Marc Almond
The Stars We Are

THE REVIEW

"The Stars We Are" a masterpiece of the '80s, perfect melodies, clean and linear, each song is a complete realization of the chosen genre for the track itself, the execution theme remains identical from the beginning to the end of each single piece.

It's an album with a direct impact, describing love, drama, poetry, sensuality, romance, passion, fantasy, and total charm. Marc's voice is transcendental, all the duets are impeccable and the orchestral instruments are to die for, the whole embodies a dream, a magic, it's a truly fantastic album.

Initially, Marc together with Dave Ball formed Soft Cell and albums to remember, later still aggregated with Dave formed another group, Marc & Mambas, which produced two albums, one of them being a double that was worthwhile but little appreciated, which forced them to dissolve, then supported by a new band, the Willing Sinners (later renamed "La Magia") he began a solo career of progressive maturity, the first big successes came, then headstrong actions, drugs, crises, scandalous lyrics, critiques and breakdowns, which burned him until he hit rock bottom with psychological masochism, but fortunately, since hope is the last to die, there came the almost unbelievable and amazing resurgence, the result? Sublime, memorable!

Unprecedented vocal and instrumental expressiveness and without such successions. "The Stars We Are" evocative, piano, trumpet, violins, percussion, and a voice that touches the sky -"These My Dreams Are Yours" duet with Victoria Wilson-Janes passionate, warm, complicit a double bass and organ that melt in your mouth like a sweet dark chocolate - "Bitter Sweet" a gust of lively violins that chirp like so many perky sparrows - "Only The Moment" a love poem written with notes and announced to the people at the top of one's voice "Your Kisses Burn" last duet with Nico (who will die in an accident) perhaps a foreseen destiny, sad, deep, painful, a plea for listening and forgiveness, an extraordinarily beautiful track - "The Frost Comes Tomorrow" with floral and very Hispanic rhythms in the background - "The Very Last Pearl" sunny, with hints of soft-jazz, the instruments gurgle playful games - "Tears Run Rings" the most complicite track of the whole album, a voice without comparison, powerful, enduring, a cathartic avalanche that sweeps away everything it encounters - "Somethings Gotten Hold Of My Heart" duet with Gene Pitney tearjerker, a poetic drama that demands a colossal romantic finale - "The Sensualist" warm, passionate, erotically sentimental - "She Took My Soul In Istanbul" duet with Suraya Ahmed, rhythms, cadences perfectly set in a populous, indeed, "Istanbul" - "Kept Boy" duet with Agnes Bernelle as if by magic we find ourselves at the closing of a wonderful fairy tale, because it is a fairy tale that has been spoken of, the magical story of daily life told on the stage of a living theater where Pinocchio becomes flesh and sometimes men, when necessary in predictable or not circumstances, become puppets of who knows who, the important thing is to know how to blend and control dreams with reality to be reasonably adults on the outside and still so much children on the inside.

Marc Almond has demonstrated an excellent caliber of skill and maturity, a careful performance difficult to find especially after a passage of total bewilderment and thus "hats off" for the will and the achievement, Marc I bow and offer my respects.