Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire) is a popular English singer and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal Synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell.
He has also recorded albums with his band, Marc Almond and the Willing Sinners, and as a member of Marc and the Mambas alongside The The's Matt Johnson and Annie Hogan, with whom Almond would later collaborate on his later solo records.
On 22 May 2004 Marc Almond played an electro DJ set at the Custard Factory in Birmingham, England.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Marc_Almond (1205 words)
Collectors Corner Marc And The Mambas(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
Perhaps because the output from Marc And The Mambas was relatively small everything, almost without exception, released under the Mambas umbrella is now sought after by collectors.
In December 1982 Marc and the Mambas performed two concerts at the Dury Lane Theatre in London with a surprise guest appearance by Dave Ball to perform 'Say Hello Wave Goodbye'.
Marc was no longer signed with Some Bizarre by this point and unfortunately had no input into their release.
After disbanding Soft Cell, vocalist Marc Almond pursued a solo career that followed the same vaguely sleazy, electronic dance-pop his former group had made popular.
Before he properly started a solo career, Marc Almond formed Marc & the Mambas, a loose congregation that featured Matt Johnson of The The and Annie Hogan.
Torment & Toreros (1983), Marc & the Mambas' second album, explored this path in more detail than Untitled, only to an orchestral background.
Almond's strength was never his personality -- his voice tends to waver around the notes instead of hitting them -- it was the atmosphere he created with the synths and drum machines.
Before he properly started a solo career, Marc Almond formed Marc and the Mambas, a loose congregation that featured Matt Johnson of The The and Annie Hogan.
Torment and Toreros (1983), Marc and the Mambas' second album, explored this path in more detail than Untitled, only to an orchestral background.
Amazon.com: Jacques: Music: Marc Almond(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
Marc Almond is one of my favorite singers but I'm not that crazy about his songwriting.
For all others who have heard Torment and Toreros, from his Mamba days or Absinthe- the French album released around 1994, this CD is a gold mine of covers.
Two tracks: If You Go Away, and The Bulls are remakes of earlier versions he sang on Marc and Mambas "Untitled" and Marc and Mambas "Torment and Toreros".
Made While Soft Cell was still a going concern, Almond assembled various associates to be the Mambas on his first two solo albums.
With regard to the latter, the album omits anything from Vermin in Ermine, Stories of Johnny and Mother Fist (not to mention his two prior Marc and the Mambas albums), focusing instead on more accessible material.
In what has to be seen as a belated admission of their original inadequacy, Almond offered to lay down new vocals for three Soft Cell songs he felt ready to improve upon: "Memorabilia," "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" and (of course) "Tainted Love," which promptly shot back into the British Top 10.
Because I've just been heard a Marc and the Mambas track and was surprised how much I enjoyed it and after Soft Cell I sort of stopped listening to his output...so what else did I miss?
I'd recommend 'Stories Of Johnny' as a good place to start, along with the Marc & The Mambas 'untitled' album then maybe Mother Fist and Vermine In Ermine.
Funnily enough I looked back through my vinyl and found I did have a Marc Almond solo single I had forgotten about - a 12" of Jacky produced by Trevor Horn of all people and dynamite disco trance rock-out it is too.
Untouchable One by Marc & the Mambas: Reviews(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
Marc & the Mambas : Albums : Torment & Toreros : Untouchable One : Reviews
It isn't so much length as it is subject matter, though informed by his consistent bitterness with the industry as experienced via the soon-to-implode Soft Cell, the sheer self-loathing and unrestrained anger have never been paralleled by any of his other releases.
Matched by an expanded Mambas lineup, including a string quartet featuring...
Appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese 2003 CD reissue of Marc and The Mambas first, untitled, album.
This Japanese reissue of the first Marc and The Mambas album features Discipline as a bonus track, which was previously only available on a flexidisc 7".