Depeche Mode: Sounds Of The Universe (2LP) [LEGACY RECORDINGS]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set comes in a gatefold jacket. The album debuted at No. 2 in the UK, their highest since Ultra, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

Martin Gore spent 2007 writing in his Santa Barbara home studio while Dave Gahan finished his solo album Hourglass, and the band walked into the studio in May 2008 with more ideas than they could use. Twenty-two songs came out of the sessions, and for the first time they posted clips of the work online as they went.

Ben Hillier produced again, the band having been so happy with Playing The Angel. Gahan co-wrote "Hole To Feed," "Come Back" and "Miles Away / The Truth Is" with Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott, while Gore shares lead vocals with Gahan on "In Chains," "Wrong," "Peace" and "Perfect." "Wrong" is a jittery single with a streak of black humour, "Fragile Tension" glides on a classic Mode pulse, and "Little Soul" drifts in quietly.

The sleeve design was voted No. 10 in the 2009 Best Art Vinyl poll, so it was made for exactly this format. Five more songs from the sessions surfaced in the deluxe box set, and the Tour of the Universe carried the new ones across the globe. Analogue synths, analogue record; we like to think the circuitry approves.

Also at Kops: more Depeche Mode on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Mute / Columbia (cat# 19802888491), a reissue of the 2009 album.