"It's Daniel Ash!  

He's whispering into the track and somehow singing at the same time. There's this ever-present echo combined with the double tracking of his voice, which makes this song such an audio masterpiece.  I feel like this song never really takes off. It just kind of cruises along. And I love that because you're expecting it to go somewhere while the rhythm keeps you on the same path the whole way through, and it's just so emotional and just draws you into its core.

And I just love that!"

"I love Situations! 

Oh yeah. It almost sounds like Depeche Mode. I mean, it could have been completely by coincidence.  Or they were just inspired by the genious of  Depeche Mode.  In any case, it just has a similar tone to it that I love so very much. How does it go?..."We get together, Nothing matters. Situations like these, I'd never like to miss." 

"It's My Life 

was their most recognizable song.  When you look at the lyric, "I asked myself, how much do you commit yourself?" It was almost like he's saying, I'm going to keep my shield up. Because it's my life and I'm not going to give it to you. And, and I kind of felt like that a lot, growing up, especially when it came to dating and relationships."

"Oh, yeah. 

Something about that song is that it's really very dark, but it's very romantic. And I just have so many memories of being on Dark Dance floors feeling hypnotized by this song.  I like playing it over and over again.  When you heard this in your teens, it completely aligns because you are just a moody asshole, you know, and feel sorry for yourself, right?  Yeah, right. The whole world's against me."

"But listen, 

I think Black Celebration is their masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.  One of my favorites is Fly on the Windscreen, which we all heard first on Catching up with Depeche Mode.  They have so many great songs, and most folks only know two or three.  Their catalog goes deep, and they produced hits all the way up until today with Memento Mori (2022).  But I just think that for me, the progression of the songs and how they beautifully flow into one another really feels like the album is telling a story.  Perhaps a dark, then hopeful one."

"Black Celebration 

is an experience from beginning to end. What I love about that album is the whole structure, which is all Alan Wilder.  They don't talk about Alan Wilder a lot. They talk about Martin; they talk about Dave. But Depeche Mode became Depeche Mode, in my view, with that album because they sounded darker, more mature, fuller, and that was due to  Alan Wilder and Martin's amazing lyrics.

But Alan really was the architect."