Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

So very early 80s, but no worse off for that. A decent listen with not too much filler. Any album that has a song titled Sex Dwarf can't be all bad.

4/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/soft-cell/non-stop-erotic-cabaret/ This album is mainly in the list because of the banger that is Tainted Love, but, in all fairness, the rest of the album is also definitely entertaining. Some of the more upbeat songs (Entertain Me, Chips on my Shoulder) are blueprints for some mid/late 00s indie music, that I was not aware of before listening to the album. Some clear misses too (Sex Dwarf, que?), but overall quite good fun.

Love me some songs about sex an' shit. This sucks tho.

23/10/2026 Was not impressed with this. The music was way too samey and boring. Spotify listeners: 6 million

I thought this was going to be a better listen. ‘Tainted Love’ is a massive hit but the rest of the tracks were just basic, forgettable 80s. I’m sure there is plenty of depth and layering in there but I had tuned out by then. 2.25/5

okay, interesting

I think I don't like it, but I should, because I love britpop and the new wave

Nie mam nic konstruktywnego do powiedzenia, poza tym, że ta płyta częściowo wpłynęła na to jaką postacią jestem dzisiaj, a że jestem teatralnym klaunem i cyrkiem w jednym, to chyba wiele wyjaśnia. Wibracje tej płyty to jest podrzędny gejowy holenderski przybytek rozkoszy i nic więcej do szczęścia nie jest mi potrzebne 🎡🎪🎠

cool

Nekako mislim da je ovo moglo biti dosta bolje pored Tainted Love i još par pjesama koje volim, Almond ima veoma zanimljiv glas koji kao da nije iskorišten i imam neki osjećaj da pjesme nisu dovoljno muzikalne.

Classic synth pop anni 80, insipido

Absolutely did not enjoy this album. Way too long and pretentious.

This album is for a very specific vibe, and that vibe is absolutely not before 9am

Tainted Love is obviously great and Sex Dwarf is pretty fun too but the rest of the original album, although equally weird, is not that remarkable: some songs are actually borderline irritating. The singles and B-sides of the extended/deluxe versions are better.

I find this album an odd one. I’ve listened to a number of times over decades and always come away with the same thoughts. I absolutely love some of their tracks in a club atmosphere, but listening to them at home I find most of the album quite disappointing. It does however include Tainted Love and Sex Dwarf, which are fantastic tracks - clubbing or otherwise. The album is packed full of tracks that I’ve known for years - and also have in other versions that bands have covered due to the lasting influence Marc Almond and Soft Cell had on not only the scene but music in general. Memorabilia, Say Hello Wave Goodbye, Bedsitter, Torch, and so forth… all great tracks, but for some reason whilst I really like the tracks individually, an entire album of them almost has the opposite effect and really grates on me. Maybe I can only take brilliance in small doses? Who knows. Sadly I’m not rating individual tracks here, if I was we’d be seeing lots of 4 & 5’s. We’re rating the album as a whole and… it just does not work for me for whatever reason . Sorry.

Good in parts. I've got a lovely/hate thing going on with Marc Almond's voice.

The tracks I know well are fantastic but the others fall short - in the end it doesn't quite rate a three

K verwachtte meer, tainted love is iconic ofc. Sex Dwarf? Crazy. Memorabilia vind ik wel leuk! De rest is lowk kut.

Love the cover. The rest struck me as similar to The Pet Shop Boys but not as good.

This was a fun listen, but when all was said and done, nothing stood out in my mind other than Tainted Love (a personal favourite). I'd give this a 2.5, but I'll round up for the fun energy on this album.

It's always a pleasant surprise when you discover that a one hit wonder is part of a good album, still, this sounds like the first steps of a genre that would be perfected by other bands with more solid bases.

