To be honest, I have not really heard anything by Dave Gahan since Depeche Mode and so was unsure what to expect. The first thing that came to mind was that the man is obviously deeply in love and the second was the album was terrible! However it has improved with each listen and now the only thing I find truly offensive is the seven pages of posed Gahan photographs - slightly excessive!

To be fair the album does have some good numbers and the music in parts is excellent, although much of the lyrics are basic to say the least. Gone are the dark and synthetic sounds of Depeche Mode although saying that there are still some signs. ‘Hidden Houses’ is a classic example with a great rising deep vocal sound and a rough electric backing.

However an undulating sound of strings, guitar, dulcimer and piano backed by a simple beat and haunting vocals seem to dominate this album, especially on songs such as ‘Bitter Apple’ and ‘Stay’, the latter sounding like it could be Morton Harket’s Norwegian tones rather than Gahan’s. ‘I Need You’ is an 80’s sound that could probably have been avoided, whilst there is a definite blues attempt on ‘Bottle Living’ and ‘Black and Blue Again’. The dark tone of ‘Goodbye’ seems a fitting way to end the album.

On the whole this is an album that doesn’t require much thinking and does actually grow on you but I suspect only the dedicated may wish to put in the time! In parts it does work, though I think the effort that had clearly gone into some of the arrangements could easily be ignored as none of the songs truly stand out. Generally it is an easy album to hum along to and I bet his girlfriend is pleased!

words: Suzanne Gailey