Depeche Mode’s ‘Construction Time Again’ turns 43 on 22 August
Mute Records released Depeche Mode’s “Construction Time Again” on 22 August 1983, produced with Daniel Miller. The album turns 43 this year.
Depeche Mode, the English electronic band from Basildon, Essex, released “Construction Time Again” on 22 August 1983 through Mute Records. The album turns 43 this year. It was the band’s third studio album and reached number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.
Daniel Miller produced the album together with Depeche Mode, with Gareth Jones engineering. Recording took place at the Garden studio in London, mixing at Hansa Mischraum in Berlin, and mastering at CBS Studios in London. The band built much of the album around sampled found sounds, recorded on a Synclavier and an Emulator, including metal being struck and other industrial noises. “Construction Time Again” was the first Depeche Mode studio album to feature Alan Wilder as a full member; he co-wrote two of the album’s songs. The nine-track album runs “Love, in Itself,” “More Than a Party,” “Pipeline,” “Everything Counts,” “Two Minute Warning,” “Shame,” “The Landscape Is Changing,” “Told You So” and “And Then…”
Mute released “Everything Counts” as the lead single on 11 July 1983, ahead of the album; it reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. “Love, in Itself” followed as the second single on 19 September 1983 and peaked at number 21. “Construction Time Again” followed “A Broken Frame” (1982) and preceded “Some Great Reward” (1984), the album that produced “People Are People.”
About Depeche Mode
Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Dave Gahan and Andy Fletcher formed Depeche Mode in Basildon, Essex, in 1980, taking their name from a French fashion magazine. The band signed to Daniel Miller’s independent label Mute Records and released the synth-pop debut album “Speak & Spell” in 1981. Clarke left the band after that album to form Yazoo with Alison Moyet, and Gore took over as the band’s main songwriter. Depeche Mode continued as a trio for “A Broken Frame” (1982), then expanded to a four-piece with the addition of Alan Wilder for “Construction Time Again” (1983), the album that introduced sampled industrial sounds and engineer Gareth Jones to the band’s productions.
The Miller and Jones production team continued with Depeche Mode through “Some Great Reward” (1984), “Black Celebration” (1986), “Music for the Masses” (1987) and “Violator” (1990), the album that produced “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence.” Wilder left the band in 1995 after “Songs of Faith and Devotion” (1993); Depeche Mode continued as a trio of Gahan, Gore and Fletcher, releasing “Ultra” (1997), “Exciter” (2001), “Playing the Angel” (2005), “Sounds of the Universe” (2009), “Delta Machine” (2013) and “Spirit” (2017). Fletcher died in May 2022, and Gahan and Gore released “Memento Mori” as a duo in 2023, touring behind a Mexico City concert film titled “M.” “Construction Time Again,” released 22 August 1983, marked the start of the band’s move from straightforward synth-pop toward the denser, sample-driven productions that shaped its subsequent albums.
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