Sometimes I feel I've got to *zzzt zzzt*
February 19, 2014 5:31 AM Subscribe
Marc Almond saw the original video of 13 FDDs and 1 HDD playing the song his band Soft Cell are most famous for, Tainted Love, and decided to add some vocals. This is the result!
If this is for real, then big props to Mr. Almond for being a good sport!
posted by King Sky Prawn at 5:38 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by King Sky Prawn at 5:38 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
He ought to be a good sport! The Soft Cell song is a cover of an original by Gloria Jones.
posted by edheil at 5:42 AM on February 19, 2014 [16 favorites]
posted by edheil at 5:42 AM on February 19, 2014 [16 favorites]
This is what the internet is for.
posted by gwint at 5:47 AM on February 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by gwint at 5:47 AM on February 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
Also worth a listen is Imelda May's cover of the original Gloria Jones version.
posted by Itaxpica at 5:59 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Itaxpica at 5:59 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
I like this. I like the Marilyn Manson cover of the Soft Cell video though the Soft Cell video sounds better while the Marilyn Manson video is, as usual, more visually appealing.
What I didn't know is that this song was from 1964 by Gloria Jones.
Such a great tune. "Shakes my tiny non-preview respectful fist at edheil".
posted by vapidave at 6:14 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
What I didn't know is that this song was from 1964 by Gloria Jones.
Such a great tune. "Shakes my tiny non-preview respectful fist at edheil".
posted by vapidave at 6:14 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Mark Almond is awesome, and he has been awesome for a while. Heart on Snow is pretty terrif.
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:24 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:24 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've said it here before but it bears repeating: Coil's version, released in 1985 with all proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust will change the way you think about the phrase "tainted love."
posted by googly at 6:26 AM on February 19, 2014 [15 favorites]
posted by googly at 6:26 AM on February 19, 2014 [15 favorites]
Marc Almond is glorious sometimes. Bittersweet is such glorious camp (to say nothing of his Like a Prayer cover)--I can't listen without thinking, this is a guy who has a good time.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:28 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:28 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Excellent stuff, thanks for posting!
(And here's one of my favourite versions ...)
posted by carter at 6:40 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
(And here's one of my favourite versions ...)
posted by carter at 6:40 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Not a lot of people know that Marc Almond actually invented the nut which bears his name. It's called the "Marc Nut". Unfortunately only one (prototype) "Marc Nut" exists, because he couldn't get funding to take them to market. But you know who also had only one nut? That squirrel thing from "Ice Ace". And aren't those of us in the Northern hemisphere all experiencing icy conditions right now, because we didn't listen to Al Gore about climate change? Yet if America had listened to (and voted for) Al Gore in 2000, we wouldn't have invaded Iraq and thrown so many insurgents into the hard cells of Guantanamo. In other words, we would have had a "Soft" Cell instead. Which is where Marc Almond was born! So, my point here is: I probably should stop doing acid.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:56 AM on February 19, 2014 [19 favorites]
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:56 AM on February 19, 2014 [19 favorites]
Or at least get more sleep. Being a new father can be physically and mentally taxing.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:01 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by filthy light thief at 7:01 AM on February 19, 2014
Yeah, and it's really cutting into my "acid-time".
posted by the quidnunc kid at 7:02 AM on February 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by the quidnunc kid at 7:02 AM on February 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
Kids are a trip, man!
posted by carter at 7:04 AM on February 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by carter at 7:04 AM on February 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
Do acid with the kid and turn acid-time into family time! Problem solved!
posted by aka burlap at 7:04 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by aka burlap at 7:04 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
And more on subject, the video is great. He does sound like he's having fun.
posted by aka burlap at 7:08 AM on February 19, 2014
posted by aka burlap at 7:08 AM on February 19, 2014
He does sound like he's having fun.
He sounded kinda flat to me. Gloria Jones never sounded flat.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:02 AM on February 19, 2014
He sounded kinda flat to me. Gloria Jones never sounded flat.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:02 AM on February 19, 2014
I've said it here before but it bears repeating: Coil's version, released in 1985 with all proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust will change the way you think about the phrase "tainted love."
