Cruelty Without Beauty

This article is about the album. For the cosmetics company, see Beauty Without Cruelty. For the song by Arch Enemy, see Khaos Legions.

Cruelty Without Beauty
Studio album by
Soft Cell
Released8 October 2002
Recorded2002
GenreSynthpop
Length54:56
LabelCooking Vinyl
COOK CD245
Spin Art
SPART 116
ProducerDave Ball, Ingo Vauk
Soft Cell chronology
This Last Night in Sodom
(1984) 		Cruelty Without Beauty
(2002) 		The Bedsit Tapes
(2005)
Singles from Cruelty Without Beauty
  1. "Monoculture" b/w "Dancing Alone"
    Released: September 2002
  2. "The Night" b/w "Perversity"
    Released: January 2003
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Blender[1]
Robert Christgau(dud)[3]
Hot Press8.5/10[4]
NMEMixed[5]
Release Magazine[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Q[1]
Uncut[8]

Cruelty Without Beauty is the fourth[9] studio album by Soft Cell. The album was released on 8 October 2002. It is Soft Cell's first album since 1984's This Last Night in Sodom. An expanded and remastered re-issue of the album was released on 25 September 2020. It included new remixes by Dave Ball, 4 of which were released as a limited white vinyl 12-inch single. The album was also released on vinyl for the first time.[10]

Track listing

All songs written by Marc Almond and David Ball unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Darker Times" (Marc Almond, David Ball, Ingo Vauk)
  2. "Monoculture"
  3. "Le Grand Guignol"
  4. "The Night" (Bob Gaudio, Al Ruzicka)
  5. "Last Chance"
  6. "Together Alone"
  7. "Desperate"
  8. "Whatever It Takes"
  9. "All Out of Love"
  10. "Sensation Nation"
  11. "Caligula Syndrome"
  12. "On an Up"

Personnel

Soft Cell
  • Marc Almond – vocals, backing vocals, arrangement
  • Dave Ball – electronic instruments, additional backing vocals

with:

  • Dominic Glover – trumpet
  • Nicol D. Thomson – trombone
  • Mike Smith – saxophone
  • Chris Braide – backing vocals
Technical
  • Layout – Grace Van Detta
  • Engineer – Ingo Vauk
  • Assistant mix engineer – Haicong Guo
  • Mastering – Dave Blackman
  • Photography – Evelyn
  • Producer – Dave Ball, Ingo Vauk
  • Programming – Ingo Vauk
  • Additional help – Antti Uusimaki, Philip Bagenal

References

  1. ^ a b c "Reviews for Cruelty Without Beauty by Soft Cell". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. ^ "Cruelty Without Beauty – Soft Cell". AllMusic.
  3. ^ "CG: Soft Cell". Robert Christgau official website. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  4. ^ Hayden, Jackie (17 December 2002). "Cruelty Without Beauty". Hot Press. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  5. ^ Robinson, Peter (12 September 2005). "Soft Cell : Cruelty Without Beauty". NME. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  6. ^ Noheden, Kristoffer (1 October 2002). "Soft Cell: Cruelty Without Beauty". Release Magazine. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  7. ^ Brackett, Nathan; David Hoard, Christian (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album GuideThe New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 757. ISBN 9780743201698. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  8. ^ Dalton, Stephen (October 2002). "Soft Cell: Cruelty Without Beauty (Cooking Vinyl) ****". Uncut. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  9. ^ "Soft Cell working on new album 'destined to come out next year'".
  10. ^ "Cruelty Without Beauty – 2020 Expanded Reissue".


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