Speak & Spell (album)

Speak & Spell is the debut studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released on 29 October 1981 by Mute Records in the UK, and Sire Records in the US. It was the band's only album to feature founding member Vince Clarke.

The album peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, and was ranked number 991 in the 2000 book All Time Top 1000 Albums.

Band formation and first singles

Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher had joined to form a band called "Composition of Sound" and saw Martin Gore play his Moog Prodigy synthesizer at a show at a local pub, after which the three joined up and turned Composition of Sound into an all-synth band, switching partly due to the cheap cost and convenience of the devices. Said Clarke, "Here was an instrument that didn't need its own amp – you could just plug it into the PA", and for local shows, the band would often carry their keyboards, the only equipment required, under their arms to the venue.

thumb|left|Depeche Mode in 1981; Speak & Spell was the band's only album with original songwriter Vince Clarke, pictured in the bottom-left.|alt=A four-panel black and white picture of young men posing in front of a wall with the silhouette drawn behind each one. The young white men, with their arms stretched out dramatically, wear then-fashionable button-down collared shirts and ties, suspenders and hats.

Together they played their first live show on 30 May 1980 in Basildon, UK. At their first show, Clarke was the singer for the band, but he felt that the band needed a front man to make their show more interesting, as Clarke was always standing behind his keyboard. The band auditioned several people to be their singer and selected Dave Gahan, and the band's next show on 14 June 1980 was the first with all four members performing. Said Gore of hiring Gahan, "It wasn't as if he was a total stranger. In fact, we've all known each other since schooldays. It’s much better that way. You can't possibly get on as well with newcomers who've been fixed up from adverts in the music press." They changed the name of their band to "Depeche Mode" after a few shows, and by August they had a regular gig booked at a club named Croc's in Rayleigh, Essex, which they played at, amidst other live shows in the UK, for the rest of the year until a New Year's show on 3 January 1981. Gahan claimed that they were the first band to play at Croc's, saying "The resident DJ, Rusty Egan, liked us and so we then got a spot on one of the Thursday nights he was running at the venue." was included on Some Bizarre Album (1981).

Depeche Mode's first official single, "Dreaming of Me", was released on 20 February 1981. The band took a few months to tour before returning to the studio in May 1981 to record their second single, "New Life", and its B-side, "Shout!", which was released on 13 June. The band was invited to perform "New Life" on BBC's Top of the Pops (TOTP) after the song climbed to number 11 on the UK charts. After the TOTP performance, the band started to record the rest of Speak & Spells tracks at Blackwing Studios in London.

Joining Mute Records

The band searched for a label, but was turned down repeatedly until they were referred to Daniel Miller, who had started his own label, Mute Records. Miller said of the first time he heard Depeche Mode play live, "Fad Gadget had just finished a sound check and normally I would have gone off with them, but for some reason I stayed behind and watched this group who looked like a dodgy New Romantic band. I hated the New Romantics but what came out of the speakers was incredible. I thought, 'Well, everybody plays a good song first' – but it just got better and better." Gahan later said that the band joined the Mute record label after being offered a "50/50 split, which meant we would have to pay half of all our bills, but we'd get half the profits", although Gore clarified in 1989 that the band actually got 75% of the profits in Europe, due to licensing deals. The band had entertained offers from other labels such as CBS Records, Island Records and Phonogram, but dismissed them when they realized, according to Gahan, that the labels "didn't seem bothered about records or anything, they just wanted to add our name to their roster." Gahan also said the band avoided the offers from labels with advances, because they'd have to pay that money back. Fletcher clarified that "We went for points, percentage of the profits, there's no way a major [label] would have given us the points deal we've got with Mute. We had to go for the first two years without much money, because we didn't get a huge advance." One song that the band performed live, "Television Set", was co-written by Gore and a friend of the band, and the band likely did not record the song for inclusion on the album to avoid having to pay royalties to the co-writer. Of the songs that were recorded for the album, Clarke wrote most, with Gore contributing two tracks. Miller and the band tested the final mix of the album by putting the album on cassette tape, getting in sound engineer Eric Radcliffe's car and listening to the album there, figuring that if it sounded good in the car it would sound good on any quality hi-fi system.

Lyrically, Clarke was not concerned about the meanings of his songs, saying "There were no messages in the songs at all – nothing!" He elaborated, saying "I like the sound of words, and the way words fit together and rhyme – things like that. Or the way they sound coming from my mouth. The sound of words rather than the meaning of words. For instance, when I write a phrase or something, I think about how easy it is to sing, to fit in with the melody. ... I can't write like Simon & Garfunkel. I wish I could in some ways, but I can't, so when I write lyrics I just use words as words. I don't really write about anything." Gore said in an interview, that the lyrics are odd because "they don't mean anything. He [Clarke] looks for a melody, then finds words that rhyme."

