Customer Reviews

Memorabilia: The Singles

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, so I have been listening to Marc Almond for nearly 16 years now and I have most of his LP's and singles. This CD has to be probably the worst out of the lot, but not for the singing- I actually liked the remix of Soul Inside (His vocals are much more distinct in this version)and Say Hello Wave Goodbye (sans the last note accidentally flatted).

What disappointed me so much was the fact that this CD skips over the 5 albums which I feel are the most important to his career. His 3 solo albums: Vermin In Ermine, Stories of Johnny, Mother Fist and her Five Daughters, and his two Mambas releases: Untitled and Torment and Toreros. I felt that having ignored these 5 albums put a big gap into the listeners understanding of where Marc has been and what he has been doing during the mid to late 80's.

If you like the first half of this CD I suggest you purchase the Soft Cell CD's are go from there; however, do not miss out on the 5 albums I listed above. If you only like the last half of the CD, skip the Soft Cell, and start with Vermin in Ermine and work cronologically. Trust me, it sounds NOTHING like Soft Cell, but at least you can hear where his original musings took him.

Regardless, it is a Marc Almond release, and although it has YET ANOTHER version of "Tainted Love" on it, it is a good jumping point for those who are not familiar with his solo releases.

It seems that most Marc Almond fans don't like this album very much, and I can understand that, but for me, Memorabilia: The Singles is perfect. The first half contains some of Soft Cell's best songs, and the second half of the album is Marc Almond's solo work. Many of the songs are remixes, but a casual fan won't care as they are very similar to the originals. Marc has a beautiful voice, definitely one of my favorites; unfortunately his lyrics are sometimes weak and he occasionally comes off as a bit too exuberant. Regardless, this is one of my favorite discs. Standout tracks include "Torch," "Tears Run Rings," and "Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart" (a duet with Gene Pitney). If you like "Tainted Love," you should give this a try!

This collection is anything but complete (where are all the tracks from his solo albums from 1984 to 1987???), there are not all the Soft Cell hits, and most of the tracks are remixed versions, so I would recommend to buy the original albums instead. "I Feel Love" is a bad track, and I can't understand why there is a 12" mix of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye '91"... I would have preferred "Stories Of Johnny", "Love Letter", "Tenderness Is A Weakness", "Melancholy Rose", "Black Heart" (from the brilliant Marc And The Mambas release "Torment And Toreros") and "Only The Moment". Waiting for a real Greatest Hits collection, I'm not very satisfied with this one, althought it contains many strong tracks like "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" with Gene Pitney and a very good remix of "Memorabilia" (much better than the original).

Growing up in England in the 80's and having bought all the 12" versions of these tracks, I was looking forward to obtaining a CD version. What a let down! They have remixed virtually all the tracks and Marc hasn't sung the remixes as well, much less fluent; only "Torch" seems to have escaped. I can't believe how bad this is; grim is the best word I can think of. I'm going to get my originals shipped over from England.

Tainted love kinda grows on ya, and every so often you just need to hear it again. So, if your vinyl copy is fading, or you don't want to play it on that old turntable, then it's good to have this. Oldies fans (I'm talking ancient oldies) will love Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart. It alone is worth buying the CD for! Gene Pitney belts out his vocals as if he was still making music like he did way back when!!

I'm surprised so many people don't like this album. I realize die-hard Almond fans consider the remixes heresy but I personally can't tell the difference. For casual fans, this is the place to find out what he is all about. Tainted Love is my least favorite song on here. I am in love with Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart (a duet with the wonderful Gene Pitney) and some of the other solo hits which are only available on this album. If you don't already own any Marc Almond albums this is the one to get!

The majority of the tracks are a tedious drag. I found myself praying for the songs to be over. The one notable exception is the remix of "Tainted Love" which was tastefully redone... My opinion is that Soft Cell is a synth-pop hack of a band. For a "greatest hits" compilation, it really stinks.

This is a pretty comprehensive look at the most famous part of Marc Almond's career, beginning with the raw new-wavy synth-pop of Soft Cell and ending with the "Turkish" rock-pop he did throughout his solo career. New remixes (1991) of "Tainted Love" and "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" are included.

I purchased this about 2 weeks ago, and it was a good album, but a few songs such as Down in the Subway, didn't really catch my attention, so, Thats my opinion, whats yours?

One big problem I find with this sort of package this that the compiler of the CD assumes that the singer of today is the same one from days of old. Obviousley, most people will associate Soft Cell with "Tainted Love", and not nessarily the artist that the singer of that song has grown to be. Marc Almond was good in Soft Cell, but brilliant in the solo spotlight. I guess maybe the record label hoped to attract new fans by this type of package, but I would have rather seen a Soft Cell Greatest Hits CD with new mixes, and a separate collection of Marc's solo stuff. But as it has been mentioned, that won't happen because of the varied labels he had been on, and all of Marc's true fans know that his best work was with Virgin. The new recordings of the Soft Cell songs were good, but not really nessecary. However the over-all song selection was okay. I guess my point is that Soft Cell was 1979-1984, and Marc's solo stuff was 1982 to now, and the two should be kept separate, I'm sure Marc would want it that way, if he had a choice.