Violator (album)

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Violator
Studio album by Depeche Mode
Released	March 20, 1990
Recorded	May 1989 - February 1990
Genre	Synthpop Alternative Dance New Wave Industrial Rock
Length	47:02
Label	Mute Sire/Reprise (US/Canada)
Producer	Depeche Mode, Flood
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork Media (7.9/10) link Q Rolling Stone link
Depeche Mode chronology
101 (1989) Violator (1990) Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)

Violator is Depeche Mode's seventh full-length album, released by Mute Records on March 20, 1990.

The album is notable for propelling the band into international stardom, housing four successful singles: "Personal Jesus" (actually released six months before Violator), "Enjoy the Silence" (a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic), "Policy of Truth", and "World in My Eyes". This album is the first of the band to achieve the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 (#7) and stand 74 weeks in the chart.

Many view Violator as the third in the band's triptych of top albums and it is regarded as a watershed album in terms of both production and song quality by fans, critics and the band itself. In 2003, the album was ranked number 342 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. This came despite Rolling Stone only giving the album a two star review at the time of its release.

It was supported by the World Violation Tour.

[edit] 2006 re-release

As part of Mute's 2006 reissue schedule, Violator was re-released as a hybrid Super Audio CD + DVD-Video package on 3 April 2006 which included 2-channel and 5.1 surround mixes of all Violator album tracks. The six B-sides to the Violator singles — "Dangerous", "Memphisto", "Sibeling", "Kaleid", "Happiest Girl", and "Sea Of Sin" — also appear, albeit without the surround sound treatment. The reissue didn't reach the US till 6 June 2006. The US version lacked the hybrid SACD and instead just had a CD, but the DVD was included, and was identical to the European DVD.

A 32-minute short film entitled Depeche Mode 1989-90 (If You Wanna Use Guitars, Use Guitars) and featured interviews with the band (including Alan), Daniel Miller, Flood, François Kevorkian (who mixed the album), Anton Corbijn (who directed the music videos and did the album's photography/cover), and others. It also includes news footage from the infamous "riot" in Los Angeles which gave the band media publicity the day before Violator came out. The band were scheduled to do autographs in an LA music store, and the line reached into the 10,000's. The event had to be cancelled shortly after it began due to problems keeping the line in order. Unfortunately, the documentary lacked footage from the World Violation Tour, but did have information about it. For example, interviews regarding the soldout Dodger Stadium shows. There is also footage from Strange Too, notably clips from the music videos for "Halo" and "Clean".

A caption at the end of the film reveals Violator has sold 7.5 million copies worldwide. Today, "Violator" has sold more than 8.2 million copies.

The remastered album was released on "deluxe" vinyl 2 March 2007 in Germany and 5 March 2007 internationally.

Violator had reached #17 on the Billboard Year End chart of 1990.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Martin L. Gore.

[edit] 1990 release: Mute / Stumm 64

1. "World in My Eyes" – 4:26
2. "Sweetest Perfection" – 4:43
3. "Personal Jesus" – 4:56
4. "Halo" – 4:30
5. "Waiting for the Night" – 6:07
6. "Enjoy the Silence" – 6:12
7. "Policy of Truth" – 4:55
8. "Blue Dress" – 5:41
9. "Clean" – 5:28

• It has been said that the original title for "Waiting for the Night" was "Waiting for the Night to Fall" and that the printing for the Violator cover accidentally erased the rest of the title. Alan Wilder claims it is not true.[1] However, the band's official web site claims it is.
• The album contains two hidden tracks: "Interlude #2: Crucified" appears after "Enjoy the Silence", in which Andy Fletcher utters the title, and "Interlude #3", which comes after "Blue Dress". "Interlude #1" appeared on Music for the Masses.

[edit] 2006 re-release

Mute: DM CD 7 (CD/SACD + DVD) / CDX STUMM 64 (CD/SACD)

• Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer.
• Disc 2 is a DVD which includes Violator in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo [48 kHz/24bit] plus bonus tracks

1. "World in My Eyes" – 4:26
2. "Sweetest Perfection" – 4:43
3. "Personal Jesus" – 4:56
4. "Halo" – 4:30
5. "Waiting for the Night" – 6:07
6. "Enjoy the Silence" – 6:12
7. "Policy of Truth" – 4:55
8. "Blue Dress" – 5:41
9. "Clean" – 5:28

Bonus Tracks (in PCM Stereo [48 kHz/16bit]):

1. "Dangerous" – 4:22
2. "Memphisto" – 4:03
3. "Sibeling" – 3:18
4. "Kaleid" – 4:18
5. "Happiest Girl [Jack Mix]" – 4:58
6. "Sea Of Sin [Tonal Mix]" – 4:46

Additional Material:

1. "Depeche Mode 89-91 (If You Wanna Use Guitars, Use Guitars)" [32'28" video]

• Dave Gahan sings lead vocals on all songs except "Sweetest Perfection" (Dave Gahan can also be heard singing in last chorus) and "Blue Dress", which Martin sings. However, Gore's background vocals can be heard throughout the entire album. The interludes are instrumental.

[edit] Singles

1. "Personal Jesus" (29 August 1989)
2. "Enjoy the Silence" (5 February 1990)
3. "Policy of Truth" (7 May 1990)
4. "World in My Eyes" (17 September 1990)

[edit] Personnel

• Andrew Fletcher - keyboards, distorted vocal on "Interlude 2"
• David Gahan - lead vocals (except "Sweetest Perfection" and "Blue Dress")
• Martin Gore - keyboards, guitar, backup vocals, lead vocals ("Sweetest Perfection" and "Blue Dress")
• Alan Wilder - programming, keyboards, drums on "Clean"

• Mark Ellis “Flood” - Production.
• François Kevorkian - mixing, except track 6.
• Enjoy the Silence mixed by Daniel Miller and Flood.
• Pino Pischetola, Peter Iversen, Steve Lyon, Goh Hotoda, Alan Gregorie, Dennis Mitchell, Phil Legg - Engineering.
• Daryl Bamonte, Dick Meaney, David Browne, Mark Flannery - assistance.

[edit] External links

• Official Remaster Info