Soft Cell

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TrendyMüller

TrendyMüller

This just appeared on Youtube. It´s a recent live recording of Bedsitter (long version with RAP!) It´s quite touching actually. Marc does look and sound a bit like he needs to remind himself of where he is and Dave sitting behind his synth and waving at the camera is heartbreaking.
Getting older SUCKS folks!


 
WhipperSnapper

WhipperSnapper

Tchelitchew said:
I saw Marc live in late 2019 and it was a really unpleasant experience. He kept forcefully knocking the phones out of audience members' hands and then verbally haranguing them for minutes on end. I was unfortunate enough to be right next to one guy who was getting screamed at. He kept saying "Why are you here? I don't give a fuck what you think!" as the dude tried to apologize.
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He's unpredictable, although I thought this behaviour was largely in the past.

I don't know if I can count the number of times I've seen him live (with Soft Cell and solo) over the years, but if you catch him on a good night he's peerless. One of the shows just before the "difficult years", Royal Albert Hall in '92, is probably my favourite concert of all time. Charismatic, full of energy and in fine voice, it's something I'll never forget. But, I've also seen him phone it in and struggle to connect with the material.
 
lutz

lutz

WhipperSnapper said:
He's unpredictable, although I thought this behaviour was largely in the past.

I don't know if I can count the number of times I've seen him live (with Soft Cell and solo) over the years, but if you catch him on a good night he's peerless. One of the shows just before the "difficult years", Royal Albert Hall in '92, is probably my favourite concert of all time. Charismatic, full of energy and in fine voice, it's something I'll never forget. But, I've also seen him phone it in and struggle to connect with the material.
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What were the ‘difficult years’? I remember Fantastic Star not being the success it should have been but it wasn’t a flop either, or was it ?
 
T

twicezero

lutz said:
What were the ‘difficult years’? I remember Fantastic Star not being the success it should have been but it wasn’t a flop either, or was it ?
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It does not sound like it went well in either the making or the selling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Star

I recall it getting talked up in the press and then it flopping. IDK if they were hearing the original version of the album or the released version
 
WhipperSnapper

WhipperSnapper

twicezero said:
It does not sound like it went well in either the making or the selling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Star

I recall it getting talked up in the press and then it flopping. IDK if they were hearing the original version of the album or the released version
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To me, Fantastic Star felt like a symptom of larger problems. You had the (seemingly permanent) departure of the remaining Mambas, Annie Hogan and Martin McCarrick, and while some fans love Open All Night and Stardom Road, I think you could point to the early 90's as the start of an extended decline, certainly comercially. I know this is the wrong thread for this...
 
AshtrayHeart

AshtrayHeart

They’re teasing Happiness Now Extended on their social media, announcement tomorrow, but the listings were briefly on their store just now and now offline.

There’s 2 releases, a double vinyl release called Happiness Now Extended including extended mixes of all 12 songs from the main album, including the Pet Shop Boys version of the Purple Zone.
Then there’s a 78 minute CD called Happiness Now Complete, featuring 10 new recordings, b-sides, single edits and remixes.
 
Humanracin

Humanracin

I take it the new vinyl and CD companion albums are exclusive to their own store?
Can't see them anywhere else so I ordered the CD Vinyl bundle.
The vinyl is limited to 1000 copies, not sure how quickly that would sell out?
 
magictreehouse

magictreehouse

I've only just found out about the companion CD, which is out today, but I love that it fits in the original album and has a tracklisting sticker. I did think that it was odd that the original case had an empty slot!
 
AshtrayHeart

AshtrayHeart

I listened to Happiness Now Extended yesterday and the extended mixes really are great, I actually think Marc’s voice sounds better in the mix, than the album version.
Also I listened to half of the completed disc and there’s some good bops on there, I wonder if this was a scrapped album they were working on prior and changed direction?
 
YourLeadSinger

YourLeadSinger

New 6-Disc reissue of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret incoming.

CD1 - 'NON-STOP EROTIC CABARET'
CD1 features ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ newly remastered in 2023 by Barry Grint, plus the A & B sides in their original 7” versions, including ‘Torch’, ‘What!’, the band’s first Phonogram single ‘A Man Could Get Lost’ & ‘Memorabilia’ which was produced by Mute’s Daniel Miller along with the 2016 edit of ‘Fun City’ and a new edit of ‘Persuasion’, both only released on 12” at the time.