Started off thinking it's edgier than I thought soft cell would be but it was so edgy it was actually bad

Étonnant mélange de new wave et voix punk qui marche très bien. J’ai pris une version raccourcie car sinon ça aurait été long mais comme ça c’était parfait

This was fine, I like Tainted Love but his vocals get old

'I've done nothing / I've achieved nothing.' Wild, wired, & weird, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is & isn't only 'Tainted Love,' their classic '81 cover of Gloria Jones's '64 original. Soft Cell prove themselves to be more than a one-hit wonder, but that's the best track. The record is more smooth & decadent than it's erotic - it doesn't exactly set the mood, & a creeping moroseness a la The Cure renders it all but too sad to have sex to. I have more than my fair share of reservations b/c I think they either depend too much or not at all enuf on shock value. A good, somewhat memorable album, it yet has me thinking of better ones, e.g., Pet Shop Boys's Very, which ravishes me. This doesn't ravish until the final track, my fav, tho 'Tainted Love' still tops.

Tainted Love will obviously always live in infamy and this album gets a 3 just for that... which is a good thing, because most of the rest of it feels like it was made in a garage. And he's just not a great singer... I know, I know... pioneers of British synth pop... blah blah blah... he's still off key and undrproduced.

3,5 - o synthpop por vezes resulta, outras vezes nao ahahaha

It’s a sign of a good cover version, that many people at the time didn’t realise that Tainted Love was originally a northern soul classic that had been transformed into an electro-pop banger by Soft Cell. It adds a whole new dimension to the song whilst retaining the essential truth of the original. In contrast to some other electronic pioneers, Soft Cell never pretended to be icy robots, but instead range about the messy, sleazy, sexy, sad human experience of life in the big city. For me the best song on the album is Say Hello, Wave Goodbye which completely captures the feeling of a relationship coming to an inevitable end. Some of the tracks on this album are a little scrappy, but it always feels like keyboard player Dave Ball was experimenting and pushing on to find the right backing for Marc Almond’s voice to soar. Sex-dwarf-tastic!

presented here is the debut of english synthpop duo soft cell, a nocturnal and energetic album made with big dreams and a very small budget. the album's music was thought of after the two took big walks in the new york city streets, and the title of the album was taken from a strip club sign in london, essentially creating the ultimate "night out" pop album. several songs from the album got hit singles in the united states and united kingdom, mainly their cover of gloria jones's "tainted love", which is probably one of the biggest synthpop anthems ever. working with a small budget means that you can only get so much sound with what you have. despite this kinda minimalist take on pop music, damn it gets the job done good enough. i guess all you need is two young blokes, a drum machine and a few dinky little synths to get the job done here. these men have so much charisma and a bit of pent-up energy as they sing most every song. sex! drugs! madness! and one's deepest darkest desires... all of this and more! audio imagery really seems to be a common thing i talk about with a lot of albums, and this is yet another one on the list that has that as its strongest point. this album is an ideal after-dark album. it's saucy, it's spirited, it's... well, erotic. it's good quality... for early '80s new wave pop, anyways.

This was ok. Started well then seemed to taper off. Obviously Tainted Love was familiar, but the record as a whole flowed pretty well. The female voice which popped up in places was annoying though, with an irritating laugh.

"Sex Dwarf" just put the fries in the bag bro

I enjoyed this…to a point. It’s too long.

horrible singing and mediocre synth. the temu pet shop boys.

The two hits still hit. The rest are eh. Dude sure is horny.

This was fun, classic 80s synth pop

Yes there is some filler on here. But there is also 3 of the greatest 80s synth pop tracks of all time on this, a debut album. If you don’t already know what they are, I’m not going to waste my time telling you. You weren’t there. We’ll leave it at that. And Sex Dwarf is pretty good too.

This might be a generous 2 as it was mostly awful. Tainted Love is a great example of a cover reinventing a song in a different genre. Say Hello Wave Goodbye is good. There is a song called Sex Dwarf. Other than that it was pretty dire.

Probably an important album in regards to queer music and representation of homosexuality in popular culture but as an album, it’s hugely lacking. Pretty basic instrumentation and a distinct lack of quality songwriting - when your best song is a cover, it doesn’t say a great deal about your own songwriting capabilities. ‘Tainted love’ remains an excellent song but I’m much more partial to the original anyway. Much too long and even the brilliantly titled ‘sex dwarf’ doesn’t save this one from drudgery.

More weird and wonderful early 80s stuff. Along with possibly the greatest synth pop song ever (Tainted Love, even though it's a cover), you've got 'Say Hello, Wave Goodbye' which was later covered in marvellous style by David Gray, but the version here has a lot of merit, too. And then in the middle, you've got Marc Almond singing about seedy films, segueing into an ode to his sex dwarf....... I mean, what's not to love??

