#330/965 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY
September 1 1985
Marc Almond and the Willing Sinners
Stories of Johnny
Genre: Post-Punk New Wave
4.5 out of 5
Highlights:
Contempt
My Candle Burns
Love Little White Lies
This House Is Haunted
I just saw Marc Almond last year. Yes. Yes, I did. I didn’t want to. I mean, that’s not why I went to the concert. I went to Richard Blade 80s concert because Adam Ant was headlining and my wife loves the 80s and she wanted to see Blondie and Berlin and Howard Jones and, the concert was a hoot.
But, the second act, after Howard, was Soft Cell. And, to me, Marc looked like he was trying too hard. Like he had never left those “Tainted Love” glory days behind him.
Now I know. It was an act. He put on a costume. Because he is a theater geek, no doubt.
As each Marc Almond project rolls out I am, I must admit, touched with dread. Ugh. Not this guy again. And each time he manages to amaze.
This one is no different.
This time he’s presenting his music with deep undercurrents of menace. In fact, I would say that that seems to be the theme of a lot of Almond’s stuff. Menace and dread. But also something else. And therein he defines a direction that others were heading in: It’s as though the New Romantics of the new wave discos are reaching for the brass ring they’ve always wanted: schmaltz.
But that’s not bad here. In fact, it’s excellent. As Almond falls further out of the spotlight he gets more and more interesting and lacerating.
This was excellent.
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