Exciter is the tenth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was first released on 14 May 2001 in the United Kingdom by Mute Records and a day later in the United States by Reprise Records. The album was produced by Mark Bell, and was supported by the Exciter Tour, one of the band's most successful tours.
Exciter debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart and number eight on the Billboard 200, selling 115,000 copies in its first week in the United States.[2] It was the only Depeche Mode album to debut higher in the United States than in the United Kingdom. As of April 2006, Exciter had sold over 426,000 copies in the US,[3] and has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA);[4] it has also been certified gold in Canada for shipments of 50,000 units.[5]
The plant that appears on the cover is the Agave attenuata, a species of agave sometimes known as the "lion's tail", "swan's neck", or "foxtail" for its development of a curved stem, unusual among agaves.
Lyrically, the album covers many different subjects. Martin Gore said that "The Dead of Night" was inspired by a club in London where there were a lot of drugs and mayhem. Gore told MTV Europe that "I Feel Loved" is about when you "feel absolutely like shit, and you feel the worst you've ever felt in your life. Then somehow you think: 'the universe must like me, for making me feel like this'".[citation needed]
Musically, Exciter can be described as a very atmospheric and electronic album. Gore had stated that he had been listening to more abstract electronic music in the lead up to recording Exciter, which could have influenced some of the more experimental soundscapes on the album. The group also often cited producer Mark Bell as a major inspiration in the making of Exciter as Gahan states that Mark Bell helped make him a more confident vocalist.[6] The band also worked with Paul Freegard and long-time collaborator Gareth Jones, who were involved with pre-production and programming.
On top of the electronic soundscapes, Depeche Mode also added elements of traditional blues, retro funk, progressive rock, and orchestral pop to its arrangements.[1] Bell told Keyboard magazine that they treated the acoustic and electronic sounds on the track "Dream On" the same. Gore felt that many songs of the album including "When the Body Speaks" have a 1950s or 1960s sound to them. "Comatose" was massively stripped down from the original demo since the band wanted a more minimalistic arrangement. "Freelove" was one of the final tracks to be completed on the album. "The Dead of Night" features a harsher sound compared to other tracks on the album, making heavy use of analogue synths such as the EMS Synthi AKS; the practice of largely using analogue synths would become common on later albums by the band.
Bell found working with the group fun but strange, stating he had listened to the group when he was 12 and found the band asking him for days off or "what they should eat".[7] According to an interview with Gahan in 2003, Gore's lack of involvement with the production led to Bell feeling frustrated and that he was essentially creating the album for the band.[8]
The tour began with a North American leg on 4 June 2001; the group performed one rehearsal show and two "warm-up" concerts before the official tour began in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in mid-June 2001. The leg continued until mid-August, concluding with two shows in Anaheim, California.
In late August 2001, the group began a European leg, which started in Tallinn and culminated in early November in Mannheim, Germany. This was the final show of the tour; a second European leg had been planned for the summer of 2002 but this never happened. In total, the band played 84 concerts, performing to over 1.5 million people in 24 countries.[9]
The concerts in Paris were filmed and issued in May 2002 on a DVD release entitled One Night in Paris.
Exciter received generally positive reviews. While many critics praised the album's experimental and digital soundscapes, many felt it was one of the weakest Depeche Mode albums.
In a positive review, NME wrote that "Not many long-running groups could make an album this fresh and confident in their 20th year, never mind one which bridges timeless soulman crooning and underground techno". Rolling Stone complimented the album's minimal arrangements, comparing them to early Kraftwerk. The A.V. Club complimented Mark Bell's production on the album, stating that "Bell's subtle, inventive knob-twiddling pairs perfectly with Martin Gore's new batch of somber, subdued songs".
In contrast, Q Magazine was much more negative in their interpretation of the project, writing: "This time it's Martin Gore who's out of puff. No amount of fashionable tweaking can hide the flimsiness of his offerings".
Despite some mixed reviews, Exciter still appeared on several EOY 2001 lists such as Magic, MusikExpress, Rocksound, Rumba, Visions, and Woxy.
On 2 October 2007 (3 October in North America), Exciter was re-released as a two-disc set, along with Ultra, in the fourth and final set of Depeche Mode reissues. The first disc was a remastered version of the original, on an SACD/CD hybrid (only a CD in the US). The second disc is a DVD which features the album in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo. The B-sides from Exciter as well as the single version of "Freelove" are included. There are also audio versions of all the live Exciter tracks played during the One Night in Paris film.
Like the other reissues, there is a documentary on the making of Exciter titled Depeche Mode 1999–2001 (Presenting the Intimate and Delicate Side of Depeche Mode). The documentary begins with the talks of Gore's writer's block and what they did about it. It also discusses the first three singles, the recording, the cover art and the Exciter tour (including one of the opening acts, Fad Gadget). The documentary is around 30 minutes long. The three members of the band are interviewed along with Daniel Miller, Christian Eigner, Peter Gordeno, Anton Corbijn, and Mute label representatives. The documentary ends with a "To Be Continued..."
Producer Mark Bell does not appear, and although they discuss the fact that the band decided not to have Corbijn direct Exciter's music videos, they do not interview the two who did direct them. However, John Hillcoat, who directed "I Feel Loved", "Freelove" and "Goodnight Lovers", is mentioned in passing.
