Marc Almond new album "Shadows And Reflections" 1960's orchestral style pop covers (09/29/2017)

MARC ALMOND - SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS
NEW ALBUM OF 1960'S ORCHESTRAL BAROQUE POP AND TORCH SONGS
CD, DOWNLOAD & VINYL RELEASED BY BMG 22/09/2017
'SHADOWS & REFLECTIONS' UK TOUR OCTOBER 2017
THIS IS THE FIRST ALBUM IN AN EXCLUSIVE 3 YEAR, 2 ALBUM DEAL WITH BMG. AN ALBUM OF ORIGINAL SONGS WILL FOLLOW IN 2019

"Almond continues to be the most multidimensional of artistes" - Mojo

'Shadows And Reflections' is the new album by Marc Almond released by BMG on 22 September 2017. It features sumptuous arrangements of iconic torch songs and 60's orchestral pop for which he is beloved, as well as two new original compositions. The album features songs written or recorded by artists such as Burt Bacharach, The Action, The Yardbirds, Bobby Darin, Julie Driscoll, Billy Fury and the Young Rascals.

'The Overture', 'Interval' and final pivotal track 'No One To Say Goodnight To' set and frame the album's mood - composed and orchestrated by long-time collaborator John Harle. "It's a sea of lush strings, lilting guitar, choral harmonies and full, panoramic sound. I wanted it to have the feel of a very late 1960s Italian cinema soundtrack" says Marc. "Everything stems from and returns back to that final track." The album thematically begins and ends in an apartment. "It's about this guy that's living in a luxury expansive glass apartment overlooking the city, filled with sculptures and beautiful things, an empty soulless shell, surrounded by absurd wealth. He is sitting alone and I imagine listening to this music, possibly the songs that make up this album. He's rich in the bank but the poorest person you know".

The album 'Shadows And Reflections' sees Marc delve into the mood music of "orchestral and baroque pop songs with orchestrated arrangements and productions typical of the songs of that time". The album includes covers of the Young Rascals (also made famous by David Cassidy) 'How Can I Be Sure', the gothic pop of The Herd 'From The Underworld ("Peter Frampton is such a brilliant early songwriter and I thought The Herd had such an intense inventiveness"), The Yardbirds 'Still Im Sad' ("I've come from listening to a lot of blues based rock from the 60's") and Julie Driscoll's 'I Know You Love Me Not' ("It is an incredible song that I have wanted to do for many years but only now found the context"). The title track 'Shadows And Reflections' is based on mod legends The Action's version, whilst also featured is Burt Bacharach's 'Blue On Blue' ("I sang this song with Burt at the London Palladium"), Bobby Darin's 'Not For Me' and the Johnny Mandel standard 'The Shadow Of Your Smile'.

"I particularly like the strangeness of many of those 60's records" says Marc, "the oddness about them, sometimes unsettling, out of the mould, that light psychedelia approach from the early Floyd records, Sgt Pepper and Soft Machine."

Marc Almond's deep affection for brilliantly arranged 1960s pop has been prevalent throughout his career and has served him well. His versions of 'Jacky', 'The Days Of Pearly Spencer', 'Tainted Love', 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart', and 'What!' have become much treasured recordings from an artist who can take an old song and bring it new life with impeccable style. A look at Marc's popular 60's Spotify playlists gives insight into the sounds and singers that he continues to be inspired by.

Marc has announced a new UK tour starting on 3 October at London's Royal Festival Hall, and across 18 dates, he will perform with a full orchestra playing songs from 'Shadows And Reflections' as well as other known and lesser known gems from the period.

2017 cements the 60th Birthday year for the singer who the Observer noted, "has never stood still" and comes after the great success of the Top 10 album 'Hits And Pieces', which was followed by a sold-out Spring tour including a triumphant show at London's Roundhouse.

Says Marc; "My audience may not be familiar with a lot of these songs so I had to bear that in mind. Whereas if you're an aficionado and you know how brilliant they are, you'll see I've not reinvented them an awful lot because I thought the arrangements are so good in the first place. These songs just need to be put out there again so people can hear them. Me singing them introduces them to a different audience and brings them out into the light."

Album Track listing
1. Overture
2. Shadows And Reflections
3. I'm Lost Without You
4. How Can I Be Sure
5. Something Bad On My Mind
6. Blue On Blue
7. I Know You Love Me Not
8. Interlude
9. From the Underworld
10. Still I'm Sad
11. Embers
12. Not For Me
13. All thoughts Of Time
14. The Shadow of Your Smile
15 No One To Say Good Night To


Marc Almond - News

 

Something of a callback to his early solo career. Unfortunately his voice is not in great shape these days, but hopefully they'll be able to coax the best out of him in the studio.

Any idea what the difference is between the deluxe and standard versions other than the colour of the cover? Seems to be the same tracklist and same number of discs ...

 

I love that he's covering the Julie Driscoll tune, "I Know You Love Me Not".

 

You can hear "How Can I Be Sure" on this BBC Radio 2 link at the 1:46 mark:

BBC Radio 2 - Ken Bruce, Trevor Nelson sits in

 

Marc Almond has always had good music taste. I remember being surprised that he liked Richard & Linda Thompson. He knows his stuff.

 

I hate to be negative, as I try not to be, however this could have been so much better.

 

Looking forward to hearing the album!

CD: Marc Almond - Shadows and Reflections

 

A living legend.
Great emotive singer.
A fantastic ear for melody.
Fabulous taste with his sixties homage by the looks of it.

 

This has gotten some scathing reviews on Amazon UK but I like the album.

The mix might be part of the negative reactions. There's sort of a disconnect between the vocals and the music with the vocals too much in the foreground not blending more with the music. I would've slapped a little reverb on the voice and mixed it a little lower. His singing is still great though. On my 3rd listen!

 

The problem is it's hard to best the originals. My favorite two MA albums are The Stars We Are & Tenement Symphony.

 

It's an interesting combo - Marc the cutting edge synth popper with a love for big 60's pop songs. His cover of "Somethings Gotten Hold Of My Heart" with Gene Pitney is one of the best things ever.

 

I'm (im)patiently awaiting the arrival of my LP from Marc's store!

 

My LP has arrived - I haven't listened yet as I want to clean it first, I went for the yellow vinyl with the signed print - thought I would treat myself!

Biggest disappointment - is the download card quality which varies track to track from 172kbps to 192kbps - most around the 179kbps mark. In this day and age that's pretty stingy, they should all be 320 in my opinion! On the plus side, the waveforms are promising - this album is in no way clipped or brickwalled which is very encouraging.

Looking forward to hearing the whole LP once I've cleaned it...

 

Pretty good take on sixties style.

 

His voice is not as good as it used to be, but it's still quite a good effort IMO. The radio used to batter us into unconsciousness with David Cassidy's version when I was kid, but it was a great vocal.
Marc's voice has lost the top and bottom extremes, but he still has the feel.
My favourites of his albums are Untitled, Torment, Vermine In Ermine, Violent Silence and Mother Fist. In those days his voice was astonishing.

 

Marc Almond & PJ Proby
Yesterday Has Gone > was a strange pairing, sorta father and son meet up at the bingo karaoke. Still have the cd single.

 

Yeah hes made some great albums.

 

New video from "Embers":

 

Couple should have been ice skating.
Marc's voice in fine fettle, but don't like the song. Also ..Marc looks a little Johnny Depp ala Dark Shadows in this.