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Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Tim Jones

pfm Member
What an extraordinary album this is. For my money, the best of the early eighties "torch singer at the front, anonymous bloke at the back twiddling the knobs" records.

It is very well engineered (and produced by Mike Thorne, who signed the Pistols to EMI, and then produced the first three Wire LPs), but is genuinely one of those not-a-duff-track on it records. On a good source (i prefer it on vinyl, where my P8/Ania Pro is doing it more than justice) the interplay between the squelchiness of the synths and Marc's amazing voice is a treat.

I think, on a vaguely political note, that it did something to make gay culture more mainstream. Some of these songs would be massive cover targets if I could ever be bothered to be in a band again -"Bedsit Land", "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" spring to mind. That said, I think a functions band I was in did actually attempt "Sex Dwarf" at a wedding in the early nineties.
 
Great music, great album, but I have never been persuaded that Marc Almond can actually sing, or even remotely close come to that.

His voice positively grates, even on the classic Tainted Love.
 
My wife is the world's biggest Marc Almond fan, which means I've seen him play more than once. I've warmed to him a lot over the years, he's very self deprecating and a decent singer and songwriter. Probably worthy of national treasure status. And yes, I think his contribution to putting gay culture into the mainstream is very significant.
 
It is a great album and for some inexplicable reason one I didn’t buy at the time (I’ve got the first issue CD picked up a lot later). One of those albums that was everywhere at the time so I guess I never got round to buying it as everyone else had a copy.

PS I did buy and still have the 1st Marc & The Mambas album ‘Untitled’, didn’t realise Thirlwell was involved there (I’ve got a fair bit of Foetus).
 
What an extraordinary album this is. For my money, the best of the early eighties "torch singer at the front, anonymous bloke at the back twiddling the knobs" records.

It is very well engineered (and produced by Mike Thorne, who signed the Pistols to EMI, and then produced the first three Wire LPs), but is genuinely one of those not-a-duff-track on it records. On a good source (i prefer it on vinyl, where my P8/Ania Pro is doing it more than justice) the interplay between the squelchiness of the synths and Marc's amazing voice is a treat.

I think, on a vaguely political note, that it did something to make gay culture more mainstream. Some of these songs would be massive cover targets if I could ever be bothered to be in a band again -"Bedsit Land", "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" spring to mind. That said, I think a functions band I was in did actually attempt "Sex Dwarf" at a wedding in the early nineties.

Couldn't agree more!:) It's a masterpiece.

I covered "Say hello wave goodbye" in David Grey stylee just me and an acoustic to a big audience in an arts centre somewhere like Redcar or Saltburn once upon a time...

The way the synths swell as Marc gets to his most histrionic on that track makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck:)
 
Ya know I've still got several Soft cell 12" singles that I probably haven't played since "back in the day"... alongside the Human League ones etc
 
Not going to start another thread for this but another electro album from the time that I really like and mentally catalogue with Soft cell and Human League (and have been known to still give a spin) is Heaven 17 "Penthouse and pavement":)

No better time than now to re-release "We don't need that (Fascist groove thang)":rolleyes:
 
The Tainted Love single was one of the biggest sellers worldwide of the whole decade yet they got not writing royalties as, highly unusually, they're covers on both sides. Very naive and very lazy management.
 
‘Non-Stop’ is an early album that I own and still gets many spins.

I sympathise with Marc Almond re his brain injury, but his voice hasn’t improved over the years.

The original vinyl is well produced, I think the glue on the sleeve fails over time.

The remaster c.d. has some nice extra tunes, some of which you could/can get on 7”.


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Soft Cell – Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Label: Mercury – 532595-2, Some Bizzare – 532595-2
Format:
CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered
Country: Europe
 
The original CD mastering is very good IMO. I have the 1987 West German Vertigo issue (Discogs) and it is a good disc with proper dynamic range, not cranked-up, brick-walled etc. I stuck it on last night and was surprised how good it sounded, they clearly used a very good mic on Almond, very natural sounding. I’d like to find a mint 1st press vinyl copy at some point.
 
I have a first pressing, some hairlines and a bit of nonfill though. It was cut at Sterling but the tainted love singles were Peckham or Tim Toms, there are a lot of them as you might expect. I've never compared the singles to the album version. I must get the 12" but it's hard to find a clean one...
 
Not going to start another thread for this but another electro album from the time that I really like and mentally catalogue with Soft cell and Human League (and have been known to still give a spin) is Heaven 17 "Penthouse and pavement":)

No better time than now to re-release "We don't need that (Fascist groove thang)":rolleyes:
I saw them a couple of weekends ago. Excellent!
 


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