Songs Of Faith And Devotion

For information on this album's singles, see the Singles section.
← #7: Violator	Albums	#9: Ultra →
This article is about the album. To view a list of its songs and B-sides, see Songs Of Faith And Devotion songs.

Songs Of Faith And Devotion
Album	Songs Of Faith And Devotion
By	Depeche Mode
Working title	Songs Of Love And Devotion
Catalogue number	Stumm106 CDStumm106 5016025611065 CStumm106 CStumm106 MDStumm106 DCC STUMM 106 PCDStumm106 Stumm106 Verbong 1 CD Verbong 1 CD Verbong 1 CD No Cat # Depro1cd No Cat # No Cat #
Release date	22 March 1993
Recorded	February 1992–January 1993
Recorded at	Madrid, Spain Chateau du Pape (Hamburg, Germany)
Produced by	Depeche Mode Flood
Engineered by	Steve Lyon Paul Kendall Chris Dickie
Formats	LP • CD • MC • MD • DCC • CD+DVD • LP (remastered)
Number of tracks	10

Songs Of Faith And Devotion (often abbreviated as "SOFAD" by fans and publications) is the eighth studio album by Depeche Mode and the final album produced with Alan Wilder as a member prior to his departure from the group in 1995. The album was released in the United Kingdom on 22 March 1993 by Mute Records.

It was supported by the Devotional and Exotic tours.

Track list

1. I Feel You
2. Walking In My Shoes
3. Condemnation
4. Mercy In You
5. Judas
6. In Your Room
7. Get Right With Me
8. Rush
9. One Caress
10. Higher Love

For a full list of songs, singles, and B-sides produced for this album, see the list of Songs Of Faith And Devotion songs.

Singles

1. I Feel You – 15 February 1993
2. Walking In My Shoes – 26 April 1993
3. Condemnation – 13 September 1993
4. In Your Room – 10 January 1994

Releases

LP

12" (STUMM106)				RELEASED 1993 Region: Barcode: 5 016025 311064 Labels: Made In England Side A runout groove etching: STUMM 106 A1 DMM Side B runout groove etching: STUMM 106 B1 TOWNHOUSE DMM DMM Format: Stereo
Side A I Feel You 4:35 Walking In My Shoes 5:35 Condemnation 3:20 Mercy In You 4:17 Judas 5:14			Side B In Your Room 6:26 Get Right With Me / Interlude No. 4 2:55 / 0:57 Rush 4:37 One Caress 3:32 Higher Love 5:56
Notes: Printed inner sleeve included. First edition copies included a 15x21cm window sticker.

CD

CD (CDSTUMM106)	RELEASED 1993 Region: Barcode: 5 016025 611065 Labels: Made In England Format: Stereo Runout: CDSTUMM 106 • MASTERED BY NIMBUS
Tracklist I Feel You 4:35 Walking In My Shoes 5:35 Condemnation 3:20 Mercy In You 4:17 Judas 5:14 In Your Room 6:26 Get Right With Me / Interlude No. 4 2:55 / 0:57 Rush 4:37 One Caress 3:32 Higher Love 5:56
Notes: Some first edition copies include a "Mute/Documentary Evidence 7" booklet.

Cassette

Cassette (CSTUMM106)				RELEASED 1993 Region: Barcode: 5 016025 411061 Labels: Made In England Format: Stereo
Side A I Feel You 4:35 Walking In My Shoes 5:35 Condemnation 3:20 Mercy In You 4:17 Judas 5:14			Side B In Your Room 6:26 Get Right With Me / Interlude No. 4 2:55 / 0:57 Rush 4:37 One Caress 3:32 Higher Love 5:56
Notes: Printed inner sleeve included. First edition copies included a 15x21cm window sticker.

MD

MD (MDSTUMM106)	RELEASED 1993 Region: Barcode: 5 016025 911066 Format: Stereo
Tracklist I Feel You 4:35 Walking In My Shoes 5:35 Condemnation 3:20 Mercy In You 4:17 Judas 5:14 In Your Room 6:26 Get Right With Me / Interlude No. 4 2:55 / 0:57 Rush 4:37 One Caress 3:32 Higher Love 5:56

DCC

DCC (DCCSTUMM106)	RELEASED 1993 Region: Barcode: 5 016025 511068 Format: Stereo
Tracklist I Feel You 4:35 Walking In My Shoes 5:35 Condemnation 3:20 Mercy In You 4:17 Judas 5:14 In Your Room 6:26 Get Right With Me / Interlude No. 4 2:55 / 0:57 Rush 4:37 One Caress 3:32 Higher Love 5:56

