SOFT CELL DEMO NON STOP COMPILATION SOME BIZARRE, PLASTIC HEAD RELEASE: JANUARY, 2007 REVIEW: JANUARY 20, 2007

This is not an album. There, I said it, because first and foremost I think it needed to be said. The distinction needs to be made from an album in the traditional sense, which is a collection of (generally) new songs, carefully fine-tuned and put together to work both individually (as songs), and as a whole. This isn’t the idea with this release. Instead we have the beginnings of a band. The band that turned out to be Soft Cell, one of the most influential of the original electro/synth groups that took over the 80:s and turned it into their own.

The first thing that needs to be noted is that, as I said, these are not songs – they’re not even demos of songs – what they are is a blueprint, recorded at the start of what would become known as the "Non-Stop" sessions. Some of the tracks would be very successful ("Say Hello, Wave Goodbye"), and some would have probably never seen the light of day. On top of this we have mere sketches, incomplete ideas, tidbits of songs that may have remained unnoticed. "Facility Girl" is such a track, which barely reaches the two minute mark.

So why release an album that is basically just a sketch book of ideas? Well, if we use the literal translation – seeing the Mona Lisa is exciting, but seeing the sketches behind the ideas that turned into the Mona Lisa is amazing. That’s it. The ideas and work people have put into their work is usually very interesting, and very revealing, as is the case here. Also, it was released as the sister album to another Soft Cell early works release – the "Bedsit Tapes" (released in 2006).

So, this collection is very raw, sometimes shocking, sometimes humorous, never boring. Listen to the album all the way through (no shuffling!) and you will get a sense of the progression from the angsty opener to the unpolished diamond that was to become the beginning of a highly influential career.

MIKE WHYTE