"I realize that many people have mixed views about Dave Gahan's writing ability. I always say keep it simple which is exactly what he does with this album. I am an avid DM fan and have been for years. It's wonderful to see Dave finally take the initiative to write and sing his own songs. I think this is his best work yet. His post somber period has ended. His debut, "Paper Monsters" was a nice effort at breaking away from DM, but "Hourglass" is the bomb! My fave track on this CD so far is "A Little Lie." I am also enamored by "Deeper and Deeper", "Use You", and "21 Days." Of course his release of "Kingdom" and "Saw Something" was on the money, but the aforementioned tracks are his best kept secrets. Well done album. Buy it. You will enjoy it. I give it 5 stars. I love the dark, gritty electronic sound that this album displays. And oh, let's not forget Dave's signature baritone voice. Can't get a better mixture of vocal and sound in one album."
Great work by Dave Gahan
outlawz | nyc | 01/20/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Dave Gahan has come a long way with his songwriting and ability to put together a solid album since Paper Monsters. Maybe it's all the years of working with Martin, but Dave seems to have progressed nicely over the years and I highly recommend the album, especially for DM fans. The DVD has studio sessions and a Kingdom video, I thought it was worth the extra $10 or so."
Not bad, not bad at all.
Jonny 5 | West Covina, C.A. | 02/10/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Simply stated, David Gahan is at his best. "Kingdom" and the title track are amazing songs. But don't take my word for it, buy this album."
Solid Effort By Mr. Gahan
J. Kearns | Simi Valley, California United States | 05/26/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Dave Gahan's second solo album is quite the departure from his debut - Paper Monsters. While the first one was more blues and rock influenced, Hourglass is clearly more of a DM sounding record. Both are different albums but they are great records.
With Hourglass, Dave has made an even more personal record with themes of mortality, religion and of course love. Standout tracks are Kingdom, Saw Something and Use You. A song that really touched me was Miracles as I feel the same way about my maker as Dave does. As Dave says, he keeps praying anyway. So do I.
I hope Dave continues to make records in between his work with DM. He's making a nice body of work that he can be proud of."
Watching the Hourglass...
Erik R. Olson | Dublin, CA, United States | 03/08/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"After the hit-and-miss of Dave Gahan's first solo album (Paper Monsters), 2005's Playing the Angel gave Dave Gahan a bigger role creatively within Depeche Mode. Twenty-plus years of leaning on Martin Gore for songwriting has given Dave a solid understanding of what does and does not make a song work, and that learning process is well under way on the heavily electronic Hourglass.
CD:
"Saw Something," the opener, is a remarkably powerful ballad, perhaps about a missed romantic connection. Dave's voice truly fills the vast spaces opened up by the languid beat. "Kingdom," the first single, immediately commands attention with its sweaty club thump and lyrical content as profound as anything Gore has written for Depeche Mode. Here Gahan asks an old but important question: "Is there a kingdom behind it all? Is there a God who loves us all? Do we believe in love at all?" If you've ever loved Depeche Mode, you'll find yourself singing along, no matter how bad you are at it. An excellent song that works on multiple levels.
Other knockout tracks on Hourglass include "Insoluble," which at first I thought must have been a wrongfully discarded demo for Playing the Angel. It's certainly dark and brooding enough, with its frigid electronic soundscape and chilling refrain: "You have nothing to fear." A slithery, menacing masterpiece. And after listening to this album now and then for over a year, I have to admit that my favorite track is "Endless," an electronic ode to the earth as companion and lover. Best heard in a fast car, late at night, with the volume up as loud as you can stand it. Very addictive.
Many deeply committed DM fans were upset by the idea of Dave writing songs, and pointed to some of the less-than-perfect offerings on Paper Monsters as supporting evidence. And while there is a lot to like on Hourglass, there is also fodder for the Dave-haters too. "Deeper and Deeper" is a forgettable romp with a generic chorus. The obliquely political "21 Days" and "A Little Lie" do nothing to improve the album, and the oft-mentioned "Miracles" is a little embarrassing at times.
But if you're willing to skip tracks a little (I sequence it 1-2-7-8, but your results may vary) you'll find that Hourglass is a solid solo effort. It also shows that, between what Dave is capable of on his own and what he has done for Playing the Angel, he has earned his place alongside Martin Gore as songwriter for the upcoming album Sounds of the Universe. After all, Gore himself has remarked that it can be hard for one person to write enough songs for an entire album. If Hourglass seems to support that conclusion, perhaps so do somewhat underwhelming DM albums such as Ultra and Exciter.
DVD:
This extra disc includes a nice little documentary about the making of Hourglass, with interviews from Dave, musicians Christian Eigner and Andrew Philpott, and a music journalist who has followed Dave's history with Depeche Mode. The slick video for "Kingdom" is also included here, worth seeing if you haven't already. The image of an empty police car with its flashers on seems like an apt metaphor for the song's underlying questions about the presence or absence of authority. The studio sessions round the DVD out, where Dave and the musicians play some pretty bare, demo-style versions of four songs on Hourglass. The electronic versions are better, but you can certainly hear the promise in the demos. Lastly, there are some pointless and goofy studio outtakes--somewhat amusing, but at the end, you ask yourself, "why bother?"
OVERALL:
It's worth buying the CD+DVD if you really enjoyed Paper Monsters and would like to fully explore Dave's attempts at classically DM-style electronic music. But if you're not interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff, and instead just want a sampling of Dave's solo work, you might be better off with just the CD or downloading a few tracks individually."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