I love Coil to death and back, but I feel their take on Tainted Love is entirely wrong. The menace is in the subtext of the original. You don't think for a second that the original writer wasn't thinking of the various meanings of the name itself? Of course they were. And so was Soft Cell.
Coil's version of Tainted Love is just like (to me) Marilyn Manson's take on Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by The Eurythmics. It takes all of the menace, the hinted at darkness and subtextual violence in the song, and just sorta.... puts it right out there.
It makes for a fairly pedestrian interpretation from a crowd of artists I expect better of.
posted by chimaera at 8:03 AM on February 19, 2014 [5 favorites]
I love Coil to death and back, but I feel their take on Tainted Love is entirely wrong. The menace is in the subtext of the original. You don't think for a second that the original writer wasn't thinking of the various meanings of the name itself? Of course they were. And so was Soft Cell.
Coil's version of Tainted Love is just like (to me) Marilyn Manson's take on Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by The Eurythmics. It takes all of the menace, the hinted at darkness and subtextual violence in the song, and just sorta.... puts it right out there.
It makes for a fairly pedestrian interpretation from a crowd of artists I expect better of.
posted by chimaera at 8:03 AM on February 19, 2014 [5 favorites]
The Soft Cell song is a cover of an original by Gloria Jones.
I didn't know this was a cover song. Listening to the original is stressing me out. I can't tell if the Gloria Jones original is superior or not, but my brain hates it. It wants to reject it like a bad transplant.
posted by mullacc at 9:10 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
I didn't know this was a cover song. Listening to the original is stressing me out. I can't tell if the Gloria Jones original is superior or not, but my brain hates it. It wants to reject it like a bad transplant.
posted by mullacc at 9:10 AM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
I didn't know this was a cover song. Listening to the original is stressing me out. I can't tell if the Gloria Jones original is superior or not, but my brain hates it. It wants to reject it like a bad transplant.
Getting hip to the Gloria Jones version about a decade ago has made me allergic to every '80s night ever since.
posted by mykescipark at 9:40 AM on February 19, 2014
Getting hip to the Gloria Jones version about a decade ago has made me allergic to every '80s night ever since.
posted by mykescipark at 9:40 AM on February 19, 2014
I saw the hard drive version a couple of days ago and was all "meh". But with the Soft Cell vocals it's really awesome, he really embraces the goofy swing of the sequencing. Tainted Love is second only to Warm Leatherette in being generous to club-kid covers.
The Coil version still gives me chills and makes me want to cry. Yeah it sounds a bit cheesy and unsubtle now, particularly those blat-blat stabs. But that song came out in 1985 back at the very beginning of the AIDS crisis when America was still seriously discussing quarantines and everyone was making jokes about how fags deserved to die. The scene Coil was in was certainly more gay friendly, but in '85 people were still in absolute shock as their friends started wasting away and dropping dead around them. Coil's song felt pretty profound and timely.
posted by Nelson at 9:46 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
The Coil version still gives me chills and makes me want to cry. Yeah it sounds a bit cheesy and unsubtle now, particularly those blat-blat stabs. But that song came out in 1985 back at the very beginning of the AIDS crisis when America was still seriously discussing quarantines and everyone was making jokes about how fags deserved to die. The scene Coil was in was certainly more gay friendly, but in '85 people were still in absolute shock as their friends started wasting away and dropping dead around them. Coil's song felt pretty profound and timely.
posted by Nelson at 9:46 AM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yeah -- I love the Coil version, and particularly the video. (In which Marc Almond makes a cameo!) It's sad we've lost both Jhonn Balance and Sleazy...
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:54 PM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:54 PM on February 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yet if America had listened to (and voted for) Al Gore in 2000...
We'd have had Joseph Lieberman as vice-president. Maybe something to consider there.
posted by metagnathous at 1:01 PM on February 19, 2014
We'd have had Joseph Lieberman as vice-president. Maybe something to consider there.
posted by metagnathous at 1:01 PM on February 19, 2014
What I didn't know is that this song was from 1964 by Gloria Jones
You people. Have generations of northern soul followers danced for naught?
