| Construction Time Again | |||||
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| Studio album by Depeche Mode | |||||
| Released | August 22, 1983 | ||||
| Recorded | April - July 1983 | ||||
| Genre | Synthpop New Wave Industrial Rock |
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| Length | 49:43 | ||||
| Label | U.K.: Mute / U.S.: Sire | ||||
| Producer | Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Depeche Mode chronology | |||||
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Construction Time Again is the third proper studio album by Depeche Mode. Released on August 22 1983, it saw two shifts in DM's sound. First, the lyrical content started to deepen, featuring lyrics dealing with more worldly issues, and secondly, their instrumentation started to take on darker textures, moving away from pure analog synthesizer sounds and instead making great use of new digital sampling techniques. Black Celebration, released three years later, took this flavouring and cemented it as a permanent feature in DM's future works. This was the first DM album with Alan Wilder.
The album was recorded at John Foxx's Garden studios in London, engineered by Gareth Jones (who had also engineered Foxx's seminal electronic album, Metamatic). It was mixed in the famous Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin (where much of David Bowie's trilogy of seminal electronic albums featuring Brian Eno had been produced). The album's cover photo features the Matterhorn mountain.
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Rerelease
In 2007, Construction Time Again was re-released with a bonus DVD. It was released as a part of the third wave of re-issues. (Along with Black Celebration) The first CD was remastered and (except in the USA) was released on an CD/SACD hybrid. The bonus DVD includes the B-Sides in addition to the single and B-Side for "Get the Balance Right", a one-off single recorded a little bit before the album. The album is released the way it was originally intended and doesn't include the bonus extended mix of "Everything Counts", but it does keep the reprise, and gives it its own track like the original. On some CD releases, it was a hidden track after "And Then...". Like the other re-issues, the DVD includes a documentary on the album. The double-documentary discusses both "Get the Balance Right" and Construction Time Again, its two singles, the making of the cover, the lyrics, and the sampling aspect of the album. It also discusses Alan Wilder and Gareth Jones, a new member and a new engineer (respectively) and their impact on Depeche Mode's new sound. It also includes footage of the Construction Time Again tour. The documentary also has excerpts from the music video for "Get the Balance Right", which has so far been unreleased. It was released March 20, 2007 in the USA, March 26 in the UK and April 2 in the rest of Europe. The remastered album was released on "deluxe" vinyl April 2, 2007 in Europe only.
Track listing
1983 release: Mute / Stumm 13 (UK)
- "Love, in Itself" – 4:29
- "More Than A Party" – 4:45
- "Pipeline" – 5:54
- "Everything Counts" – 4:19
- "Two Minute Warning" – 4:13
- "Shame" – 3:50
- "The Landscape Is Changing" – 4:47
- "Told You So" – 4:24
- "And Then..." – 4:34
- "Everything Counts (Reprise)" – 1:05
1983 CD release: Sire / 9 23900-2 (US)
- "Love, In Itself" – 4:27
- "More Than A Party" – 4:30
- "Pipeline" – 6:08
- "Everything Counts" – 4:24
- "Two Minute Warning" – 4:10
- "Shame" – 3:50
- "The Landscape Is Changing" – 4:46
- "Told You So" – 4:25
- "And Then..." – 5:40
- "Everything Counts [Long Version]" – 7:23
2007 re-release
Mute: DM CD 3 (CD/SACD + DVD) / CDX STUMM 19 (CD/SACD)
- Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD/CD with a multi-channel SACD layer.
- Disc 2 is a DVD which includes "Construction Time Again" in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo plus bonus material
- "Love, In Itself" – 4:29
- "More Than A Party" – 4:45
- "Pipeline" – 5:54
- "Everything Counts" – 4:19
- "Two Minute Warning" – 4:13
- "Shame" – 3:50
- "The Landscape Is Changing" – 4:47
- "Told You So" – 4:24
- "And Then..." – 4:34
- "Everything Counts (Reprise)" – :59
Bonus Tracks (in PCM Stereo):
- "Get The Balance Right!"
- "The Great Outdoors!"
- "Work Hard"
- "Fools"
- "Get The Balance Right (Combination Mix)"
- "Everything Counts (In Larger Amounts)"
- "Love, In Itself 4"
Additional Material:
- "Depeche Mode 83 (Teenagers, growing up, bad government and all that stuff )" [31 Minute video]
- All songs were written by Martin L. Gore except for tracks 5 and 7, written by Alan Wilder.
- David Gahan sings lead vocals on all songs except "Pipeline", which is sung by Gore.
Singles
Two singles were released from the album.
- "Everything Counts" (11 July, 1983)
- "Love, in Itself" (19 September, 1983)
Miscellanea
- The title of the album comes from the song "Pipeline": "Get out the crane, construction time again; What is it this time?"
- This would be the only release that the band would not play in North America to support.
Credits
Produced by Daniel Miller and Depeche Mode
Tonmeister: Gareth Jones
Assistant engineer on "Two Minute Warning": Corinne Simcock Recorded at The Garden, London
Mixed at Hansa Mischraum, Berlin Cover Photography: Brian Griffin
Illustrations: Ian Wright
Design: Martyn Atkins