This is fun and silly and unexpected and wtf this is Tainted Love?

“Say Hello Goodbye” is all time.

1hitwonder

One great song, the rest is forgettable

Fuck this album ended up being really grating and annoying. How are people so into this?? At it's best there's a couple of fun songs and at ours worst it's unlistenable

S ok, marc almond is the weakest of the immaculate consumptive

Synth Pop Sounds that scream the 80's. Another band most famous for a cover and it's my opinion that Manson's cover of Tainted Love supersedes Soft Cell's by a mile. Hmm, can't say this album does anything for me. The whispered words 'sex dwarf' belong in a comedy skit on Family Guy and no where else. In one word Would I buy this album if I saw it in the $5 bargain bin - definitely not

If you don't like Soft Cell, listen again. You will.

Always interesting to hear other music from what I see as one-hit wonders, but I think I see why that is the case :)

Aside from Tainted Love, feels overwhelming and overproduced. 2/5.

It was alright but a bit of a strange mix of songs. Not sure if probably listen again in a hurry.

A strong album with a dark and very vibe all the way through. Like so many synth pop of that era the music feels very dated as artists experimented with keyboards. The saxophone can also do one!

Cold towel for Almond, the horny little bugger. Putting that to one side, this was a massively unexpected pleasure (ooer missus). I was expecting something very stiff, chic and polished. But the lyrics were way more playful and delivered much punkier and loose. Synths way more inventive and great pop disco rhythms (Memorabilia, one of the extra tracks is a miles ahead of its time trancey banger). Just annoyed me that I didn’t bother going to see Almond recently when he was supporting Numan. Another preconception shattered.

Part of me feels bad for not giving this a fair shake, but I couldn't make myself listen to the whole thing so it gets a 1. No thank you.

Signer holds not he really should not

That one song is so good. The restnof the album is so bad

3,5 stars

Je connaissais que Tainted Love mais franchement bonne découverte par ailleurs ! C'est rythmé et très varié, j'écouterai sans doute d'autres albums

Sympa d'écouter l'album en entier je connaissais que Tainted Love

Their version of Tainted Love is pretty good but I really didn’t need to hear this. I like weird but this didn’t click for me today. Sex Dwarf did actually click though, I’ll give them credit for that. 2 stars

more British new-wave/synth pop. Tainted Love was a surprise when it came on, and I didn't know Say Hello, Wave Goodbye was their song. 3* for them alone.

British 80s pop two days in a row and this was somehow by far the least bad one.

7/10

This album sounds like if Austin Powers was from the 80s instead of the 60s.

Remembering the sing-along joy of Tainted Love from my early teen years, I had high hopes. I quickly learned why Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go was the only song I had ever heard from Soft Cell, and it's clear that if they hadn't remade Gloria Jones and The Supremes, they would have had no marketable material, and I would never have heard of them at all. Annoying, whiny.

Such a seedy record, reminding us what a world away from today the 80s were. Some proper bangers here, 'Bedsitters' in particular, but some weak tracks too. It's on the shelves. Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ✅️ ★★★☆☆(6/10) Total reviewed : 438 Already owned : 99 Purchased : 21 To buy : 5 Nope : 313

This album is absolute madness. It's genius on one track and then followed by craziness that's not good at all.

Was obviously familiar with Tainted Love as it's probably in the top 3-5 "most 80's songs", but really wasn't familiar with the rest. Thought they were pretty good as new wave goes, even if that's not my favorite era or genre.

Tainted Album

Maso

Fun City

Number: 252 Familiarity: Extremely (5) Rating: 4 Before: ======= I had this on cassette when it came out and I listened to it a lot. It was probably my favorite for a while. 1981 was a great year in music but I see that I don't have anything from this album om my favorites from 1981 list. How cold that be? You know, I just realized that I have been combining Soft Cell and Sparks as the same duo in my mind for the past few years and I went through Sparks discography when making the yearly lists and totally forgot about Soft Cell. During: ======= It will be interesting to see how people rate this. I suspect there will be lots of 2s and 1s. For myself, I'll probably give it a 4, we'll see. Of course if this was my first time hearing this in 2026, I'd probably give it a lower rating, but I have lots of fond memories associated with this album, and so far am still liking it a lot. After : ======= On a song by song basis, I get an average rating of 3.96 so I guess I have to rate it a 4, even though I have no desire to listen to this again, ever. In that respect, it's kind of like that Bruce Springsteen album I had yesterday. I wouldn't have though I would find something in common with the two.

