For those whose exposure to
Soft Cell has been limited to the glorious and inescapable "Tainted Love," the duo's 1984 swan song
This Last Night in Sodom should feature a warning sticker. Singer
Marc Almond and keyboardist
Dave Ball don't attempt to recapture the Top 40 magic of that hit here. Instead,
Almond completes his transformation into an electro-pop
Scott Walker, operatically singing self-conscious and jaded songs like "Mr. Self-Destruct," "Little Rough Rhinestone," and "Meet Murder My Angel," while
Ball's keyboards explore an icy, nearly Germanic abstraction (in the
Kraftwerk/
Neu! sense). Anyone intrigued by the prospect of faux-decadent torch songs in the
Piaf/
Brel tradition should be interested in this electronic hybrid of the style, but if you're looking for "Tainted Love, Pt. 2," it isn't here.