1981 was full of new bands heavy on the synths bursting out all over the place in the UK. The seeds sown by Gary Numan and Sparks a few years earlier were sprouting like weeds by that time. That year had bands like Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode making music using the new technology. And following in Sparks footsteps in particular, Yazoo [Yaz in the US] and Soft Cell picked up the Synth Duo trope and rode it high into the UK charts. Interestingly enough, the Synth Duos stood apart from the Numanoid crowd, with the dour musician manning the keys ala Ron Mael while the singer leaned hard into their emotions, not unlike Russell Mael.

I was buying these debut albums as quickly as they were being release that year and they all have a different vibe form each other; speaking to the healthy qualities of the early 80s UK synthpop boom. I had caught wind of the single “Tainted Love” being a club hit in the Dance pages of Billboard magazine as an import, and I had bought the Flexipop issue with a Soft Cell single to find that these two were worth hearing more from. It was in the fall of 1981 as I was starting college that I first added “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” to my nascent Record Cell. A spin of it this morning on the commute to work revealed that its charms have not ebbed in the intervening span of 42 years.

The opening gambit certainly caught one’s attention. Singer Marc Almost stuttered “fr…fr…fr…frust…FRUST-RA-TIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!” as stabbing synthetic icicles set the tempo before the squelchy bass synth and the drum machine added their discipline. Then Marc dove in head first; caked heavily with mascara and vibrato as he painted a portrait of middle class desperation while the music belied the banality of the day-to-day existence of the protagonist with its nervy urgency. Save Tofani’s swinging saxophone managed to cut a swath of cool through the frenzied torment of the music and vocals with a rakish charm. But it was Marc who had the final word here as the coda saw him becoming unhinged to the point where the sax also became derailed as the track pulled the emergency brake and narrowly avoided crashing into the station.

Then there was a hard cut into the distinctive intro to the hit single that made Soft Cell a worldwide band/brand. As much as I never want to hear the 12″ version of “Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go?” ever again, I can freely admit that the 2:34 7″/LP version always sounds like it’s over before I want it to be. Clearly, that’s the mark of a classic single that’s really stood the test of time. Especially, since how many of us have never heard the original Gloria Jones version? [Monk raises hand] But the traits of Soft Cell’s cover have endeared their version to ears the whole world over.

That walking bass line. The “horn” stabs. The foreboding, minor key vibe. All of it pitched in the opposite direction from Mr. Almond’s winning heart-on-sleeve vocal performance. Producer Mike Thorne has stated that his performance was a single take recorded as many as six times with the nod going to the first one. He also said that the off beat “tubular bell” hook was also down to Almond’s suggestion.

The vibraslap [the name of which sounds like just the sort of rude instrument that should be featured on this album!] signaled the intro to “Seedy Films” and spy-fi worthy synth bass line as Marc spun a blue film scenario ripped straight from the album’s back cover of Soho degeneracy. Josie Warden of backing vocalists Vicious Pink Phenomena sand the song as a duet with almond while Dave Toafni added a rare bit of clarinet on a Synthpop track. Something that there’s far too little of. I can think of the bass clarinet adding incredible vibe to the Fashiøn “Fabrique” album the next year, and that’s all I can drum up on short notice. That said, on today’s listen, I’m feeling that the last two minutes of pointless vamping on the track are the only instance of filler manifesting on this otherwise tight album. It’s just Marc’s falsetto croon wandering in pitch with Tofani soloing for two minutes while Ms.Ward laughs. As “Tainted Love” proved, less is sometimes more.

Next: It’s The Little Things That Make An Album…