In retrospect, compared to all the darkest music in the world I've heard since I was fifteen, Black Celebration is one of the darkest recordings of all. "Let's have a BLACK celebration, to celebrate the FACT that we've seen the BACK of another black day." Perfectly black. Cross out another page. I find it's actually in a Joy Division place, my favourite darkness. Described by Ian Curtis, shall we say, as: "We knocked at the door of hell's darker chamber. Open and shut, slammed in our face". It kills me. Why not? Play it again!

This is much better than Violator, and I can't understand why everyone always overrates that album - it's usually just because of the instrumentals that you don't hear in the singles of Personal Jesus and Enjoy The Silence, ironically their most popular songs too.
It's a good album, but this album is much better in comparison, alongside the bonus tracks. It's got a clear formula that keeps the album together but there are many surprises and twists like Music for the Masses.

Both Music for the Masses and Black Celebration are far better than Violator, but if you're new you should go to Violator.

It's hard to disagree with Depeche Mode fans when they say this is the best album they ever did. The only issue I have with it is that playing it once through doesn't have the smoothness of and the cohesiveness of Violator. What should definitely be noted is Daniel Miller's production techniques and Anton Corbijn's visual debuts are featured on this album. Those two artists (perhaps later with Flood and Kevorkian also) really helped Depeche Mode get to that success that they so deserved. "Question of Lust" could quite be the most beautiful Depeche Mode song of their entire discography. Then, combined with seminal favorite's "Black Celebration", perhaps my two favorite pre 1987 DM songs "Fly on the Windscreen" & "Stripped", again, you can't really argue with someone when they say this is the best Depeche Mode album. Don't sleep on "New Dress" & "Dressed in Black", they are terrific btw.

One of the greatest albums ever gets a makeover. By far this is my fave Depeche record and the remaster is fully justified. "It Doesn't Matter two" and "A Question Of Time" sound excellent in the new version. Vocals are stronger and clearer and of course the record contains "Stripped", possibly the best Depeche single.
And the documentary is good also and at 45 minutes long, it makes this remaster the best of the bunch in my opinion.

No matter what you think about Synthpop, "Black Celebration" is the evidence of a more mature perspective on Depeche Mode's career. It doesn't mean that their older albums weren't great, on the contrary, they were absolutely impressive and essential, but it's like their artistic perspective reached a level of sophistication never attained before.
Lucky of those that had the privilege to be present in the Black Celebration Tour made of so deep, intense and emotional tunes. I really wish I could be there. The vocals were explored to their full potential in this album (for example when Dave Gahan sings "Stripped" and "Fly In The Windscreen"), in a way that no other electronic band did at that time. Thanks to Dave, but also Martin Gore, the mainly composer and the more delicate & smoother voice of the band (he was the singer of "Here Is The House" and "World Full Of Nothing", two of the greatest tracks of this LP which, as long as I know, didn't come out on any single).
Every single tune had Depeche Mode's own signature in it, but it's impossible to deny that every new step was higher than the ones before. At least until 1990.

I agree. This is DM's best album. None of the tracks would really make a great single (perhaps with the exception of A Question of Lust), but put them all together and it all works.

Note that A Question of Time was mastered incorrectly on all US/CA releases, on all formats. The intro starts twice.

I think this is Depeche Mode's best album. This is probably their darkest album, but there seemed to be alot of dark releases in by other artists in 1986, as well. It's not as danceable as their other albums, but more artistic.

This is definitely my favorite, and many other peoples, of DM. Everysong is classic DM. Their darkest, most emotional album. I give all their music a 5 star rating but this album deserves more than that. Even if you not a big DM fan you must get this one.