Post in an occasional series of reviews of top Remix Albums from the 80s and 90s.

Soft Cell is an English synthpop duo formed in London in 1977. They are best known for their hit single “Tainted Love,” which was a worldwide success in 1981 and is considered a classic of the synthpop genre. The group consisted of Marc Almond (vocals) and Dave Ball (keyboards).

Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing was released in June of 1982 as a stop gap whilst the band prepared their next album. It consisted of 6 tracks, mainly remixes and re-imagined versions of music from the band’s first album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, together with a cover of Judy Street’s 1966 track “What?”.

Recorded in a bit of a hurry due to contractual and legal issues with the bands American distributors, and whilst (by the band’s own admission) under heavy influence of MDMA, and featuring on a couple of tracks the band’s influencer and “supplier” Cindy Ecstasy.  

Despite being poorly received at the time (The Kentucky Enquirer gave the album 1 out of 5 stars), I believe it has stood the test of just as well as it’s earlier, more standard album.

The quality of the remixes and re-recordings are of a much better quality than the originals, particularly Sex Dwarf which turns into a raging hi-nrg romp, long before the term had been coined.