Title

Miller suggested the name for the band after the Speak & Spell toy, which had recently become available in the UK. The name was meant to indicate "a band taking its first steps", a nod to the toy's target audience of children.

Album cover

The album's cover, a "puzzling" picture of a swan wrapped in plastic, was designed by Brian Griffin and earned him a "brazingly inflated" £1000 fee (about £ today). The band had agreed to not show their faces on their album cover, wanting the quality of the artwork to reflect their seriousness as musicians. Griffin would go on to shoot the cover artwork for the rest of Depeche Mode's early- to mid-1980's albums, including A Broken Frame (1982), Construction Time Again (1983), People Are People (1984), and Some Great Reward (1984).

Release and promotion

In May 1981, the band's relationship with Stevo Pearce of the Some Bizarre project had soured. They were advertised, but not invited, to play at a live Some Bizarre concert. Said Gahan, "We didn't play the Bizarre evening here at the Lyceum. We were never even approached to play it. It was only when we were advertised that we knew anything about it. We had no intention of doing it at all." and on 25 July, the band performed their first-ever show outside of England at the Parkpop Festival in The Hague, Netherlands.

In late August/early September 1981, the band performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts's "Rock Week" alongside The Chefs and Tarzan 5, earning praise in a NME magazine review that said "Depeche [Mode] are danceable, electric, earnest and endearing, young, glowing and sweet, they’ve got more poise than pose, and they’re proud to appeal to all." Accompanying the NME story was a photograph of the band by Anton Corbijn, who went on to help define the band's look in the late 1980's and after, although the picture he took of the band that day bothered Gahan, who was shot out-of-focus from the rest of the band. The second single from the album, and the band's third overall, "Just Can't Get Enough", was released in September 1981 and earned the band another invitation to perform on TOTP after that single went to number 8 in the UK.

Miller entered discussions with Sire Records to release the album in the US; Seymour Stein, CEO of Sire Records, caught one of Depeche Mode's early shows and was enthused by their live presence, saying "Depeche Mode were the first of those [early synth] bands that were so fucking great live, that it was just amazing."|width=25em|align=right|style=padding:8px;

The October issue of Flexipop magazine included an insert of the album track "I Sometimes Wish I was Dead" as a promotional push for the impending record's release. Pre-orders for the album reached 80,000 to 100,000 nine days before the album was to be made available. Mute Records released Speak & Spell in the UK on 29 October 1981 with catalogue number STUMM5, by Intercord Records in West Germany, and on Dischi Ricordi in Italy with catalogue number MUT10384. In the US, the album was released on 11 November by Sire Records with catalogue number SRK 3642. The original UK release of the album included the track "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead"; international releases replaced that track with Depeche Mode's first single, "Dreaming of Me". Initial pressings of the Intercord release, with catalogue number INT 146.801, included an Iron-on patch and the back cover featured pictures of all the members of the band. Early pressings of the album in Yugoslavia were missing "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" unintentionally, and those early copies turned into collector's items.

There were several promotional releases in various countries of Speak & Spells tracks: In West Germany, Intercord Records included "New Life" on their Wave News (1981) sampler (catalogue number INT 145.057), and "Big Muff" and "Just Can't Get Enough" saw 7" promotional releases in the US via Sire Records (catalogue numbers PRO-A-1025 and PRO-A-999, respectively). In Canada, Warner Music Group released "Dreaming of Me" as a 7" promo with "Any Second Now (Voices)" as its B-side (catalogue number PRO 0610), and "Just Can't Get Enough" with "Tora! Tora! Tora!" as its B-side (catalogue number PRO 50029) in January 1982. In addition, in Canada, "Dreaming of Me" also appeared on Warner's promotional WEA Sampler released in early 1982 with catalogue number SAM 6. In Japan, Warner-Pioneer released "Just Can't Get Enough" on 7" promotional vinyl with catalogue number P-1662.

