**1/2 Depeche Mode

THE SINGLES 86-98

(Mute)

The Singles 86-98 catches up with the catchiest music these old New Romantics have made since their 1985 compilation Catching Up with Depeche Mode, their only other album that non-fan-club members really need own. The melodies still try way too hard to sound dark, the dinky sound effects don't always work as kinky percussion, and David Gahan's lounge croon frequently comes off more constricted than ominous. In eternal artsy-fartsy tradition, his lyrics are rarely as deep as they pretend to be -- the more he tries to be profound about faith or greed, the more trite he sounds. But he's entirely in his element sticking to dominant/submissive sex -- asking who's wearing the trousers or who's behind the wheel -- and in recent years his voice has inched toward the fleshly thrust of hard rock and (at least in "Condemnation") gospel music. The group's attempts at hip-hop and disco rhythm have meanwhile loosened up, and they've learned that symphonic schlock in the pursuit of morose moods is no vice.

-- Chuck Eddy