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— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

D. A. Pennebaker’s 1989 documentary Depeche Mode 101 chronicled Depeche Mode on the tail end of a massive world tour, culminating with their epic performance at California’s Rose Bowl Stadium in front of over 60,000 fans.

Beyond the excellent film, the documentary’s production also spawned an equally impressive live album that captures that legendary concert in striking fidelity.

Featuring every song, from start to encore, 101 spotlights the English electronic music band at the peak of their powers as they translate their synth-pop hits to the stage with flair. Mainly focused on material from their 1987 LP Music for the Masses, this recording features rearranged versions of energetic tracks like "Never Let Me Down Again," and "Stripped" alongside slower ballads such as "Somebody" and "The Things You Said".  - The Analog Vault

Depeche Mode 101 the album has always had something of a mixed reputation. It’s easy to forget now that back in the ‘80s, the generally rock-centric music press tended to be dubious of synthpop bands playing live anyway, and tended to give Depeche Mode a rough ride. The movie didn’t always fare much better; with the visual aspect of the show, the success of the whole concert rests on Dave Gahan’s shoulders, because however artfully it’s staged and however well it’s played, three guys standing at keyboards is just not much of a spectacle.

What’s less easy to forget is the simple fact that live albums usually suck anyway, unless you happened to be there or, unless, like MC5’s Kick Out the Jams, it’s the kind of performance that studios have never really managed to capture. But the reason that the Depeche Mode 101 project ended up being in large part a concert film rather than the band’s original, more ambitious vision, was because they considered live performance to one of their real strengths and therefore a safe bet – and, whatever its flaws, the album proves them right.

The setlist was a crowd-pleasing one, including almost all of the songs from Music for the Masses, plus judiciously chosen tracks from its predecessors Black Celebration, Some Great Reward and Construction Time Again, plus of course “Just Can’t Get Enough,” leaving only A Broken Frame unrepresented, which is a shame, but never mind. After the dramatic, indeed almost operatic intro of the instrumental “Pimpf,” the band launches into “Behind the Wheel” to a rapturous response, and no wonder, it’s great. — (via Spectrum Culture)

As an event, Depeche Mode's huge (attendance around 60,000) Los Angeles Rose Bowl concert in 1988 remains legendary; no single artist show had totally sold out the venue since eight years beforehand, while the film documentary done by Dylan-filmer D.A. Pennebaker based around the show clearly demonstrated fans' intense commitment to a near-decade-old band most mainstream critics continued to stupidly portray as a flash-in-the-pan synth pop effort. This start-to-final-encore record of the concert showcases a band perfectly able to carry its music from studio to stage as well as any other combo worth its salt should be able to do. Understandably focused on Music for the Masses material, the album shows Depeche experimenting with alternate arrangements at various points for live performance; big numbers like "Never Let Me Down Again," "Stripped," and "Blasphemous Rumors" pack even more of a wallop here. Slower numbers and more than a couple of ballads help to vary the hit-packed set, including a fine "Somebody" and "The Things You Said" combination sung by Martin Gore. "Pleasure Little Treasure," on record an okay B-side, becomes a monster rocker live, the type of unexpected surprise one could expect from a solid band no matter what the music. With a triumphant set of closing numbers, including magnificent takes on "Never Let Me Down Again," "Master and Servant," and the set-ending "Everything Counts," with what sounds like the entire audience singing the chorus well after the song has finally ended, 101 does far better at its task than most might have guessed. — (via AllMusic)

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Label: Mute
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 180 Gram, Gatefold
Country: US
Reissued: 2016 / Original Release: 1988
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

File under: Synthesiser