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LIMITED EDITION EXPANDED MIDNIGHT BLUE DOUBLE VINYL:
• The original album is replicated on the first record of this deluxe Midnight Blue 2xLP set and the second record evidences, in both the B-Sides and the selection of original album demos that it contains, a more acoustic intimacy that frames Almond’s superior song-writing craft in a counterpoint tradition of the deft and immediate story-telling thrust of the very best of European chanson.
• The album cover features its original sumptuous Pierre et Gilles artwork and the all new full-colour inner sleeves boast two further Pierre et Gilles images, supplied for the release with love from the artists themselves and whose special message of memoir is carried on the inner sleeves alongside a written appraisal of the album by official Marc Almond biographer, Jeremy Reed and all the song lyrics.
2CD/DVD VERSION:
• The cover of this special capacity wallet 3-disc edition features its original sumptuous Pierre et Gilles artwork and the all new full-colour 28 page booklet boasts two further Pierre et Gilles images. These were supplied by the artists themselves as well as a special message of memoir from them which is featured alongside a written introductory appraisal of the album by official Marc Almond biographer Jeremy Reed. The comprehensive booklet also includes the full album and B-sides lyrics and a transcription of the original 1990 Parlophone press kit interview with Marc Almond alongside a number of official Parlophone promotional photographs from the period.
• This release also has a third disc, a DVD containing the three promotional videos commissioned for the album. The first, ‘A Lover Spurned’, is directed by Pierre et Gilles and co-stars the glamorous Parisian transsexual icon Marie France and the other two, ‘The Desperate Hours’ and ‘Waifs And Strays’, were, interestingly, directed by John Maybury, the erstwhile understudy to Derek Jarman, who went on to direct his own feature film, “Love Is The Devil: Study For A Portrait Of Francis Bacon” in 1998.
Originally released in August 1990, Marc Almond’s opulent sixth studio album, “Enchanted”, is saturated in his signature poetic romanticism and contains some of his finest lyric writing in songs as various as the epic ‘Madame De La Luna’, ‘Death’s Diary’ and ‘Orpheus In Red Velvet.’ The album’s lush lead single, ‘A Lover Spurned’, is a classic Almond power ballad of unrequited love with an equally thrilling production by Stephen Hague, employing a melodramatically thunderous 48-piece orchestra.
The album, additional to its pronounced electronic pop production, is very much a journey through the world music influences that Marc was listening to at the time; he explains, “There are Indian bhangra influences on the track ‘Death’s Diary’, Middle Eastern influences on ‘Orpheus In Red Velvet’, Brazilian lambada on ‘Carnival of Life’, Celtic flavourings on ‘The Sea Still Sings’ and Latin drama on ‘A Lover Spurned’.”
We are delighted to re-instate “Enchanted” to Marc Almond’s lustrous back catalogue. It really is serious pop at its best, taking the listener chronologically on a journey from the alluring enticements of ‘Madame De La Luna’ with gold in her veins, to the underworld torments of ‘Orpheus In Red Velvet,’ with all the rich enjoyment of the celebratory myriad of virtues and vices that are sung about in between.
Tracklist
LIMITED EDITION EXPANDED MIDNIGHT BLUE DOUBLE VINYL:
ORIGINAL ALBUM
SIDE ONE
1. MADAME DE LA LUNA
2. WAIFS AND STRAYS
3. THE DESPERATE HOURS
4. TOREADOR IN THE RAIN
5. WIDOW WEEDS
SIDE TWO
1. A LOVER SPURNED
2. DEATH’S DIARY
3. THE SEA STILL SINGS
4. CARNIVAL OF LIFE
5. ORPHEUS IN RED VELVET
SIDE THREE
THE B-SIDES
1. EXOTICA ROSE
2. THE GAMBLER
3. OLD JACK’S CHARMS
4. THE LIBERTINE’S DREAMS
5. CITY OF NIGHTS
SIDE FOUR
THE DEMOS… PLUS
1. THE SEA STILL SINGS (DEMO)
2. MADAME DE LA LUNA (DEMO)
3. DEATH’S DIARY (DEMO)
4. TOREADOR IN THE RAIN (DEMO)
5. ORPHEUS IN RED VELVET (DEMO)
6. THE DESPERATE HOURS (ORCHESTRAL)
2CD/DVD EXPANDED EDITION:
DISC ONE:
ORIGINAL ALBUM &
BONUS B-SIDES
1. MADAME DE LA LUNA
2. WAIFS AND STRAYS
3. THE DESPERATE HOURS
4. TOREADOR IN THE RAIN
5. WIDOW WEEDS
6. A LOVER SPURNED
7. DEATH’S DIARY
8. THE SEA STILL SINGS
9. CARNIVAL OF LIFE
10. ORPHEUS IN RED VELVET
11. EXOTICA ROSE
12. THE GAMBLER
13. OLD JACK’S CHARM
14. THE LIBERTINE’S DREAM
15. CITY OF NIGHTS
16. THE DESPERATE HOURS (ORCHESTRAL VERSION)
DISC TWO:
DEMOS & REMIXES
1. A LOVER SPURNED (12” VERSION)
2. THE DESPERATE HOURS
(EXTENDED FLAMENCO MIX)
3. WAIFS AND STRAYS (GRID MIX)
4. A LOVER SPURNED (RADIO VERSION)
5. THE DESPERATE HOURS
(12” VOCAL REMIX)
6. WAIFS AND STRAYS (12” GRID MIX)
7. THE SEA STILL SINGS (DEMO)
8. MADAME DE LA LUNA (DEMO)
9. DEATH’S DIARY (DEMO)
10. TOREADOR IN THE RAIN (DEMO)
11. ORPHEUS IN RED VELVET (DEMO)
12. THE DESPERATE HOURS
(ALTERNATE MIX)
13. WAIFS AND STRAYS
(GRID TWILIGHT MIX)
14. THE DESPERATE HOURS
(12” DUB MIX)
DISC THREE:
PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS
DVD – NTSC – REGION 0 – FSK 0 – BBFC EXEMPT
1. A LOVER SPURNED
(DIR. PIERRE ET GILLES)
2. THE DESPERATE HOURS
(DIR. JOHN MAYBURY)
3. WAIFS AND STRAYS
(DIR. JOHN MAYBURY)