Depeche Mode: Faith and Devotion

by Ian Gittins

Emerging from the unlikely locale of Basildon at the dawn of the Eighties, the unassuming Depeche Mode became pioneers of British electro-pop. Surviving the abrupt early departure of band founder and chief songwriter Vince Clarke, they quickly gathered a fervent cult following before powering into the mainstream. Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Alan Wilder took their dark, venal songs of sex, religion, obsession and death to the world’s arenas and stadiums. Over four decades, Depeche Mode have seduced millions from Moscow to Montevideo. Yet it has never been an easy ride. Along the way there have been crippling bouts of self-doubt, depression, intra-band fighting, alcohol abuse . . . and the catastrophic heroin addiction that almost killed the charismatic yet vulnerable Gahan. From the band’s earliest stirrings in Essex to the eve of their 40th anniversary, Depeche Mode: Faith and Devotion is a tale of triumph from adversity: the extraordinary history of a unique global synth-rock phenomenon. 

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

It almost seems like I at 51 have realised the correct way of reading a music biography. The more 'overview' type books with loads of nice pictures to look at seems to be the way to go. The negative reviews on these that I've seen often complain of them not digging deep enough or containing only well-known information. Well, my point is that deeper than the well-known are seldom so awfully interesting. And truth be told, there are quite few musical biographies of that kind I read where I haven't ended up liking the subject a bit less... or the author.

The author of this did so well (despite having the wrong idea that 'Playing the Angel', 'Sounds of the Universe' and 'Delta Machine' can be lumped together when the first one is clearly in a different league. And also seems to think that 'Sounds' is better than 'Machine'! OK, that can be attributed to taste. Much worse are his parting words:

Depeche Mode have quite the story, quite the career, to look back on-and they can do so with
pride. Few bands of their generation survive. Of those that do, most, such as The Cure or New Order, are in semi-retirement, emerging occasionally to top up the pension fund via lucrative play-the-hits arena tours and festival headline sets. Now, this has nothing to do with taste, but rather is just embarrassingly wrong. New Order that has produced nothing but high quality in the 2000's, including the masterful 'Music Complete' in 2015 and wipes the floor with bands a third their age and Cure, who actually gets better with age (amazingly including Robert's vocals)?

The book is great, though - including all I want to know and cool pictures. I also enjoyed the format of going album by album.

[Kovacs_Laci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Számomra a Depeche Mode nem a felettem lévő nemzedék zenekarokhoz, focicsapatokhoz köthető kis „bandaháborúit” testesíti meg. Számomra a DM számai ikonikussá váltak. S mint ilyet, mintegy „ikonosztázt” fogom fel ezt az album minőségű zenekari életrajzot is. Ez egy rajongói kézikönyv, egy „biblia” az együttes munkásságának megértéséhez.

Tartalmazza a főbb életrajzi adatokat, mind a tagok, mind az albumok tekintetében. Külön meglepetésként szolgált számomra, hogy egy, -többnyire- kétoldalas tablóban ismerteti kronologikus rendben az albumokat, az összes fontos diszkográfiai adattal együtt.

Az alapvető ismereteken túl érdekes, sokszor groteszk részleteket is felvillant a tagok szakmai, és azzal szorosan egybefonódott magánéletével kapcsolatban is. Ledöbbentett, ahogyan a színpadi fellépése, és mokány beszédstílusa alapján az általam következetesnek, szilárd jellemnek ismert Dave Gahan mennyire szétesett az 1990-es években, konkrétan az 1996-os heroinista mélypontjával. De a többiek is mind esendőek voltak, mind-mind más okokból.Martin Gore alkoholista, de zseniális dalszövegíró például. Hiába szapulták a zenekritikusok, szerintem maradandóbbat alkotott, mint azok a firkászok. Konkrétan, a People are People zseniális, még ha döcögnek is a rímei. A Földön semmi sem lehet tökéletes… Jobb, ha beletörődik, aki le is akar tenni valamit arra az asztalra!

De, hogy ne csak a meghatározó élettragédiák fonák oldalát lássuk, az élet vicces színét is fel-felcsillantja Ian Gittins. Lendületes, mondjuk úgy, „újságírói” stílusa nem hallgatja el a tagok közti konfliktusokat, nem kendőzi el a személyes hiányosságaikat sem, de nyelvezetén érződik a zenekar iránti tisztelet és szeretet. Kiemeli kreatív oldalukat, a berlini indusztriális postpunk iránti rajongásukat. A srácok csak úgy vadásztak a gyári, ipari jellegű hangokra. Megkapták a szintikor ajándékát, s gigantikus mennyiségű sample-t tudtak gyűjteni, hogy sokszor zajdarabokból állítsanak elő mesés muzsikát. Egy alkalommal például alaposan bevásároltak a Hanleys játékbolt gyerekhangszereiből, s ezt bizony én is kihallom néhány gyerekxilofonos hangmintából. Cool. Nem röstelltek eljönni a vasfüggöny mögé sem, a Volán-stadionban külön, nagyon megható köszöntést kapott az akkor 24 éves Dave.

