Depeche Mode “Speak & Spell” 1981. Today, July 3rd, is original DM member Vince Clarke’s 60th birthday (b. Vincent Martin, 1960). Clarke was the primary songwriter for Depeche Mode’s debut album; he left the band after its release to form Yazoo. Speak & Spell is one of my favorite DM albums, mainly for Clarke’s lighter songwriting touch (though I also really really love Depeche Mode’s later, darker material mostly penned by Martin Gore): it is the perfect snapshot of early 80′s synthpop. Pretty much one of my top DM songs leads off the album: “New Life” which went to #11 in the UK; the version that appears on Speak & Spell appears on the 7″ though I am partial to the 12″ version. “Dreaming of Me,” the lead single from the album, went to #57 in the UK though did not appear on the UK album variants (this copy is an 80′s era US release). The third and final single from the LP was “Just Can’t Get Enough” which is a total Depeche Mode classic, probably one of their best known and loved early tunes. It went to #8 and scored a chart placement in the US at #26 on the Dance Charts. I also really love “Boys Say Go!,” the slightly sinister “Nodisco” and “Photographic” (well, the rest of the album, too). Speak & Spell went to #10 in the UK and #192 in the US.