Soft Cell’s Dave Ball died last week.

I never much took to the band mainly because Marc Almond’s posturing annoyed me. But Ball was a different prospect. Like Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys he appeared to prefer staying in the background quietly playing his synths.

However, they had a significant run of hit singles spanning 1981 and 82, with a distinctive sound.

Here’s a Top of the Pops appearance from that second year.

Soft Cell:- Torch

David James (Dave) Ball: 3/5/1959 – 22/10/2025. So it goes.

In many ways a typical 60s song. It received a lot of airplay at the time but wasn’t a hit in the UK.

I think the reason may have been it’s a bit …. busy. They drive the song along but the strings are a tad overfussy. (That factor didn’t stop Barry Ryan’s Eloise selling by the bucketful, however.) Or it may have been percieved to be striving too hard for significance.

Or was it because the chorus sounds as if it was sung with his fingers pinching his nose?

I believe, though, it had larger success abroad.

The song did of course become a UK hit much later (in 1992) for Marc Almond.

And, once again, who said promo films for pop songs only started when video came along? Yet another example to disprove the contention.

David McWilliams: Days Of Pearly Spencer