Soft Cell's *Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret* is a landmark debut that captured the seedy underbelly of early 1980s Britain, wrapping tales of frustration, lust, and urban loneliness in innovative synth-pop. While its hit single often overshadows the rest, the album remains a cohesive and influential work that defined a darker, more theatrical side of the new wave era. ### 🎭 Lyrics: Kitchen Sink Drama and Taboo Marc Almond's lyrics are the album's narrative core, painting vivid portraits of life on the margins. The songs explore themes of **frustration, escapism, and the contrast between glamour and squalor**. Tracks like "Bedsitter" offer a poignant, autobiographical look at loneliness, describing the emptiness of a Sunday spent alone after a weekend of clubbing. In contrast, songs like "Sex Dwarf" and "Seedy Films" dive headfirst into the provocative and taboo, examining the illicit thrill of Soho's nightlife with a blend of dark humor and unflinching honesty. This juxtaposition—the mundane versus the extreme—is a recurring motif, perfectly capturing the secret, seedy life that Almond felt existed behind the mask of Conservative Britain. ### 🎹 Music and Production: Electronic Wizardry Musically, the album is a masterclass in early synth-pop, driven by Dave Ball's inventive use of electronic instruments. The production, overseen by Mike Thorne, creates a cold yet compelling sonic landscape that perfectly matches the lyrical themes. Ball's arsenal included a **Roland drum machine, a Korg SB-100 Synthetic Bass, and an NED Synclavier**, which he used to craft a diverse range of sounds, from the aggressive, pulsating rhythm of "Frustration" to the haunting, melancholic synth lines of "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye". The arrangements are not purely electronic; they are thoughtfully punctuated by acoustic instruments like the saxophone on "Frustration" and the clarinet on "Seedy Films," adding a layer of sophistication and sleaze to the proceedings. ### 🌃 Themes and Influence: A New Decade of Pop The album's overarching theme is the exploration of the **"glitter and grime of urban life"**. It functions as a song cycle, telling the story of an ordinary person seeking excitement and adventure in the neon-lit world of red-light cabarets, only to be left with a sense of emptiness. This unapologetically queer and hedonistic perspective was groundbreaking for its time. The album's influence is vast. The massive success of "Tainted Love" (which spent a record-breaking 43 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100) helped open American airwaves for alternative and electronic acts like The Cure and Depeche Mode. The album's DNA can be heard in the work of artists from Trent Reznor to Fischerspooner, and its songs have been sampled by the likes of Rihanna. ### ⚖️ Pros and Cons **Pros:** - **Innovative Production:** Dave Ball's pioneering use of synthesizers and drum machines creates a unique and influential sonic palette. - **Powerful Lyricism:** Marc Almond's lyrics are vivid, theatrical, and unafraid to explore taboo subjects with wit and pathos. - **Cohesive Vision:** The album works as a complete artistic statement, a journey through the highs and lows of a specific time and place. - **Timeless Singles:** Contains three of the decade's most significant singles in "Tainted Love," "Bedsitter," and "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye". **Cons:** - **Overshadowed by a Hit:** The phenomenal success of "Tainted Love" often eclipses the rest of the album, which is equally deserving of attention. - **Uneven Tracks:** Some critics find tracks like "Youth" to be less compelling, while "Sex Dwarf" can be seen as overly provocative or grating for some listeners. - **Dated Sound:** For some modern listeners, the 1980s electronic production may sound dated, though many argue this is part of its charm. In summary, *Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret* is an essential document of the early 1980s. It is a dark, intelligent, and danceable album that successfully merged the avant-garde with pop, leaving an indelible mark on music and culture.

Genomgående behagligt. Gillade verkligen mer än väntat!

Längre än förväntat och kanske berättigat, men genomgående skön vibe!

