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Depeche Poll
When I saw this thread I had to vote. My vote was for the last one, So-So
I used to like them a lot, and I still love their albums, although Playing the Angel not as much. I will also admit that I'm somewhat of late bloomer Depeche fan b/c I didn't catch the fire until '94, after they had finished their Devotional Tour. Sadly, I missed the whole Alan Wilder era.
As much as I like their music, what really turned me off from the group was their last concert tour, Touring the Angel. I felt that their whole music arrangement & sound setup had really gone to crap. Which is too bad since these were the same group of musicians they had been touring with since '98 ('97 if you count the promo tour for Ultra). I really missed the Alan Wilder sound ('82-'95): efficient, lean, an orchestral sounding electronic arrangement that was not bombastic or stuffy, but still amazing to hear. With each tour since the Singles '98 tour, I've noticed Peter Gordeno's keyboard programming has become more over-the-top, and more excessive detracting from the songs in concert.
Martin is a great songwriter, but it was Alan Wilder's musical expertise & execution that made Depeche sound like what it is. Violator & Songs of Faith & Devotion being the 2 stand-out albums. Also this is not to say that all the work that came after Alan Wilder left was terrible. I also feel that Exciter was a really good album, almost on par with the 2 albums mentioned previously, and I very much enjoyed the Exciter Tour.
But that last tour in 2005 & 06, I felt that their arrangements sounded stale & way too retro, and in some cases a little too muddy sounding. If anyone thinks I'm being too harsh on the lads, listen to the Devotional Tour DVD & then compare that with the Touring the Angel DVD back-to-back.
Just my 2 cents. 
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Lost in TRANCELATION
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