The original edit of Depeche Mode: Vince was published in 2011, titled Just Can’t Get Enough and tracing Depeche Mode’s history up until the late 1980s when they started to gain a higher level of popularity in America. Its author, Simon Spence, has now edited it as he originally intended, its new title referencing this version’s point of conclusion: when Vince Clarke leaves Depeche Mode in late 1981, following the release of their debut album Speak & Spell.

With a fresh cover by Martyn Atkins, designer of many Mode record sleeves, Depeche Mode: Vince is an intensive examination of the early years of this band; likewise those of their label, Mute, with acts like The Normal, Silicon Teens, DAF and Boyd Rice all mentioned. Their origins in postwar ‘new town’ Basildon provides an important sociopolitical backdrop, too, and there are insights into the backgrounds, personalities and cultural motivators of the band members.

Spence has interviewed many of their friends, including singer Alison Moyet, as well as associates and industry insiders. Vocalist Dave Gahan was a ‘tearaway’ soulboy with punk leanings, fond of occasional joyriding in a town then lacking jobs, prospects and known as a “suburb of nowhere”. Clarke, meanwhile, was the band’s musical boffin with ambition. Andrew Fletcher – who died in 2022 – was sociable and business-minded; his shy, studious close friend Martin L Gore, now the other half of the latter-day Mode duo with Gahan, was influenced equally by The Human League and Robert Johnson.

The explanation of why Clarke decided to leave Depeche Mode when he did may prove pretty revelatory for fans, part of this captivating deep dive into the beginnings of a band that became a global phenomenon. Clarke, too, went on to considerable success with Yazoo and Erasure.