![]() Gahan opens Monstersin full masochistic mode. They were, and are, a gospel-tinged classic rock band that happened to favor au courant arrangements (as the legend goes, the boys switched to synths so as not to disturb neighbors during early rehearsals). Fair enough: much like the Eurythmics, Depeche Mode were never a true electropop outfit. The songs themselves, meanwhile, are two-thirds smoothly crooned ballads over one-third lacquered rock shuffles- all closer to the digi-soul of *Songs of Faith and Devotion than the IDM aspirations of * Exciter. Its presence here nears Bonnie Raitt levels, coating most solos and even providing ambient beds. The most prominently featured instrument on Paper Monsters is, oddly enough, slide guitar. The first thing we learn is that Dave doesn't really like synthesizers all that much. It's just another level of self-mythologizing, sure, but it does yield interesting information- sometimes not in the ways intended. Like many solo outings by career frontmen, Paper Monsters is autotherapeutic: Gahan wants to share something about himself. Why the hell am I making a point of this? Well, it's quite indicative of the album's contents. He also looks like a rather prototypical Jew. He looks like he should at this point: a man with 22 years' celebrity and six minutes of clinical death behind him. One of the premier prettyboys of the 80s, Gahan looks defiantly middle-aged here- the jowls sag a bit, the corners of the mouth took a mournful turn downward.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |