Customer Reviews

Ultra

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First of all, I am a very avid fan of both Depeche Mode and Alan Wilder (as in his work both in DM and Recoil), so do not make the assumption that I am not aware of Wilder's contributions to DM's repertoire in the past. I find him to be an impressive musical talent without whom DM probably could not have survived. But now both Wilder and the band have progressed to the point where they can now do things beyond anything they did together. Second of all, this album is perhaps the most musically mature DM have ever been, even including their previous two albums "Violator" and "Songs of Faith and Devotion." "Ultra" is the best album DM have ever produced. Between Martin Gore's intelligent and thoughtful songwriting, and David Gahan's soulful vocals (with some help from Martin on a few songs), this collection of songs is the album that got me into Depeche Mode and to this day remains my favorite.

-"Barrel of a Gun": The opening track is perhaps the most edgy, and ranks up there with songs like "I Feel You," and "Rush." The guitars are very raw and the rhythm is very pulsing. This song is the kind of song to bang your head to in a goth club. The vocals punchy and aggressive, this is one of DM's best singles.

-"The Love Thieves": Now this is a very sad and kinda jazzy song. It was featured in the TV show "La Femme Nikita" and was used very expertly to portray a brooding character. Very appropriate, and the song just fits those moods of sad solitude. The kind of song to listen to after a bitter breakup. It's sadness is the type that just might uplift your spirits...

-"Home": Beautiful is all I have to say about this song. Martin's vocals are great, and the use of a string quartet to close out the song adds that lovely ambience. A very pleasant and beautiful song.

-"It's No Good": The breakthrough single. When I first heard this song, I at first thought DM was some brand new band with that Zoo-TV image that U2 cultivate in the early '90's. Not too far off, except this song revels in its dancehall beats and sonic darkness. This is the song that started my obssession with DM, and it will forever remain my second favorite song by them (next to "Enjoy the Silence").

-"Useless": Tin Simenon's influence can be heard especially on this track, as it is very reminiscent of Curve, another band Tim has worked with. A great song.

-"Sister of Night": Now this song is a guilty pleasure. It is perhaps Gahan's best vocal performance on the album, and ironically it is the last song he ever performed while still under the influence of drugs. While it is wonderful that his much publicized bout with heroin is over after this song, there is still something to be said about the passion in his voice on this song.

-"Freestate": Another favorite of mine. The guitars are very edgy, and the use of acoustic slide is just impressive. A very underrated song that should've been a single.

-"The Bottom Line": Gore's other vocal on the album, and probably the closest DM will ever get to recording a country song, and it's still based in their distinguishably gothic synthesized style. A qunadary of a song, but still worthy of DM's talents.

-"Insight": The return of that gospel sound that made "Condemnation" and "Get Right With Me" great, trimmed down to an inspirational closer that ends the album on an upnote towards DM's future without Wilder, without Gahan's drug problems, and without the obstacles of arrogant youth. Only the clear road of musical excellence and mature progression.

The instrumental breaks, "Uselink," "Jazz Thieves," and the hidden track, "Junior Painkiller" (which can be heard in it's full version as the B-side to "Barrel of a Gun") are reminiscent of the interludes from "Violator," but with that atmosphere that surrounds this album with musical passion. "Ultra" is without a doubt the best album DM have ever released, both in terms of the songs, the music, and the band itself. This album is one of the best ever produced...period. To those who miss Alan Wilder...listen to Recoil's albums...they're also great, but don't think he made DM what it was. DM was a combination of people, and when one person leaves, they readjust the combination into something else...and that something else is this jewel of an album. "Ultra" Cool!

Quite simply, this is one of the best albums ever made. You'd have to be crazy to love Depeche Mode and not think this album is one of the pinnacles of their career. This album is as good in every way as Violator - if not better. There isn't one bad track. As with all their albums, there is such a plethora of moods and sounds throughout, yet it all contains a subtle dark quality that no one pulls off quite like DM. This has remained one of my favorite all-time CDs since its release. Three of the absolute best songs ever made appear here: "Home," "Useless," and the much underrated "Freestate." "Home" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written, giving me tingles still today with its breathtaking chorus, and is Martin's best vocal performance to date. "Useless" is just brilliant, with trippy synths, great guitar work, and great lyrics. "Freestate" is one of the most unique DM songs ever, using slide guitar, a sweeping intro that induces images of a lonely desert highway, a kickin' electronic beat, and some of the best lyrics to ever grace a song (I could almost swear it was written just for me). If you can't get past the lack of Alan Wilder or the goth look Dave was sporting during this album, then you truly are missing out on a true masterpiece. This album has helped me convert many many friends into DM fans. I couldn't live without it.

