If you’re like me and always ready for more Soft Cell in your life, your time is coming. On October 20th, the synth duo of Marc Almond and Dave Ball will give us their iconic “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” as a six-CD, 98-track super deluxe set.
Ninety-eight? Yes! With almost 100 songs, the release will include 40 unreleased tracks!
Originally released in 1981, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” featured the song that would place Soft Cell into our musical lexicon for life – “Tainted Love.” The album remains a brilliant example of ‘80s synth pop and new wave – which is kind of amazing since it was the debut album from Almond and Ball!
Per Almond, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” “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.” (Does anyone else remember when it was scandalous to hear “Sex Dwarf” on KROQ late at night?)
The six-CD edition is the ultimate version of the album with 40 unreleased pieces, supplementary extras, and rarities including: “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” newly remastered, the A and B sides in the original 7” versions, “Non-Stop Extended Cabaret” the entire album in extended 12” form, BBC session highlights, demos, outtakes, audio from BBC TV and radio appearances, selections from “Heat: The Remixes,” “Non-Stop Instrumental Cabaret” the full album instrumentally, six original 1981 demos including a Daniel Miller-produced version of “Tainted Love,” “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye,” and a version of “Sex Dwarf” which was previously presumed lost, live versions of the album and additional songs performed at London O2 Arena show, and much, much more!
Seriously, I could not list everything or this would be five times longer.
For vinyl collectors, “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” will also be available as a two-LP expanded black vinyl and limited edition, two-LP yellow/blue vinyl.
If you get your copy on October 20th, there is a chance you will finish it all in time for Soft Cell’s November 18th appearance at the Darker Waves festival in Huntington Beach. Maybe…