Seriously, Almond and quite a few others in that whole 1980ties British synthpop/ could these people perhaps be gay scene were very much coming from that Northern Soul tradition, where working class lads and lassies in grim northern towns competed to get and import the most obscure soul records possible, of which that Gloria Jones track was actually one of the better known...
posted by MartinWisse at 1:27 PM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
You people. Have generations of northern soul followers danced for naught?
Seriously, Almond and quite a few others in that whole 1980ties British synthpop/ could these people perhaps be gay scene were very much coming from that Northern Soul tradition, where working class lads and lassies in grim northern towns competed to get and import the most obscure soul records possible, of which that Gloria Jones track was actually one of the better known...
posted by MartinWisse at 1:27 PM on February 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
I didn't know the Soft Cell version was a cover when it came out, but I'm not surprised, given that it's now generally paired with a Supremes cover. Almond's a good sport for playing along with this.
Almond's got a new album coming out called The Hanging Tree with John Harle (whom I know nothing about) that I'm quite interested in. I think it's already out in the UK; the Guardian's review made it sound fascinating.
posted by immlass at 2:04 PM on February 19, 2014
Almond's got a new album coming out called The Hanging Tree with John Harle (whom I know nothing about) that I'm quite interested in. I think it's already out in the UK; the Guardian's review made it sound fascinating.
posted by immlass at 2:04 PM on February 19, 2014
Yet if America had listened to (and voted for) Al Gore in 2000
The majority of us did.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:33 PM on February 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
The majority of us did.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:33 PM on February 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
>He sounded kinda flat to me
Yeah I guess. I haven't really listened to his stuff since the 80s, but at the time, in the right circumstances, when he cut loose, his voice could be absolutely stunning.
posted by carter at 4:34 PM on February 19, 2014
Yeah I guess. I haven't really listened to his stuff since the 80s, but at the time, in the right circumstances, when he cut loose, his voice could be absolutely stunning.
posted by carter at 4:34 PM on February 19, 2014
The majority of us did.
Yet Bush won ... Hmmm, fake election ... unqualified candidate ... disasterous consequences ... And I thought the Vote #1 quidnunc kid campaign was an original concept. Shit.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 12:06 AM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yet Bush won ... Hmmm, fake election ... unqualified candidate ... disasterous consequences ... And I thought the Vote #1 quidnunc kid campaign was an original concept. Shit.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 12:06 AM on February 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
So when the (non-voice-over) video showed up on my facebook feed, I went digging around on youtube and wikipedia, found the original, etc. And the music video for the Soft Cell version of the song that popped up near the top of my youtube search was this one... which seems to be the singer admonishing a lolita character (we're talking pre-pubescent) for, I guess, tempting him?! And there's a random Ancient Greek motif. To my somewhat surprise, I couldn't find any discussion of this video (on a basic search at least). Was there any sort of context at the time, or did they just put the video out there on its own? 'Cause on its own, it's more on the Humbert was an innocent victim side, though maybe ('cause it would make my brain hurt even more otherwise), maybe they thought they were doing ironic pedophilia and sexism (back before even ironic racism was cool - super hipster!)? It kind of ruined the version of Tainted Love that I have danced to in the past for me, though, and taints the fpp link for me as well. Fortunately, I had found the Gloria Jones version, which is a more than even replacement!
posted by eviemath at 5:50 AM on February 20, 2014
posted by eviemath at 5:50 AM on February 20, 2014
Wow that video is weird and creepy. I like how the black slave is the only one reacting to how fucked up it is.
posted by Nelson at 6:58 AM on February 20, 2014
posted by Nelson at 6:58 AM on February 20, 2014
Combining threads, I'll bet Jarvis Cocker would do a great cover of Tainted Love. (If he hasn't yet: internet, does this already exist?)
posted by eviemath at 9:30 AM on February 21, 2014
posted by eviemath at 9:30 AM on February 21, 2014
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posted by wenestvedt at 5:37 AM on February 19, 2014