SOFT CELL – „EYCHAINS AND SNOWSTORMS„ (9CD+DVD) [VÖ: 07.09.2018]
In September, Universal Music will release Keychains and Snowstorms”, a new 10-disc Soft Cell box set that “tells the definitive story of one of electronic music’s most thrilling and pioneering acts”.
The 9CD+DVD package features a wealth of material – 50 percent of which the label claim is unreleased – including 12-inch mixes remastered, B-sides remastered, new extended/reworked versions, early versions and demos, radio sessions, live recordings and more.
Going through this set, disc-by-disc, the first CD features remastered versions of the band’s early ’80s 12-inch single A-sides. Numbers and Soul Inside have been “very slightly edited” in order to fit onto the disc. The second CD features remastered versions of the full-length B-sides and CD 3 includes brand new versions and extended versions of ‘key’ Soft Cell fan favourites. A bit like when Blank & Jones worked on their Frankie Goes To Hollywood set, these extended versions feature only original parts from the multitrack master and have been created especially by Dave Ball.
CD4 includes a mixture of unreleased and rare audio material and demos from the 1980-1984 period, rare international radio-only edits, and the unreleased 12” mix of Forever The Same. The next CD is made up of music from Soft Cell’s earliest years, including one of the first recordings ever made by Dave Ball, plus tracks recorded at the band’s first ever gig in December 1979. This disc also includes a remastered version of the debut Mutant Moments EP, plus one of Soft Cell’s earliest recordings, previously unreleased and not even available on any bootleg. As well as other early demos, this CD also documents Daniel Miller’s work with Soft Cell in 1980 and 1981.
The sixth disc contains live recordings made by Flood of the US dates from 1983 where the band previewed songs from the then-upcoming This Last Night In Sodom album. These tapes have been mixed and mastered for this set. CD 7 features the final section of the Los Angeles show, plus other live highlights, including tracks from Soft Cell’s farewell shows at Hammersmith Palais in January 1984. Remaining selections come from the band’s reunion tour dates in 2002-3, where producer Ingo Vauk recorded the whole UK tour.
Disc 8 features ‘Non-Stop Euphoric Dubbing’, a Dave Ball directed 12-suite continuous mix of Soft Cell classics which forms a moody counterpart to the pioneering dub album 1982’s ‘Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing’.
Among the rarities and curios on discs four and five are seven-inch edits, alternate versions, newly remastered audio for the Mutant Moments release, demos, and an entire suite of early songs produced by Daniel Miller, including his version of Tainted Love.
Live highlights include the band’s first gig at Leeds Polytechnic from 1979, Live In Los Angeles from 1983, five songs from the 1984 farewell gigs at the Hammersmith Palais and six from the 2003 reunion tour.
CD 8 features Non-Stop Euphoric Dubbing, a Dave Ball directed 12-suite continuous mix of Soft Cell classics. This CD also includes a some other remixes, including the first ever remix by Erasure, who have remixed Bedsitter. In addition, The Grid’s 1991 remixes of Memorabilia and Where The Heart Is have been reworked to replace Marc’s 1991 re-vocalled versions with his original takes.
The final audio disc – CD 9 – features highlights from the BBC’s vaults, including previously unreleased audio of their Whistle Test appearance in 1982. Soft Cell’s first recordings since 1983 are also included, with an unreleased extended version of Divided Soul, and the set is completed with Marc and Dave’s favourite tracks from 2002’s comeback album Cruelty Without Beauty.
The DVD features the Non-Stop Exotic Video Show, a host of TV appearances, including The Oxford Road Show, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Top Of The Pops, The Tube, The Switch and The 1983 Supersonic Christmas Special plus a previously unreleased gig ‘Live At The Amnesia’ from 28th May, 1981. Finally, there’s promo videos and the Young Guns Go For It BBC documentary.
