mixture of natural and artificial lighting. Griffin cited as inspirations Ukrainian and Russian art, especially the work of Kazimir Malevich, and German romantic art. Griffin has displayed on his website a gallery of alternative images from the same shoot.
It was featured on the cover of Life Magazine's 1990 edition of "World's Best Photographs 1980-1990".
Track listing
All tracks written by Martin Gore.
- Some original US CD copies of the album tacked on the intro of "The Sun & the Rainfall" onto the end of "Shouldn't Have Done That", making "The Sun & the Rainfall" 4:54.
- All compositions by Martin Gore.
- Dave Gahan sings lead vocals on all songs except "Shouldn't Have Done That" which is a duet with Gore. "Nothing to Fear" and "Further Excerpts From: My Secret Garden" are instrumental.
2006 re-release
Mute: DM CD 2 (CD/SACD + DVD) / CDX STUMM 9 (CD/SACD)
- Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer. The track listing is identical to the 1982 UK release, except "Satellite" which is 4:43 long and contains a slight edit, or error, at the beginning of the track.
- Disc 2 is a DVD which includes A Broken Frame in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo plus bonus material.
Additional Material:
- "Depeche Mode 1982 (The Beginning of Their So-Called Dark Phase)" [27 Minute video]
Vinyl
All songs were written by Martin Gore.
Charts and certifications
Album credits
- Dave Gahan - lead vocals
- Martin Gore - keyboards, backing and lead vocals
- Andy Fletcher - keyboards, backing vocals
- Produced by Daniel Miller and Depeche Mode
- Engineered by John Fryer, Eric Radcliffe
- Recorded at Blackwing Studios, London
- CDD Pre-Mastering by WCI Record Group
- Photography by Brian Griffin
- Design: Martyn Atkins
- Calligraphy: Ching Ching Lee
- Clothes Stylist: Jacqui Frye
- Publisher: Mute Records
- Distributor: Warner Music (U.S.)
- Label: Mute Records (UK) / Sire Records (U.S.)
Marsheaux cover version
In 2015, the Greek synthpop duo Marsheaux released a complete cover version of A Broken Frame on Undo Records. While the reviewer for Release Magazine wrote that this version was not "anything essential" but well done, other reviews were more detailed. The Electricity Club found influences of And One in the cover of "The Sun & the Rainfall" and concluded that Marsheaux had "used unconventional sounds and vocals to make this record their own". Reviews from Germany noted that Marsheaux had elaborated on the assetts and downsides of the original release. According to Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, the kitschy sides of the early Depeche Mode album were deliberately uncovered in tracks like "The Meaning of Love" while the Sonic Seducer lauded Marsheaux's darker and slower interpretation of this song.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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