Album Review

*** Various artists, “For the Masses,” A&M;/1500 Records. This novelty album of variations on Depeche Mode’s songs of gothic pomp and electronic spelunking is oddly endearing, yet it begins tamely enough with Smashing Pumpkins’ limp “Never Let Me Down Again.” The tribute gains ground, though, when Veruca Salt gets sweet on “Somebody,” Meat Beat Manifesto delivers a coolly funky “Everything Counts” and the German electronic hams in Rammstein twist “Stripped” into a groove-laden dungeon chant.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).