From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews,rec.music.misc
Subject: Review: Soft Cell - This Last Night In Sodom
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 10:42:36 GMT
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
Followup-To: rec.music.misc
Distribution: world
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science



Soft Cell       This Last Night In Sodom                Some Bizarre 8184362

        Total Running Time: 45 min 34 sec

        1.      Mr Self Destruct                        3:13
        2.      Slave To This                           5:05
        3.      Little Rough Rhinestone                 4:32
        4.      Meet Murder My Angel                    4:38
        5.      The Best Way To Kill                    4:43
        6.      L'Esqualita                             7:09
        7.      Down In The Subway                      2:51
        8.      Surrender (To A Stranger)               3:37
        9.      Soul Inside                             4:28
        10.     Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed   5:09
                It Most)

Marc Almond - vocals, percussion, Mammoth Tremolo Arm Blitz Guitar on
              "The Best Way To Kill".
David Ball  - keyboards, instruments, bass, guitar, percussion and very
              complicated things.

Special guests:

Gary Barnacle - naughty saxophones.
Gini Ball - vocals + big appetite + big hair.

When _This Last Night In Sodom_ was originally released back in 1984, one
of the most noticeable features was the cover art. Gold print on red isn't
easy to read when it's a gatefold LP sleeve but when you reduce the whole
thing down to the size of a 4-sided CD booklet you end up with something
that's almost completely illegible. Why they couldn't have made this a big
fold-out insert, I don't know, but be warned that although this release
*does* come with a lyric sheet, chances are you won't be able to read it.

Musically this album reveals why Soft Cell split up after releasing it.
It's easily their most mature album musically and it's difficult to see
where they could have gone from here. The sparse sound of the first album
that was built upon in _The Art Of Falling Apart_ here reaches its
conclusion, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown into a sound that
veers from decadent insanity ("Slave To This") to sophisticated pop ("Meet
Murder My Angel", "Little Rough Rhinestone"). The addition of guitars
really beefs up the sound in places, although it does make it rather less
recognisably Soft Cell.

Probably the most obvious new influence in this album results from Almond's
continued immersion in the more exotic aspects of the New York gay club
scene, ranging from the torch song "L'Esqualita" (named after a Hispanic
transvestite club) to "Down In The Subway" which refers to the equally
dodgy Subway club. Oddly enough, it's these two tracks which seem most out
of place, although "Down In The Subway" is a good track in its own right.

After this two track diversion, things get back on track with "Surrender
(To A Stranger)" which is rather more typical of the original Soft Cell
sound, "Soul Inside" which wasn't a big hit but should have been and the
final track "Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed It Most)" which is
another example of the grittier, guitar-boosted Soft Cell.

This album vies in my mind with _The Art Of Falling Apart_ as Soft Cell's
best effort. The songwriting isn't as consistently strong but the variety
of styles more than makes up for it.

Erland Rating: +3

--
		      Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
       "Breakdown. Splinter. A thousand fragments disperse and die."