Depeche Mode: Violator Album Review Part 1 - A General Discussion 

Thanks for the mention...

I hope you enjoy part 1 of my Violator album review series and remember that you can see all the previous Depeche Mode album reviews by searching in my previous videos !! VG :-)

The sound is still as fresh today as it was then, an incredible achievement.

Violator is a masterpiece. Epic and made history in music. It was my introduction as well into DM. Beautiful in every way.

And a happy 70th birthday to Daniel Miller, unappreciated genius!

Violator made it impossible for the mainstream to ignore DM.

"Violator" and "songs of Faith and Devotion" are my all time favourite records. Almost impossible to choose one over the other. But i think i like "Songs of Faith and devotion" a bit more.

Will you also go into the b-sides like Dangerous, Khaleid, Sea of Sin and happiest girl? These tracks aren’t simply b-sides and have a quality of their own.

Looking forward to this series, you can do a Bonus episode on the six B-sides "Dangerous", "Memphisto", "Sibeling", "Kaleid", "Happiest Girl", and "Sea of Sin". Sea of Sin and Happiest Girl being my two favourites and I haven't found any info on those two tracks, how they came about etc.

Your "Mart and Alan in the studio with the "Shake the Disease" demo" impression is pure gold. I figure this was pretty much exactly what it looked like.

Vaughn the Flood story is absolutely true. I’ve heard him recount it in numerous interviews.

The long awaited review, just in time for a quality spent Sunday afternoon.

Violator is absolutely stunning. It's perfect. I must have listened to it hundreds of times!

Looking forward for the blue dress and waiting for the night episode... When I listen to it, I feel like I'm floating while fireflies flying back and forth inside my head are making those beautiful sounds.

Watching this review made me feel like hearing the opening intro of the World Violation tour. You immediately feel that there is something unforgettable coming from behind these curtains and with your video now the curtain falls and we just about to see them live on the peak of their creativeness!

I would love to see an extensive interview between you and Flood on this album(ten parts as well)

14:20-14:23 killed me 😂 By the way, about metal names, Dave stated that at one point they considered calling their latest album “Maelstrom”, but they thought that it’s too metal

Violator - The best album they ever made!

An absolute masterpiece. I’m not overstating when I said that musically, it changed my life.

There best album from start 2 finish ....waiting 4 the night is just pure class ....and when i go ...at my funeral my songs ....will b omd messages live & the wftn live ....

Kraftwerk : Computer World Depeche Mode: Violator Erasure: Chorus. Best albuns of the World .

Now I can say today is Sunday, i was waiting for this moment, now I can't wait for the ETS video, this story of Alan working on the track without the rest of the band it really fascinates me, and I think that it highlighted the genius of mr. Wilder. Thanks the lord for this

Really looking forward to all the episodes for each track. Thanks for making these.

And so it begins

Violator came out my senior year of high school. I'd already been a fan since Some Great Reward but this is certainly one of my favorite DM albums.

Love the instrumental breakdowns, keep up the good work Vaughn!

That was a great introduction, Vaughn! I can't wait to hear the song breakdowns and piano improvs. Take care!

Great overview, Vaughn! I see that the way you tell the story has dramatically improved since the early videos, thank you so much for your work!

Seriously Vaughan, what you are doing with these album reviews is phenomenal. I love that you are doing these in so much detail. Great great videos. It must be a lot of work, but appreciate it so much.

I'm very much looking forward to this album review series.

Great one as always. And Great theme mix 🎹👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

I got hooked by Freelove Flood mix. Then an older friend lent me One night in Paris. The funny thing is that I saw the file where Enjoy the silence was corrupted, so I had to skip it. That time I didn´t know the English word enjoy, I didn´t look up the term in a dictionary, and I couldn´t just type somewhere the phrase „Enjoy the silence“ and get back at least some bars. Later I asked the older friend who gave me the One night in Paris cd that, what is their best album. He said Violator; I bought the cd, started to listen to it from the beginning, came to Enjoy and was mind blown. I repeated it a few times and was able to come to an end, notifying that the Policy of truth has got its power and that the Blue dress and Clean got something in them too, but ... the most powerful moment was when I heard Enjoy.

Violator was a very important album of DM for me too...always special to hear it again.

