Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Stripped
2. Question of Lust
3. Question of Time
4. Strangelove
5. Never Let Me Down Again
6. Behind the Wheel
7. Personal Jesus
8. Enjoy the Silence
9. Policy of Truth
10. World in My Eyes

Disc 2:

1. I Feel You
2. Walking in My Shoes
3. Condemnation
4. In Your Room
5. Barrel of a Gun
6. It's No Good
7. Home
8. Useless
9. Only When I Lose Myself
10. Little 15
11. Everything Counts [Live]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5145 in Music
• Released on: 1998-10-06
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com
So Depeche Mode releases a singles compilation featuring only one previously unreleased song ("Only When I Lose Myself") in anticipation of a major tour. Sound suspiciously like a shameless cash-in? Sure. But The Singles, 86-98 needed to be made. This is a worthwhile purchase for casual admirers and completists alike. The two-disc set contains revamped versions of the major singles from 1986 to 1998 and a version of "Little 15" that was first released only in France. The set's "grand finale" is the live recording of "Everything Counts," from the 101 album. Although the original studio version of the "Everything Counts" single appeared on 1984's People Are People, DM fudged the chronology to justify including this astounding live recording on the album (a ploy to psych up concert-ticket buyers?). The live recording highlights the worshipful crowd applauding, cheering, and chant-singing "The grabbing hands / Grab all they can / Everything counts in large amounts" long after the song has ended. Ka-ching! --Beth Bessmer

New Musical Express
...[T]his two-CD collection shows how the grimy alleyways of cult approval opened out into shiny stadium Valhalla, singer Dave Gahan moving from songwriter Martin Gore's personal voyeur to rock star ringleader. All along, lurking behind the dungeon door and the bedsit curtains, Depeche Mode never really enjoyed the silence. All they ever wanted was the applause.

Customer Reviews

Their Ever Changing Modes
As far as capturing the mood of the times, Depeche Mode had a perfect moment when they released "Violator." They were suddenly jerked out of their status as the band disenfranchised Goth kids moped along with to arena rock superstars. Although a few of the singles from the classic "Black Celebration" had made them alternative gods when alternative still meant you were in the alienated minority and "Music For The Masses" had already moved them to the forefront of MTV Video makers, it was songs like "Enjoy The Silence" and "Personal Jesus" that made them truly mass music makers.

This "Singles 86<98" collection is, then, a more honest representation of the music that most people "understand" as Depeche Mode. It's brooding, foreboding and seductive, and often not without the kinky undertones that you can easily find on earlier songs like "Blasphemous Rumors" or "Master and Servant." (Think of how the line "Pain, will you return it" leaps away from the hooky chorus of "Strangelove.") But once DM discovered a consistent knack for the pop hook, there was no holding their fortunes back.

The push/pull of a song like "Personal Jesus" drives the brilliant obsessive lyric home, to a point where even Johnny Cash could recognize the universality of the words. It, along with "Policy Of Truth," are probably the most honest of Martin Gore's songs on this double set. But even after the worldwide stardom granted them after "Violator," DM tried frequently to experiment with the sound.

"Songs Of Faith and Devotion" found the band flirting with guitar rock and gospel, and it's the crunch of "I Feel You" that opens the second half of "The Singles 86<98." Fans of the moodier keyboard driven DM may have been put off by this elaborate amount of experimentation (and by the fact that Alan Wilder's exit had left the group to carry on as a trio), but they would have missed the pleading beauty of "Walking in My Shoes." Which, given Dave Gahan's oncoming near death from a heroin addiction that kicked in during the "Violator" world tour, seems to make more sense. The music of "Ultra" even seemed to capture the aftermath (titles like "It's No Good," "Useless" and "Barrel of a Gun") as Martin Gore watched his partner's parade of madness, but it was also a major return to classic DM form. "Gun" in particular sounds like a descent through a numb fog, just the kind of depression obsession fans of "Black Celebration" had probably been missing. (The 2001 album "Exciter" came after this anthology, but is a cool minimalist CD worthy of your time.)

The remaining tracks, "Little 15" and "Everything Counts" are noteworthy but not exceptional. The single mix of "Little 15" was only released in France. The live version of "Everything Counts" ducks the issue of having been released in its original form before 1986 by taking the version from the "101" concert album and movie, and holds its status as an audience fave even before the days of superstardom.

Also, would it be too much to ask to get a full CD of DM's amazing bonus tracks and soundtrack selections? "Route 66," "Dangerous" "Sea of Sin," etc., deserve a better fate than to be bonus tracks on CD singles.

While I have a hard time telling anyone to just jump off a hits collection and get an individual DM album, it's still hard not to with bands that were making great whole sets. I'd certainly recommend anything from the period from "Some Great Reward" to the hit laden "Violator." Still, both of "The Singles" collections are fine places to either fill gaps or get some DM on a budget.

Not quite comprehensive
The first disc in the two disc set The Singles 86>98 effectively compiles the best songs from Black Celebration, Music for the Masses, and Violator (with a few exceptions-"Here Is the House," "But Not Tonight," "Nothing," and "Halo" are not included because they were not released as singles). The second disc covers, in my opinion, the weaker singles from DM's most recent albums: Songs of Faith & Devotion and Ultra. Oddly, "Little 15" and a live version of "Everything Counts" show up at the end of disc two on this otherwise chronologically ordered compilation. In many cases, the single versions found here are not the same as the album versions, and while most of the single versions are as good, if not better, than there corresponding album versions, the single version of "Behind the Wheel" is noticeably weaker than the version found on Music for the Masses. In addition, a couple of Depeche Mode's albums, namely Black Celebration and Violator, contain strong material throughout and I would recommend purchasing them in addition to this compilation.

Great for the casual DM fan
The Singles 86>98 covers all the hits the popular synth-pop band Depeche Mode put out during this 12 year period. Included are the radio classics "Personal Jesus", "Enjoy the Silence" and "Policy of Truth" as well as more recent material like "Home", the exclusive track "Only When I Lose Myself" and a live version of the old single "Everything Counts." It seems as though this 2CD set was compiled mainly for the casual fans of the band, such as myself, but it still does a good job laying out all of the band's top work in chronological order. That said, it seems as though maybe 2 discs are a bit unnecessary - as several tracks from the second CD don't particularly hold up quite as well as those from the first. Still, this is an excellent package that showcases some of the finest work of Gore, Gahan and Fletcher.

Highlights: "Stripped", "A Question of Lust", "Personal Jesus", "Enjoy the Silence", "Policy of Truth", "Home", "Only When I Lose Myself."