No matter what he turned his hand to any track that involved Dave Ball had that signature sound that, judging by the many tributes being paid to him today, was as adored as it was influential.
I loved the stuff he did with Psychic TV in the Acid House era but, of course, it's Soft Cell where Dave Ball obsession began. Bear in mind the group started in 1977 when synths were still a relatively new thing that could cost as much as a house and you'll appreciate just how ground breaking they were, as their first EP Mutant Moments shows.
File under 'Uneasy Listening'.
Memorabilia sanded off some of the rougher edges but, blimey, it still sounds futuristic to me.
After making it bigger than...well...pretty much anyone in 1981 with their cover of Tainted Love the Cell spent much of the next three years confounding expectations with one brilliant but - for the majority of the record buying public - ever so slightly odd album after another. Take this little beauty from This Last Night In Sodom for instance. Punk goth synth pop anyone?
Amongst other things Dave then went on to form The Grid who helped the define the 90s dance scene with tracks like A Beat Called Love.
I could go on...and on...and on...but trust me, anything and everything that Dave Ball had a hand in is well worth a listen. My musical world would have been much poorer without him but apparently he'd just completed the final mix of a brand new Soft Cell album days before he passed away, so it's not quite time to 'wave goodbye' forever.
RIP Dave.
No comments:
Post a Comment