Marc Almond Heart On Snow, 2003 Г., Limited Edition

Marc Almond - Heart On Snow (2003) {XIII Bis Records 6403262}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 409 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 162 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 41 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 XIII Bis Records / Blue Star | 6403262
Pop / Chanson / Adult Alternative Pop / New Romantic / Alternative / Torch Songs / Vocal Pop

Defying expectations and throwing anyone for a loop who guessed what Marc Almond might do after Stranger Things, Heart on Snow is his Russian album. That is to say that some of the songs are traditional Russian folk music, some are inspired by Almond's somewhat existentialist views of Russian life and love, and others merely mention Russian life but come across like traditional Almond songs. Instruments mostly take a backseat to Almond's voice, which is in peak form, but each song has a firm foundation of a combination of upright bass, piano, accordion, violin, percussion, moody keyboards, and guitars.

Marc Almond - Varieté (2010) {2CD Cherry Red Limited Edition SFE004}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 515 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 212 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 17 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Cherry Red Records / SFE / Marc Almond | SFE004
Pop / Adult Alternative Pop / New Romantic / Alternative / Torch Songs / Vocal Pop

Limited deluxe two CD digipak edition including a bonus CD containing acoustic versions of seven of the album's tracks. 2010 release from the British Pop vocalist best known as one-half of Synth Pop duo Soft Cell. Almond's first studio album of original self-written material for 10 years. Variete is both a dramatic celebration in song of the thwarted glamour of the fag-end of the show business of yesteryear and a brave and revealing body of autobiographical songs.

Marc Almond is captured in a performance at the Lokerse Festival in Belgium on August 7, 2000, in this video. Accompanied only by guitarist Neal X and keyboard player John Green, the singer begins with four consecutive songs from his most recent album at the time, Open All Night, before turning to his back catalog for such solo hits as "Tears Run Rings," "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," "A Lover Spurned," "Jacky," "My Hand over My Heart," "The Days of Pearly Spencer," "The Idol," and "Child Star," then filling his encores with his early Soft Cell hits "Tainted Love," "Bedsitter," and "Say Hello Wave Goodbye." The unadorned stage with only modest lighting and special effects (a small fan blows dry ice around), plus the small ensemble require Almond to exert himself before an audience that seems (from the few glimpses of it), attentive but not particularly enthusiastic, at least until the end. Beginning in a leather coat, the bleach-blond singer is soon down to a sparkly black shirt, unbuttoned to display his tattoos, as he gesticulates grandly and, gradually, the music takes on more of a hard disco sound that gets his listeners dancing more.

Living in a Fantasy is the last album to yield hits for Leo Sayer in America, closing out the terrific '70s run as the '80s began. A-ha/Bow Wow Wow/Squeeze producer Alan Tarney chooses to keep the production slick and sparse, the large mix of musicians who helped craft albums like Thunder In My Heart, Endless Flight, Here, World Radio, and others vanishes as the singer goes back to the pared-down format of his Just a Boy period. The big difference is that Sayer had gone beyond the singer/songwriter personality of those early recordings to having marquee value, as well as his own TV show.