I'll admit that I hated this when it first came out. In fact, I hated it for many years. I hated it until Playing the Angel came out and I was able to put this release in context. I suppose Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion are to blame. Ultra is a lot like the cigarette after sex. The excitement was over after Songs of Faith and Devotion. Wow, those are a couple of intense albums. It's easy to dismiss Ultra as the also-ran for Depeche Mode.

The fact is, though, that after listening to this again and again, something occurs to you. Depeche Mode had moved on and perhaps you hadn't yet. It's hard to let go of the past, especially with music. We tend to want to cement ourselves into an era that we truly enjoyed. That doesn't mean that we should dismiss the future. After Alan Wilder's departure and Dave's well documented battle with drugs, Depeche Mode got themselves back up and moved on. This album proves that they had what it takes to provide music that matters.

When I first heard Barrel of a gun, my reaction was "Cool. This album is going to continue where SoFaD left off". I was then sadly disappointed when I found it was the only track that had that edgy, angst-ridden feel to it. The rest just bored me. Since then I've come to appreciate Ultra for what it is. Depeche Mode had continued to reinvent themselves.

There are several interesting pieces that prove DM's continued relevance. Check out Home, It's No Good, Useless and The Bottom Line for some Depeche Mode that could easily be called as classic as tunes like Halo, Sometimes, and the others we all love.

I can't bring myself to give this album the five stars that so many others have. It's certainly not their best work, but it is DM and so far, that's more than enough.

If you're a casual fan or somebody who is interested in getting their feet wet, I'd recommend Violator, Black Celebration, or perhaps Some Great Reward for some older material. However, anyone who considers themselves a fan should most definitely own Ultra.

Since first hearing Violator last year, I've purchased several DM albums but always concluded that Violator was their best, along with their earlier pre-Black Celebration material. I held off buying "Ultra" thinking I'd be disappointed with the direction they'd taken their music in. However, upon seeing it going cheap in a bargain bin, I had to get it just to see what it was like, fully expecting to hate it. To my surprise, I didn't hate it. . .I loved it. As with Violator, I had to listen a few times to really appreciate all the songs, but after doing so I'd have to say this ranks right up there with Violator. "Home" is the best cut, followed closely by "The Bottom Line" and "Insight". The singles, "Barrel of a Gun" and "It's No Good" are next best. The rest of the songs fill out the album, but I feel if any of them were removed it would detract from the listening experience.

If you're still stuck in DM's past as I was, give "Ultra" a listen and instead of looking back, you'll be looking forward to their next album.

...I feel that this is the best Depeche Mode album to date. The first time I heard "Home" on the radio, I was glad I was at a stop light, for I cried at the raw beauty and emotion of the song. I had never cried to a song before. I went directly to the nearest music store and plunked down the $20 for the CD without hearing any other track (which is unheard of for me since my rule is I must know at least three songs before I will buy a CD). I listened to the whole thing on the way home, going the long way so I could heard the whole thing unbroken. The entire album is a lush work of perfection by Gahan and Co. The lyrics really touched a spot inside me since I, at the time, was going through a very rough patch in my life.

I must say that "Home" remains my favorite work on the entire album, but "Sister of Night" is a very close second. "Barrel of a Gun" is like someone reached inside my mind and wrote down exactly what I wanted to say to the person that was hurting me at the time. "Freestate" urged me to just let go of my pain and hurt, assuring me that someone out there had felt what I was feeling (Martin had to write the lyrics, and if not from experience, then what??). "Insight" could have been written by me.

Years later, "Home" would be the first song I danced to with my new husband at our wedding. No one really understood why we had not chosen a "typical" love song, but the lyrics were deeply pesonal to me and my husband (he is a DM fan as well, and his feelings mirror mine about this album).

