Friday! Soft Cell- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

12 February, 2010 — RickB

My favourite Soft Cell song (although a close run thing, a tie really with ‘Where The Heart Is’) and a shout out to Otto, keepin’ it real for the Soft Cell Massive (Attack) in Peru. Where will these dedications go next…?

Posted in Culture(!), Friday!, Music. Tags: , . 12 Comments »

12 Responses to “Friday! Soft Cell- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”

  1. otto Says:
    12 February, 2010 at 11:03 pm

    Good call. Great tune full of pathos. Awestruck by Almond!

    FWIW currently frightening the crap out of the neighbours with Angel by Massive Attack, played at eleven and the bassbox Chez Otto kicks serious ass.

  2. otto Says:
    12 February, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    Trivia add-on: This song was inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘je suis venu te dure que je m’en vais’ (i came to say that i’m going). French conenction continued later when Marc went on the record a heap of Jacques Brel songs, too.

  3. otto Says:
    12 February, 2010 at 11:35 pm

    “….te dire…”, not “dure”

  4. libhomo Says:
    13 February, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    I’m a philistine. My favorite song of theirs is “Tainted Love.”

  5. RickB Says:
    13 February, 2010 at 9:58 pm

    Otto, you mine of Soft Cell facts! Glad you enjoyed and also that you take your bass seriously chez Otto! Meanwhile Brel, the Scott Walker version is great too, but over to Marc-

    GLH- Oh you populist! It is an awesome pop song but I think it got so overplayed in discos in the 80’s I was overdosed on it, so it slipped down to maybe 8 or 9 on my SC top ten.

    • otto Says:
      13 February, 2010 at 11:26 pm

      Not bad. Certainly different from the original. Almond is a very good singer, but………

      Seems to me that singers don’t take on Brel songs because they don’t want to be held up against the greatest male voice of all time (argue opera singers if you like, i’ll stick with Brel). He’s the toughest act to follow around. French rock band did a homage album with Brel songs and that wasn’t bad, either…..but……

      For what it’s worth, this is my fave (though check out his amazing stage presence in other youtubes, recommended are ces gens la, amsterdam, etc etc ad infin). This one is just the music, from his last album.

  6. RickB Says:
    13 February, 2010 at 11:53 pm

    Ces Gens La is great, always though it was very like a dance track, a moody groove unwinding over time (Underworld could nail it beautifully but very differently). I think doing a cover with him is so hard because he seems to own the song down to the very fibre of his being, more like a sermon from divine intervention. So yeah tough act, I think unless you bring something to it of similar integrity and conviction and really enjoy the song it will not work, I like that Almond seems to really celebrate the songs.

  7. earwicga Says:
    14 February, 2010 at 1:17 am

    You’ve reminded me of the best ever modern cover of a classical piece (which has also been used in a couple of crappy films):

    which uses the music of Mr Elgar (& Mr Chopin apparently).

    Still doesn’t top the original though:

    (ps – I don’t like Soft Cell or Marc Almond)

  8. RickB Says:
    14 February, 2010 at 1:20 am

    How about marzipan then?

  9. RickB Says:
    14 February, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    You wouldn’t let it LIE!


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