Ten Plagues – A Song Cycle

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.

Ten Plagues – A Song Cycle
Studio album by
Marc Almond
Released7 July 2014
RecordedDean Street Studios
GenreDark cabaret, Opera
Length56:17
LabelStrike Force Entertainment / Cherry Red Records
ProducerAusten Jux-Chandler
Marc Almond chronology
The Dancing Marquis
(2014)		 Ten Plagues – A Song Cycle
(2014)		 The Velvet Trail
(2015)

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
SourceRating
The Times[7]
Financial Times[8]
Louder Than War[9]
Mojo[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
  1. "Another Fringe First for the Traverse". traverse.co.uk. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. Caroline Sulivan (26 April 2013). "Marc Almond/Ten Plagues – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  3. Mark Fisher (18 July 2011). "Marc Almond: From bedsit to plague pit". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  4. Nick Curtis (22 April 2013). "Tainted life: as his new operatic show Ten Plagues opens, Marc Almond is still surprising". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  5. "Ten Plagues: A Song Cycle, (CD & DVD – SFE / Strike Force Entertainment #SFE 034D)". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  6. "MARC ALMOND TO RELEASE CD/DVD EDITION OF 'TEN PLAGUES'". thisisnotretro.com. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  7. Neil Gardner (5 July 2014). "Marc Almond: Ten Plagues – A Song Cycle". The Times. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  8. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney (4 July 2014). "Marc Almond: Ten Plagues – A Song Cycle". Financial Times. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  9. Paul Scott-Bates (20 July 2014). "Marc Almond: Ten Plagues – album review". Louder Than War. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  10. Sheppard, David. "Filter Albums". Mojo (September 2014): 93.
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