Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell

It’s a sign of a good cover version, that many people at the time didn’t realise that Tainted Love was originally a northern soul classic that had been transformed into an electro-pop banger by Soft Cell. It adds a whole new dimension to the song whilst retaining the essential truth of the original.

In contrast to some other electronic pioneers, Soft Cell never pretended to be icy robots, but instead range about the messy, sleazy, sexy, sad human experience of life in the big city. For me the best song on the album is Say Hello, Wave Goodbye which completely captures the feeling of a relationship coming to an inevitable end.

Some of the tracks on this album are a little scrappy, but it always feels like keyboard player Dave Ball was experimenting and pushing on to find the right backing for Marc Almond’s voice to soar.

Sex-dwarf-tastic!