(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Soft Cell launched British synth-pop onto a global scale with a cover of Tainted Love that became a hit in 1981 in the United Kingdom and in 1982 in the United States (originally written by Ed Cobb, manager of the Standells, and recorded by Gloria Jones in 1965, but only as the B-side of a single; then recorded by Ruth Swann in 1975, and again in 1976 by Jones herself, produced by her boyfriend Marc Bolan). In Soft Cells electronic interpretation, the song became a disco classic, effectively building a natural bridge between the dance music of the 1970s and that of the 1980s, as well as between the melodic music of the 1960s and that of the 1980s.
The group was a duo from Leeds, modeled after Suicide and Kraftwerk, their main inspirations. Singer Marc Almond was an aspiring poet and filmmaker, while multi-instrumentalist Dave Ball was just beginning with electronic keyboards. They became musicians straight out of art college, but it took a trip to New York (where they recorded their first record) and their experience in gay dance clubs to shape their artistic philosophy. They first coined an electronic lounge-style easy listening, and then adorned it with an ironic, high-class porno-show. Both their lyrics and performances echoed the stories of lust and death they had witnessed in New York (it was the early years of AIDS).
The album Non Stop Erotic Cabaret (Some Bizarre, 1981) topped the charts in much of the world and yielded one of the best-selling singles of all time, Tainted Love (a cover of the old hit by Ed Cobb, popularized in 1964 by Gloria Jones, but performed with synthesizers and drum machines). Soft Cell had thus transformed the avant-garde rock of Human League and Throbbing Gristle into a mass-market genre. Other classy covers enriched The Art Of Falling Apart (Sire, 1983), but imitators of Soft Cell were already in the thousands, and the record industry no longer needed the originals.
After the group disbanded, Marc Almond was one of the first British singer-songwriters of the 1980s to be captivated by the charm of cabaret and French chansonniers. After an extremely ambitious first album, Untitled (Some Bizarre, 1983), credited to Marc And The Mambaseccentric and hermetic, overflowing with magical folk, perverse eroticism, and nihilistic sarcasmAlmond found his mission with the follow-up Torment And Toreros (Some Bizarre, 1983), again by Marc And The Mambas, whose Lesion and In My Room document his nervous breakdown, and with Vermin In Ermine (Some Bizarre, 1984), featuring Tenderness Is A Weakness, The Boy Who Came Back, and You Have. These are highly theatrical works, but of limited substance.
The last Soft Cell album, Last Night In Sodom (Sire, 1984), is essentially another solo work by Almond, a decadent nightmare. It was this record that led to their dismissal.
The duos singles were later collected on Singles (Mercury, 1998).
After Soft Cell broke up, Ball formed Other People who had a minor hit with Have a Nice Day (1984).
Almond (having abandoned the Mambas) focused on his solo career and released Stories Of Johnny (Some Bizarre, 1985 - Thirsty Ear, 1998), an easy-listening album that contains his biggest hit (the title-track), as well as Love Letters and The House Is Haunted.
The rocking The Heel and the Spanish-flavored Plague, on the EP A Woman's Story (Some Bizarre, 1986), as well as the litanies of the EP Violent Silence (Some Bizarre, 1986), round out his credentials.
The gloomy Mother Fist And Her Five Daughters (Some Bizarre, 1987) (Thirsty Ear, 1998), featuring Ruby Red, Mother Fist, Melancholy Rose and Saint Judy, in a sense marked the end of a Calvary of spleen and existential pessimism, through works that had grown progressively sadder and darker, even funereal. It remains perhaps his best album, his Tonight's The Night.
Confirming this period of existential crisis, Almond even collaborated with Foetus on the EP Slut (Some Bizarre, 1987) (Thirsty Ear, 1998), charged with anarchic anguish.
The 1989 tribute album to Jacques Brel also revealed a not-so-secret passion of his.
The 1950s-style romantic baritone of The Stars We Are (Some Bizarre, 1989)the one that, in These My Dreams Are Yours, echoes the Neil Diamond of I Am I Saidinstead opened a second, less introverted phase, even sending Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart into the charts.
Enchanted (Some Bizarre, 1990), orchestral, shifting between a tango (Madame De La Luna), a dance track (Deaths Diary) and yet another melodramatic ballad (Orpheus In Red Velvet), confirmed the artists fundamental insecurity.
Faced with works such as Tenement Symphony (Some Bizarre, 1991) and Absinthe (Some Bizarre, 1993), devoted to French chansonniers, one can only wonder how someone managed to produce so many unsuccessful albums over so many years and still remain under contract with a record label.
The two volumes of Virgin Story (Some Bizarre, 1992) collected his EPs and rarities; 12 Years of Tears (Some Bizarre, 1993) summarizes a live concert; and the remix anthology Treasure Box (Mercury, 1995) dusted off past classics in modern versions.
With Fantastic Star (Mercury, 1996), Almond attempted to update his decadent style to the anguished stance of middle-aged American singer-songwriters (Chris Isaak, for example) and to new dance rhythms (Adored And Explored, Brilliant Creatures), but at the cost of watering down his melodies with clumsy electronic arrangements. At its best (Caged, Out There, the ballad Child Star, the driving The Idol), it sounds like a reunion of Soft Cell. All in all, however, it represents a rebirth not only personal but also artistic.
Almond retains the convoluted, club-oriented orchestrations on Open All Night (Blue Star, 1998 - Instinct, 1999), despite a sinister mood of expressionist cabaret. The real novelties are instead the nods to trip-hop (Night And Dark, Almost Diamonds) and to world music (Threat Of Love , a duet with Siouxsie Sioux). The album is released alongside a collection of poems and his autobiography. One can argue endlessly about the merits of this new direction, but in fact Almonds later albums are almost indistinguishable from those of US singer Cher.
Almond released the solo albums Stranger Things (2001) and
Heart on Snow (2003) while
Soft Cell reunited to make Cruelty Without Beauty (Cooking Vinyl, 2002).
Marc Almond's Stardom Road (2007) marked his return after an almost
fatal motorcycle accident, followed by Orpheus in Exile (2009).
Soft Cell's Heat (Mercury, 2008) collects remixes.
Ball and Almond reformed Soft Cell for the album Cruelty Without Beauty (2002). Ball formed
Nitewreckage who released Take Your Money and Run (2011).
Ball recorded the album Photosynthesis (2016) with classical pianist Jon Savage.
Soft Cell re-re-reunited for the EP
Mutant Moments (2020) and the album Happiness Not Included (2022).
Almond's later albums include:
Variete' (2010),
Feasting with Panthers (2011),
The Tyburn Tree (2014),
The Dancing Marquis (2014),
Ten Plagues A Song Cycle (2014),
The Velvet Trail (2015),
Against Nature (2015),
Silver City Ride (2016),
Shadows and Reflections (2017),
How to Destroy Angels (2018), a collaboration with Coil and Zos Kia,
A Lovely Life to Live (2018),
Chaos and a Dancing Star (2020),
I'm Not Anyone (2024).
Dave Ball died in 2025 at the age of 66.