Dave, és a többiek kb. 2006-ra összeszedték magukat. Igazi, ihletett pokoljárással készültek turnéikra, albumfelvételeikre, mint addig mindig. Köszönet nekik a Strange Love-ért, köszönet a Just Can't Get Enough-ért, de megmelengette a szívemet a Wrong is, amikor kijött. Köszönet Gittins-nek, amiért korrekt krónikásként elmondja a kedves olvasóknak, miből is táplálkozik az ő „zaklatott lelkük, kutató elméjük” (p.238.), ami által annyira szerethető, annyira azonosulható minden Depeche Mode- dal. A kortársaikhoz képest herkulesi erőfeszítés áll mögöttük.

Utóirat: Elnézést kérek a követőimtől, ha hibát követtem volna el. Sajnos itt, a goodreads-en egy ideje nem tudok a rendszerüknek szerkeszteni új könyvadatlapokat, csak egy tiszteletteljes felterjesztést követően. Így, most sajnos az angol nyelvű eredetihez csatoltam az elemzésemet. Ha sok szempontból más az angol eredeti, kérem, ne haragudjatok.

[Jenna (Falling Letters) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice coffee table book. I love flipping through the photos, especially as someone who wasn't alive in the eighties, but even I had seen a lot of them before. Perhaps a good overview/introduction if you haven't read any of the other more in-depth bios from which this book draws heavily.

[Anna Ivanchenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Читала в українському перекладі. Книга класна, чудово оформлена, багато цікавих фотографій. Але переклад дуже сильно базується на англомовному синтаксисі, через це читати важко. Чергова провальна спроба почитати щось у перекладі, коротше кажучи.

[Louise Custance · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an almost life long Depeche fan, I'm loving this. There may not be a huge amount of new info, it seems to draw quite heavily on past biographies, but the photography is stunning. I like that the book is sectioned into album chronology. It gives an interesting insight into how the band were thinking/behaving at any given period in their career. I'm only up to Ultra at the time of writing and, so far, I'm not disappointed.

[Jurga · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been putting off reading this book for quite a long time on grounds that it's very unlikely I will find there something I don't already know as a Depeche Mode fan of more than 20 years and counting... well, I finally got around and read it. I have to say, it did not prove me wrong. It's a compilation of well known information, spiced up by author's personal opinions. The most attractive bit of this larger than your usual hardback, is images. Seen or not, I have soft spot for lovely quality and decent size images of the band I love. So here you have it. Refreshed my memory and enjoyed eyeing up this ultimate band again! I don't really need an excuse to do so...


P.S. what a hell is "dark-brown growl"?
Sounds foul... which I don't think was the intention?

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

La historia de mi banda favorita, desde sus inicios hasta el 2020.
Complementada con muy buenas fotos.
Éxitos, rivalidades, caida a lo mas hondo (mención especial a la época autodestructiva-heroinómana de Gahan 92-96), resurrección...
El triste fallecimiento de Andy Fletcher no está incluida al ser en el 2022.

[irma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read for Depeche Mode fans, quite a page turner once you get into it. A lot of high quality pictures too! However, I would have wished for it yo be slightly less factual and to have more of a personal touch to it, but overall a great book!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

So admittedly this is the fourth DM biography I own... but I still managed to pick up info I didn't know. A great read with some fab photos.

[David Carretero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buen repaso a la trayectoria de mi grupo favorito de siempre, muy buena edición con papel de calidad y buenas ilustraciones a color. Imprescindible para fans de los DM.

[matty creen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this bio

I bought this bio because it was the cheapest Depeche Mode biography for kindle. I learned some things. I had some thoughts.

[Trystan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. The Steve Malins biography is better - and is heavily quoted from - but this book covers the later era in more detail.

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Топ

[Paul Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I would have preferred a more word-heavy account with fewer pictures, the quality of the content in this book should not be overlooked. It avoids the pitfalls of a gushing and myopic "fan book" and instead offers an engaging and detailed look at Depeche Mode's growth and development. The author, Gittins, doesn't shy away from pointing out the odd failing, which makes for a refreshing and balanced read.

As someone who hasn't read any other books about Depeche Mode, I found much of the information in this book to be new and interesting. Overall, I would say that it's a decent and enjoyable read, and a valuable addition to any Depeche Mode fan's collection.

[Lolita Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh and more meh

None of what was written was news to any long time fans. His insistence on calling David Graham's voice a “rich brown croon” is off-putting and he tends to be far too sympathetic to the ginger b*tch, Andrew Fletcher. Nothing the band has done post Fletch forcing Alan out of the band has been good. It's all been garbage and reading the latter chapters of this just made my stomach turn. Depeche Mode effectively ended July 1st 1995 and nothing, short of Daddy coming home will resuscitate this band. Meh. Another uninspired tell all Depeche Mode book. I'd rather he wrote one about Alan Wilder instead. Nobody points out how creepy Martin is for marrying a 30 year old looking...whatever she is. I'm just so over this band, I just don't give a sh*t anymore. I don't know why I bothered buying this. Whatever. It is what it is. I read it cover to cover and now I am off to watch some Alan Wilder era Depeche Mode videos...