Warner Bros / Wea
2003
Counterfeit²
About This Album
Martin Gore's Counterfeit² beat David Gahan's Paper Monsters to the punch by just over a month; with some better timing -- and, you know, a synchronous album from Andrew Fletcher -- Depeche Mode could've pulled a Kiss. This first full-length from DM's principal songwriter follows an EP he released 14 years prior. On that EP, Gore covered some of his favorite songs and made them sound unsurprisingly like his group circa that year. As one can tell from the title of this disc, this is the same concept, and even some of the most ardent fans no doubt breathed another sigh of relief with the knowledge that he decided once again to let other people provide the lyrics. The only song Gore shouldn't have gone anywhere near is Nick Cave's "Loverman." While the dramatic lyrics are a suitable enough fit, he doesn't attempt to change the manner in which they were delivered on the original and in turn sounds goofy; he's incapable of taking the seething monstrous form that the song requires. The majority of the remaining songs are smarter selections. In David Essex's "Stardust," Gore's voice is almost as weary as the spare arrangement, which surges crawlingly so with occasional surges of buzzing noise.
Track List

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