Dave Gahan

"Dirty Sticky Floors" (Single, 2003)

In contrast to Martin Gore's solo efforts (which to date comprise of covers only) Dave Gahan's first solo album Paper Monsters gave the former Basildon boy the chance to release some of his own songwriting - forever having been in the shade of his Ivor Novello Award-winning colleague. Gahan's direction is stylistically and thematically closer to Dead of Night from Depeche Mode's last album, 2001's Exciter. A track that was one of my least favourite from a merely passable album. Gahan's more overtly 'rock' direction comes as no surprise and probably comes as a sense of release and relief to him - if not everyone else. 6/10

Rob Dyer (April, 2005)