i don't think depeche mode have ever made a truly terrible record (okay well, i'll just cover my ears and pretend songs of faith and devotion live never happened).
but ultra and exciter were kinda clunkers overall. playing the angel is an improvement, a step in the right direction if you will. i just think they haven't figured out what to do musically since alan left. martin may be the songwriter, but alan really took what martin did and transformed the songs into masterpieces or whatever (masterpiece sounds so overly dramatic but i can't think of another word to use) so there's really a crucial element missing now.
fletch isn't really much of a musician and david doesn't play any instruments so you're really just left with martin so it wouldn't surprise me if they've got other musicians working on the album as well.
so...yeah. there's my two cents.
but ultra and exciter were kinda clunkers overall. playing the angel is an improvement, a step in the right direction if you will. i just think they haven't figured out what to do musically since alan left. martin may be the songwriter, but alan really took what martin did and transformed the songs into masterpieces or whatever (masterpiece sounds so overly dramatic but i can't think of another word to use) so there's really a crucial element missing now.
fletch isn't really much of a musician and david doesn't play any instruments so you're really just left with martin so it wouldn't surprise me if they've got other musicians working on the album as well.
so...yeah. there's my two cents.