Depeche Mode Construction Time Again
 

An underrated masterpiece?

I wish I heard this back in 1983 when it originally came out.


"And Then" is one of their best songs along with "Two Minute Warning"

http://video.yandex.ru/users/zhenyasherbakov/view/536/



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http://www.rccc.us/Images/ConstructionTimeAgain.jpg

Re: Depeche Mode Construction Time Again
 

Possibly my favorite album of theirs. It goes back and forth between a few of them but this is always in the top 2.

Re: Depeche Mode Construction Time Again
 

I recently bought some stereo gear from a guy with a home studio who does record mastering. He mentioned he'd worked with the producer of Construction Time Again and I had to chime in that as far as I can remember Construction Time Again was the first album I ever listened to from begining to end. It was on cassete, I'd estimate I was 8 years old and it was 1986. I'd listened to music (radio, childrens records, a single song on an album I liked) but I'd never listened to a whole album. I listened to it over and over again.

So after talking to this guy I picked up the recent vinyl re-release and listened to the album for the first time since probably 1990. The album really holds up. I think it's a lot better than the more frequently lauded Some Great Reward. Everything Counts is way better than People are People. Pipeline is a haunting soundscape; a feast of syntehsizer experimentation that was "way out" then and would never be included on an album today. The Landscape is Changing and ...And Then are really strong. I love the sound of synthesizer music from this period. It quickly fell out of style so it didn't have the legs or remain on "flashback" radio for as long as stuff from later in the '80s, but looking back there is nothing like it. Everything "synthy" pre-1985 is so unique.

Re: Depeche Mode Construction Time Again
 

I'll have to give this another listen. I always saw it as an "almost there" kind of record, where Depeche Mode were still finding what would be their mature sound.

Re: Depeche Mode Construction Time Again
 

I think it gets generally overshadowed by the quartet following it, but it certainly paved the way for them and is a solid record in its own right. (I prefer it to both 'Black Celebration' and 'Music For The Masses', but I'm sure I'm in the minority in that one.)

The artwork, though - as with most Depeche Mode records - is awful.

Re: Depeche Mode Construction Time Again
 

I never liked the cover, but blown up really big on a vinyl sleve it actually looks really good. Kinda strange.

I think your comment about the artwork is off base. Some Great Reward, Music For the Masses, and Violator have great artwork...especially Masses.