The Last Album with Fletch😢

This song sets the tone for a political theme. They opened up their tour with this song. It’s great live.

Love spirit. A thoughtful look at humanity and our sometimes lack of it.

BRILLIANT LYRICS ❤ love this album

Great reaction - the lyrics & messages on this album really strike a chord. I didn't like Spirit when it came out, but recently revisited it after getting back into DM with Memento Mori (an absolute classic to come), and Spirit has really grown on me.

Spirit reflected the struggles and feelings of the time: the war in Syria, ISIS, the US’s drone wars, Trump being elected, Brexit - the spirit of the world was in motion. And all the insecurities, the fears, the confusion is reflected on Spirit. Surely not to everyone’s taste. I think the band especially didn’t make friends amongst Trump supporters with some interview statements at the time. Thus the album sold significantly less units than other records, I think it was the first DM album to sell clearly less than a million copies worldwide. But it still went to #1 in over 15 countries, and the tour was their biggest to that date. The album was recorded with a new producer, John Ford. It sounds a lot tighter and crisper than Delta Machine, which is a good thing. Still, it is far from the quality of Memento Mori, the record that followed six years later. Interesting fact: Due to heavy tensions between Martin and Dave, the band skipped the last six weeks of its recording session, which is why there are zero bonus tracks from this recording.

Yeah, here it comes… This album becomes darker and darker till the sad ending song, and lyrics becomes angrier and angrier. I’m glad to hear this album again. Sometimes after couple of songs you’ll say something like: “OK, what was THAT?”, - but it’s all right. Dave and Martin had really bad relations during creating Spirit and then they had the biggest tour in band’s history. And Ben Hiller is not in chat anymore, time for James Ford!

When Neue Zürcher Zeitung hypothesised that "'Going Backwards' is about a civilizational regression where society and technology are developing as fast as never before", Gore replied: "Yes, but that's just a reason for decay. I have long believed that new technologies would bring the world together - the world would be united by them. We were all enthusiastic about the Arab Spring, when people started organising themselves with social media and fought for their freedom. But then everything went wrong: the Middle East seems to be falling apart." Dave Gahan told Rolling Stone: "If we want things to change, a revolution, we need to talk about it and about caring about what goes on in the world. It doesn't seem the way things are in London. We seem to be going in another direction, and I think Martin felt like he needed to express that [with 'Going Backwards']."

The fact that album Was writen before pandemics it's scary! A niilist and hopeless álbum. Make more sense nowadays. They changed The producer of that álbum too (Last 3 álbuns were The same) it improved a lot sonicly too!

I watch all your reactions to Depeche Mode songs and find your take on the songs very interesting, very enjoyable to watch !

This album is the return of political Mode. It's somewhat divisive among devotees. I personally love it. Like if you've been a devotee for a long time, you already know where they stand politically. This album felt comforting to me when it came out, knowing that we shared political beliefs. And I feel the songs are much better than Delta Machine too. Cover Me which is on this album is one of my favorite songs of theirs ever- and Dave wrote it!

Mart is such an underrated songwriter

Very good lyrics😃👏👏😊 Thanks seph😊 And good comments from your side😃👏👏

"We called the album Spirit, because it's like, 'Where's the spirit gone?' or 'Where's the spirit in humanity?'" Dave explained. "We considered calling it Maelstrom - that was a bit too heavy metal." Would have been an interesting title, though. Spirit was a lot more political than any other album before. "I really felt during the writing process for Spirit that the world was in a complete mess," Martin said. "Humanity had lost its way. By pointing that out, maybe you could somehow get some sort of values back. Now, I may just be imparting too much importance to music and what it can do - I don't know if it can change the world - but even if one person is affected, then maybe I've achieved something." Dave saw the line Where's the revolution? Come on people you're letting me down as "a linchpin on the album. We're really asking that question of ourselves and of the world. What's happening? What's happening? We're all feeling it and none of us seems to have the answer. I would say that this album definitely reflects what's going on outside more than what's going on inside. And the outside world is becoming too much."

Im absolutely love this album much more than SOTU, Exciter or Delta Machine....It's a lot of great song and James Ford a far better producer than some others from the past.

Martin was singing The chorus With Dave!

Dehumanisation of society, where people are more likely to film an assault rather than make a call for help. It's a great lyrical track and it's real.

All of them sing on the outro (Dave obviously sings the first part, than "We feel nothing" is sung by Andrew Fletcher, and "Nothing inside" by Martin)

Love guitar and drums, soooo much..

Brilliant thought provoking album, not meant to be main stream, just like Mode arnt.

DM is a way of living and feeling about life and world.... so deep. MG GOAT

Oh, and watch the official video for the next song!

I like your new look, dude :)

Also: I like it for the atmosphere it makes: this one and the next like an anthem, the Worst crime and Scum, Eternal and Fail…specific but hey: fans really hate Exciter, but I don’t care.

I agree with a comment below. You did not hear Martin singing before last part but he had been singing earlier than that as well. As for political views, I did not agree with all they had said and later our views became even more divided but this song is maybe all about something else and I think it is more abstract and not depending on political situation in some given period (like for example their views on Trump etc.). I like the lyrics and also the sound. For me the message of this song is that humanity is going backwards despite the fact that technology is improving. I do not think it is worse than Everything counts although maybe it was not so popular.

I have not got this album and not given it a listen. After Delta machine I went off DM for a bit. But I really like this. I will go on the journey with you as you review it. There last album “ Memento Mori” is fantastic by the way. Look forward for your review on that one.

