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The album was ranked number twenty on E! Online's Top 20 Albums of 2005 list and number sixty-eight on [[WOXY (FM)|WOXY]]'s Top 97 Albums of 2005.
The album was ranked number twenty on E! Online's Top 20 Albums of 2005 list and number sixty-eight on [[WOXY (FM)|WOXY]]'s Top 97 Albums of 2005.


The album is considered by numerous fans to be [[loudness war|poorly mastered]],<ref>"[http://brianstagg.co.uk/p_t_a_clipressed/ Another victim of the loudness race]" ''brianstagg.co.uk.'' 20 October 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2011</ref><ref>"[http://www.sharoma.com/loudness_war.htm The Loudness War]" ''sharoma.com.'' Retrieved 10 August 2011.</ref> relying on heavy compression to intentionally and artificially boost the output. Due to the format's inherent characteristics{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}, vinyl versions are unaffected by the perceived poor mastering of the CD versions.
The red book version of the album is considered by numerous fans to be [[loudness war|poorly mastered]],<ref>"[http://brianstagg.co.uk/p_t_a_clipressed/ Another victim of the loudness race]" ''brianstagg.co.uk.'' 20 October 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2011</ref><ref>"[http://www.sharoma.com/loudness_war.htm The Loudness War]" ''sharoma.com.'' Retrieved 10 August 2011.</ref> relying on heavy compression to intentionally and artificially boost the output, especially when compared with the vinyl version that has been mastered differently.


==Commercial performance==
==Commercial performance==

Revision as of 13:19, 18 August 2011

Untitled

Playing the Angel is the eleventh studio album by English electronic band Depeche Mode, released in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2005 by Mute Records and in the United States and Canada on 18 October by Sire Records and Reprise Records. It was supported by the Touring the Angel tour.

Overview

Playing the Angel is Depeche Mode's first album to feature Dave Gahan as co-writer.[1] He wrote the lyrics to "Suffer Well", "I Want It All" and "Nothing's Impossible", while Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott wrote the music. Gahan is the lead singer on all songs except for the instrumental "Introspectre", and Martin Gore-sung tracks "Macro" and "Damaged People". Gahan also sings backing vocals on "Macro", which was the first time he had sung backing on one of Gore's songs since Violator's "Sweetest Perfection".

The name "Playing the Angel" is taken from a lyric in the closing song "The Darkest Star". It is the fourth Depeche Mode album to get its name from a lyric in its album, the other three being Construction Time Again, Some Great Reward and Black Celebration.

The album has been called a more organic record for using more analog synths than digital ones. In addition, most of the soundscapes presented are harsher and groovier than the more mellow Exciter.

In mid-July 2005, the unfinished video for "Precious" was leaked online. It is believed to have been leaked through the website of the production team that helped make the video.

Tracks recorded during the Playing the Angel sessions that did not make the album include "Martyr", which was originally planned to be the lead single but was eventually deemed too poppy for the album and saved for The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1. Other songs include "Free", which ended up on the "Precious" single and the Japanese version of Playing the Angel.

The album was released as a Copy Controlled CD and a deluxe SACD/DVD version (CD/DVD version in the United States) which includes the album on hybrid multi-channel SACD as the main disc and a bonus DVD featuring an exclusive studio performance of "Clean" (from Violator), the video for "Precious", a photo gallery and a 5.1 mix of the album. There is also a documentary on the making of the album. All ten of the earlier Depeche Mode albums were re-released in similar format to Playing the Angel, a CD/SACD hybrid (in the US simply a remastered CD) with a DVD featuring a 5.1 mix of each album and a documentary, though Playing the Angel's documentary is far less extensive and also shorter than the classic ones.

The iTunes deluxe edition of the album has several bonuses, including another "bare" version of a Violator track, "Waiting for the Night", and the music video for "Precious". People who placed the album on pre-order were eligible to participate in a ticket pre-sale for most Touring the Angel concerts, the first time such an offer was made by iTunes and Ticketmaster.

Album art

The character on the album cover is a little creature called "Tubby Goth" (by the band) and "Mister Feathers" (by the label, the webmaster and the fans). The cover design by Anton Corbijn is a tip of the hat to a famous still photograph of The Cure's Robert Smith circa "Boys Don't Cry".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Blender[3]
Entertainment Weekly[4]
The Guardian[5]
Pitchfork Media(7.0/10)[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
Sputnikmusic[8]
Stylus Magazine(A-)[9]
The Times[10]
Yahoo! Music UK[11]

Playing the Angel received mostly positive reviews. E! Online and Entertainment Weekly gave the album high scores. Indie music website Pitchfork Media gave the album a positive review but criticized its lack of innovation. However, there are some negative reviews; Rolling Stone magazine, historically unfriendly to Depeche Mode albums, rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, lower than the score received by Exciter.

The album was ranked number twenty on E! Online's Top 20 Albums of 2005 list and number sixty-eight on WOXY's Top 97 Albums of 2005.

The red book version of the album is considered by numerous fans to be poorly mastered,[12][13] relying on heavy compression to intentionally and artificially boost the output, especially when compared with the vinyl version that has been mastered differently.

