WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Danceteria is the name of the New York nightclub where Soft Cell‘s young Marc Almond and Dave Ball would party until the small hours after recording sessions for their 1981 debut LP Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

• Read on for reasons including Almond’s thoughts on the upcoming final album and its Madonna link

It’s also the magnificent title track for the duo’s last album completed before Ball’s death in October 2025.

Almond explains: ‘There can be no more recordings of Soft Cell without Dave, it would not be possible. The sad reality is that Dave Ball was half of Soft Cell, and live work aside, I can’t write Soft Cell songs without him.’

Madonna has a track with the same title on her upcoming Confessions II album and receives a namecheck in this fine Soft Cell floorfiller because Almond saw her 1st live performance there.

Almond remembers: ‘New York in the 1980s was a particularly creative place for me. It was a pivotal era in terms of changes in my personal life and changes in the city itself. New York shaped Soft Cell, as it opened up a whole new world of possibilities. It was dirty, dark and dangerous – a real Wild West – but it was also deeply inspiring and exciting. A lot of our original influences came from America anyway: New York punk, DEVO, Suicide, Lou Reed, disco and 1960s soul. But New York was like nowhere else on earth. There were 24-hour nightclubs, music, art and underground theatre. It offered a cornucopia of energy and edge, and the lyrics on Danceteria reflect that time of my life.’

During that time, Marc and Dave also met Andy Warhol a few times, the subject of Polaroid on Soft Cell’s 5th studio album, 2022’s Happiness Not Included.

Almond says: ‘Soft Cell have always had a strong connection with New York, and my Soft Cell lyrics often look at America through British eyes.’ 

Soft Cell are currently touring the US until 2 July with The Human League and Alison Moyet.

Almond says of the album out 25 September: ‘Danceteria is a love letter to New York in the early 80s.  The time we spent in New York – where we recorded our first 3 albums – shaped us both as artists and people. To celebrate this period is a fitting farewell to Dave Ball and the final Soft Cell studio album.’

We can’t wait to see Marc Almond and Soft Cell live soon and Danceteria, the single, is a fine taster for the album to come.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Soft Cell Tickets
• Have you seen Soft Cell or Marc Almond live before and what did you think of them? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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