Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (music and lyrics not included). Pages: 33. Chapters: Depeche Mode compilation albums, Depeche Mode live albums, Depeche Mode video albums, Sounds of the Universe, Recording the Universe, Recording the Angel, Playing the Angel, Music for the Masses, Violator, Depeche Mode videography, Ultra, Black Celebration, Songs of Faith and Devotion, Remixes 81 04, Speak & Spell, 101, Exciter, A Broken Frame, Construction Time Again, The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1, Tour of the Universe : Barcelona 20/21.11.09, Some Great Reward, The Singles 86 98, The Videos 86 98, The Singles 81 85, Touring the Angel: Live in Milan, One Night in Paris, Remixes 2: 81 11, Devotional, Some Great Videos, The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg, Songs of Faith and Devotion Live, People Are People, Catching Up with Depeche Mode, Strange Too, Depeche Mode Greatest Hits. Excerpt: Sounds of the Universe is the twelfth studio album by English electronic band Depeche Mode, released in Europe on 20 April 2009 and in the United States and Canada on 21 April 2009. It was supported by the 2009 10 concert tour Tour of the Universe. As with the previous album, Playing the Angel, Dave Gahan has once again written three songs with Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott: "Hole to Feed", "Come Back" and "Miles Away/The Truth Is". "Spacewalker" and the bonus track "Esque" are instrumentals. Martin Gore shares lead singing duties with Gahan on "In Chains", "Peace" and "Little Soul", he sings the lead of "Jezebel" and the B-side "The Sun and the Moon and the Stars" on the second disc of the deluxe box set. The B-side "Oh Well" is the first track ever to be co-written by Gore and Gahan. The album ends with a short hidden instrumental track after "Corrupt". Three singles were released from the album; "Wrong", "Peace", and a double A-side of "Fragile Tension" and "Hole to Feed". "Perfect" was also released in the US as a promotional single. While Dave Gahan was still busy with his solo album Hourglass released on 19 October 2007, Martin Gore was in his home studio in Santa Barbara, working on new songs. In May 2008 the band hit the studio to record their most anticipated twelfth album. As a producer, Ben Hillier took the strings again, because the band was so satisfied with their previous effort together on Playing the Angel. The band described the time in the studio as very productive, a total of 22 songs were created and it was difficult to choose the right songs for the album. Five of the songs not used on the album were released as part of the Deluxe Box Set. Short video clips of the band and production team at work in the studio were regularly posted on the band's homepage. Initial critical response to Sounds of the Universe was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has
