Strange Kinda Dance (single)
| Strange Kinda Dance | |
| single by Soft Cell | |
 | |
| Cover design by James McWilliam | |
| Released | 11 November 2022 |
| Recorded | Rick's Studio Dean Street Studios |
| Produced | Soft Cell Philip Larsen |
| Label | A Big Frock Rekord |
| Genre | synth-pop |
| Format | CD |
| Album | *Happiness Not Included |
| Previous | Purple Zone |
| Next | Nostalgia Machine |
Recording[edit | edit source]
“Strange Kinda Dance” was one of the earliest tracks recorded for *Happiness Not Included and was not included in the album, remaining unreleased.[2] Like with the rest songs of that period, music and vocals were recorded separately: Dave Ball composed it with Riccardo Mulhall at his (Rick's) studio, Marc Almond worked on vocals with Jonny Solway at Dean Street Studios.
Release[edit | edit source]
Strange Kinda Dance was announced on 23 September, as replacement of signed prints which were part of *Happiness Not Included pre-order bundles in Soft Cell's official web stores. The decision was made due to Dave Ball's back injury which resulted in him staying in hospital for months and thus not being able to sign prints.[1][3]
The single is limited and released under Soft Cell's own A Big Frock Rekord label. Its copies are numbered and they come with six bonus postcards.[1] CDs started shipping after 7th November.[4]
Track listing[edit | edit source]
Lyrics written by Marc Almond, music composed Dave Ball and Riccardo Mulhall.
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Strange Kinda Dance” | 6:00 | |||||||
Personnel[edit | edit source]
- Written-By (lyrics), vocals – Marc Almond
- Written-By (music) – David Ball, Ricardo Mulhall
- Production – Soft Cell, Philip Larsen
- Production (vocals) – Jonny Solway
- Mixing – Philip Larsen
- Mastering – Barry Grint
Artwork[edit | edit source]
Artworks of the single are in shades of grey, with bright red ‘Soft Cell’ logo. Front cover of the sleeve features an up close photo of defunct Soviet radar system Duga located in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on the back and CD itself – a heavily posterized and mirrored photo of the Mask of Sorrow monument from Magadan, Russia.[5] Photographers are unknown, design is credited to James McWilliam, original concept by Chris Smith.
Bonus postcards use artworks of first six *Happiness Not Included singles, including digital only ones: Heart Like Chernobyl, Bruises On All My Illusions, *Happiness Not Included, Purple Zone, Nostalgia Machine and Strange Kinda Dance itself.[4]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Last Chance (Christmas Mix) / Light Sleepers – another limited CD single by Soft Cell released shortly after
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Soft Cell: “Some of you have been asking about the signed prints due with bundle orders …”. 23 September 2022. (Facebook)
- ↑ Soft Cell: “We’ve created a special one track CD for those who were kind enough to pre-order all …”. 27 September 2022. (Facebook)
- ↑ Dave Ball: “We’re sorry to report that Dave Ball is currently receiving hospital treatment …”. 11 April 2022. (Facebook)
- ↑ Images for Soft Cell - *Happiness Not Included. (Discogs)
