Customer Reviews

Stardom Road

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Stardom Road" is a collection of covers chosen by the former Soft Cell frontman to tell his life story.It consists of his favourite songs by other people and is produced by Tris Penna: the album also features Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, Jools Holland and St Etienne's Sarah Cracknell, who duets with Almond on the Dusty Springfield song "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten".
This is a clever idea. Marc Almond has chosen a series of cover versions - with one exception - and they chronicle his story in sequence. What a story it is, too.
From his successful partnership with Dave Ball in Soft Cell, through to the famous duet with Gene Pitney, he has continued working right through to 2004. Following his motorbike accident, this album brings us to the here and now.
Sixties classic "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" is wonderfully evocative and features the vocals of Sarah Cracknell. Likewise, Al Stewart's "Bedsitter Images" is a perfect cover as it reminds you of Marc's very own Bedsit land.
This is a very moving and beautifully crafted album. Far from being cover after cover, karaoke style, there is a journey feel to the proceedings.
"Backstage I'm A Lonely" is a tribute to the late Gene Pitney and it really is a tear jerker as a result.
But it is far from maudlin as proven by the upbeat tale of surviving against the odds, "Happy Heart".
The new track "Redeem Me" sounds like a classic already. Marc has never sounded as chipper as he does here.
Kitsch, camp, melodramatic, yet full of heartfelt emotion.
This is a fantastic comeback.

I had been a Marc fan for some time, emphasis on the past tense because his output became so repetitively prodigious that somewhere circa Fantastic Star I threw in the towel. (I mean, who has that kind of room on their cd shelves? And just how many albums can you release with the word Star in the title?) I picked this up because I'm a huge Antony fan and love "Ballad of the Sad Young Men." M&A do a good job on it (although it's nowhere near as focused or ultimately arresting as Anita O'Day's read), but I was even more pleasantly surprised with the unexpected excellence of the rest of the disc. The covers are surprisingly sharp, often unexpected and exceedingly well-chosen (love the resurrection of the Barry Ryan and especially the Dana Gillespie - perhaps he's saving "Weren't Born a Man" for a b-side?). Best surprise? The one original damn near outshines the lot. Welcome back, Marc!

As a fan of Soft Cell, I've always viewed Almond's solo albums as hit or miss. He's dabbled in many musical styles, always with mixed results. Naturally, I approached the new album with caution, unsure if I should buy it or not. I'm glad I did. He returns to the sound he did so successfully on "The Stars We Are" and even updates it a bit here and there with the occasional synth or strange mixing effect. The album starts off strong with "I Have Lived" and even though he didn't write it, it seems poignantly personal after his motorcycle accident and subsequent recovery. In fact, most of the songs on the album cover themes that Almond has always been fond of which, strangely, makes it almost feel like an album of originals. There are only a couple of songs that I don't care for, like the plodding "London Boys" and "Backstage (I'm Lonely)". I really, REALLY want to hate "Kitsch" but it's so damn catchy I can almost forgive the over-produced, bombastic arrangement (complete with a bizarre "Also Sprach Zarathustra" ending). Almost. I suppose if you're going to do a song called "Kitsch" you might as well make it hammy. The album's single original, "Redeem Me (Beauty Will Redeem The World)" is a fantastic song and, even though Almond has sworn to only record covers, shows that he's still got great songwriting chops as well. His vocals are surprisingly in top form and I only noticed him going flat on maybe two notes over the course of the entire album. All in all a wonderful piece of work.

Yes! Britain! You have a bona fide genius on your hands named Marc Almond. All of his stuff should be 5 stars. What a song cycle this talented person has produced over the decades. And this new cd containing
covers of mostly 60's songs is another gem. One that a person will be returning to for a long time to come. Kudos Marc, for doing Happy Heart, Petula and Andy would be proud of you. The Ballad of All the Sad Young Men is out of this world with that backing vocal, psychologically profound. Let's face it the kid knows how to do duets...ie Gene Pitney, Jimmy Sommerville, Kelly (almost diamonds) Ali..etc. Then there's Dusty Springfield's I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten, need we say more. And were London Boys evermore bad and beautiful that in the Bowie cover? Take Me! Then there is Dream Lover Marc's salute to the great performance artist Bobby Darin, how super. Hyperbien! pardon my hillbilly French. One does not even need to Know who Charles Aznavour is to appreciate the opening cut. I can't believe I've written all this and still haven't touched on the masterpiece, Strangers in the Night. Buy the cd and find out for yourself. You'll be glad you did!

Almond sings off-key, but that is a longstanding trademark , and, oddly, creates a weird appeal regarding his singing style. The songs however are a combination of irritating and boring, with the notable exception of his duet with Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. Their mutual effort is a winner and, if unavailable on other discs, makes this disc worth having.