CD1: THE PHONOGRAM 12″ HITS 1981-1984
Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go 8.57
Bedsitter 7.52
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye 8.56
Torch 8.29
What 6.10
Where The Heart Is 9.46
Numbers 9.49
Soul Inside 11.12
Down In The Subway 7.50
CD2: THE PHONOGRAM B-SIDES 1981-1984
Tainted Dub/Where Did Our Love Go? 8.51
Facility Girls (12″ Version) 7.17
Fun City 7.33
Insecure Me (12″ Version) 8.16
So (12” Version) 8.44
It’s A Mug’s Game (12″ Version) 8.11
Barriers (12” Version) 7.10
You Only Live Twice (12″ Version) 6.58
Her Imagination 5.20
007 Theme 3.27
Disease & Desire 4.04
Born To Lose 2.55
CD3: NEW EXTENDED & REWORKED MIXES
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Dave Ball Lateral Mix) 7.08
Youth (Dave Ball Wasted On The Young Mix) 5.41
Secret Life (Extended Mix) 5.17
Chips On My Shoulder (Extended Mix) 6.14
Facility Girls (2018 Mix) 7.43
Heat (Alternative Version) 6.04
Kitchen Sink Drama (Extended Mix)
The Art Of Falling Apart (Extended Mix) 8.47
Martin (Hallowe’en Mix) 6.14
Barriers (Dave Ball Broken Down Angels Mix) 7.09
Meet Murder, My Angel (Extended Mix) 6.00
Slave To This (Life Of Existence Mix)
CD4: RARITIES, ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS & CURIOS
The Girl With The Patent Leather Face (Original Version) 4.57
A Man Could Get Lost (Daniel Miller Vocal Edit)
Memorabilia (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing Version) 5.21
Forever The Same (Unreleased Extended Version) 10.58
Heat (US 7″ Version) 4.01
Loving You, Hating Me (Special USA Mix) 7.45
Martin 10.13
Hendrix Medley (Hey Joe, Purple Haze, Voodoo Chile) 10.22
Numbers (7” DJ Version) 4.26
Down In The Subway (7″ Remix Version) 4.21
L’Esqualita (7″ Version) 4.22
Soul Inside (Demo) 5.21
So (Dave Ball Demo Outtake) 3.16
CD5: THE EARLY YEARS 1978-81
Memorabilia (Original Daniel Miller Mix)
Persuasion (Original Daniel Miller Mix)
Metro MRX (Flexipop Version)
A Man Could Get Lost (Daniel Miller Demo)
The Girl With The Patent Leather Face (Demo)
Tainted Love (Demo)
Bedsitter (Demo)
Potential (From Mutant Moments EP)
L.O.V.E Feelings (From Mutant Moments EP)
Metro MRX (From Mutant Moments EP)
Frustration (From Mutant Moments EP)
Red Tape, Sticky Tape (Demo – Previously Unreleased)
Martin (Original 1980 Demo)
Paranoid (Black Sabbath Cover)
Science Fiction Stories (Demo)
Bleak Is My Favourite Cliché (Demo)
Cleaning Fanatic (Demo)
Mix (Demo)
A Man Could Get Lost (Original Version)
Walking Make Up Counter (Live at Leeds Polytechnic, December 1979)
Occupational Hazard (Live at Leeds Polytechnic, December 1979)
Persuasion (Live at Leeds Polytechnic, December 1979)
Dave’s Theme (Previously Unreleased Demo)
CD6: IN SESSION / REUNION / CRUELTY WITHOUT BEAUTY
Entertain Me (Richard Skinner Radio 1 Session)
Seedy Films (Richard Skinner Radio 1 Session)
Chips On My Shoulder (Richard Skinner BBC Radio 1 Session)
Youth (BBC Whistle Test)
Sex Dwarf (BBC Whistle Test)
Soul Inside (David Jensen BBC Radio 1 Session)
Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed It Most) (David Jensen BBC Radio 1 Session)
God Shaped Hole (Remix)
Divided Soul (Hooker Mix)
Somebody, Somewhere, Sometime
Monoculture – Dave Ball Extended Mix
The Night
Darker Times
Last Chance
Together Alone
Caligula Syndrome
Desperate
CD7: NON-STOP EUPHORIC DUBBING (CONTINUOUS MIX) & REMIXES
Barriers (Dave Ball Broken Down Angels Dub)
Numbers (Extended Dub)
Youth (Dave Ball Wasted On The Youth Dub)
Where The Heart Is (Marcus Lancaster Dub)
Seedy Films (Richard X Dub)
L.O.V.E Feelings (Demo)
L’Esqualita (Dub)
Loving You, Hating Me (Dub)
Baby Doll (Dub)
Facility Girls (2018 Mix Dub)
Little Rough Rhinestone (Solvent Dub Mix)
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Dave Ball Lateral Dub)
Bedsitter (Erasure Remix)
Where The Heart Is (The Grid Remix : 2018 Re-Edit)
So (The Grid Remix)
CD8: LIVE IN LOS ANGELES ’83 – PART 1
Mr Self Destruct
Soul Inside
Forever The Same
Insecure Me
L’Esqualita
Loving You, Hating Me
Torch
Youth
Disease & Desire
Where Was Your Heart
Baby Doll
Martin
The Art Of Falling Apart
CD9: LIVE IN LOS ANGELES ’83 PART 2 + PLUS OTHER LIVE RECORDINGS
Hey Joe/Purple Haze
Memorablilia
Heat
Ghost Rider (with Clint Ruin)
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
+ LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH PALAIS, 84 (FAN RECORDING)
Down In The Subway 4.01
The Best Way To Kill 5.20
Numbers 5.29
It’s A Mug’s Game 8.12
Frustration
+ UK TOUR, LIVE IN 2003
Tainted Love 3.39
Where Did Our Love Go 5.33
Bedsitter 3.43
Sex Dwarf 6.17
Barriers 5.28
Surrender To A Stranger 4.22
DVD: TV appearances, promos etc.
Source: SuperDeluxeEdition
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