Memory Lane Dept. - my very own Soft Cell's "Non Stop Erotic Cabaret"

Webzines and (paper) magazines reviews are OK... nothing wrong in reading about a new disc or artist and gambling a deal on Amazon or at yr. local record-shop... but entering a shop or listening at the radio or at a friend place a song, ONLY a single song and being captured and hooked is MUCH more powerful stuff, don't you?

It happened - to yours truly and to virtually anyone - several times...

My memory goes to a (much) younger me, in London for the second time, ever... it was 1981... everything was brand new and shiny to me... my pilgrimage to the places of music... Manchester Square for EMI headquarters, Abbey Road studios, Denmark Street for those tiny, cool guitar shops, the place where Bert Jansch and John Renbourn recorded in mid '60s... Neal's Yard and Monthy Phyton's and organic whole-foods, near Covent Garden...Transatlantic records in Marylebone High Street, Collet's for folk discs, Ivor Mairant's and his superb vintage and luthier-made acoustic guitars... and Tottenham Court Road's hi-fi salons... Naim, Linn, Rogers... Quads!!! ... all was so shiny and intriguing and worthwhile... I had the same orgasm-like two weeks the year before, in eyes-wide-shut-mode;-)

... and girls... GIRLS, so "different" from my school classmates...

London really was a dream for a younger me, back in the early '80s... went there a dozen times, BUT never had those intense emotions, then...

One day, it was around Oxford Street, I entered a shop, t-shirts and sweaters, I guess and an handsome gal, the clerk, was at the counter, making order of garbled sweaters.

... some music was in the air...  electronic, yet with rhythm, and an high-pitched angel-like voice... weird, unheard melody, I was hooked... the folkie, young acoustic guitar player and lover, the Pentangle's fan... gone!

Almost immediately I asked the young lady about the title and artist/group... she looked at me like I was a guinea-pig in a laboratory, Columbus looking at the native in the new found land;-)

She whispered: "Soft Cell"... the song was "Tainted Love"... shortly after, while still chatting, you know: "Where do you come from?" and the like... another song come from the loudspakers in the shop... talking about "Sex Dwarfs" and related stuff...

Kapooow!!!

I was out again the crowdy, traffic jammed Oxford Street, but the chilly air and pale sun were different...

In a few minutes, I was in a record shop, to get my brand new copy of  "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret": I was  proud and happy...

It was 1981... in London, and my (young) D.N.A. changed.;-)

... I still cherish and listen to this record and love Marc Almond's voice...

... still luring disco dollies to a life of vice...