1. Darker Times
2. Monoculture
3. Le Grand Guignol
4. The Night
5. Last Chance
6. Together Alone
7. Desperate
8. Whatever It Takes
9. All Out Of Love
10. Sensation Nation
11. Caligula Syndrome
12. On An Up
Seminal early 80s synthpop duo finally reform after almost 20 years.
Indie record label originally associated with the work of Billy Bragg releases the
resulting album. That is the unlikely scenario accompanying Cruelty Without
Beauty, Soft Cell's first set of new songs since This Last Night In Sodom in
1984. During the intervening years, Marc Almond and Dave Ball have
occasionally collaborated (most notably on several tracks from Almond's 1991
highwatermark solo effort The Tenement Symphony), but only now can the "will
they ever reform Soft Cell?" question be laid to rest.
As comebacks go, this is a pretty dignified return, if not quite as
triumphant as some might have hoped. Most of Soft Cell's trademark
sensibilities are here; Almond is as lucid, lyrical, sleazy and troubled as
ever, while the song titles tell their own tale; a mix of the billboard and
the theatrical, the defiant and the tragic. Youthful hedonism has turned to
bittersweet desperation for Almond's protagonists; battered, bruised and
dazed by the endless persuit of pleasure and glamour in all the wrong places,
their disillusionment turns to both the world around them and their own
mortality. The likes of Darker Times, Last Chance, Monoculture and Desperate
spell out these characters' concerns over a world of mediocrity, a society
bereft of grand gestures and chronically lacking in diversity.
Such sentiments, and often incisive as well as witty commentary, prove to be
Cruelty Without Beauty's strongest suit, since in musical terms the album is
surprisingly one-paced and equally one-dimensional. With the fabulously
titled Caligula Syndrome excepted, the 2002 model Soft Cell fail to clothe
these superior lyrics in either substantial arrangements or memorable tunes.
All 12 compositions have been studiously crafted in a
verse/verse/chorus/verse/bridge/chorus manner prevalent in the era of the
duo's initial brush with pop stardom, but less commonplace in the
anything-goes music scene of today. But if the soaring melodies and dynamic
production aren't quite up to the task, as is somtimes the case here, it all
ends up sounding flat.
Together Alone and Whatever It Takes are affecting adult pop confections, the
last throw of loaded dice for 30-something lovers; one a thankful gasp of
relief that desire has not deserted them, the other an urgent plea to help
stave off the dreaded onset of middle age. Yet neither are in the same league
as, for instance, Say Hello Wave Goodbye or Where The Heart Is, songs which
were carried as much by their insistent, evocative synth hooklines as the
words and vocals.
For while Almond is unquestionably both a finer singer and more authoratitive
performer now than in his wild and wilful youth, the modest pitter-patter and
plink-plonk of his surroundings here are just too polite, and too mannered,
to complement the edginess and grandeur so vividly outlined in the lyrics.
Monoculture, the album's first single, has an oppressive and addictive
mantra-like quality to disguise the absence of a bona-fide tune, but its
upside Sensation Nation is simply undercooked and, regrettably, rather naff.
Le Grand Guignol and Caligula Syndrome up the camp quotient with some
panache, but All Out Of Love is a forgettable slice of generic electro
divadom that even latterday Pet Shop Boys would shun for being too bland.
Cruelty Without Beauty is a mixed bag, then. Thankfully, they've retained
enough of their own identity and resisted the temptation to pander to
contemporary music fads and fashions. Almond has rarely been in better form
as vocalist or lyricist. It's good to welcome back a pop act with something
worthwhile to say, and the nous to do so with flair.
If only the whole were not less than the sum of its parts.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
