Soft Cell - The Bedsit Tapes

Historical Rare Recording Made Between 1978 and 1982 by the Now Legendary 80's Electro Pop Group Soft Cell. Originally, Vocalist Marc Almond and Synth Player Dave Ball Teamed to Compose Music for Theatrical Productions, and as Soft Cell, their Live Performances Continued to Draw Heavily on the Pair's Background in Drama and the Visual Arts. A Self-financed EP Titled Mutant Moments Brought the Duo to the Attention of Some Bizzare Label Head Stevo, who Enlisted Daniel Miller to Produce their Underground Hit Single "Memorabilia" the Following Year. This was the Launch Pad for the Band to Rise to International Notoriety in their Short and Successful Career. Album Details

Early synth pop: A historical reference

For fans of pre-digital synthesizer pop, the Bedsit Tapes are a valuable historical reference. In the early 80's, commercial digital machines (like the DX7 and Linndrum) wiped this analog sound out for nearly a decade. There were few groups who explored this early form of electronic pop. Though less polished than some of its contemporaries, the Bedsit Tapes is an informative 4-track demo-style compilation of this tenuous genre. These are rough sketches, not fleshed out pop songs, and may disappoint fans of "Tainted Love." This is a collection aimed at synth-pop completists. If you already own the early works of Human League, OMD, Yazoo and Depeche Mode, here is where you may begin to dig a bit deeper into the context of those times. January 19, 2007

Science Fiction Stories boot? close but not!

Well, my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when I saw this CD on Amazon a few weeks ago. I didn't even know about it and I'm a long time Marc Almond/ Soft Cell collector. Lucky to have both the Mutunt Moments 7" and the original Science Fiction Stories boot CD in my collection, I am able to compare the Bedsit tapes to these other two items I just mentioned.

First off, there are a lot of songs missing from the Science Fiction Stories CD that are not on the Bedsit Tapes CD. Missing from SFS are the following: "facility girls", "living for today", "factory fun", "penthouse pet", "when we go marching", "I am 16" (a sinister take on the song you hear in the moving The Sound of Music!), "a man could get lost", "mix and match", "persuasion". Missing from the Mutant MOments 7" EP is "Frustration". These were probably unreleased due to legal reasons.

The good news is that what's missing from the S.F.S. demos is made up with a lot of songs that I've never heard in my life before like a cover version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and a number of other goodies.

The sound quality on these demos is slightly better than the Science Fiction stories CD. The tracks are lightly mixed into each other and the annoying cut sound you hear at the end of Potentional track on the Mutant Moments 7" has been removed. Too bad "Frustration" was not included because comparing the Mutant Moments version to the one that eventually ended up on their debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret shows what clean production can due to a rough sounding song!

The Bedsit tapes CD clocks in a little under 46 minutes so there was plenty of space to include more demos. Maybe, there's be sequel to this release. I would love to see the Flexi Pop versin of A Man Could Get Lost and the live fanclub flexi of Say Hello, Wave Goodbye appear someday on CD. Enough said, just want to say thak you to David Ball and Stevo for putting this material out! Hopefully, David & Marc are getting the proper payment from this release. I've read enough about Stevo and his handling of Some Bizarre! January 10, 2006

Kinda funny

For the 45 minutes of music, there are a lot of (shorter) tracks to hear here, but sometimes you get the feeling that it was better to release a few more early singles rather than letting the demos shelved. However, Soft Cell chose not to do that and waited to sign to a major (Mercury) and put some singles out. Here is an early sign of what you got at the first album (Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret). But let us not forget that there was more than this material, there was this record by Some Bizarre which was called Mutant Moments. Soft Cell fans would want that one to finally collect... this is a hint for Some Bizarre... ;-) December 11, 2005

Absolutely essential for any Soft Cell fan

The Bedsit Tapes is a collection of demos live performances that documents the earliest stages of the band. This is even pre- Mutant Moments, so it provides a unique glimpse at the duo. Naturally, the sound quality is less than fantastic (as is to be expected for a collection of demos) but the sheer quality of the material makes up for it. Some of the songs are standard Soft Cell faire, but a few are so excellent that it will make you sad that they never got proper studio treatment ("A Cut Above The Rest", "Bleak Is My Favourite Cliche" and "Walking Make-Up Counter" come to mind). It also includes an amusing cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".

This is an absolute must for any Soft Cell fan- it explores their roots, and the sound is harsh and electro with hints of the pop brilliance that would come later. Fantastic. October 10, 2005

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