Soft Cell are releasing an expanded edition of their 1981 debut, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret“. It was the bands debut album “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” will be reissued in October across a number of formats including a 6CD box set with many previously unreleased tracks.
Initially released in November 1981, the 10-track song cycle, in the words of Marc Almond, “Tells a story of a bored ordinary bloke seething with his life wanting more and looking for excitement and adventure in a red neon lit Soho world of red-light cabarets, prostitutes and sex dwarves, looking back at his youth and wondering what happened.” The album was massively influential and paved the way for countless synth-based music duos, notably the Pet Shop Boys. It contains three top five singles in ‘Tainted Love’ (a No 1 and the best-selling UK single of 1981), ‘Bedsitter’ and ‘Say Hello Wave Goodbye’.
“The album was the other side of the coin of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain: I never felt it was
political at the time, but it seems it now. “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” was the secret seedy life that went on behind the mask of Conservative Britain” Marc Almond
It will now land as a 6-CD 98-track super deluxe edition featuring 40 unreleased tracks. Content includes new and old 12-inch mixes (including Dave Ball’s 2018 studio reworkings), BBC Radio One sessions, early versions (including a Daniel Miller-produced version of ‘Tainted Love’), instrumentals and live performances including from the band’s O2 show in 2021.
The box set is presented as al 10” x 10” package and includes an essay on the story of the album by Adrian Thrills, including new interviews with Marc and Dave, album and single sleeve scans and more.
Additionally, there’s a 2LP vinyl version (in black and coloured variants) which adds a bonus LP of single versions (A-sides and B-sides). “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” will be reissued on 20th October 2023 via by Mercury-EMI / UMR on October 20th
The Fat Angel Sings 