First: I'm a great fan of DM.
And I think that "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" is a truly great recording although the critics (and fans, too) were rather divided in their opinions.
Same goes for me with "Devotional". On the one hand, Anton Corbijn did an overwhelming job with the stage exteriors and the filming, on the other hand it's pretty scary to see a Dave Gahan on the brink of emaciation, almost fighting himself through the concert. Focusing on the SOFAD album left many "oldschool" fans behind with mixed emotions - okay, you really can't expect that DM is always digging up "Just Can't Get Enough" after more than one decade in which they had evolved like no other band (you would still wonder how many people are requesting especially this song though), but...hmm, let's say that some songs of faith and devotion didn't worked really in front of a huge live crowd. Or better said, a few more songs from their huge backcatalogue wouldn't have had hurted.
Okay, all of the above mentioned things are a matter called "the freedom of the artists" - if you count everything together, you will have a great time with "Devotional", reliving the good old times before "Exciter" (sorry...but this is definetly their worst output ever IMHO).
And I think that "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" is a truly great recording although the critics (and fans, too) were rather divided in their opinions.
Same goes for me with "Devotional". On the one hand, Anton Corbijn did an overwhelming job with the stage exteriors and the filming, on the other hand it's pretty scary to see a Dave Gahan on the brink of emaciation, almost fighting himself through the concert. Focusing on the SOFAD album left many "oldschool" fans behind with mixed emotions - okay, you really can't expect that DM is always digging up "Just Can't Get Enough" after more than one decade in which they had evolved like no other band (you would still wonder how many people are requesting especially this song though), but...hmm, let's say that some songs of faith and devotion didn't worked really in front of a huge live crowd. Or better said, a few more songs from their huge backcatalogue wouldn't have had hurted.
Okay, all of the above mentioned things are a matter called "the freedom of the artists" - if you count everything together, you will have a great time with "Devotional", reliving the good old times before "Exciter" (sorry...but this is definetly their worst output ever IMHO).