Monday, January 14, 2019

The 1983 Listening Post - Marc and the Mambas - Torment and Toreros

Marc and the Mambas - Torment and Toreros

August 1983
Marc and the Mambas
Torment and Toreros
3.75
Highlights:
Catch a falling Star
A Million Manias
Is this a concept album? By a New Wave nightclub chanteuse? About…bullfighting? Or depression?
I…think so.
It’s a lot of Marc Almond. Did you know that Soft Cell’s Marc Almond had another band/project? Did you know that he has released 23 solo albums? Not 23 Soft Cell albums. 23 Marc ALMOND albums.
5 Soft Cell albums
2 Marc and the Mambas albums.
Plus live stuff.
Which means that somewhere out there are a bunch of Marc Album fanatics who know all the words to all of his music and attend his concerts and buy his music.
And that kind of blows my mind since I saw him at some 80s revival concert a couple months ago and he presented as an semi-talented and wholly uncharismatic musician.
My daughter walked in as I was listening to this to talk to me about someone she knows who is struggling with some disabilities. During the conversation she said, “Um…this is the perfect music to listen to while talking about ____”.
I agree.
Marc has a lot of issues and he’s exploring them in song and on album. It’s that self-indulgence that makes this album so difficult. It’s a rock cabaret memoir about someone we don’t have any reason to care about. It’s also a double album. So, I just listened to 88 minutes of this so you didn’t have to.
You’re welcome. (Full disclosure: I actually found myself alternately liking and hating this thing. I just might go back and give it another shot)

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