RE-EXAMINING WORK FROM BOTH ENDS OF THEIR CAREER, SOFT CELL HAVE JUST RELEASED TWO COMPANIONS TO LAST YEAR’S COMEBACK ALBUM *HAPPINESS NOT INCLUDED AND ARE SET TO UNVEIL A MAMMOTH BOXSET OF THEIR INFLUENTIAL 1981 DEBUT, NON-STOP EROTIC CABARET. MARC ALMOND PONDERS WHETHER THIS MEANS SOFT CELL ARE A PROPER BAND AGAIN, WHILE DAVE BALL DISCUSSES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DETAIL THE HORRIFIC ACCIDENT WHICH LEFT HIM IN AN INDUCED COMA.
JOHN EARLS
Many bizarre experiences have happened in Soft Cell’s three eras across the 45 years since Marc Almond and Dave Ball met at Leeds Polytechnic. Becoming accidentally massive pop stars thanks to releasing an obscure Northern Soul cover as their second single is just part of Soft Cell’s brilliantly mad and madly brilliant career.
After their huge 2018 comeback show at London O2, Soft Cell toured their classic 1981 debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in full three years later. One of Soft Cell’s most ambitious adventures caps the celebrations of that album. In October, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is the subject of a lavish 6CD boxset. In the spirit of the original album, it’s a more inventively compiled deluxe edition than most boxsets: for every track, there are instrumental and extended versions – both the original and new 2020s 12” mixes.
That’s in addition to more regular extras such as B-sides, demos, vintage live recordings and the singles and B-sides that didn’t make the album, famously including Torch, which Almond and Ball have long since publicly regretted not putting on Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.
It’s little wonder the idea of such a grandiose statement would never have occurred to Soft Cell when they were making Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret in a Leeds bedsit 42 years ago. “If someone had said then that what we were doing would become a boxset, I’d have reacted with disbelief,” admits Marc. “I wouldn’t have dared hope to have the life and success I’ve been lucky enough to have enjoyed. I’ve met extraordinary people and even worked with some of them, making wonderful lasting friendships.”
Dave adds: “It was one little album with 10 tracks. Turning that into a 6CD boxset? I don’t know. Even now, when I first heard the idea, I thought: ‘That sounds overblown!’”
“Boxsets are just lovely things to have,” continues Almond. “That physical evidence of having been part of something, it means so much. I’m really happy about the new Non-Stop Erotic Cabar
