TS: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret v. His 'n' Hers

These are actually two of my favorite albums ever so I don't know why I haven't really put the two together at this point, but I put my MP3s from both on, mixed together, and it works very well. "Bedsitter" is particularly Pulp. Or Pulp is particularly "Bedsitter" since they came second. Whatever.

"i have my orinary wife, i have my ordinary life, i am so or-din-aa-reee!"

it's not possible to write these songs unless you like such people. unless you've got some idea why people live like that, or unless you live like that. jarvis has plenty of evidence, an is even critical of the impulse to escape drudgery cf. razzmatazz. plus almond never to my knwoledge had the slightness of imagery as "boxes of milk tray". too much an air of an enthusiastic, understanding yet short-of-the-point drama student. the sort who knows how to make sure the teacher knows he's been listening.

plus, surely, soft cell make the dryest music. no rhythm! it's impossible to dance to, there's no sloppiness, no looseness. which isn't a fault of the genre, there's the quiet wit in kraftwerk and allsorts.

jim, you should definitely download Non-Stop then. All of the songs mentioned thusfar and "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" are key.

What she said. *jangle*

Ally's spot on; I've thought similar for years. Distinct singers with lyrics actually worth paying attention to, a huge range of influences distilled into a particular approach and a sense of pure drama that is wondrous.

nf

I guess this is why I term Soft Cell the big city version of Jarvis's suburban ennui. Marc Almond is kind of coming off all Bret Easton Ellis, isn't he, "We are so bored with our sex dwarf and our slutty girlfriends, entertain me! I have a chip on my shoulder and I am jaded and now I will sit here in my bedroom because the club and my chauffer are so empty!" Jarvis is saying the same thing, but the end result is they all go and stare at a dead body that washed up on the side of the reservoir and make sarcastic comments about the slutty girlfriend who is dating big city Marc Almond, who only likes her lipstick anyway.

but, that's not really too much of an issue. almond's lyrics are lumbering, full of dull imagery, & smug.

I guess this is why I term Soft Cell the big city version of Jarvis's suburban ennui. Marc Almond is kind of coming off all Bret Easton Ellis, isn't he, "We are so bored with our sex dwarf and our slutty girlfriends, entertain me! I have a chip on my shoulder and I am jaded and now I will sit here in my bedroom because the club and my chauffer are so empty!"

maybe, but where almond has to say, "i've got a chip on my shoulder" jarvis would wear a chip on his shoulder.

Hey, you're mean.

Ned: You just like it cos I actually wrote "We are so bored with our sex dwarf!" How can anyone be bored with a sex dwarf? If I had one, I'd tell him to go get me a beer, and he'd be like, no, and I'd be like, shut up sex dwarf and get me a goddamned Red Stripe and he'd be all having to go do it.

but jarvis was discussing the chip on his shoulder for a full five minutes! almond reduced it to five words.

The other key in the comparison, aka my night of stating the obvious, is that neither singer is really a good looking man. Jarvis being closer to being good looking, but they both obviously were not the types of boys who got lots of action in their teenage years, so their obsession with life's sexual underbelly is clearly an awful lot of making up for not getting blow jobs.

"Say Hello Wave Goodbye" = the breakup speech that kicks off the protagonist of "Razzmattazz"'s depression.

We are so bored of our sex dwarf!

http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drd400/d463/d46342s8i0p.jpg

and the grid are excellent.

Good grief. If anything the thing I've gotten from him over the years is empathy and connection rather than superiority.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd900/d923/d92373o7k77.jpg