101 Arizona

101

Depeche Mode

Mute Records, 1989

REVIEW BY: Vish Iyer

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/01/2004

Rock bands are supposed to be good live acts. As a matter offact, the quality of a rock outfit is, to a great degree,determined by how good they sound live. Of course, rock music isalways considered 'energy' music, and if the band is able to showthe same amount or even more energy in their live performance thantheir studio performance, they can be said to be true rockers. Fora rock band, live performances are very important.

It is a known fact that disco bands are never good live acts.Considering the amount of 'production' their sounds go through, itis very difficult to reproduce the same sound live. Even if thetechno bands manage to re-create their studio music live, they arehardly as energetic as rock bands, or they hardly manage to createthe same magic as their studio music.

Depeche Mode is a hard-core techno band. In fact, it is one ofthe only techno bands left, which has survived long enough to seethe best and the worst periods of techno music. Also, Depeche Modeis one of the only techno bands that consists of talented musiciansand songwriters, instead of being merely a product of -- or ratherpuppets of -- European record producers. With every album oftheirs, they have been proving this fact again and again. 101 is one such Depeche Mode album that proves theirsuperior musicianship, but with this album, the band also showswhat an extraordinary live act it is, and that their talent is notjust confined to studio albums.

This album, a two-cd set, is a compilation album of Depeche Modesongs of the pre- Violator days, played live -- a "greatest hits live" set.Showing off what a genius of a band Depeche Mode is, 101 has all the energy and zest of a mainstream rock actplaying live music. The music is absolutely brilliant. Unlike alive show by a disco band, which seems as if some pre-recordedmusic is being played, this one does seem to have music playedlive, so that the songs themselves have been tweaked a bit fromtheir original versions. The music is basic, hence has a naturalfeel to it.