Track Listing

1. Leave in Silence
2. My Secret Garden
3. Monument
4. Nothing to Fear
5. See You
6. Satellite
7. Meaning of Love
8. Further Excerpts from: My Secret Garden
9. Photograph of You
10. Shouldn't Have Done That
11. Sun & The Rainfall

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11119 in Music
• Released on: 1987-06-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

dM's Unsung Masterpiece
Yes, that's correct, "A Broken Frame" is Depeche Mode's quiet little under-rated masterpiece, a wonderful and important collection of songs that quietly helped inform Depeche Mode's career.

Written by Martin Gore after Vince Clarke left the band to form Yaz, Martin honed his songwriting skills quickly and penned such classics as the popular single "Leave In Silence," the album cut of which is nothing short of fantastic. "My Secret Garden," "See You," and "The Sun & The Rainfall" strongly set the stage for Gore's political and deeply personal lyrics.

Musically, dM grows tremendously and goes beyond any expectations that may have been divided with the release Clarke-heavy "Speak & Spell." Not only the above tracks, but "MSG's" excerpts and the classic instrumental "Nothing to Fear" demonstrate that dM were a band to be reckoned with.

The foundations, both lyrically and musically, that were created with this album inspired the future of Depeche Mode and was the source that initiated the hiring of Andrew Wilder into the band during this album's tour.

If you want to discover Depeche Mode and the singles albums aren't enough, start here. You won't regret it.

The Cover is the Only thing Interesting Here
I bought this album when it first came out because, as other teenagers in the early 80s, I was mezmerized by any song with a synthesizer in it. At the time parts of it were somewhat fascinating. Now after years of listening to all sorts of electronic music, from Avante Garde to Trance, I must say that after a recent complete listen of this album, I probably will never put it back in my cd player again. I now find the songs are either boring, lackluster, or annoying. I will keep it for the excellent cover, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. There is just better DM stuff to listen to.

the REAL first Depeche Mode album
Sure this album has lots of cheesy, innocent synthpop jingles. It's not their best album ever. But it's interesting to listen to in the grand scheme of all that is Depeche. It's DM's first foray into darker, more alienated minimalism. With the obvious poppy tracks aside, A Broken Frame is icy to the core with some great little gems such as "Monument", "Satellite", "Leave In Silence", "The Sun & The Rainfall" and "Shouldn't Have Done That". With Vince's departure, Martin's cynical and biting wit jumps out. The lyrical content is already pointing to more socio-political views, as well as troubled relationships. The music is really interesting in it's stark and cold simplicity. The songs squiggle, pulse, ripple and bleep along with technological and calculated precision, living up to the standards of post-punk/synthpop. This album isn't for everyone, but I think it's quite interesting on it's own ;-)