MARC ALMOND
TENEMENT SYMPHONY (2CD EXPANDED EDITION)

This remastered set has the actual Trevor Horn produced ‘Tenement Symphony’ sequence restored as was his original intention with the dramatic statement of the orchestral ‘Prelude’ as a precursor to the intoxicating energy of lead hit single, ‘Jacky’, as written by Jacques Brel.

‘Tenement Symphony’ was an attempt to make the definitive Almond album as masterminded by Warner Music UK’s Rob Dickins. The effect of the album was meant to be like looking through the windows of different rooms in a tenement building and hearing a bouquet of narrative songs about disparate characters residing therein. It saw the first post-breakup rekindling of the songwriting partnership with Soft Cell’s Dave Ball (with The Grid’s Richard Norris) on the three techno-torch tracks ‘Meet Me In My Dream’, ‘I’ve Never Seen Your Face’ and UK hit ‘My Hand Over My Heart’. It was an album that also featured three co-writes with Marc’s long-standing collaborator and arranger Billy McGee (Marc & The Mambas, The Willing Sinners) on the emotionally charged tracks ‘Vaudeville & Burlesque’, ‘Beautiful Brutal Thing’ and ‘Champagne’.

Complementing the 11 tracks of the original album on CD 1 are a collection of songs which were used as B-sides to the different formats of the album’s three hit singles, ‘Jacky’ (UK#17), ‘My Hand Over My Heart’ (UK#33) and ‘The Days Of Pearly Spencer’ (UK#4).

Many of these ‘B-sides evidence such stellar songwriting quality that they could have easily created a double album back in the day to showcase all the contemporaneous contributing talents of Trevor Horn, The Grid, John Coxon and Billy McGee. The specially expanded CD1 provides a glimpse into how such a release might actually have panned out.