soft cell “say hello, wave goodbye”

Great song with a great vocal, melodramatic, ironic and believable. Almond is one of those, like Alice Cooper for example that has a vinyl personality, he´s there. Charisma. I read an article a long time ago where the producer said they were still setting the compressor and Marc was doing just a run through and that was the take.

 

Oh, Torch is a wonderful song in both 7" and 12" versions, but what makes the 12" single so fine (IMO) is the 12" version of "Insecure Me", a wonderful song in its own right (and with oh so quotable lyrics) and with the 12" version (with the similar spoken sections) sitting so well along side "Torch". Just a great combo.

 

Wow no accounting for taste.

 

My fave Soft Cell 12":

 

Marc used to be a fixture outside the coffee shops of Camden

 

No doubt

 

One of the great things about this forum is that it prompts you to get out an album you haven't heard for a little while, so I'm half way through Non Stop Erotic Cabaret now. Takes me back to being a student in the early 80s when I first bought this album! Great storytelling, one of those albums where all the songs work together to build up a picture, culminating in the song we're discussing here.

 

I like a fool ignored this album when it first came out, many years later the constant “Non Stop”. see what I did? playback from my mate in his bedroom it got stuck in my head, and now anytime I hear that album it reminds me of being a spotty 14 year old, even though I didn’t appreciate the album at the time.
Happy days.

 

Great song, love the vocal.

 

Oh, I think it's an amazing song. Actually, Soft Cell are a band that, for me, made one good album - and their debut was it. I had no interest in what else they did, but everything on that debut is great - including the B sides of the era.

 

Second album is better. If you've never heard it.

 

Keychains and Snowstorms: The Soft Cell Story / 9CD+DVD box set | superdeluxeedition

One of the best box sets released by any artist of the last 10 years.

 

1st album had great singles, 2nd album was 100 times better.

 

never heard this version didn't even know it was by Soft Cell

only knew David Gray' s version on White Ladder
this 12" version is cool with the extended instrumental intro ,very strange record but it's got something - first Soft Cell tune heard that I like a bit

 

Third album is also excellent

As to the OP I love "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" one the best Soft Cell songs. Perfect in every way.

Soft Cell made some great pop records but also tackled a lot of very dark taboo subjects similar to late 80's Depeche Mode of whom Marc was a fan-

"I shouldn’t say this, but I always felt that when we went, we left a gap for a dark, gothic electro band, which Depeche Mode stepped really nicely into. And they went on to play stadiums and it should have been us, ha ha. But I do love Depeche Mode so, good for them."

 

Marc also released a lot of great records post Soft Cell

 

Always liked the song/vocal. I liked Marc's style. Youth from the first album was always my favorite. Love all their stuff, though rarely listen anymore. A lot of my favorite tracks of theirs are from the last album, This Last Night In Sodom. Side one was my jam back in 85 loved that Soul Inside EP too. Her Imagination and the ext. Numbers.

 

This is also one of my favorites by Soft Cell. I found this interesting short article on the song.

I first exposure to this song was during a performance by a male stripper. I assume the irony was intentional.

 

Still it inspired you to open thread about it?

It very well might be. Even though "Non Stop Erotic Cabaret" is also a fantastic album. With its seedy undertones and ominous artwork. For many young listeners this was an introduction to some very x-rated topics and themes, very hardcore in a way. "This Last Night.... In Sodom" is certainly worthwhile as well since it's an sometimes uncomfortable document of a band struggling with fame and slowly drifting apart but I guess I'm preferring the "Soul Inside" 12"!

Not sure why we are comparing Almond to Strummer or Rotten - why not go all the way and do Enrico Caruso? - but I think Marc is an absolutely terrific, highly dramatic singer. But how did you put it? "Personal taste"!

 

Marc is an interesting performer and definitely has the X factor. Personally I like this song and the the album it came from.
Gary

 

No, I agree, being overplayed doesn't make it crap.

But it ruins it for me.

If Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" comes on the radio I have to turn it off. It's a great song, but I can only stand hearing the Paul Anka cover these days.

 

I'm the same with Bohemian Rhapsody liked it once now tired of it. Still a great song though

 

Yeah, the singing is awful in spots, notably, the long drawn out word "fear" at the end of one phrase ("and not for me I fear"), which is just a bum note all the way.

Otherwise I enjoy the song a lot, and particularly the long version with the clarinet intro.

 

It's my #6 favourite track of all time and I've been listening to it since it first charted so, to put it mildly, our mileage varies on this one. SHWG is in exactly the same vocal style as “Tainted Love” so I've got to assume it's just the song that makes you rate the latter over the former.

 

What do people think of the new album? I can’t see a thread on it.