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SOFT CELL - CRUELTY WITHOUT BEAUTY

- NEW RELEASE

ARTIST:
TITLE:
Cruelty Without Beauty
LABEL:
CATNO:
ABF5LP
STYLE:
Synth /
FORMAT:
Vinyl record
DESCRIPTION:
2 x12" Vinyl LP 1st Time on Record- Presed on Red Vinyl In Gatefold Sleeve

Soft Cell’s 2002 reunion album ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’ is set for reissue in new expanded and remastered 2CD format, as well as being released on vinyl for the very first time.

Long regarded by many fans as an overlooked masterpiece, the album features a lyrical outlook that was as true to Soft Cell’s maturity and perspective back in 2002 as it is relevant and accurate to the world situation in 2020. Harshly honest, fatalistic and bleakly humorous, Cruelty Without Beauty also preserves the band’s highly distinctive and edgy sound, and stands alongside their greatest work.

The new 2020 version includes tracks originally destined for the album, but for various reasons not on the final cut. It also includes brand new 2020 versions of album highlights Monoculture, Together Alone, Darker Times and Last Chance, updated this year by Dave Ball. Also included are a number of unreleased live versions of album tracks, plus rare remixes.

Cruelty Without Beauty, Soft Cell’s fourth studio album, and the first since their original split in 1984, happened after Marc Almond and Dave Ball reunited in the studio after Dave’s ‘other’ band The Grid (with Richard Norris). They worked with Marc on some tracks from his 1991 Tenement Symphony album, which eventually opened the door for some live Soft Cell dates and a reunion in 2001. As well as this album release in 2002, the band toured the album extensively in the UK, and across Europe and the US, including many festival appearances throughout 2002 and 2003.

The album includes the singles Monoculture and a cover of Frankie Valli & The Four Season’s classic The Night, which became the band’s first Top 40 hit since since 1984.

Most recently in 2018, Soft Cell sold out London’s O2 Arena and were the subject of a career retrospective BBC documentary. They have recently signed to BMG and are currently recording a brand-new album, set for release in 2021. Before then, all of their classic Phonogram-era albums will be reissued in new expanded editions via Universal Music.

Marc Almond commented at the time of the album release ‘I always felt it was an unfinished story, and I’m glad we’re able to write another chapter’.

Dave Ball also commented ‘As soon as we work together, we become Soft Cell, you know’. I don’t know what the magic element is, but it just seems to be there’.

PRICE:
£22.99
RELEASED YEAR:
SLEEVE:
New
MEDIA:
New

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LISTEN:
Play       Cue Sample

TRACK LISTING:

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PLAY
 
CUE
MP3
a1
Darker Times
a2
Monoculture
a3
Le Grand Guignol
a4
The Night
b1
Last Chance
b2
Together Alone
b3
Desperate
b4
Whatever It Takes
c1
All Out Of Love
c2
Sensation Nation
c3
Caligula Syndrome
c4
On An Up
d1
Divided Sou
d2
God Shaped Hole
d3
Somebody, Somewhere, Sometime
d4
Dancing Alone
d5
Perversity

Last FM Information on So

Please note the information is done on a artist keyword match and data is provided by LastFM.
There is more than one band with So as their name: 1) So began in 2002 with the pair of Eriko Toyoda and Markus Popp (Oval, Microstoria). So is a true symmetrical duo as both members equally contribute to the songwriting and processing. An absolute departure from Oval, So’s debut CD is a melodic, at times soothing, technological demonstration. The album was initially begun as a reworking of a song cycle from Eri’s archives. These archives are comprised of a vast collection of diverse materials she recorded in her parents’ house in Mito-City, Japan. Their sound represents a shift away from the dense, abrasion of Oval's ground-breaking Commers series, and instead moves towards more airy and organic tones. The inclusion of vocals - processed and natural - and live instrumentation allow for So's music to expand far beyond the constraints of the purely digital. Perhaps following formats will allow the listener to fully convey the peculiar and conflicting underlying personal and musical dynamics at work here. Despite the at times colorful, detailed and balanced musical presentation internally, So derives most of its momentum from constant confrontation with Markus and Eri’s conceptualizations and implementations of music. The actual collaborative process is more a resemblance of an 18th century naval battle than a convenience exercise in file sharing. Fundamentally different in countless respects, Oval recordings are linear and strategic on the planning board as well as in practice. So, however, lost the compass from the beginning and is a free project. Recording of the final version of So began in 2002 and is actually not yet finished. Being more of a "tech demo" it was worked on until ten minutes before the FedEx person came to pick up the CD-R. Vocal recordings and guitar were re-recorded directly into the PowerBook’s internal mic. Even though this CD is his most painstaking and complex work to date, Markus would like to see his contribution described as "art direction." Album artwork was created by Katsumi Yokota, the prolific Japanese illustrator who made contributions to the most experimental stages of the United Game Artist’s video game classic, Rez (released for Dreamcast and PS2 in 2002). There are no song titles as So finds it doesn’t make sense and is too much of a compromise to put English song titles to Japanese lyrics. So’s live performance will be a significant departure from any of Markus’ past shows. For these, Markus and Eri decided to build a completely customized, So Fi-PA-system. They will consist of two Triode amplifiers based on ancient schematics, rated at 6-8 Watts each as well as a set of homemade broadband speakers consisting of 1950s broadband speakers (from movie theaters) using an empty bottle as a quasi-backloaded Tractrix (Spherical) horn and mounted in plain cardboard boxes. The sound produced is very trashy and peculiar. Both the speakers and amps are somewhat large, but not super-rugged. They are entirely transportable. To Markus, going retro-HiFi seemed the most radical departure from Oval turning into a software engine. This custom PA will allow for concerts in cafes and galleries. Further details about this are available to any serious head upon request. 2) So was a British duo from the late 1980s that featured Markus Bell and Mark Long, who were previously members of a band called The Opposition. The duo were managed by Steve Weltman of Esta Management, and were contemporaries of acts such as Climie Fisher, Blue and Waterfront. Signing to Parlophone Records, they released singles such as "Are You Sure?" (UK charts #62, US #41) and "Would You Die For Me", as well as the album "Horseshoe In The Glove", produced by Walter Turbitt. The band toured as the opening act for Icehouse on the group's "Man Of Colours" U.S. tour. The video for the single "Are You Sure?" also received significant airplay on MTV, and still receives airplay years later on MTV's sister channel, Vh-1 Classic. "Are You Sure?" has appeared on many 80's new wave compilations, most notably on EMI's successful "Living In Oblivion" series. 3) So was a slacker rock / slowcore band from Whatcom County, Washington active between 2015-2019. Their music is being released in compilations through the New York record label Death Metal, Florida. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.



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