''*Happiness Not Included'' is the fifth studio album by British synth-pop duo

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their pla ...

, released on 6 May 2022 through BMG Rights Management. It is their first studio album in 20 years, following ''

Cruelty Without Beauty ''Cruelty Without Beauty'' is the fourth 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 releas ...

'' (2002). It was preceded by the release of the single "Bruises on All My Illusions" in 2021 as well as "Purple Zone" in 2022, the latter a collaboration with fellow British synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. In 2023 two companion albums were released to accompany the album. 'Happiness now completed' features additional tracks and remixes recorded during the album sessions & 'Happiness now extended' features extended versions of all the original album tracks.

Critical reception

On review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, ''*Happiness Not Included'' received a score of 78 out of 100 based on nine reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. Dave Simpson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it a "wryly hopeful record" with "some trademark electro bangers". Writing for ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'', Chris Todd summarised the "flavour" of the album as "one of world weariness peppered with salacious reflections of tales of past". Roisin O'Connor of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' remarked on the downbeat nature of the lyrics, writing that while Soft Cell "were hardly upbeat to begin with, ..this is downright miserable" although acknowledging that they "have good reason to be" and concluding that "it's not all hopeless – at least the music is good".

Track listing

Charts

References

2022 albums BMG Rights Management albums Soft Cell albums {{2020s-album-stub