Some people aren’t keen on Spirit. But as with most Depeche albums there are a few duds and a few sparkling tracks and for me this is one of three classics on Spirit. Always thought provoking - cutting the crap and making poignant social commentary. Turn this up really loud and immerse yourself. It’s another Depeche masterpiece.

Dead on for me on how I feel about this song. Spirit came on the heels of the US election of Trump, Brexit... DM has always been political and I love that I can respect their politics, but I find the lyrics too... literal? Obvious? . .The melody kind of basic. That goes for the whole album, except for "Cover me", which was probably the only post-PtA song that I genuinely loved until Memento Mori came along. Also this would be the PERFECT time for you to watch the DM interview with Jonathan Ross (Ricky Gervais is part of it too) -- it's an amazing interview from when they were promoting Spirit.

Hy SEPH, this Álbum is a máster piece, i ll put it out of their discography, becouse it s a political critic of how we lose all our humanity, were on the wrong way, full album it s an alert mesege of where we are going to,,, repet for me as a fan, it IS THE BEST ALBUMS OF DM, BUT CANOT Compete with the other Albums whice are made to enjoy the music, this one is a Warning alertbfor our society,,,, damm master pice, album,,,, 😢

I definitely need to revisit this album. I listened to it once and thought it was too preachy. “Cover Me” was the only song I liked. Right way, I’m liking this song more than I first did . . .

Best Song on this Album!!!!

Always enjoy your DM reactions, as I've said! I know you've enjoyed live versions of things but also noticed they've mostly been quite older performances. Thought you might enjoy a 2013-ish performance of Should Be Higher since you've heard the album version lately: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f8V_ZpqUqpfOZmg.htmlsi=2KGwKUCobphAy4xX Same tour, Martin singing Not Like Tonight: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hNp5rduBzt-Yp4k.htmlsi=4Y1zxuD2EbMHgSG6 A very mellow version with small orchestra of Walking in My Shoes from 2023: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/otWbaJWHy6-pj5c.htmlsi=dISvLH-86aTB0Mij (Trying to stick with stuff you've already heard + latest tour videos are mostly full concerts and not a lot of single song cuts yet - or terrible quality cell phone stuff lol)

Great song on an album many fans find quite weak. Nevertheless I like it. But it is definetely far away from their best albums. The song is from 2017 and it is somehow foreseeing so much that came up in the recent times.

Demo Mode at it again

This is better than Everyrhing counts

welcome to Spirit, and yes, you will see that the characteristic of this one is its politically charged songs, which is good, although personally I do not feel them as natural as in Construction Time Again, but they are quite good, what you will notice is that this album lacks completely marketable, something similar to what happened with Exciter, in this case the musicalization is not a big deal, often sounding muffled and with voice effects in Dave that are truly negative for the appeal of an album. Personally, I think that the sound style of the previous album had much more personality than this one, here and in the next album I would say that Depeche Mode are no longer looking so much for a clearly identifiable sound concept. and Going Backwards is one of the strongest songs on the album, and the fact that everything sounds so dull, you know it's not a good sign haha, but hey, we'll see how the songs continue, greetings Seth!

Please do more Micheal jackson Bucharest 1992 dangerous tour!

It does stay on a political theme really , and depending on your interpretation of some of the lyrics can be quite divisive in my opinion .

Maybe, at least for me the best album they done since a long time i can hear from start to finish… very political LP, about society and its diseases, technology, increases war crises, mind control, website, internet is a very good tool but over badly used… people don’t mind others, no unity… The fact that technology would have must be a way to give everyone in the world peace, knowledge, health, food… it’s finally the total opposite… Sad ! The fact is so much people prefer filming than helping we lost humanity

There are a handful of decent songs on the album. I’d say nothing great. Might be my least favorite work of there’s. But the next and last album I personally love!! But can’t wait to see all your reactions!!

I'm not particularly fond of this opening song. Melodically quite boring and without a musical hook. The sound is also not particularly interesting - although I like the trumpet riff which lifts the song when it enters. In conclusion, a not particularly interesting opening on this album, in my opinion. - Which also seems to be roughly your opinion as well.

great song but lazily produced and mix

I Made a poll in a fan fórum. Spirit Is the worst album for the fans. For me , its special, i love Going backwards and Cover Me specially

It’s all downhill from here. Maybe one other salvageable song on the album.

It's probably the best of the songs on a poor album.

This is a great song with very confronting lyrics. Everything counts was written during Tatcherism, this was written in the Obama age with wars all over the Middle East. Everything counts was about capitalism, this is about the new warfare where civilians were not spared… Mankind is not evolving but DM does know politics and how the world has changed over the years 😊.

The worst DM album in my opinion. The whole review will be long for me untill you come to Memento Mori which is excellent.

Lyrically the most boring album for me, since I'm not into the left agenda of any kind. But soundly it have few pretty good ones.

Not a big fan of this album as a whole, but this track in particular is quite cynical and grim. Just like the future ahead of us...

This is probably their most political album ever. But none of the songs on here are good enough imo. My least favorite DM album.

This is the best track on the album in my opinion😂The other tracks are really bad, and the whole album belongs to the weaker ones from Depeche Mode

Good song on a bad album

I'm still waiting for more michael jackson reactions😍

Spirit is much better than Delta and Sounds of the Universe IMO, overall not a bad album. I love this song!

❤ your reaction...still hanging on...Spirit...sigh....for me its their worst album...mind you they have better music than whats out there...for me its cold lacks atmosphere ...I dont mind the message its the music that leaves me cold...boy do I miss Alan...I never play this album😫

che imbarazzo...a parte fail, disco tutto bruttissimissimo!!!

Great start to a weak album. In my opinion, their worst album in their history. But still with some highlights, just wait for Cover Me!