In short, "Ultra" has yet to be topped on my list of favorite albums, and let's just say that I am not really looking too hard for a replacement. I get a lump in my throat from the first note to the last, but that's a good thing, I promise.

Depeche Mode nearly fell apart after the gargantuan Devotional tour was finally completed. Dave Gahan was clinically dead for a few minutes and Alan Wilder had left to pursue his own project, Recoil. Once Martin, Dave, and Andy resurfaced to take a stab in the recording studio, their goal was not to make another Violator; it was just to put down a few tracks and nurture the band back to health. It wasn't time for another party album followed by another exhausting tour. It was time to just heal by doing something low-key and taking it easy for a while. And that's why Ultra sounds the way it sounds.

With this perspective in mind, Ultra is as good an album as we could have expected from Depeche Mode in 1997, and is in some ways pleasantly surprising. The first single, "Barrel of a Gun," is actually nothing like the rest of the album. It's got a beat like an automated stapler and a funky guitar riff pulled from hell's own orchestra. Not DM's best song by any means, but it's catchy and it hits hard. Other aggro offerings include: "Useless," a very moody, bluesy, beat-up number well-suited to Dave's post-recovery voice; and "It's No Good," which might just be the greatest stalker anthem of all time (perhaps second only to The Police's "Every Breath You Take"). I was shocked to hear an ex-girlfriend's younger sister and her friends singing along when I played "It's No Good" in the car, but I guess this is just evidence that DM are not dead yet.

The remaining tracks are much more subdued and introspective in nature. Many of the songs on Ultra deal with Dave's drug problems, but "Sister of Night" probably handles the issue with the most heart and sensitivity. "Freestate" is a mellow, optimistic song with a closing guitar solo reminiscent of The Cure. This song and its kin "Insight" are the most upbeat songs DM had written in over a decade; perhaps you can only be a sad sallow goth for a finite amount of time. "The Love Thieves" is the most narrative song on the album, depicting the kind of woman with more followers than she can count. A song rich both in wisdom derived from experience and in sympathy for the smitten. Finally, Martin's vocal performances in "Home" and "The Bottom Line" stand shoulder to shoulder with anything he's done in the past, yet keep in line with the mature, languid feel of the album as a whole.

Ultra is not an album that even a DM fan will instantly love. It takes some time to win the listener over. That Depeche Mode actually managed to put together an album at this stage of their career is miraculous enough; that they managed to put together a different yet GOOD album is just gravy on top of that. Four stars for an album that is not the best in the DM library, but still gets better with age.

Ultra is not a bad album; in fact it does contain some good songs. But as a Depeche album is a bit weak; except for 2 songs, the rest are all ballads; most of them are ok, some are excellent (Sister of Night, Home), but they are too many for the same album; The sounds used in this work reveal Wilder's absence, as they are much too simple; I don't abhor guitars as many fans do, but some guitars are out of place, such as the country guitar on 'Freestate'. The album stmes fall in a lack of ideas which make it a good album, but not one of Depeche's best ones. What I've already listened from the new 'Exciter' album makes me hope for more diversion and inspiration. I think 'Ultra' lacked creativity; too many ballads, and the real hits weren't comparable to older hits such as 'Behind the Wheel' or 'Walking in my Shoes'; Best songs: 'Sister of Night', 'Home'; furthermore, there're some fillers, instrumental songs which add absolutely nothing relevant to the album and only make it longer and worse.

Ultra is the Depeche Mode album that almost never got made. After the Devotional tour, front-man Dave Gahan slipped further into a drug addiction that would almost cost him his life -- the singer flat-lined after a drugs overdose; Fletch suffered a nervous breakdown; and the band's talented musician and in-house producer, Alan Wilder quit after bitter feuds and disagreements -- a loss that is still heavily felt by many fans.

In 1996 the band reluctantly entered the studio with producer Tim Simenon to work on their 9th album. For many fans as well as for the band this was an uncertain period. A year later however many fears were to be silenced.

