Inspired by Albumism, I’m doing my own version of Flying Solo with individual tracks. Band breakups and hiatuses are never fun, but these solo jams were defining moments in my life’s soundtrack.

The counterfeit E.P. was fresh off the heels of Depeche Mode’s Music for the Masses and the ensuing tour that transformed the band into stadium rockers. They had been recording, performing and traveling at a million miles a minute. Instead of pausing, Martin Gore kept going, deconstructing other people’s songs with his own unique sensibilities.

My favorite track on the E.P. is still the opening number, “Compulsion”. It got extensive airplay on my local alt rock radio station WDRE, and it gave me enough to tie me over until the anthemic Violator album descended on the music world. On “Compulsion”, Gore was in lock-step with his experimental synth sounds, subdued tenor vocals and a drum machine reboot that served as a foreshadowing of Depeche Mode’s next era.

“Charm’s in limited supply under threat of extinction. That indefinable nothing somehow motivates you.”