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Halo Released

1990
Violator is the seventh studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 19 March 1990 by Mute Records internationally, and by Sire and Reprise Records in the United States.

Violator

Studio album by Depeche Mode
Released
19 March 1990[1]
Recorded
1989
Studio
Logic (Milan)
Puk (Gjerlev)
The Church (London)
Master Rock (London)
Axis (New York City)
Genre
Synth-popelectropopalternative rockdancegothic rock
Length
47:02
Label
Mute
Producer
Depeche ModeFlood
Depeche Mode chronology
101
(1989) Violator
(1990) Songs of Faith and Devotion
(1993)

Singles from Violator
"Personal Jesus"
Released: 29 August 1989
"Enjoy the Silence"
Released: 5 February 1990
"Policy of Truth"
Released: 7 May 1990
"World in My Eyes"
Released: 17 September 1990
Preceded by the singles "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" (a top-10 entry in both the United Kingdom and the United States), the album propelled the band into international stardom, and also yielded the singles "Policy of Truth" and "World in My Eyes". Violator reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, and was the band's first album to chart inside the top 10 of the Billboard 200, peaking at number seven. The album was supported by the World Violation Tour.

Background
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Depeche Mode had supported their previous album, Music for the Masses (1987),[2] with the Music for the Masses Tour, which ran from late 1987 through mid-1988, which itself was supported by the live release 101, released in March 1989.[3] A few months later, Martin Gore released his first solo album, Counterfeit EP.[4] By the middle of 1989, the full band was recording together, and they released the single "Personal Jesus" in August, a full 7 months before the album itself.[5]

Recording
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Violator was recorded in 1989 in Milan, Italy, and Denmark.[6] On the album, Depeche Mode worked with Flood as producer for the first time, and François Kevorkian was responsible for the sound mix.[6] Compared to previous albums, the band decided to try a new approach to recording. Alan Wilder said, "Usually we begin the making of a record by having extensive pre-production meetings where we decide what the record will actually sound like, then go into a programming studio. This time we decided to keep all pre-production work to a minimum. We were beginning to have a problem with boredom in that we felt we'd reached a certain level of achievement in doing things a certain way."[7] Martin Gore elaborated, "Over the last five years I think we'd perfected a formula; my demos, a month in a programming studio, etc. etc. We decided that our first record of the '90s ought to be different."[7]
With co-producer Flood, Wilder began a complementary working relationship, with Flood able to provide the technical know-how and Wilder working on the arrangements and song textures.[8] "That's how we made the group work at that time", clarified Wilder, "by accepting that we all had different roles and not actually all trying to do the same thing. So we ended up with this unwritten agreement in the band, where we'd all throw together a few ideas at the beginning of a track. Then Fletch and Mart would go away, and they'd come back after we'd worked on it for a while to give an opinion."[8]

There was also a notable change in Gore's demos. After the rigid, limiting effects of almost-finished demos for Music for the Masses, Gore, agreeing to Wilder's request, kept them less complete this time around. Several of the basic recordings consisted of vocals over a simple guitar or organ part, with the odd percussion loop, but less sequenced material. The sparse demos allowed the band to take creative liberties with the songs. For instance, "Enjoy the Silence" started out as a slow ballad, but at Wilder's suggestion became a pulsating, up-tempo track.[9]

The band convened to work on the record with Flood at Mute's WorldWide programming room in London for three weeks after which they flew to Milan for the new sessions at Logic studios. According to Flood, they did not do a substantial amount of work in Milan, except for the song "Personal Jesus", which was crucial in setting the tone and spirit of the album. "Everybody was feeling each other out, because they wanted to try working in a different way. The idea was to work hard and party hard and we all enjoyed ourselves to the full." After Milan the band relocated to Puk studios in northern Denmark, where most of the album was recorded.[10]
Track listing
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All tracks are written by Martin L. Gore. All lead vocals by Dave Gahan, except where noted

No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "World in My Eyes" 4:26
2. "Sweetest Perfection" Gore 4:43
3. "Personal Jesus" ([note 1]) 4:56
4. "Halo" 4:30
5. "Waiting for the Night" ([note 2])
GahanGore
6:07
6. "Enjoy the Silence" (includes hidden track[note 3]) 6:12
7. "Policy of Truth" 4:55
8. "Blue Dress" (includes hidden track[note 4]) Gore 5:41
9. "Clean" 5:32
Total length: 47:02