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It's always good to know where a band came from so you can see how far they've come. Speak and Spell is really the work of Vincent Clarke, who, with Andy Bell, would later form the happy-go-lucky pop-dance megaforce Erasure. And it shows in the catchy, upbeat songs "New Life," "Boys Say Go," "Photographic," and the most famous single, "Just Can't Get Enough." When Martin Gore took over the songwriting, Depeche Mode veered toward a different thematic direction by developing the goth-pop that would become their signature. Still, it's an important album not only because it is Depeche Mode's first but also because it is one of the best representations of early-'80s minimalist synth music. --Beth Bessmer