Thank you for a review buddy! Looking forward for part 2 🔥

So happy part 1 has finally landed! Great work as always, Vaughn 👏🏻👏🏻

I was 14 years old when I first heard Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence released as singles on the radio in 1989 and loved both especially Enjoy the Silence. That song just sounds like fresh Bliss to my ears & back then I was blown away completely with how it flowed. Perfect lyrics, electronics and beat. So Violator had a major build up and expectations, the Album lived up to them all with ease. I bought the cassette in 1990 and listened to the entire thing by myself and absolutely loved it and couldn't get enough of it. I just knew somehow that it was a pinnacle Album & special. I was baffled and pleasantly surprised that they could top Music for the Masses, imo Violator was a notch over MftM. Black Celebration was also just a Classic great album and I understand alot of people think Black Celebration is their best but imho it's Violator all the way in every way. There's a reason why it's their most successful and still holds up today & still sounds timeless in the quality. Plus if you remember, the original Album was released with only 9 songs, all the others were B sides and those were awesome as well. I'm just going to say if if Depeche Mode's ultimate sound and feel had to be defined by one album. I would say it would be Violator. Every song from World in my Eyes, to Clean = D⚘️M Perfection.

Love this. My favourite DM album. Looking forward to watching the rest of the series. Thank you, Vaughan.

Fantastic timing for a chilled Sunday, time to really enjoy. Great insightful reviews Vaughn, stellar job, as usual 😁

I always lough when you say: Martin, you kinky b..... with that deep voice of his

Yeah, finally, the long awaited Violator album review has arrived! Great introduction Vaughn! I'm obsessed with Alan's strings arrangements in general, so I'd love to hear some geeky stuff on that, especially in Halo and Clean. Can't wait to see and hear the next video! And as always, a very big THANK YOU for all your effort to run this channel! It means so much for us, Depeche Mode fans all over the world! Cheers from Budapest! :)

I hope from the bottom of my heart, god knows we need it, that new album will come out in 2021 and we will all have the oportunity to see them and listen to them live...Jesus, how I wish that to happen

The tonality of this album sounds warm and clean thanks to great production and mixing, but also a shift from the harshness of the FM digital synths back to the warm analog synths like the Arp 2600 and Minimoog (and others) 20 years before they became in vogue again. And there's nothing wrong with a sniff of vinyl, my Black Celebration vinyl still smells as fresh as the day I bought it on the day of release. My Joy!

Well done. Looking forward to the whole series. Cheers!

The b sides!!, they're as good as the main tracks, man i love that about DM

Sometimes in life there is the perfect storm...not Martin Alan and Flood...Vaughan DM and RU-vid...sublime...

I really enjoyed that. Looking forward to part 2. Also enjoyed our Zoom chat last night with other patreon members. Such a good group of people and well worth the small fee each month.

An absolute masterpiece of an album. I still get excited all these years later when I think back on the buildup to its release, and going to the store to buy it when it came out. I was already a fan, but I can honestly say that Violator blew my mind. Really looking forward to the series!

One of their masterpieces.... it's gonna be a great review series .

‘Violator” could also be a reference to the fact they accepted their own past rules to be violated. Guitars,... good idea to focus on B sides. Remixes might also be interesting to mention

Great band, great album & great review and upcoming serie...I'm waiting for the Part 2 to come

Vaughn,that was one helluva of an introduction.you must have been sitting for ages to get that done.Really enjoyed it and it set the proper tone I feel for what's to come.

Finally we’re here - Violator! 🌹🖤 Thank you very much for this Vaughn. I really appreciate your channel and the great content you present to us. When Violator came out in 1990 I was already hopelessly in love with Alan Wilder 🚨- hahaha where is the alarm? - and for me this album was THE state of art in electronic music with vocals. Just the logical consequence of what had started with the Berlin trilogy and continued with Music for the Masses. Cannot wait for the next video because now you got me hooked and thrown back to my earlier days. 😉👍🏼 thanks so much 😍

I enjoyed your knowledge in this introduction, Sir + all the names mentioned. Such a powerful album; Alan and Flood together is just perfection. -Andy Ry Denmark.

Oh man, can't wait for next episodes! And of course I'm "team SOFAD" - the best DM album, period.

Halo from Finland says Mascot!We really enjoy your channel so thank you and that bass in Halo is just so wilder and we miss him too!

This is it - this is the big one. The moment when the stars aligned and when all their years of hard graft - recording, touring and countless TV appearances - paid off in massive style. The word ‘masterpiece’ is often overused - in the case of this album it’s fully justified. This album needed no time to ‘grow’ on me ... I utterly loved it on first listen and it sent my already-rabid DM fandom into the stratosphere. Looking forward to the episode-per-song breakdowns, particularly ‘World In My Eyes’ 😁

I really discovered Depeche Mode around 4 years ago but I absolutely cannot stop listening to it. Your channel is the perfect accompaniment to enjoying and understanding their music. Il happily be a patron, keep the good work going

Hi Vaughn. All of your videos are amazing as you are. Thank you for all of your contributions to the mode community and other bands that have the same greatness. I grew up first with Duran, the cure and then depeche. I'm 45 now and can't get enough of these bands, new info and new/unreleased material. Please keep doing this for you and us. Happy Valentine's day to everyone. Thanks to Depeche Mode i met my wife. Enjoy life and the silence .....