CD2 - ' NON-STOP EXTENDED CABARET'
CD2 ‘Non-Stop Extended Cabaret’ contains the entire album in extended 12” form, made up of Dave Ball’s 2018 studio reworkings of the album using only the original studio parts, plus the original ‘Bedsitter’ 12” which all parties agreed just could not be improved upon. Also featured are new remixes of ‘Memorabilia’ by techno legend The Hacker, Mute founder Daniel Miller and a new Dave Ball extended of ‘A Man Could Get Lost’.

CD3 - 'NON-STOP ECLECTIC CABARET
CD3 entitled ‘Non-Stop Eclectic Cabaret’ is a treasure trove of rarities including BBC session highlights, a selection of demos, outtakes, audio from BBC TV and radio appearances on The Richard Skinner Show’, ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’, ‘Top Of The Pops / Top Of The Pops 2’ and ‘The Oxford Road Show’ as well as selections from ‘Heat: The Remixes”, including Richard X’s now legendary version of ‘Seedy Films’.

CD4 - 'NON-STOP INSTRUMENTAL CABARET'
CD4 is ‘Non-Stop Instrumental Cabaret’, which presents the full album instrumentally for the first time and six original 1981 demos, five of which are previously unreleased. These demos include a Daniel Miller produced version of ‘Tainted Love’, ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’ and a version of ‘Sex Dwarf’ which was previously presumed wiped.

CD5 - 'NON-STOP EROTIC SINGLES'
CD5 brings together the original 12” A and B-sides of 1981 & 1982 under the banner ‘Non-Stop Original Cabaret’ including ‘Memorabilia’, ‘Tainted Love’, ‘Say Hello Wave Goodbye’, and the standalone singles ‘Torch’ and ‘What!’. Soft Cell were rightly hailed in their day for pouring their creative efforts and energies into the extended form and these pioneering sides have become legendary.

CD6 - 'NON-STOP EROTIC CABARET LIVE'
CD6 includes the album played in full plus, ‘Torch’ and ‘Memorabilia’, recorded live at Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo in November 2021. There are also three tracks from the band’s jubilant London O2 Arena show in September 2018.
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Sad it doesn’t include this version of “Tainted Love” as it’s become my favorite version:


Anyone know any recent CD release that has this specific version?
 
AshtrayHeart

AshtrayHeart

This looks amazing! I've ordered the £88 bundle, I can't wait to hear those 2018 extended mixes.

Also, the Facebook page suggests in the comments a Dolby Atmos Blu Ray is coming, I wonder if this is next in line of the SDE Blu Ray series.
 
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manloveuk

manloveuk

Happiness Not Included didn't quite click for me - it clearly had a few gems, but something about it as an album made for quite hard work, so I put it down and moved on with life.

Happiness Now Completed and Happiness Now Extended have totally shifted my experience of the Happiness era, and with a few lil tweaks, Soft Cell of all people have delivered one of my favourite albums in recent years!

Highlights of the Now Completed set:

The swirling, throbbing Strange Kinda Dance which puts me in mind of an Erasure b-side, back when their b-sides were essential and often every bit as good as the a-side.

The dramatic, baroque feeling Defiant which would have fitted well in amongst Violator to Songs Of Faith And Devotion era Depeche Mode. How this didn't make the cut with the main album, I do not know?!

The Day The World Turned Day-Glo conjures highlights of the late 70's / early 80's punky electronica and from that era, their cover of Moroder's First Hand Experience In Second Hand Love is inspired!

With a bit more room to breathe, some of the extended versions have gone from passable to essential, particularly Happiness Not Included, Light Sleepers and Purple Zone. Bruises On All My Illusions remains magnificent.

Top of this rather wonderful pile is the full length version of Nostalgia Machine, which should have been the lead single, should have had a budget video, should have led the album and should have given the album its title - as inspired as Happiness Not Included is, Nostalgia Machine is my prefered title, certainly for my lil 'happiness now perfected' set a la...

01 Nostalgia Machine (Full Length)
02 The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
03 Bruises On All My Illusions
04 Light Sleepers (Extended Mix)
05 Strange Kinda Dance (Edit)
06 Purple Zone (with Pet Shop Boys) (Extended Mix)
07 Vapourise (Edit)
08 Happiness Not Included (Dave Ball Extended)
09 Defiant
10 Heart Like Chernobyl
11 First Hand Experience In Second Hand Love (Full Version)
12 Happy Happy Happy
13 Tranquiliser
14 Murder Your Darlings
15 Last Chance (Christmas Mix)
16 New Eden

Absolute perfection.

 
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