Kanske lite långt och ibland enformigt, men när det är bra är det BRA. Tainted Love!

No es lo mio

Het is dat Tainted Love erop staat, anders was het direct 2 sterren geweest. Nu echt net, maar dan ook net 3 sterren

What id Depeche Mode maar dan kut? Ja, Tainted Love is geweldig, maar de rest van deze plaat varieert van achterhaald naar 'ik zou geld betalen om dit te laten stoppen'.

2.1

Tainted Love is so so good. Other than that these mostly go nowhere. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is kinda good? And Sex Dwarf gets some points for its title alone (definitely only for the title). They’re clearly not songwriters but pretty great performers. Also kept comparing it to the Depeche Mode album that came out this year - this guy’s voice is a lot more dynamic and the synth voices are more interesting but the arrangement and rhythm are so boring by comparison. Can’t tell if these guys were like inventing new synths or if Depeche Mode was just intentionally using old stilted synths. (It’s probably that.)

Pet Shop Boys, but take out the wistful lyrical charm, make the synths more grating and ringtone-like, and add some hypercommercial burlesque sleazy aura over the whole thing. glad to hear Tainted Love for that legendary sample at least

3.5 Tainted love is fantastic but honestly disappointed the longer verson with where did the love go isn't from the album. Some other good songs too but also some not so great

Pet Shop Boys but even more gay? Is that even possible? Epic

Based off of how good this album's most popular song is, I was expecting a fun synthy 80s pop album. However, this was instead a pile of neon shit covered in used condoms with a really nice light-up Christmas star at the top that says "Tainted Love" on it. It tries to be a fun sexy time with provocative lyrics, but the production is utterly shit and Marc Almond's vocals sound like pretty much every other British pop artist from the 80s so it completely cancels out that whole vibe. Favorite Track: Tainted Love

All I know is that after listening to this I just want a sex dwarf.

Eh. Not bad, Tainted Love is an eternal bop, but the rest slid through my brain unnoticed.

Door tainted love dacht ik dat het leuk zou worden. Maar nee

Okay, so this is definitely an odd one, and it's not for everybody. But for those who get it, it will always remain a classic within the synth-pop movement, even though it's much darker and sleazier than what the term normally suggests. You also have a strong influence of cold, minimal synth and post-punk, but Marc Almond's voice and vocals definitely bring some warmth to the music and help balance it out. Obviously, "Tainted Love" is the enormous hit off this album, but I would still recommend listening to the entire thing because it definitely takes you on a journey. Plus, the deluxe version has a lot of cool additional tracks. Even for fans of the album, though, this is one of those records that can take a little getting used to, and it gets better with each additional listen.

Tainted Love is a good song, the rest…not so much.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I really enjoyed Tainted Love which I first heard on the soundtrack to The Coneheads movie. The rest of it kind of the album sounded the same.

2 - Tainted Love is great and the bass line in the first song had me excited, but this was underwhelming overall.

Didn’t love the album but tainted love is a banger 5/10

Tainted love and where did our love go helped make this a 2.

I keep finding these albums that show me where Weird Al was coming from. If I were him in the 80s/90s, listening to this music, I would want to make parody songs as well. And to top it all off, they finished with two different 9 minute songs?

Started off crappy as hell except for the one song I really, really like, "Tainted Love". Further into the album the performance and songs improved. I'm used to the opposite happening. So what started as one star review changed to...

I get that it's unique but I just struggle to get into this funky vampire disco music.

Well I wasn't expecting that. And I didn't really care for the experimental/art pop. The more straight ahead songs were better. The cover if Where Did Our Love Go? is excellent. But overall, too long, to odd.

Fun album, that I think starts off really strong with "Frustration" and "Tainted Love" (my favourite of the album), dips a bit in quality towards the middle, but ends with some great songs again ("Secret Live" and "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye"). I can say I definitely enjoyed it more than some synthpop and new wave albums from the time.

Of course Tainted Love is an all-timer, but everything else is just okay at best. Some of the other songs have pretty good instrumentals, but the singing/lyrics are really lacking throughout the album. This album is average at best. Low 3.

*boom boom* RUN AWAY. Had a great time, Tainted Love is the star ofc but of the new tracks to me my favorite was Sex Dwarf