Sophomore album and first without co-founding member vince clarke, who was the principal songwriter on the band's debut, 'speak & spell'. 'with a broken frame', martin gore filled this void by penning each of the album's ten tracks. 'a broken frame', however, is not one of dm's strongest albums, even the musicians involved will own up to that sentiment, yet despite the songwriting being wildly uneven it still holds up as an enjoyable record.