Statistics

Album BPM range by song
I Feel You 122
Walking In My Shoes 93
Condemnation 58
Mercy In You 96
Judas 126
In Your Room 98
Get Right With Me 128
Rush 109
One Caress 100
Higher Love 99
Average: 102.9
BPM values are plotted from 1 to 184 BPM. In cases where a song features a change in tempo, the tempo at which the majority of the song plays takes precedence. Unless noted otherwise, BPMs are estimated values determined by Spotify's Audio Analysis algorithm and as such are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

Album live plays by song
I Feel You 815
Walking In My Shoes 900
Condemnation 268
Mercy In You 76
Judas 96
In Your Room 716
Get Right With Me 20
Rush 156
One Caress 73
Higher Love 127
Average: 324.7
Song live play values are plotted from zero to 1,100. All values are determined by summing the number of times each song has been performed live by Depeche Mode per tour. These totals do not reflect live plays performed by individual members of Depeche Mode as part of solo projects, solo tours, or known one-off performances.

Quotes

"There's been a big change in each individual member of the group which I couldn't sum up in a few sentences but particularly over the last few years, I think. Since we've got to our thirties, certain aspects of our lives have become much more important to us. We had a significant break away from each other before we started making this record, and when we came back together you could really see the changes in us."
— Alan Wilder, BONG 23

"I'd like to feel that this music will lift people and make them feel better in whatever they do. I'm just trying to push myself further."
— Dave Gahan, BONG 52

As part of a programme of talks and films at the Mute Short Circuit event in May 2011, producer Flood delivered a presentation discussing the production of Songs Of Faith & Devotion:

[There] was so much struggle with that record. I mean, every song was just like a battleground, it was almost the complete opposite of making Violator, that record. So, I don't know. They all had their pluses and minuses. I suppose I don't really have a favorite on that one, they're all great. [If] I'm being honest, the track that I was most disappointed by – I mean, I say "most disappointed" – but it was "Walking In My Shoes", because I never felt that the recorded version lived up to the way I imagined the song could be. I know I'm probably the only person in the universe who thinks like that, but I felt that the original demo – the potential wasn't realized, so.

"A lot of times we'd have a click track or some other rhythmic foundation on the computer (sequencer) and then perhaps I'd send Alan into the studio to do real drums. We'd run through the whole song trying out different drum ideas. Out of that, we might take eight bars from one spot and four bars from another, sample it all and loop it. So we might have a whole drum track made of loops. We did the same for bass and even some of the guitars, although other things are full performances all the way through."
— Flood, BONG 52

Trivia

• Songs Of Faith And Devotion is the final album to be recorded with Alan Wilder as a member of Depeche Mode. Additionally, it is the final Depeche Mode album to have been engineered by Steve Lyon and produced by Flood, though the latter would eventually produce a remix for 2001's 'Freelove' and handle album mixing duties on 2013's Delta Machine.
• 1993's Songs Of Faith And Devotion and 2013's Delta Machine share a 22 March release date. The latter would release exactly twenty years later.
• The total number of live song plays from Songs Of Faith And Devotion is 3247, making it the second most-played Depeche Mode album after Violator. This figure is found by summing the number of individual performances for each album track.
• Of all songs from Songs Of Faith And Devotion, 'Walking In My Shoes' has been played live the most, with 900 live performances. In contrast, 'Get Right With Me' has the lowest number of live plays, having been performed live only 20 times.
• With the exception of 'My Joy', a B-side, every song completed during the production of Songs Of Faith And Devotion has been performed live by Depeche Mode.
• Songs Of Faith And Devotion is the second Depeche Mode album to feature sleeve and cover artwork designed by Anton Corbijn.
• Songs Of Faith And Devotion is reportedly the first album to have "leaked" digitally on the Internet.

References

Depeche Mode studio albums 1981-1982: Speak & Spell • A Broken Frame 1983-1986: Construction Time Again • Some Great Reward • Black Celebration 1987-1993: Music For The Masses • Violator • Songs Of Faith And Devotion 1997-2001: Ultra • Exciter 2005-2013: Playing The Angel • Sounds Of The Universe • Delta Machine 2017-2023: Spirit • Memento Mori Recoil studio albums 1986-1988: 1 + 2 • Hydrology 1992-2000: Bloodline • Unsound Methods • Liquid 2007: SubHuman Dave Gahan studio albums 2003-2007: Paper Monsters • Hourglass 2012-2015: The Light The Dead See • Angels & Ghosts 2021: Imposter Martin Gore solo albums and extended plays 1989-2003: Counterfeit e.p. • Counterfeit² 2012-2015: Ssss • MG 2021: The Third Chimpanzee Official releases Studio albums • Live albums • Compilation albums • Video albums • Singles