Julian Lennon has shared a cool and captivating video for his new single "Borrowed Love" the first cut from his upcoming new EP due late 2026, the video is based on a concept by Lennon featuring visuals by artist Caitly Grabenstein, the piece stands by incorporating over 100 collage artwork by the artist over a ten year period, the song is soft and nive with a message about the current times, many people around the world feeling this way.
Released on 29 October 1981 "Speak And Spell" was the debut studio album by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was the band's only album to feature founding member Vince Clarke. The album spawned the singles "Dreaming Of Me", "New Life", & "Just Can't Get Enough".
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.
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." 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. They officially changed the name of their band to "Depeche Mode" at Gahan's behest, who saw a French fashion magazine of that name; their first show under the new name was played on 29 October 1980 at a show at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London's Soho neighborhood.
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." Due to Gore's and Fletcher's work and Gahan's university commitments, the band occasionally had to turn down live show opportunities when their daily schedules interfered.
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 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.
According to Daniel Miller, who co-produced Speak & Spell with the band, it was a collection of songs the band had been playing live over the past year, plus a few new songs, although some songs from their live act did not make it on the record. 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. Gahan recalled that, despite being all-synth, they used them traditionally in their songs, with a lead line, a bass line and a rhythm line.
Clarke was the only member of the band without a job during this time, so he and Miller would work on the album during the day, and the others would show up later after they were done with work. Miller brought an analog ARP 2600 synthesizer and sequencer into the studio to record. The studio only had an 8-track system, so the album was essentially recorded live, with little overdubs. Said Miller, "I would capture, as best I could, the atmosphere and the vibes of the songs the way I'd seen them live. Just to have a good electronic pop sound that wasn't a copy of something else."
Clarke was the only member of the band interested in the production side of recording. Miller remembered that Gore and Fletcher were far more likely to goof around in the studio while Clarke and Miller worked on putting the songs together, which suited Clarke, who "was not without Control freak tendencies." Fletcher said "[Clarke] always wanted to do a lot in the studio, and the rest of us would feel restricted," noting that it was often uncomfortable for them to challenge Clarke in the studio. 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.
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.
The importance of this album lies that this was the debut album of a then-unknown band called Depeche Mode—a group that would, over the years, solidify its status to become the living legends they are today. At the time, the band consisted of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Andrew Fletcher, along with another member who would also prove pivotal to the 1980s synth-pop scene: Vince Clarke. Clarke—who went on to form Yazoo and, later, the equally legendary Erasure—participated only on this record; it is notable for a lighter sound compared to his later projects, and he also wrote nearly all of the tracks.
The album featureed a light, melodic quality—distinct from the band's subsequent releases—which can be attributed to Clarke’s influence. Once Martin Gore took the reins, the band’s sound and lyrical content shifted toward darker, more eccentric territory. Critics found the material simple yet clever, offering far more to admire than to disappoint. The synthesizers that anchor most of the tracks are beautiful, and Gahan’s vocal performances are top-notch. It marked the beginning of the journey for one of the most incredible acts to emerge from the United Kingdom, serving as an essential piece for understanding 1980s electro-pop.
The album opened with "Playing With Fire." The track roared in with electric guitars and some fantastic rock vocals from Richard, with both getting some perfect opportunities to show off their power and raw energy. A bass from Randy Jackson bounces perfectly along, a good start, then "Love Unemotional" that kept up the tempo but delivered us a song about love makes – and whilst Richard once again sounds fantastic on lead vocals with Luther Vandross on the backing vocals.
Next was lead single "Keep Coming Back," and this time a much more mellow song. Richard delivered his more heartfelt vocals here with a softer tone, as the song plods along gently. Again, Luther was here on the backing vocals, most noticeably in the final third. "Take This Heart" was next, and this stood as the album’s third single. This was a nice up-beat track, that rolls along with great ease from verse to chorus and back. Once again, the brilliant vocals from Richard are here, a gave us some great pop-rock sounds when say alongside the electric guitar, and building up nicely for the big notes of the chorus. The hit single "Hazard" was somewhat breathy reflective song is a complete breeze as it gently meanders from the opening synths, to the keyboard-flute type instrument that flitters throughout. The track rightly deserved it’s hit status.
