This Last Night in Sodom is a 1984 album released by electro-synth pop duo Soft Cell for Phonogram records. It was released about a month after its two members Marc Almond and David Ball announced their breakup in a letter to various music magazines, including Melody Maker and NME, in the UK. The album represents a shift in style from the delicate, erotic, dancefloor-friendly pop of their earlier records. The album contains a more eclectic mix of styles as well, from the Spanish-influenced “L’Esqualita” (inspired by the drag bar in New York City of the same name- the actual real name being “La Escuelita”) to the rockabilly-tinged “Down in the Subway”. The thematic elements of the songs are also noticeably darker, even for Soft Cell, and center around self-destruction and the breakdown of innocence. “Meet Murder My Angel”, according to Almond, is about the mind of a murderer before he slaughters his victim, while “Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed It Most)” centers on a girl who loses all self-esteem after being raped while intoxicated. The main single was “Soul Inside”, which reached number 18 in the UK charts in September 1983. The artwork was originally printed entirely in red and gold ink, down to the liner notes, lyrics, LP labels, and serial number. The album was largely a critical success, but ultimately received little commercial attention, and has since gone out of print. A remastered version with bonus tracks, which included a 12″ single mix of “Soul Inside”, a cover version of the theme from the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, and “Her Imagination”, cut during a session at the BBC, was also released, although this too has since stopped circulation and copies are quite rare.
She slips in and out of her dull imagination
That floats around the twilight of her tomb
Clutching her little treasures
That represent a happy moment
Displayed with sad affection in her room
But this life is a prison
And it hurts to hear the children laughing
While they live their pretty little dreams
And frozen all the while
Is a tearful bitter smile
Nothings really what it seems
Nothings really what it seems
Nothings really what it seems
Like a silver little fool
You were standing at the alter
In the tides by the candles
As they burn
Pressed against the mirror
Playing all your favourite film stars
Ready for the camera
That would never, never turn
Push aside the curtain
Of your tiny garret window
And glare out on the narrow little world
You were in your wedding dress
Great expectations more or less
Playing with your dolls like any ordinary
Little girl
Candle light
Candle bright
Won’t you light my way tonight
Candle light
Candle bright
Won’t you light my way tonight
Now it’s the futile bitter feelings
That clutch you in the middle
You were never really given a chance
And the spite that jabs your mind
Hides a heart thats really warm and kind
And the pulse that races with
Each other inquisitive glance
You were always the outsider
And they set you up a childhood
To be just another cuddly toy
And the whisper in the street
When the street corner gossips meet
The woman on the fourth floor
He was such a happy boy
The woman on the fourth floor
He was such a happy boy
The woman on the fourth floor
He was such a happy boy
The woman on the fourth floor
He was such a happy boy
Candle light
Candle bright
Won’t you light my way tonight
Candle light
Candle bright
Won’t you light my way tonight
Candle light
Candle bright
Won’t you light my way tonight
New Music United 