In these days of “retro cool� it’s not unusual for any old band that cranked out at least one minor hit back in the ‘80s to get it back together in an attempt to cash in on former glories. It’s easy, you get at least one of the original members in, reinterpret your most popular works in the style of the minute - making sure to remove any semblance of what made it popular in the first place, of course - peddle your wares to a group of rather sad folk who are shit scared of searching out anything that could combine the words “new� and “music� within the one sentence and basically show the world what utterly sad tossers you really are. Right?

Well, not necessarily. Pleasingly, Soft Cell – Live in Milan is anything but sad. Only really known on our cloth-eared shores for their cover of the Northern soul classic Tainted Love, back in the early ‘80s golden days of synth pop the duo of Marc Almond and Dave Ball actually had a string of hits in the UK and through Europe with their catchy suburban industrial cabaret, before packing it in after three albums to pursue individual projects – Marc hanging out with Gene Pitney before going all Jacques Brel on our arses, and Dave getting all beated-up and new age with The Grid.

Reforming in 2001 to promote yet another compilation of their work, something clicked again between the two. They started writing once more and now Soft Cell is well and truly back. This show from an Italian nightclub early in 2002 sees them delivering a storming set of the old and the new - ostensibly to promote the at the time forthcoming new album Cruelty Without Beauty - and with all the original bleeps, blops and blurbles lovingly sequenced in all the right places – there are no crap attempts at being all hip (hop) and noughties on us from these guys – and no need for it when they still sound so damned good today.

Set opener, their debut single Memorabilia, is here sounding just like it did on treasured vinyl single – and it’s curiously timeless. Its relentless thud-driven industrial pop leads straight into brand new single Monoculture, and it’s hard to fathom that there’s been 20 years between the two. Top heavy with newer and more obscure tracks, after a while the set sees the classic singles starting to flow – Torch, Bedsitter, the utterly sublime Say Hello, Wave Goodbye – and, of course, Tainted Love in all its “BOOP! BOOP!� glory, in 12� form no less segued into the most creepily stripped back version of the Motown classic Where Did Our Love Go? that you’re ever likely to hear. After a couple of encores the controversial classic Sex Dwarf is wheeled out and almost 90 minutes of nihilism you can dance to is over, with the crowd left beseeching the duo for more.

It’s kind of strange though, there don’t seem to have been very many women there on the night…

With vision that hasn’t even turned one yet, you expect perfection – and that’s near enough to what’s delivered here – the only rather strange oversight being the lack of 16:9 enhancement for the 1.78:1 picture. With that gorgeous filmic look that video just can’t quite compete with, detail remains high no matter where the camera’s pointed, despite the manic lighting frenzy that’s going down all around. Colour is suitably nightclubby, dictated mostly by the splashes of varying shades from those lights mentioned just one sentence ago, and in all this comes up looking pretty darned spiffy.

Three mixes are on offer here, certain to please anybody – DTS 5.1, DD 5.1 and good old faithful Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. Now you know those types who proudly cruise up and down certain streets in their Commodores with the doors sucking in and out in time with the thundering “DOOF!� sounds thumping from their stereos of doom? Ha! Compared to the DTS and DD 5.1 tracks on offer here they’re more duff than doof –crank this awesome soundtrack up and save yourself the hassle of going to a nightclub. It’s really that good...

Extras-wise there is but a single interview, however at 21 minutes in duration it’s pleasingly chunky. It’s really quite amazing what Marc and Dave, cosily ensconced on a couch together, can impart about the history of Soft Cell in this tightly edited piece. From art college to musical hamburgers, despite being the only extra, it’s certainly a goodie.

In all this will be a revelation for fans, and a great disc that’s certainly one to collect, not reject. They may be wrinklier, but Soft Cell still know how to pop it up on a grand scale – eat your hearts out Pet Shop Boys, this is how it’s really done!