The Eighties classic of despair and desperation returns as a new recording in a fancy limited edition.
Soft Cell’s version of Tainted Love turns forty this year, and if that doesn’t make you feel like a geriatric old fart, then you are probably too young to even be reading this. For the rest of us, the relentless march of time at least allows a smug sense of superiority – because what pop song of today can match the decadent appeal of this song? Soft Cell’s wallowing in the gutter and eager appreciation of sleaze and sin feels a million miles away from the shiny, happy, desperate not to offend stars of the current age.
Tainted Love is that rare thing – the cover version that becomes the iconic, definite edition of a song. There have been some fantastic and subversive renderings since, but the Soft Cell cover of the Gloria Jones classic is still the best.
To mark the anniversary, Soft Cell has recorded a new version of the song, produced by Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps and backed by acapella and instrumental versions – just the thing for you would-be mash-up artists and karaoke singers – alongside several remixes, and a 1983 duet between Marc Almond and Andi Sex Gang. It sits somewhere between a twelve-inch single and an album, priced rather towards the latter for the full seven-track version; the seven-inch contains the real meat of the matter (the new edition and the duet) for those disinterested in pointless variations that seem to miss the point, like this one:
Whether or not you think the 1981 original actually needs reworking is another matter. But here it is, on coloured vinyl with a gatefold sleeve and limited to three hundred copies.
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