Ultra is a decent enough album, especially considering the circumstances leading up to its recording. It sees a return of the electronic sound more associated with the band after dark blues rock of Songs of Faith and Devotion. It would be erroneous however to say that this album doesn't suffer from its share of filler; the two interludes Uselink and Jazz Thieves for instance are totally superfluous and demonstrate song writer Gore's laziness more than anything else.

The edgy Barrel of a Gun proved to be a satisfying lead off single. Gahan's voice here sounds suitably strained while delivering such self-pitying, self-deprecating lines as "Do you mean this horny creep/Set upon weary feet/Who looks in need of sleep/That doesn't come". Listening to this song one can't help but wonder how close these sentiments may have been to those of the battered and jaded singer. It has also been suggested that the sibling in Sister of Night -- another strong track -- is actually a reference to drugs and Gahan's decline.

It's No Good, the strongest single from this album, sees Depeche Mode on classic electro-pop form. This still remains a favourite track today.

A Depeche Mode album would not be complete without a couple of Gore led songs, this time the tracks are Home and The Bottom Line. The former a single and the latter has its moments, but is nothing to write home about.

After the purgatory of Barrel of a Gun, the accusations of Useless, and the resignations of Sister of Night, the album closes with a feeling of new found freedom and emotional liberation. In the country tinged Freestate Gahan advises: "Let yourself go/Let your spirit grow", and declaring in Insight that "...the spirit of love/Is rising within me".

Perhaps not quite the glorious phoenix some would have hoped for, this album however did see the band rise from ashes to produce a very worthwhile and listen-able album that, so far, is standing the test of time. Not bad for an album that almost never got made and with a front-man who died.

By the time Brit-pop came to its end, and a new wave of teen groups took hold of the world, Depeche Mode was born again, as a phoenix which rises from its own ashes.
1997 was the come-back year for big bands such as INXS and U2, but their efforts were not even a bit close to Depeche Mode's Ultra.
U2 showed they were only made to commercialize their image and play guitars while INXS demonstrated they were only an 80's band.
Depeche Mode gave us another surprise. After the hugely successful Violator, we were given a soul-rock album, something nobody thought they were capable of, and Ultra, the follow-up to Songs of Faith and Devotion, is the perfect mixture of strings and keyboards.
The album is made of a wide variety of musical styles, from the synth-pop of "It's no good" to the US- western of "Freestate", from the rock of "Useless" to the soft ballad in "Insight".
The vocalization reaches a zenith with Martin Gore in "Home", a wonderful ballad with splendid lyrics and a powerful production, and though Dave's vocal are not at its best, he still pleases us with good performances like "Insight" or "Useless".
The lyrics tell us about tears, longing, patience and even hope, in the intelligent way Depeche Mode has accustomed us for a long time.
The production is excellent, and maybe the only weak point of the album is that there are many musicians, showing that the departure of Alan Wilder left an empty space very difficult to cover.
In Ultra, we find one of the best albums ever made. An elegant album that is probably the most accessible in the entire discography of these Basildon musicians, though most of the credits go to an album released the same year, the "OK Computer" of Radiohead. Obviously, the fact of not being a rock band makes Depeche Mode less important than the Oxford kids, but almost ten years after, Depeche Mode continues offering excellent albums and being one of the most successful and popular acts in the history of music, demonstrating their quality and influence go beyond musical genres and musical tastes.
As a personal experience, this is my favourite album from all I own and have heard. It's above The Beatles' White Album or the Sundays' Reading Writing and Arithmetic. It remembers me a lot my first year in High school and many things that almost make me cry, it occupies an important part in my life and heart, but despite I have all the albums of Depeche Mode, this is by far my favourite. Even my father likes to play it, and that's really strange, for he loves music of the 60's.
I highly recommend this album to everyone, those interested in good music, in learning about Depeche Mode, or just looking for a different and elegant album.

I loved this album, after feeling a little disapointed with the previous album - Songs of Faith and devotion (Which seemed the right way to go at the time), there was quite a wait for anything else from them. The first single released - Barrel of a Gun was really something different and new, and I was impressed. But when the album was released I was gobsmacked! Songs like Useless, Freestate and Home really show you what they are capable of.

For any DM fan, or otherwise, this album is a MUST BUY. I only hope after the release of Only 'when I loose myself' that this won't be their final album