MARC ALMOND
ENCHANTED
SFE
Following the silver-selling The Stars We Are and its No.1 Gene Pitney duet Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Marc Almond was in bullish mood by 1990’s Enchanted. Indeed, he was so bullish that he regularly rowed with producer Bob Kraushaar, feeling his computerised working methods lost the soul of Almond’s yearning for strings. It was only a year later that Marc realised Kraushaar had brought a consistency to his charge’s showcasing his love of various cultures. Almond had regularly tackled flamenco since Soft Cell’s L’Esqualita, with Toreador In The Rain an addictive mix of melodrama and big hooks. Almond was an early westernised adopter of Bhangra on the thrilling Dear Diary, while The Sea Still Sings is a rare and intriguing excursion for the singer into Celtic folk.