"Hands In Your Pocket" followed it, returning us to the harder rock sound, with Richard’s vocal taking a lower range. The bass and electric guitars chug this song along nicely, punctuated perfectly by the drum fills. Then it was "Calling You," opening with another nice bass line, which is swiftly joined by some softer vocals from Richard, although as the song evolves, it gives him the chance to show off his vocal range nicely. "Superstar" followed and this was a song about ‘a superstar’. “All you want’s a daddy, the one you never had” and “you’re a superstar but you don’t know who you are” he sangs. In later years, Richard revealed that the track is about Madonna, who he had previously appeared on her True Blue album, "Streets Of Pain", returned us to growling stadium-esque rock guitars – and there’s a lot of them here. Richard’s vocals sit perfectly on top duelling with the roar of the guitars, planked perfectly by his backing vocals. Then "I Get No Sleep," with Billy Joel on piano, Randy Jackson was back on Bass, and Cindy Mizelle one of the backing vocalists. This earned us a more mellow song initially but thanks to the piano, Joel helped to raise the pressure and the song blasts out towards the end with it. Richard’s vocals sound great here.
Now he had "Big Boy Now," again the piano, this time with Richard playing it. It’s a nice simple intro to the song, loaded with piano, bass, and vocals. Here the piano helped to ground the track, making it a more heartfelt song, even if it does still allow Richard to show off his vocal range again. Penultimate track "Chains Around My Heart" was next, and with it’s growling vocals, hard dramatic drum bursts, and guitars, places this track in ‘power rock ballad’ territory – flitting between soft, almost acoustic/breathy vocals and roaring chorus. The closer "Your World" with an intro with some great percussion and funky bass.
The single "Always the Sun" peaked at No. 30 in the UK Singles Chart. Dreamtime itself reached No. 16 in the UK Albums Chart, the lowest charting studio album during Hugh Cornwell's recording tenure with the band (1977–90).
The album was produced by Mike Kemp and the band itself. It is often viewed as an inconsistent record, though it contains enough pleasant moments to make it an enjoyable listen. In a sense, it functions as a mini concept album: Cornwell’s vision was to explore an ancient culture—specifically, the Aboriginal concept of the "Dreamtime," the idea that life was merely a dream before existence itself began.
Furthermore, this period saw Cornwell’s transformation from a rough-edged, unpleasant character into a sensitive gentleman in every sense of the word—a shift that left some long-time fans feeling uncertain. Nevertheless, the album yielded some strong tracks, such as "Always the Sun"—a polished, high-quality song that arguably deserved greater chart success. Another overlooked gem was "You'll Always Reap What You Sow," where country-inflected guitar work opened up new sonic horizons for the band. "Dreamtime" was another excellent track, distinguished by the inclusion of a xylophone and pleasing backing vocals.
Other tracks on the album, such as "Was It You?", touched upon paranoia—placing the blame for everything on politicians—with percussion that lends the song an air of uncertainty and loss. "Ghost Train" picks up the pace, supporting surreal lyrics about ghosts reenacting life—a concept somewhat related to certain Indigenous beliefs. Then there was the single "Nice In Nice," a distinctly pop-oriented track inspired by the band’s arrest by French police for inciting disorder. "Big In America"—another single who had a small rotation on MTV—dealed with the idea of "making it big" in the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nation. "Shakin' Like A Leaf" featured a powerful vocal performance and a thick bassline, though it ultimately failed to perform well on the charts. "Mayan Skies" a song that explored the Mayan culture, evoking vivid colors and a strong psychedelic feel, with Dave Greenfield’s keyboards providing the perfect finishing touch. Finally, "Too Precious" was a long, confusing track; despite its musical richness, the melodies feel odd, making it one of the album’s weaker moments.
Critics were mixed despite the album was a solid effort from The Stranglers—they brought a greater sense of diversity to a scene still deeply entrenched in the punk rock of the late 70s. While it may not be their strongest release, it remains a worthy addition to any collection of the band’s work. Some reviews said that the Stranglers are "a prime example of a band that has streamlined their sound and still retained much of their bite as well as their signature. Others in contrary felt dissapointed about the record despite some good songs the rest was forgettable.
