Torment & Toreros (Bonus CD) [Import]

Marc Almond, Marc & the Mambas, Marc Almond & the Manbas, Marc | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 11, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: 101 DISTRIBUTION
• ASIN: B001HQ6ZLE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,995 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Intro

2. Boss Cat

3. The Bulls

4. Catch a Fallen Star

5. The Animal In You

6. In My Room

7. First Time

8. (Your Love Is A) Lesion

9. My Former Self

Disc: 2

1. Once Was

2. The Untouchable One

3. Blood Wedding

4. Black Heart

5. Medley: Narcissus/Gloomy Sunday/Vision

6. Torment

7. A Million Manias

8. My Little Book of Sorrows

9. Beat out that Rhythm on a Drum

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered two CD reissue of this 1983 'solo' album from the singing half of Soft Cell. Torment & Toreros was the sophomore album from this side-project, eventually giving way to a full-fledged solo career. Produced by Flood, Torment & Toreros is an expansive, emotionally-charged cry for help by the reluctant Pop star, who is clearly dissatisfied with the trappings of fame and the creative straightjacket that Soft Cell had become. Lucky for Almond, Soft Cell split a year later and he has continued to pursue his own form of atmospheric cabaret for the next quarter century. 18 tracks. Some Bizarre. 2009.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember, little snakes..., November 14, 2002

By 

"m834" (Southern Claifornia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Torment & Toreros (Audio CD)

There is a lot of music in the world that might be considered "depressing". Pink Floyd's masterpiece, *The Wall*, immediately comes to mind, as do Joy Division's *Unknown Pleasures* and The Cure's forever haunting *Faith*. But even while it is true that those and other works can make almost anyone sad, I have to hold up *Torment & Toreros* (*T&T*) as the most profoundly depressing album I ever owned, a work capable of unmercifully wrenching tears from my eyes.

I remember that somewhere on the album cover was written something like, "Remember, little snakes, if you're going to wallow, wallow deep!" And wallow Marc does, and in a way that only he could.

Fans of Soft Cell and Marc's later solo efforts know that his voice is versatile, unique, and frequently beautiful. *T&T*, released in 1983, finds his voice at its theatrical limits, reaching depths and heights of poignancy untouched virtually anywhere else. Not that he crosses the line, but it may be discerned throughout the album that he is on the verge. This perfectly lends itself to the beautifully raw and pained feel of *T&T*, where the visceral meets the poetic on equal footing.

Musically, the songs are seasoned with a Spanish opera's sensibility (mostly in evidence in the first few songs) over a base of universal emotion. The musicians perform with theatrical flourish and energy in some places ("Boss Cat", "Million Manias"), while in others ("In My Room", "Black Heart") the music is more subdued to give Marc's voice the operating room to pull your heart out.

Lyrically, the depths of sadness, loss, grief and hurt are plumbed with an unmistakable sense of veracity...

"In my room
way at the end of the hall
I sit and stare at the wall
Thinking how lonesome I've grown
All alone
In my room...

"In my room
Where every night is the same
I play a dangerous game
I keep pretending she's late
And I sit
And I wait..."

Navigating a course between the Scylla of camp and the Charybdis of melodrama (though threatened by both on occasion), *T&T* is a masterpiece. It is a work dedicated to heartbreak at its most damning, burying itself in heartbreak's most despairing and bleakest moments like a long, ornate, theatrical dagger. Audiophiles who might otherwise eschew such "gothic" excess would do well to forego their prejudices here and buy this work, as it transcends pigeonholes to hover like a darkly beautiful but evilly cunning angel over the ruins of lost love.

If *T&T* has any weakness, it is, in my humble opinion, in the very last song, "Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum", which fails to accomplish what The Cure did with their song, "Fight". However, the weakness is negligible, and perhaps might even be necessary for some people, who might find themselves needing something, anything, to break the spell of desperate sadness cast by this recording.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars magnificent and dark, December 29, 2001

By 

roy avni (amsterdam, holland Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Torment & Toreros (Audio CD)

this album findse marc in his rebellious (heroin abuse )period
a dark and wonderful album that hasn't been touched up too much, you can almost feel that your in live performance in a dark and atmospheric venue ,a nice follow-up to the first album (untitled ) a perfect album for winter night,

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark in a fascinating way, December 30, 2002

By 

Carl Johnson "living the non-urban life" (Rensselaer, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Torment & Toreros (Audio CD)

I haven't heard the CD version so I can't speak to the quality of the remastering, but the LP is the finest dark work of music I've ever heard. Heartbreaking but never depressing, the music touches on torch songs and even some strange martial tones, especially the unsurpassable "Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum". His version of "If You Go Away" is the saddest song ever recorded. In a good way. I once had a Flexi-Pop disc (old magazine with a flexible 45 inside), before this album came out, and I heard Marc singing, "Oh baby, my hair's on end about you" -- from that day forward, I was in a desperate search for Marc and the Mambas (that song is actually on "Untitled").