Review Summary: Unlike any other Depeche Mode album, it remains a charming piece of early synth-pop, despite featuring outdated synths, shaky vocals and few concerned lyrics. Worth a listen for its place in British electronic music history.
Released in 1981, when Vince Clark (Yazoo, Erasure) was still a member of the band, his influence seems to dominate the album as it sounds far, far away from the dark, electronic sound Depeche Mode would later become known for.
The album features a few early synth-pop classics in 'Just Can't Get Enough' with its relentlessly upbeat melody that is so catchy, but just manages to stay on the right side of annoying and 'New Life' with its memorable, yet lyrically pointless, chorus "Operating, Generating, New Life, New Life, Complicating, Circulating, New Life, New Life" and various quirky electronic sound-effects bleeping, buzzing and popping away in the background.
There are also a couple of underrated cuts on the album, namely 'Photographic' and 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'. The former has a thumping beat that keeps the track moving along at a danceable pace, whilst various ever-so-slightly eerie sounding synth melodies lay on top, combining with Gahan's whispering vocals of "Bright light, Dark room" to create an early Depeche classic.
'Tora! Tora! Tora!' is worth a listen too, because, along with 'Photographic' its dark, menacing synth sound help make it stand out from the rest of the tracks. It is also the only song penned by Gore (apart from the instrumental 'Big Muff'), and whilst it doesn't contain any of his latter depth, or clever irony, it is markedly different from the other lyrics on the album and is still the first lyrical effort from the future Depeche lyricist.
Elsewhere on the album there are a few other charming moments ('I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead', 'Any Second Now', 'Puppets', 'Nodisco') that fans of early 80's synth-pop will find something to love in, with its upbeat, vague, early Yazoo-ish sound.
Unfortunately, Speak & Spell also features some of the most embarrassing, dreadful songs in the bands history. 'Boys Say Go!' sounds like a naff, gay disco tune, especially due to its more than slightly homoerotic chanting of "Boys, Boys, Boys, Boys Say Go!", and as for 'What's Your Name?'...well, the fact that the band members each voted the song the worst in their entire song catalogue, during an interview, should tell you enough.
The album is unlike any other Depeche album, in large part due to Vince Clark who wrote virtually all the songs and seemed to be responsible for much of the group’s early musical direction, before he left to form Yazoo shortly after it was released. Its within this context that the album gains strength because it makes it essential listening for several parties: Depeche Mode fans will need to listen for the simple reason its the bands debut; Vince Clarke/Yazoo fans will lap up the early Yazoo vibe that many of the tracks hint at; and fans of New Wave/Early 80's synth-pop will fall in love with classics such as 'Just Can't Get Enough' and 'New Life' despite sometimes shaky vocals from a young Dave Gahan. A Charming piece of early synth-pop that should interest and attract different parties due to its significant part in British electronic music history.
