Having bought "Construction Time Again" I already had an interest in Depeche Mode and despite liking their subsequent singles I hadn't indulged in the follow-up album "Some Great Reward". However, when the Greatest Hits compilation was released it was an ideal opportunity to update my record collection.
I had liked the three subsequent singles to those from "Construction Time Again" so looking at the track listing I was already familiar with all the songs included here except for the first single "Dreaming Of You" plus the two new, unreleased songs. The songs all appear in chronological order.
It was slightly disappointing that two singles had been omitted from this compilation, as the beautiful double A-side piano ballad "Somebody" was perhaps considered to be "unrepresentative" of their sound, but the exclusion from a singles collection of "The Meaning Of Love", which had reached number 12 in the UK charts, didn't seem to make much sense, even if it wasn't a great song.
The one feature that I liked with the album was the sleeve notes, where each song had a positive and negative comment from the UK press, and in particular there was a memorable statement for "Master and Servants" where the Time Out correspondent had commented "What do you expect from this lame bunch of dickheads ?"
Hearing "Dreaming Of You" for the first time was quite refreshing as it was a catchy pop song, or candi-floss as described by one reviewer, whilst "Shake The Disease" and "It's Called A Heart" were consistent with the band's sound at that point in their career.
The Vince Clarke penned "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough" are also lightweight electronic pop songs, and after his departure from the band, the follow-up, "See You" written by Martin Gore, was in a similar vein. However, "Leave In Silence" and "Get The Balance Right" indicated a move to a more darker sound, which was brought to fruition with the string of outstanding hits that followed.
If I had to select a favourite song from the album it would be "Blasphemous Rumours", although as mentioned in the review of "Construction Time Again" I highly rate "Love, in Itself" and "Everything Counts".
All in all, this is a great collection of songs from a very important band.
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Dreaming Of Me ( 1981 - No 55 )
2. New Life ( 1981 - No 11 )
3. Just Can't Get Enough ( 1981- No 8 )
4. See You ( 1982 - No 6 )
5. Leave In Silence ( 1982 - No 18 )
6. Get The Balance Right ( 1983 - No 13 )
7. Everything Counts ( 1983 - No 6 )
1. Love, in Itself ( 1983 - No 21 )
2. People Are People ( 1984 - No 4 )
3. Master And Servant ( 1984 - No 9 )
4. Blasphemous Rumours ( 1984 - No 16 )
5. Shake The Disease ( 1985 - No 18 )
6. It's Called A Heart ( 1985 - No 18 )
UK Chart Position : 6
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