*Happiness Now Completed CD AND *Happiness Not Included Deluxe CD
Out now!
*Happiness Now Completed CD
Soft Cell followed up 2022’s acclaimed Top 10 long player *Happiness not included with the release of two expanded editions via BMG on 28th July.
*Happiness now extended is a limited-edition double vinyl album, featuring longer versions of all twelve tracks from the original May 2022 release, and including the singles – airplay smash Purple Zone (with Pet Shop Boys), Bruises On All My Illusions and Nostalgia Machine. It also sees the inclusion for the first time on vinyl one of the album’s highlights ‘Nighthawks’, with New York performance artist CHRISTEENE. Restricted to 1000 copies, it is available to pre-order now from www.softcell.co.uk
So fruitful also were the original *Happiness not included sessions that the CD version of the album, subtitled *Happiness now completed features ten brand new Marc Almond and Dave Ball tracks, plus unreleased mixes, remixes and single-only tracks. The new 78-minute set fits snugly into to the rear section of the original *Happiness not included CD book format, with no versions on the vinyl duplicated on the CD. Both formats also feature brand new sleeve designs.
The album also includes a newly re-recorded version of fan favourite Last Chance, with the addition of a full brass section, plus cover versions of Fad Gadget’s Back To Nature and X-Ray Spex’s The Day The World Turned Day Glo. Lead track First Hand Experience in Second Hand Love was originally recorded by Giorgio Moroder, a huge influence on Soft Cell.
Tracklisting for the CD is:
1. First Hand Experience In Second Hand Love
2. Jukebox Head
3. Quiet Rebellion
4. Strange Kinda Dance
5. The Day The World Turned Day-Glo (Full Version)
6. Vapourise (Edit)
7. You Kill Me
8. Last Chance (2002 Mix)
9. Murder Your Darlings
10. Night & The City (2023 Mix)
11. Gemini Lounge
12. Defiant
13. Back To Nature (Marc’s Mix)
14. *Happiness Not Included (Sax Mix)
15. Purple Zone (Original Soft Cell Version)
16. Nostalgia Machine (Radio Edit)
17. Bruises On All My Illusions (Radio Edit)
18. First Hand Experience In Second Hand Love (Radio Edit)
19. Nighthawks (with CHRISTEENE) (Chris & Cosey Remix)
*Happiness Not Included Deluxe CD
With 25 million sales, six UK top 10 singles and a BRIT Award to their name, Soft Cell are one of British music’s most visionary bands. They’ve cast a huge influence over music culture ever since, setting the synth-pop standard for Erasure and the Pet Shop Boys to follow, inspiring the industrial scene before it exploded in the ‘90s, being sampled on Rihanna’s smash ‘S.O.S.’ and laying the groundwork for the current alt-pop scene right up to Years & Years.
Now Soft Cell – legendary frontman Marc Almond and producer/instrumentalist Dave Ball – have returned with their fifth studio album ‘*Happiness Not Included’ via a new deal with BMG. It represents their first new album since they issued ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’ back in 2002.
One play of ‘*Happiness Not Included’ reveals all of the traits that fans first adored Soft Cell for: that distinctive and striking balance between light and shade, hope and despair, the personal and the universal. Highlights include the yearning, airy pop of ‘Purple Zone’ which contrasts its uplifting sonics with Almond’s darkly doomed lyrics, while ‘Light Sleepers’ drifts with a daydream elegance that neatly matches its subject matter. Elsewhere, ‘Bruises On My Illusions’ is bigger and more abrasive, its baroque-tinged synth energy elevated by theatrical vocal harmonies, while the pure grandeur of ‘New Eden’ closes with the album on a suitably cinematic note.
‘New Eden’ best encapsulates the album’s themes as Almond sings, “All those plans we made in the ‘60s… Seem naïve now we’ve grown older / Leaving we’re leaving looking for the New Eden.” Changing perceptions of the passing of time are a recurring theme throughout. At various points, Almond explores the disappointment of a future that never materialised, reflects on his experiences at The Factory, expresses disillusionment at the modern media landscape, and comes to accept that life isn’t eternal.
“In this album I wanted to look at us as a society: a place where we have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality and decency, food before the rights of animals, fanaticism before fairness and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others. But in the album there is also a belief that there is a utopia if we can peel back the layers and understand what really matters.” – Marc Almond
“Recorded remotely during a world pandemic. Science fiction stories for the 21st century.” – Dave Ball
In short: it’s remarkable that Soft Cell are now four decades deep into their career, and sound as relevant, contemporary and accomplished than ever before. Clearly Almond and Ball’s adventures, both together and apart, have only made them stronger.
The duo first shot to prominence when their singular take on ‘Tainted Love’ raced up charts all over the world, including a two-week run at #1 in the UK and a Top 10 position in the States. It sparked a stellar run of success which saw their first two albums, ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ and ‘The Art of Falling Apart’, plus the ‘Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing’ mini album all crash into the Top 10.
The impetus for making a new album started with the phenomenal “final” show at The O2 in London in 2018. Emerging to a rapturous reception at the sold-out 20,000 capacity arena, Soft Cell’s extensive set covered all of the hits and fan favourites: ‘Tainted Love’, ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’, ‘Torch’, ‘Memorabilia’ and many more. What they had planned to be the end instead became a brand new start.
As the duo started to work on new material, they enlisted the Grammy-winning Phillip Larsen as co-producer. Now in a reversal of all expected plans, Soft Cell have waved goodbye only to say hello once more. TRACKLISTING
1. Happy Happy
2. Polaroid
3. Bruises On My Illusions
4. Purple Zone
5. Heart Like Chernobyl
6. Light Sleepers
7. Happiness Not Included
8. Nostalgia Machine
9. Nighthawks
10. I’m Not a Friend of God
11. Tranquiliser
12. New Eden
SHIPPING
All our items are shipped on a tracked service unless otherwise specifically indicated.
Please note that shipping items to international destinations may be subject to import duties and other charges, sometimes depending on total order value. We have no control over any import charges levied, and these charges are specifically not included in our postage costs. Please check your country’s import policies if any any doubt, as we cannot be held responsible for any further charges made locally which are beyond our control.
DAMAGED OR MISSING ITEMS
If your item arrives with you damaged or incomplete, please let us know at shop@softcell.co.uk WITHIN 28 DAYS of receipt, including clear photos if your item(s) is/are damaged. We are unable to deal with any claims after this period, unless in exceptional circumstances, which will be dealt with on a case by case basis, and at at our own discretion. We have to raise an individual claim with Royal Mail for each items damaged by them, and once approved we will replace your item as well as pay for the return shipping back to you. For part orders requiring replacement, it it the buyer’s responsibility to return the items back to us to the address on your shipping label, and ensure these are sent on a tracked service to ensure safe receipt.
ORDER CANCELLATION POLICY
Please note that we can only accept cancellations up to 28 days after the date of the original order, and charge a fee of £5 per item for any order cancelled, which will be subtracted from your refund amount. This covers PayPal refund charges and our own administration costs. Any order that includes an immediate download as part of the sale unfortunately cannot be refunded at any point.
If you change your mind and wish to return your item(s) once received, please do so to our address on the shipping label within 28 days of receipt. You are responsible for the safe return of the item back to us in perfect sealed condition so plezse ensure you use a tracked service. We will refund your purchase(s) minus the cost of P&P and PayPal charges, plus our own admin costs of £5 per item.
Please only order from us if you accept these conditions and are absolutely sure you want to make the purchase. This does not affect your statutory rights. We appreciate your understanding.