Commercial performance

Playing the Angel debuted at number six on the UK Albums Chart, while in the United States, the album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 98,000 copies, staying sixteen weeks altogether on the chart.[14] Both peak chart positions are improvements on the band's previous effort, Exciter, which charted at number nine and eight, respectively, though Exciter's US first-week sales of 115,000 units were greater.[14] It has sold 418,000 copies in the US as of November 2007.[15] According to EMI, as of January 2007, the album has sold 1.6 million copies worldwide (excluding the US and Canada).[16]

Track listing

All songs written by Martin Gore, except where noted.

  1. "A Pain That I'm Used To" – 4:11
  2. "John the Revelator" – 3:42
  3. "Suffer Well" (Dave Gahan, Christian Eigner, Andrew Phillpott) – 3:49
  4. "The Sinner in Me" – 4:56
  5. "Precious" – 4:10
  6. "Macro" – 4:03
  7. "I Want It All" (Gahan, Eigner, Phillpott) – 6:09
  8. "Nothing's Impossible" (Gahan, Eigner, Phillpott) – 4:21
  9. "Introspectre" – 1:42
  10. "Damaged People" – 3:29
  11. "Lilian" – 4:49
  12. "The Darkest Star" – 6:55

Bonus tracks

  • "Free" – 5:11 (on the Japanese version of the album)
  • "Clean (Bare)" – 3:44 (on the DVD version of the album)
  • "Waiting for the Night (Bare)" (iTunes pre-order bonus track)

Limited edition bonus DVD

  1. Playing the Angel in 5.1 and Stereo -DTS 5.1 (24bit) -Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (24bit)-PCM Stereo (24bit)
  2. Making the Angel – PCM Stereo
  3. "Precious" (Video) – PCM Stereo
  4. "Clean (Bare)" – PCM Stereo
  5. Photo gallery – candid studio photos taken by Ben Hillier at the Santa Barbara/New York/London recording sessions

UMD bonus content

  1. Making the Angel – A Short Film
  2. "Precious" (Video)
  3. "Clean (Bare)"
  4. Photo gallery

Personnel

  • Dave Gahan – lead vocals (except "Macro" and "Damaged People"), backing vocals ("Macro")
  • Andrew Fletcher – keyboards, bass guitar
  • Martin Gore – keyboards, guitar, bass guitar ("Suffer Well"), backing vocals, lead vocals ("Macro", "Damaged People")
  • Ben Hillier – producer, mixer, engineer
  • Steve Fitzmaurice – mixer
  • Dave McCracken – keyboards, programming, piano on "The Darkest Star" (miscredited to "I Want it All" in booklet)
  • Richard Morris – programming, engineer
  • Christian Eigner – drums, programming ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All" and "Nothing's Impossible")
  • Andrew Phillpott – programming ("Suffer Well", "I Want It All" and "Nothing's Impossible")

Charts

References

  1. ^ Quan, Denise. "A Sobering Interview with Depeche Mode". CNN.com. May 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Kellman, Andy. Playing the Angel at AllMusic. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Playing The Angel review". Blender (November 2005): 130.[dead link‍]
  4. ^ Fiore, Raymond (21 October 2005). "Music Review Playing The Angel (2005) Depeche Mode". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Caroline (14 October 2005). "Pop CD Depeche Mode, Playing The Angel". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  6. ^ Abebe, Mitsuh (19 October 2005). "Depeche Mode: Playing The Angel". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  7. ^ Edwards, Gavin (20 October 2005). "Playing The Angel by Depeche Mode". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  8. ^ "Depeche Mode: Playing The Angel (album review)". Sputnikmusic. 25 February 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  9. ^ Parrish, Peter (15 November 2005). "Depeche Mode, Playing The Angel Review". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  10. ^ "Depeche Mode: Playing the Angel review". The Times. 15 October 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  11. ^ O'Connell, Sharon (18 October 2005). "Depeche Mode – Playing The Angel". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  12. ^ "Another victim of the loudness race" brianstagg.co.uk. 20 October 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2011
  13. ^ "The Loudness War" sharoma.com. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  14. ^ a b Whitmire, Margo (October 26, 2005). "Simpson Strikes Back: Ashlee Scores 2nd No. 1". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
  15. ^ Caulfield, Keith (16 November 2007). "Ask Billboard: Tick, Tick, Tick". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  16. ^ Cashmere, Paul (13 January 2007). "EMI Share Price Drops On Restructure Announcement". Undercover.fm. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
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  29. ^ "Top 40 album- és válogatáslemez-lista – 2005. 43. hét" (in Hungarian). Mahasz. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
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  33. ^ a b "Top 100 Album 2005" (PDF) (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
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  35. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży". OLiS. 24 October 2005. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
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  40. ^ "Chart Stats – Gwen Stefani – Playing The Angel". The Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  41. ^ "Argentinian album certifications – Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
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  43. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel". Music Canada. 23 November 2005.
  44. ^ Bahner, Yvonne; Bay, Jesper (12 December 2005). "Platin til The Four Jacks" (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. Pladebranchen.NU. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
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  47. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Depeche Mode; 'Playing the Angel')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  48. ^ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2005" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  49. ^ "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. 9 June 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2011. Type Depeche Mode in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Playing the Angel in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.
  50. ^ Expression error: Unexpected <= operator
  51. ^ "Portuguese album certifications – Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Retrieved 27 July 2011. {{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
  52. ^ "Russian album certifications – Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel" (in Russian). National Federation of Phonogram Producers (NFPF).
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  55. ^ id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
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