Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle

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Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle
File:Marc almond ten plagues album cover artwork.jpg
Studio album by Marc Almond
Released 7 July 2014
Recorded Dean Street Studios
Genre Dark cabaret, Opera
Length 56:17
Label Strike Force Entertainment / Cherry Red Records
Producer Austen Jux-Chandler
Marc Almond chronology
The Dancing Marquis
(2014)The Dancing Marquis2014		 Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle
(2014)		 The Velvet Trail
(2015)The Velvet Trail2015

Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle is the nineteenth solo studio album by the British singer/songwriter Marc Almond. It was released by Strike Force Entertainment / Cherry Red Records on 7 July 2014.

Background

Ten Plagues is a 2014 studio recording of the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award winning stage production of the same name.[1] The production was performed again at Wilton's Music Hall in 2013 and was well reviewed.[2]

The production is a song cycle duet for voice and piano and was written by Mark Ravenhill with music by Conor Mitchell. Almond wanted to work with Ravenhill after he saw the latter's Mother Clap's Molly House production, so he approached Ravenhill who wrote the Ten Plagues libretto in response.[3]

Ten Plagues is about the Great Plague of London of 1665 on one level but also acts as a metaphor for "the hysteria with which the public habitually greets all threats of mass infection, from swine flu to SARS" and alludes to the "first onrush of AIDS".[4]

The CD was released as a double digipak and came with a DVD of the live stage show filmed at Wilton’s Music Hall.[5][6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
The Times 4/5 stars[7]
Financial Times 2/5 stars[8]
Louder Than War 9/10 stars[9]
Mojo 3/5 stars[10]


The studio recording was not as well reviewed as the live show and divided critics. The Financial Times review by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney finds the libretto "routine" and calls the piano score "atonal", summarising that "the results fall flat".[8] Neil Gardner of The Times liked it better, naming it "grimly fascinating" calling the piano score "barreling", whilst "versatile" Almond's vocals are "soaring".[7] David Sheppard writes in the Mojo review that "Almond tackles often tricky, convoluted melodies with great gusto" but closes by stating that accompanying live DVD "makes more sense".[10]

Track listing

Libretto by Mark Ravenhill, music by Conor Mitchell.

  1. "Spring" -1:44
  2. "A Comet" -2:41
  3. "Without a Word" -4:50
  4. "To Dream" -2:55
  5. "Market" -1:59
  6. "The Pit" -3:44
  7. "Farewell" -3:00
  8. "By Day" -2:36
  9. "A New Law" -1:52
  10. "Seeing You" -5:34
  11. "The Wig" -4:32
  12. "The Hermit" -3:22
  13. "Grief" -4:05
  14. "Quacker" -2:57
  15. "Return" -5:48
  16. "Ten Plagues / Epilogue" -4:38

Personnel

References

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  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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