Long awaited and worth it!!! Thank you for this introduction video, the whole series will be great! I would like you to incorporate an interview with Flood, if possible!!! And of course, can’t wait for the full song piano improvs!!!👍

I remember taking the bus to downtown Worcester where I went to the music store called Strawberries 🍓 on Front St and bought "Pretty Hate Machine" by Nine Inch Nails on vinyl. I then trudged on up Pleasant Street to used record store Al-Bums and bought new "Violator" by DM. Both records were played all the way through many times as I worked on art work, taking in way too much marker fume action, being inspired by top notch music. "Violator", though, still resonates, still inspires, still gets played in the car and continues to inspire.

Oooooh this is a great Valentines Day Present. An album I love getting a start in the royal treatment of review. 9 parts plus a conclusion! Oh yes! This is how it is done.

if you wanna „hear Violator with different eyes“ ... listen to Nine Inch Nails „ Pretty Hate Nachine „ ... check the producer and production date... what you try to describe in the end and to put into words ... is art ... (in sports you would say „he makes ist Look so easy“)

Yes! I have always said it was the “negative space” between the sounds in the songs of this album that is so magical. I always felt welcomed by it and the sparseness left room for me to live in the song for a few moments. This album truly saved my life as a very sad, bullied and peer-abused 12 year old.

Just found your channel and am so excited to watch your DM series. I will certainly watch ALL album series, but Violator will have to be frst 😉

It would have been interesting to see how Enjoy The Silence would have sounded If Martin would have produced it instead of Alan. I think that Martin wanted the song to be a slow ballad or something. Alan wanted the song to be faster. More up beat. I dont think that ETS would have been such a huge hit If not Alan would have been around there.

I would love you to display the musical notes on screen or do some quick tutorials on how to play the famous riffs and parts. I don’t play, but you have really inspired me to learn Vaughn. Keep up the amazing work.

I woke up to your video notification. I had to play it before getting out of bed what a great wake up call 😍

Great video ! Worth the wait :)

Hi Vaughn, I am so glad to see this video. Violator came up when I was around 15, and at that time I couldn't really realise this "bomb". In that time of growing up it was just too heavy for me - and much too dark. But as everything developed so much at this age, after one year it was one of my favs and I couldn't wait for the next album, which was - at that time (1991- only end of 1992!) - a very long time of abstinence. And then, while "Grunge" had taken up, "I feel you" appears, again with a fully re-invented Depeche Mode! But for now I am looking forward to many more "stories of old" violator... :-) I have to thank you so much for your episodes. BR, Jens

thank you for doing this

Love it 👌🖤 Cant wait to watch all the episodes on Violator, which is by far my fav DM album. Cheers from Copenhagen 🍷😊 (DM fan since 81)

I could spend hours watching your videos, and this especially for what Violator means to all DM fans . Thank you for your work.

Thank You so much for this Vaughn George LoudLove DM

Looking forward to this series! With my band Berlin Banter we have just recorded a cover of Dangerous which we will release digitally (Spotify etc) on March 19!

Best, simply the best, music, lyrics, atmosphere, feeluig, visuals, videos, EVERYTHING

Great start to my day VG... Well what can I say about Violator?... I vividly remember getting back home from HMV with my copy on release day and sitting on my bed listening to it and I almost fell off it - I was absolutely blown away by it. I'm not going to be all fan boy but it really was a game changer and is the perfect Depeche Mode album and my favourite of all time - it's timeless, sublime & never seems to age. Thanks for this review series - just what us Devotees need and I'm very much looking forward to the next part 😎👌

Just amazing.... great introduction bro 👍 ...

You're definitely building the anticipation and excitement. This was the album for me where it all began. I was only 15 and I looked good, lol. The perfect album starting with the 'let me take you on a trip' and ending with 'the cleanest I've been...sometimes'. I loved how the tracks blended into one another, especially with the segues and fade outs, think of the ending of Enjoy the Silence's 'crucified' bit morphing into Policy of Truth. And that cover too, how many times did I try not to let my fingerprints stain it when flipping the pages. Cheers

One of the best electronic albums ever, the end.

Glad to hear the B sides will be covered. Kaleid, Memphisto, alt versions of PJ and Enjoy the Silence all were so good.

Great intro review Vaughn! 👏👏👏 I heard a story from Peter Iversen (Engineer at PUK) that “Violator” Originated from an Alan demo circulating just prior to pre-production called “Violence”. Martin liked the shuffle signature of the song and suggested adding in some swing to some of the songs on the forthcoming record (What would be Violator). No fan boy worship intended, just a great account!

