Customer Reviews

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

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This is one of the best works of Marc Almond and Dave Ball. This is the album that made me become a Soft Cell and a Marc Almond fanatic! The whole album is so good, you can let the whole thing play on your CD player, cassette play, or whatever you have. My personal fav. songs on that album are "Seedy Films", "Youth" (The very first Soft Cell song I've ever heard), "Tainted Love", "Bedsitter", and a whole bunch of songs. If you or someone you know is starting to like Soft Cell but don't know which album to buy, this is the one that made them famous and the one I recommend.

Many stunning works not found on any of their other CD's. Studio sound brings out the flavor in their music that can't be captured in a live recording. If you have ever liked ANYTHING they have done, you MUST have this CD. And everyone should hear Sex Dwarf at least once in their lives.

If you're up at three AM, high, waisted, with liquor breath and cigarette stenched body odor, and you're looking for something to listen to, try this. Walk down yr dark lit streets which are splattered with neon lit puddles and listen to this on your walkman. Or don't. Because the life you lead is maybe like the one talked about in the songs on this album, so maybe you don't need to, you already know what it's like. Or maybe you do need to listen, because it will relieve your soul of the weight that it holds, that it restrains and holds in its pocket. Can not you feel the glory inside, the tense struggling of your light and heavy sides, that is, good and evil? Are you not one with the darkness? Can you see my breath in your face when I kiss you? Dust streams out light heaven bread in heaven death kiss night island wonderful twilight blizzard streaks the sky and dies. Will you not be with me tonight in this lost star of light? Blind cats and rats and Sam the butcherman is alive tonight with fright. Hand me the hammer, wind down the clock and listen to me. These are the feelings you will feel when listening to this album.

David Ball makes a pleasant enough electronic tinkle, but what really distinguishes the music of this early 80s duo is the voice and warped world-view of Marc Almond. In his endearingly smutty picture of the Universe, every movie is a porn flick; every telephone call carries heavy breathing; every public toilet is a heaving, grunting haven of gay sex; and every respectable facade conceals a perverted double life. What makes this so entertaining is that to a certain extent it's actually true.

Almond has the innocence of the little boy in 'The Emperor's New Clothes' who points out that all the people are 'naked.' We all know this, of course, but as mature, sophisticated, self-seeking, duplicitous adults we prefer to keep up appearances. Also, most of us have got over the first shock and guilt of sexuality. For Almond this proved more difficult, and in songs like 'Sex Dwarf,' 'Seedy Films,' and 'My Secret Life,' we encounter that exaggerrated adolescent sense of cynicism and fascination with sex.

yaz, depeche mode, pet shop boys, bronski beat... none of that would have been possible without this. but don't let that turn you away. great songs, great sounds and arrangements from Bell, totally committed performance from Almond, sometimes obscene.... Klasik. unlike a lot of the stuff from that time, this one has aged 0%. synths with blood and heartbeat.

you never will get tired of hearing this album over and over.even tainted love who after 20 years still gets played on the radio,sounds fresh as it did when it first came out.i highly recomend this album to anyone who likes to get up and dance,relax,even dream while listening to music.this cd has it all.

I think this is one of the best recordings in the history of pop music. Good and provoking lyrics, primitive arrangement dresses the music with a seductive coat. Dangerous relationships not always explicit come along with glamourous electronic instrument. It contains some masterpieces like Frustation and Say hello,wave goodbye (the whole album is worth while). One of my favourites.

Great album, I love these 80's tunes. 'Tainted love' and 'Bedsitter' are stand-out tracks while 'say hello, wave goodbye' is pretty good too. He may not be the greatest singer ever, but Marc Almond knows how to make good music. The guys plan to reform to release new Soft Cell stuff later this year.

Youth is maybe the best music in this record. It sounds so strange, and maybe is the only real thing in our lives. This record and all the punk new wavers from the very 80's are so up to date, that is worth listening to them all again and again.