Depeche Mode ‎– Violator

Perfect album, on the top of my all times list of electronic music. Beautiful solid LP release!

A record that summed up a decade for a group, at the time proudly looking back on their music achievements. Judging from their then-back catalogue, now part of the yesteryear 1980-1990, Depeche Mode remain a perfect example of how an independent group endured by growing artistically and commercially, with a team of people around them equally open, enthusiastic and considerate enough to encourage rather than insist on a compromise.

And while their mature sound on "Violator" already echoed on previous four albums, here the edges were perfectly smoothed as in a finest glass of red wine. The grooves still kick in with a dominant force - the Kraftwerk-ish opener "World In My Eyes" (slightly on par with "Sex Object"), the now-overplayed (but still guilty pleasures, whatever the version of choice) "Personal Jesus", "Enjoy the Silence" and "Policy Of Truth" - each a monster hit, continuing spins to the present day. Of course, the album's otherness is no less captivating - the quiet menace of "Waiting For the Night" (a personal favourite on the entire LP), with the upbeat "Halo" (should have added to the honourable list of hits here), the creepy "Blue Dress" and "The Sweetest Perfection" (the latter somewhat reconstructed a whole decade after, on "Exciter") plus the disturbing (yet beautifully dark) "Clean". The incidental sounds between some of the music numbers add to the predominantly, but tastefully, dark vibe. And of course, helped a great deal by Flood and François Kevorkian, "Violator" remains a masterpiece Depeche find trouble dealing with on each subsequent album, no matter the level of continuing progress.

To add to the amazing album's repertoire, the singles again offer a whole batch of album's worth of material that was left in the b-side obscurity; "Dangerous", "Kaleid", "Mephisto" and "Sibeling" plus "Happiest Girl" and "Sea of Sin" (these two confusingly with a "remix" attribution rather than plain 7" versions)...

27 years on and its bright red rose shows no sign of withering.

Does anyone know whaich copy of this is the 1st UK pressing? I have 3 copies all with different matrix/runouts,
anyone help?

Sometimes an album comes along and changes things forever. When Depeche Mode's seventh studio album arrived in 1990 (a whole 3 years after the colossal 'Music for the Masses') it certainly changed things.
It set a new benchmark in electronic pop music - a benchmark that not only critics and fans recognised, but also an impressive number of the moody quartets contemporaries.

Take ‘The Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant for example, who admitted during an interview: "We were listening to Violator by Depeche Mode, which was a very good album and we were deeply jealous of it" and bandmate Chris Lowe agreeing, "They had raised the stakes". Its just one of many instances that goes to show the impact this release had.

Even with its 26 year old age, it still manages to capture the attention of a diverse range of listeners around the globe.
Consider the aching beauty of 'Enjoy the Silence' or the mega-hit 'Personal Jesus'. The sheer amount of times these songs have been covered, remixed and/or referenced as an influence by artists as diverse and polar-opposite as 'Shakira' and 'Marylyn Manson', is clearly testament to the almost unrivalled quality and the ability to connect and strike an emotional cord with listeners, that 'Violator' possesses. 'Violator' is album without any fat on its bones, just lean muscle.

One single word: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I own the box set with LP, CD Cassette , tshirt.... There are 2 version listed here (Spanish and UK press). My box has USA pressings of the LP, CD and cassette in my box. Am a little confused, does anyone know about my concern?

This album for me was the confirmation of my absolute love for electronic-emotional music. I was thirteen years old when this album was released and I remember saving the pocket money from my parents for finally being able to purchase the tape edition of "Violator". Counting how many times I listened to this tape is impossible, but for sure this is the album I listened most of all in my life! Useless to say this record is a must have for all people who love music made with the heart.

in my opinion, its the band's peak release. also, a classic album of 90s.