I'm far from a DM uber fan. But recently I've been sent a DSD rip of Violator, a mint copy played on a really nice turntable and digitally converted very cleanly. It's one of the best sounding albums I've ever heard, the production is practically peerless. Hearing it in this way was like listening to a new LP.

That Violator "mega-mix" intro is brilliant. "Dangerous" is one of DM's best b-sides and probably deserved to be on the album. I need to plan a "field trip" to Puk Studios in Denmark if/when this pandemic is over!

excellent introduction to my favorite d m album totally agree it is a listening experience to play the album in full from start to finish

Looking forward to episode 01 of 99! 😄

Sharing Violator love was a great distraction from an otherwise dismal day at home (again). I find my fave DM songs are the ones you can feel throughout your entire body/soul (for me those are Stripped, Shake the Disease, Here is the House, Behind the Wheel, Home, In Your Room)... and with Violator, the WHOLE album has that feeling. Looking forward to Part 2. Cheers from Canada.

Id love to see a breakdown of my favorite DM album "Ultra". What a departure from Violator. Great video by the way, i really enjoyed it!

Another great video Vaughn. Must give a big shout out to the song "Dangerous" that I still to this day don't understand why it was left off.

Excellent VG! Never heard a Violator vinyl perspective before, looking forward to the rest of the series, possible listening party on the horizon? Perhaps.

Vaughn, that Violator series is going to be epic IMO. Such a great album at every levels (the songs, the arrangements, production, mixing... everything was perfect). I was dying to watch episode 1 and I'm not disappointed... I have to say you're right. What makes this album so great is that Martin's demos were more simple. The best example is Enjoy The Silence. A slow ballad on harmonium became that hit (and wonderful) song through the work of Alan & Flood... It's Alan who wanted to speed up the tempo, add this dance bass line and ask Martin to play some guitar riffs on it... The best evidence that when 2 musical genius work well together the result is awesome. Can't wait for the next episode :). Thanks !

I absolutely loved this video. Violator has been my favorite album since I was 11 years old. I still find it fresh. I still like every single song. Everything you mention about it is true. I still enjoy the album from beginning to end. There is no better thing than enjoying a glass of wine while listening to Violator.

great video! Violator is my absolutely favorite depeche mode album but i also love songs of faith and devotion and ultra. And by the way; speak and spell came out in 1981 and not in 1982. i´m really looking forward for you detailing videos of this masterpiece violator! :-)

Great job! DM fans will never get enough of their music, videos, information... To me, listening to this album is like reaching the sky, travel during the music lasts and then, come back to the floor where these lords live...real DM lovers will never be able to describe the whole feeling

Violator was the first Depeche Mode album. I love this album. One of my all time favorite albums. I would love Vaughn if you did a separate video of the incident of the album signing. That turned into absolute nightmare situation that could have been way worse. Thank you Vaughn 😎.

Definitely my favourite depeche album . Saw them twice on this tour. amazing .

The 1 & only album from which it all started for me! Hope you'll compare the demos and all of the live versions of songs from follow-up tours!

Great as always ! Can t wait for the next episodes . Though not my favourite , I appreciate more and more this album and I ve rediscovered Halo which is one of my favourite songs now . I was a bit surprised when you talked about breathing between the songs since it is the reason why I prefer Music for the Masses . I feel in it more freshness , more lightness , more space for breathing , songs could have been a little bit darker but avoid being too melancholic and dark like on Violator . Perhaps we should look at MFTM and Violator like twin children of Black Celebration with their own personality .Just my personal opinion !

Great , I can`t wait to see SOFAD review :) Thanks Vaughn :)

'Violator' is just sublime; so good that it's painful. I also adore DM's other classic-era albums, but 'Violator' is the pinnacle. (I know some ppl prefer SOFD, but I'm more into the 80s/90 sound rather than rock, blues, gospel etc., though I do love 'Devotional'). I'm so envious of people who got to experience 'Violator' at the time and, especially, attend the World Violation Tour. Not doing an official concert film was such a poor decision. I also hate that the band stopped appearing on Top of the Pops at that time. Thankfully there are a couple of good-quality master tape bootlegs (whoever shot the Miami show is a legend) as well as those snippets from the Dodgers Stadium that *should* have been released as a full show years ago...I just can't get over that. 😢 On a lighter note, I love your impressions of Mart and Alan in the studio. I expect the vibe was mutual: Alan and Flood relished the 'screwdriver' work and the band were happy to leave them to it. But it still made me chuckle. 😆

Great first episode - looking forward to the song by song breakdown... would be great to also have a discussion about the official remixes of the band at some point.... the world in my eyes in particular was remixed by Jon marsh of the beloved and deserves praise as one of the greatest dm remixes of all time...kia