Critical reception
In his weekly UK chart commentary,James Masterton described the song as "a haunting,beautiful ballad of the type they do so well". [2] David Fricke from Melody Maker viewed it as "typical,a song that almost makes it,a sly Anglican gospel take on R.E.M.'s Al Green experiment "Everybody Hurts" that stumbles basically because Dave Gahan doesn't have the vocal authority to bring it home." [3] On the magazine's single review,music critic Peter Paphides said,"And it's all very anguished,intense and protracted,with lots of gospel singing going on in the background and a bit of real piano,none of your fancy keyboards,and MTV will play it every 10 minutes until the end of the century." [4] Alan Jones from Music Week gave it four out of five,writing,"One of the more atypical singles in Depeche Mode's career,this slow gospel-style song bears a lusty,full force vocal,but a reverential and reserved instrumental track. Subtle and stylish." [5]
Sam Wood from Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the band "appropriates gospel harmonies and the rhythms of Southern slave chants for "Condemnation",a song that defies the judgment of some unnamed Philistine accuser". [6] Andrew Harrison from Select named it the low point of the album,"with Gahan in the dock for some unspecified crime of the heart and the Mode doing an acceptable deep South spiritual thing,all clanking chains and heartfelt groaning." [7] Tom Doyle from Smash Hits also gave the song four out of five,adding,"You always expect the strangest things to happen in the world of pop,but Depeche Mode going gospel?! The Bizarre thing is,it really works too. Dave Gahan is joined by a gospel choir and the result is quite the best thing since,well,the last Depeche Mode single. Life is weird." [8]
Music video
A music video was produced to promote the single,directed by Dutch photographer,film director and music video director Anton Corbijn. [9] It was later made available on YouTube in July 2019. [10]
For unknown reasons,the music video did not appear on Depeche Mode's music video compilation, The Videos 86>98 ,in 1998,replaced by the live version from Devotional . The original video eventually resurfaced on the compilation's 2002 re-release (Videos 86>98 +). Both videos appear on the Devotional DVD re-release from 2004 (although the live video was edited so that it wasn't identical to the one in the main Devotional movie).
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