The words inconsistent come up a lot in the reviews, and I agree. But the inconsistency is nice. "The Sun and the Rainfall" has to be one of the best songs I've heard. It's very brooding. Great electronic sounds with a great vocal performance by a young Dave Gahan who heretofore had to sing Vince Clarke's cheesy Speak and Spell album. The lyrics to "Satellite" echo any angry person's thoughts to the outside world. Martin Gore wrote some of his most insightful lyrics here. I really fell in love with the album after I read all the lyrics while listening to it.

Even though he didn't touch this album, Vince Clarke's influence on Gore can be seen in "The Meaning of Love" and "Shouldn't Have Done That." The songs are cheesy, but pack more of a bang than the ridiculous "Nodisco" and "What's Your Name" from Speak and Spell. But any true DM fan will admit to the cheesiness of various lyrics throughout their 20+ year career.

I think if the songs on the album were re-arranged, people would like it better, and I probably would too (if it were possible), but it's a fantastic album. I recommend it highly to anyone. But read the lyrics and think about them. It's definitely underrated.

Martin gets his wings
Some people might see this album as inferior while others view it as a stopgap for Martin Gore to get his feet wet in the songwriting pool. I think it is more of the latter, and for its time was an original, offering some stunning songs eg: "My Secret Garden and "The Sun and the Rainfall".On the other hand there are also some tracks on the bubblegum side that have susequently lost there flavour, namely:"The meaning of Love". ABF is an historical album as it demonstrates the awesome song writing potential of Martin as well as the new sound DM would explore in an endevour to prove they could do it without Vince Clarke, having left the band after the debut album "Speak & Spell" to form the successful though short lived "Yazoo".Vince offered the band "Only You" which they declined saying they wanted to make a clean break, the song was released by "Yazoo" and became one of there biggest hits.
An essential buy for fans who want to complete there collection although somewhat dated. Fans of DM from Violator onwards will probably not enjoy this one and find it a bit on the cheesy side.
Not there greatest but definitely worth the listen.
Check it out.

dM's Unsung Masterpiece
Yes, that's correct, "A Broken Frame" is Depeche Mode's quiet little under-rated masterpiece, a wonderful and important collection of songs that quietly helped inform Depeche Mode's career.

Written by Martin Gore after Vince Clarke left the band to form Yaz, Martin honed his songwriting skills quickly and penned such classics as the popular single "Leave In Silence," the album cut of which is nothing short of fantastic. "My Secret Garden," "See You," and "The Sun & The Rainfall" strongly set the stage for Gore's political and deeply personal lyrics.

Musically, dM grows tremendously and goes beyond any expectations that may have been divided with the release Clarke-heavy "Speak & Spell." Not only the above tracks, but "MSG's" excerpts and the classic instrumental "Nothing to Fear" demonstrate that dM were a band to be reckoned with.

The foundations, both lyrically and musically, that were created with this album inspired the future of Depeche Mode and was the source that initiated the hiring of Andrew Wilder into the band during this album's tour.

If you want to discover Depeche Mode and the singles albums aren't enough, start here. You won't regret it.

The Cover is the Only thing Interesting Here
I bought this album when it first came out because, as other teenagers in the early 80s, I was mezmerized by any song with a synthesizer in it. At the time parts of it were somewhat fascinating. Now after years of listening to all sorts of electronic music, from Avante Garde to Trance, I must say that after a recent complete listen of this album, I probably will never put it back in my cd player again. I now find the songs are either boring, lackluster, or annoying. I will keep it for the excellent cover, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. There is just better DM stuff to listen to.

the REAL first Depeche Mode album
Sure this album has lots of cheesy, innocent synthpop jingles. It's not their best album ever. But it's interesting to listen to in the grand scheme of all that is Depeche. It's DM's first foray into darker, more alienated minimalism. With the obvious poppy tracks aside, A Broken Frame is icy to the core with some great little gems such as "Monument", "Satellite", "Leave In Silence", "The Sun & The Rainfall" and "Shouldn't Have Done That". With Vince's departure, Martin's cynical and biting wit jumps out. The lyrical content is already pointing to more socio-political views, as well as troubled relationships. The music is really interesting in it's stark and cold simplicity. The songs squiggle, pulse, ripple and bleep along with technological and calculated precision, living up to the standards of post-punk/synthpop. This album isn't for everyone, but I think it's quite interesting on it's own ;-)