Marc And The Mambas - 'Untitled' (1982)

Formed by Marc Almond (b. Peter Mark Sinclair Almond, 9 July 1957, Southport, Lancashire, England), Marc And The Mambas was a pseudonym that the singer employed for his more arcane and adventurous work. Weary of the restrictions that came with his pop star role in Soft Cell, the Mambas project enabled him to attempt more daring and original ideas without compromise. With the assistance of Annie Hogan, Almond completed Untitled in which he unveiled spirited revivals of material by artists such as Lou Reed and Jacques Brel. By 1983, Almond was plunging far deeper into the Marc And The Mambas project, despite the continued success of Soft Cell. This phase culminated in the release of a double album, Torment And Toreros. This was unquestionably Almond’s most extreme and personal recording, full of melodrama with a revealing glimpse into the singer’s darker side. When the album received a poor review in one music paper, Almond was so despondent and incensed that he announced his retirement. What that comment actually meant was the imminent dissolution of Marc And The Mambas and a final return to Soft Cell. When they, too, collapsed at the end of 1983, Almond embarked on a solo career, although his first post-Soft Cell recording, Vermin In Ermine was credited to Marc And The Willing Sinners and featured several musicians who had joined in the Mambas experiment.