Tour and Clarke's departure

In support of the album, the band participated in press interviews with a variety of UK and European magazines, including Smash Hits and Daily Star. An interview with the latter went badly for Clarke, when he was misquoted, which started a rift between him and the rest of the band, who continued with interviews and did not care about how the press covered (or mis-covered) the band. An interview in late October 1981 with rest of the band by Record Mirror noted Clarke's absence, saying his absence was "conspicuous... He's still smarting from an obvious trap he walked into when being interviewed by the sensational Daily Star. And won't talk to the Press anymore. This was some time ago and his colleagues feel it's time he bucked up." When an interviewer for Melody Maker managed to catch Clarke for a question in November 1981, he demurred, leaving the interviewer to say "[Clarke] is seemingly less interested in talking about music than doing it." By the time the European leg of the Speak & Spell Tour was about to start, Clarke and the rest of the band were barely on speaking terms. The rift between Clarke and the rest of the band continued to grow; Gore, Gahan and Fletcher later recalled that at one point, Clarke had brought demos of new songs he wanted to record to them which they rejected. Internally, the band worked as a democracy and split profits equally among all the members of the band. As a result, by the time the album was released in October, Clarke wanted to leave the band. Fletcher said "the general atmosphere [within the band] had been getting really bad. It was like us three, and Vince on his own. He just felt that we were becoming public property, he didn't like what was happening to Depeche Mode, didn't like being famous and didn't like touring." A few years later, Gore suggested that Clarke may have left because he wanted to work in a band where he had more creative control. calling any other excuse that Clarke supposedly offered "bullshit."

| rev2 = Pitchfork

| rev2score = 7.5/10

| rev3 = Record Mirror

| rev3score =

| rev4 = Rolling Stone

| rev4score =

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5score =

| rev6 = Smash Hits

| rev6score = 7/10

| rev7 = Sounds

| rev7score =

| rev8 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev8score = 7/10

| rev9 = Uncut

| rev9score =

| rev10 = The Village Voice

| rev10score = C+

Upon its release, Speak & Spell received generally positive reception from critics. Record Mirror praised Depeche Mode's smart simplicity and noted the album offers "much to admire and little to disappoint." Reviewer Sunie commented that the band's chief skill "lies in making their art sound artless; simple synthesiser melodies, Gahan's tuneful but undramatic singing and a matter-of-fact, gimmick-free production all help achieve this unforced effect." As a whole she describes it as "a charming, cheeky collection of compulsive dance tunes".

Paul Colbert of Melody Maker felt that Depeche Mode speak with "a winning immediacy" and called the album "a wriggling giant of motivation, persuading each muscle to jump in time with the music", while at the same time criticising the presence of certain tracks such as "Nodisco" that "repeat earlier thoughts and feels without adding fresh views." Rob White, writing for the Christchurch Press, was less positive, calling the music on Speak & Spell "instant pop, instantly disposable, as precious as the gladwrapped swan on the... cover", remarking that the songs "would actually blow away in the wind... if it wasn't for their ability to chance upon melody hooks that drag you along without any real protest" and ultimately calling the album "tedious". The Village Voices Robert Christgau dismissed the bulk of the album as "tuneful pap" that "crosses Meco (without the humble functionalism), Gary Numan (without the devotion to surface), and Kraftwerk (without the humor—oh, definitely without the humor)."

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Ned Raggett described Speak & Spell as "at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a groundbreaking release", as well as "an undiluted joy". "Boys Say Go!" was played as the final encore of the band's Black Celebration tour in 1986, and "Photographic" was played on the band's 1984 Some Great Reward tour and again in 2006 as part of the band's Touring the Angel tour.

The band themselves disliked some of the album; in 1990, Gore lamented parts of the album, saying, "I regret all that sickly boy-next-door stuff of the early days." When interviewed by Simon Amstell for Channel 4's Popworld program in 2005, both Gore and Fletcher stated that the track "What's Your Name?" was their least favourite Depeche Mode song of all time, although Gore has also named "People Are People" and "It's Called a Heart" as his least favorite Depeche Mode songs in other interviews.

In 2025, Radio X included the album in its list of "The 25 best indie debut albums of the 1980s".

The album was remastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 2006 as both a standard CD and a deluxe CD/SACD+DVD edition; in the UK the album was re-released on 3 April 2006 and in the United States, the album re-released on 2 June 2006.

Track listing

Original UK and European LP (1981) and CD (1984) releases

Original US LP (1981) and CD (1987) releases

2006 Collectors Edition CD + DVD

Disc one is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer.
Disc two is a DVD which includes Speak & Spell in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo plus bonus material.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Speak & Spell.

Depeche Mode – synthetics, voices, production
Vince Clarke
Andy Fletcher
Dave Gahan
Martin Gore
Daniel Miller – production
Eric Radcliffe – engineering
John Fryer – engineering
Brian Griffin – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ 1981–1982 weekly chart performance for Speak & Spell

! scope="col"| Chart (1981–1982)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| 28

! scope="row"| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)

| 26

! scope="row"| UK Independent Albums (MRIB)

| 1

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+ 2006 weekly chart performance for Speak & Spell

! scope="col"| Chart (2006)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Year-end chart performance for Speak & Spell

! scope="col"| Chart (1982)

! scope="col"| Position

! scope="row"| UK Albums (BMRB)

| 77

Certifications

Notes

References

Works cited

External links

Album information from the official Depeche Mode website
Official remaster info