SOFT CELL レコード& CD

Review: Born from the success of Soft Cell's triumphant *Happiness Not Included record, the iconic and somewhat elusive - five studio LPs in 41 years - Soft Cell have decided to go all in with a package of alternative rides, previously unreleased mixes, and single-only B-sides. Nothing here featured on the original LP, and there are a few bonus workouts of stuff not from the source album, too. Cover versions of Fad Gadget's 'Back to Nature', X-Ray Spec's 'The Day The World Turned Day Glo', and a freshly minted take on the Cell's own landmark 'Last Chance' all elevate this, not that people were likely to have needed another reason to stick it in their basket. A great example of why less is more, but generosity is the secret to true satisfaction.

Review: The birth point of ecstasy in British music is usually credited to acid house and the second summer of love: a cemented vision of kids sweating and vibrating in clubs, fields and warehouses in 1988, united by universal empathy and mind-popping sounds. However, in 1981, a couple of young men from Leeds went to New York, discovered the drug in its infancy, fused its' gritty synth pop to acid house's squelchy 303 groove and recorded an album - Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The rest, as they say, is history.

Review: Soft Cell's seminal debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret tells a vivid tale of early 80s Britain as a seedy night world of peep shows, prostitutes and sex dwarves. It's such wonderful poetry that such a subversive act were also able to score the biggest selling single of the year and throw so many unsuspecting listeners into their lascivious world and now this landmark slice of synth pop is getting a heavyweight reissue treatment with a monster six-CD set which goes in deep on extended versions, lost demos, live renditions and instrumentals. If you want an exhaustive document of this eternal classic, then look no further.