Tribute to Soft Cell

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cleopatra
• ASIN: B0000CABDR
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,533 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

80s synth pop legends receive their proper respects from a host of groundbreaking electro artists on this A Tribute To Soft Cell!

Features modern remakes of all your favorite Almond/Ball compositions such as Sex Dwarf, Torch, Memorabilia, Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, Bedisitter and more!

A new nu wave of modern artists such as Ladytron, The Faint and others in the electroclash movement have brought to light the immense importance and continuing relevance of Soft Cell!

A must-have for fans of Soft Cell and club kids everywhere!

For many of today s music fans who were raised on the new wave synth-pop explosion of the 80s, the songwriting duo of Marc Almond and David Ball rank alongside Lennon/McCarney or Jagger/Richards as one of the greatest songwriting teams of all time. Though they introduced themselves with a exquisite cover of Gloria Jones Tainted Love, their collective project known as Soft Cell eluded one-hit wonderdome with a slew of kinky, quirky compositions, released over the course of three albums, that made them a dance club favorite and a cult phenomena. Sex Dwarf is the quintessential Soft Cell tune, filled with indescribable sensuality and a surreal deadpan vocal delivery, that remains a perennial favorite at gothic, industrial and electronica clubs today while the bittersweet, torch-song quality of Say Hello, Wave Goodbye and Bedsitter still make the girls who like boys who like boys who do girls like their boys swoon and shudder with intoxicating emotion. Having watched as an emerging wave of artists such as Ladytron, The Faint and the entirety of the electroclash scene demonstrably pilfer their work, the duo made a miraculous comeback with 2002 s Cruelty Without Beauty to reclaim their place among electronic music s elite. How fitting then for a group of truly original and groundbreaking electro artists to come together and pay proper respects to the works of Soft Cell. This album features inventive, cutting-edge covers of classic Almond/Ball tracks that shimmer as bright as the originals while adding new twists for all to enjoy! --Cleopatra Records

Product Description

1. Memorabilia - Sigue Sigue Sputnik
2. Sex Dwarf - Dirty Sanchez
3. Torch - Inertia
4. Tainted Love - Ambra Red
5. Persuasion - Transmutator
6. Bedsitter - Fairlight Children
7. The Girl With The Patent Leather Face - DKAY.com
8. Chips On My Shoulder - Ganymede
9. Seedy Films - Queen Of Japan
10. Numbers - Lolita's Lips
11. Loving You, Hating Me - ElectroPink
12. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Live) - Marc Almond

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars below mediocre, November 20, 2003

By 

STEVE HIPPAKA (LA MESA, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tribute to Soft Cell (Audio CD)

there's about 3 decent covers here. most of the artists have bad vocals , which is ok if they're great musicians, which most are not. most of the artists have no soul. they're different artists, but the singers sound very similiar. nuthin' groundbreaking. makes me wanna listen to marc's vocal treatment of the originals. i would pay $4 for this cd. marc's live version of 'say hello...' is most likely the same as that found on the berlin dvd. can't understand why soft cell condone this thing. buy the live in milan dvd.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Less than a mixed bag, February 3, 2005

By 

Lafe Fredbjornson (Calgary, AB Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tribute to Soft Cell (Audio CD)

The Great Ones:
- Torch (Inertia) a touching tribute; offered a fresh variation without the trumpet. Great! Danceable. Fun. I love it.
- Bedsitter (Fairlight Children) offered an oxygen-infused Danceable Donna-Summer disco beat with surreal vocals. It needs to be heard. Trippy stuff.
- Memorabilia (Sigue Sigue Sputnik) Haunting, hypnotizing, techno. Well-developed sound. Nice.

The mediocre ones:
- Sex Dwarf (Dirty Sanchez) naughty and dirty suggestions, but it ends up being flat.
- Chips on My Shoulder (Ganymede) very cosmic and synthetic, but limp, fails to pack a punch. This version does not grab because it is too distant.
- Persuasion (Transmutator) Almost the same as the original, except without the sound effects. The vocals end up being hoarse. It just doesn't bring the same sense of trance-like menace the original managed to do.
- Say Hello Wave Goodbye (Marc Almond, Live) Tinkly piano and a bored Marc make for an afternoon cocktail version of Soft Cell's hit. Nothing special.

The awful ones:
- Numbers (Lolita's Lips) empty vocals and repetitive droning synth music; a cotton-ball compared to the hammer-impacting original.
- Loving You Hating Me (Electro Pink) okay synth, but whiny, whispering and weak vocals. Pathetic.
- Seedy Films (Queen of Japan) truly a pale Karaoke rendition.
- Tainted Love (Ambra Red) I'm sure many people are curious how Tainted Love has covered. Ambra Red RUINED everybody's "favorite" song with distortion, weak bass, hollow vocals, overpowering techno noise. This should've been discarded. The band should not be allowed to take part in any more tribute albums. This is not the Tainted Love we all know.
- The Girl With the Patent Leather Face (DKAY.com) Dull instrumentation and whispering vocals make for a boring tribute. It doesn't have the candy-coated-chaos the original had.