Depeche Mode - 101 (2CD) (1989)

101 is a live album and documentary film by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 13 March 1989 by Mute Records. 

It chronicles the final leg of the band's Music for the Masses Tour and the final show on 18 June 1988 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

As an event, Depeche Mode's huge (attendance around 60,000) Los Angeles Rose Bowl concert in 1988 remains legendary; no single artist show had totally sold out the venue since eight years beforehand, while the film documentary done by Dylan-filmer D.A. Pennebaker based around the show clearly demonstrated fans' intense commitment to a near-decade-old band most mainstream critics continued to stupidly portray as a flash-in-the-pan synth pop effort. 

This start-to-final-encore record of the concert showcases a band perfectly able to carry its music from studio to stage as well as any other combo worth its salt should be able to do. 

Understandably focused on Music for the Masses material, the album shows Depeche experimenting with alternate arrangements at various points for live performance; big numbers like "Never Let Me Down Again," "Stripped," and "Blasphemous Rumors" pack even more of a wallop here. 

Slower numbers and more than a couple of ballads help to vary the hit-packed set, including a fine "Somebody" and "The Things You Said" combination sung by Martin Gore. 

"Pleasure Little Treasure," on record an okay B-side, becomes a monster rocker live, the type of unexpected surprise one could expect from a solid band no matter what the music. 

With a triumphant set of closing numbers, including magnificent takes on "Never Let Me Down Again," "Master and Servant," and the set-ending "Everything Counts," with what sounds like the entire audience singing the chorus well after the song has finally ended, 101 does far better at its task than most might have guessed.

Side A

1. "Pimpf" – 0:58
2. "Behind the Wheel" – 5:55
3. "Strangelove" – 4:49
4. "Something to Do" – 3:54
5. "Blasphemous Rumours" – 5:09

Side B

1. "Stripped" – 6:45
2. "Somebody" – 4:34
3. "The Things You Said" – 4:21
4. "Black Celebration" – 4:54

Side C

1. "Shake the Disease" – 5:10
2. "Pleasure Little Treasure" – 4:38
3. "People Are People" – 4:59
4. "A Question of Time" – 4:12

Side D

1. "Never Let Me Down Again" – 6:40
2. "Master and Servant" – 4:30
3. "Just Can't Get Enough" – 4:01
4. "Everything Counts" – 6:31

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of 101.

• Randy Ezratty – recording
• Mark Shane – recording assistance
• John Harris – recording assistance
• Billy Yodelman – recording assistance
• Alan Moulder – engineering
• Depeche Mode – production
• Anton Corbijn – cover
• Paul West – cover

Companies, etc.

• Marketed By – Indisc Benelux
• Distributed By – Indisc Benelux
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Mute Records Ltd.
• Copyright © – Mute Records Ltd.
• Mixed At – Swanyard Studios
• Made By – Europe Optical Disc

Credits

• Engineer – Alan Moulder
• Producer – Depeche Mode
• Recorded By – Randy Ezratty
• Recorded By [Assistant] – Billy Yodelman, John Harris, Mark Shane
• Written-By – M.L. Gore (tracks: 1-1 to 2-9, 2-11)

Notes

Released: 13 March 1989 

Recorded: 18 June 1988 Venue Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California) 

Length: 117:00 

Producer: Frazer Pennebaker 

Label:  Mute Records

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