Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
#753
By Paul Zickler
November 27 1981
Soft Cell
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Genre: Synth-Pop Cabaret (really)
Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5
Paul’s Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Tainted Love
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Secret Life
Sometimes music doesn’t have to be great or brilliant or groundbreaking. Sometimes a song or an album or a band just has to do the thing it sets out to do. Soft Cell clearly had a master plan when they made this album. It’s right there in the title. They recognized the potential to jump on the nascent synth wave of the era while creating overtly sexual, ironically distant, intentionally provocative music of the European cabaret genre. Cabaret songs can be off-putting, drawing the listener in with what sound like real feelings, then turning a cold shoulder and laughing at you for believing in genuine emotion. In other words, the perfect early ‘80’s dance club vibe.
Somehow, with Tainted Love, the faux emotion and alienated electronics were buried under what turned out to be an irresistible melody and hook, and the result was a worldwide smash hit. The song’s lyrics seemed tailor made for Gen X, but it turns out they were actually penned in the mid-60’s. Nobody seemed to mind. The 12 inch version added the familiar Motown hit “Where Did Our Love Go,” which somehow worked almost as well. Marc Almond and Dave Ball found themselves at the center of the synth-pop universe. Fame and fortune quickly buried them in the usual drugs etc., and the band never again reached the heights of this first album.
So what about the rest of it? Well, I guess it depends on whether you’re dancing in a sweaty disco with a bunch of well-dressed nihilists or actually listening to the songs at home. If it’s the latter, you’ll get to hear lyrics like “Walk my doggie, walk my little Sex Dwarf/We can make a scene, we'll be a team/Making the headlines sounds like a dream/Isn't it nice, sugar and spice/Luring disco dollies to a life of vice.” Yeah, I get it, satire, but also kinda gets old after 4 minutes. A song like “Frustration” maintains its pogo beat to perfection, but also asks you to accept a whiny voiced, sardonic rant about how the narrator is “so ordinary” until he decides to break the rules and “Experiment with cocaine, LSD and set a bad bad example/Live a little, run a harem, be a tiger/Meet Bo Derek and be her Tarzan.” It would all be a bit much if not for the party saxophone supplied by studio jazzbo Dave Tofani. He also plays some flirty clarinet on “Seedy Films,” a suitably nasty little number that should probably end around 3:30, but unfortunately goes on for more than 5 minutes.
Another thing you might notice: while Marc (nee “Mark” - he changed the spelling in honor of Marc Bolan of T Rex, naturally) Almond seems to have a really solid voice, few of the songs actually have melodies of more than 2 or 3 notes. A great example of both of these qualities is “Entertain Me,” which features a promising acapella intro with some pretty singing, followed by an annoyingly repetitive, half-chanted lyric for the rest of the song. (Interestingly, the lyric explores some of the same territory Nirvana would travel much more successfully 10 years later with an annoyingly repetitive melody that actually worked)
Let’s talk about synthesizers, though. I realize most everybody had already jumped on the new wave bandwagon by late ‘81, but the synth sounds on this album still manage to dazzle. Check out “Bedsitter” with its wobbly twang bass line, fat brass, silky strings, bell tone dissonance, and requisite cheesy handclaps. The next tune, “Secret Life” adds some ghostly organ tones and a percussive solo line. “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” weaves the verses around a delicious descending warbly single-note melody, while the chorus floats over big chords of stately strings. It’s an embarrassment of riches, really. I guess they borrowed some really expensive gear to make this album, including an NED Synclavier, but they also knew how to use the thing.
As far as the songwriting goes, aside from the covers, they definitely save the best for last. “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” feels like it would have been an international #1 in the hands of, say, the Eurythmics. Here it reaches for the sky and - almost - gets there. Apparently it was huge in the UK, but I don’t ever remember hearing it, other than David Gray’s electro-folky cover version in the early 2000’s.
Here in the US, Soft Cell was definitely a one-hit wonder, but what a hit it was. The rest of the album, aside from “Say Hello,” makes a fun excursion into the cold, unfeeling heart of synth-pop cabaret, but it’s not a place I’d want to hang around for very long. Still, they set out to do a thing, and they did it. God bless ‘em.
Now let us never speak of 1981 again.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1R4TikWrz6Mz53aB66dZRn?si=gIbGT25sSUSxpqV_OmkrxA
