RhoDeo 1736 Roots

Hello,

Today's artist was sometimes known as La Negra (literally: The Black One), was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout Latin America and many countries outside the region. She was born on Argentina's Independence Day. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción. She gave voice to songs written by many Latin American songwriters. Her music made people hail her as the "voice of the voiceless ones", and "the voice of America"....N'Joy

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Mercedes Sosa, the celebrated Argentinian folk singer and political activist, died aged 74. Sosa possessed a deep, alto voice and a strong sense of conviction, and had a warm, engaging personality. These qualities helped to make her one of the few Latin American musicians who could, over five decades, command a wide international audience. Described as "the voice of Latin America", she was revered as a commentator on the political and social turmoil that afflicted the region.

Born 9 July 1935 in San Miguel de Tucumán, the capital of one of Argentina's smallest provinces, to a working-class family of mixed French and Amerindian (Quechuan) ancestry, she began singing and folk dancing as a child. Aged 15, Sosa won a singing concert sponsored by a local radio station. The prize was a two-month contract to perform for the station, and this allowed her to turn professional.

Initially singing a wide variety of popular songs, Sosa gained a local reputation as a rising talent. After she married the musician Manuel Oscar Matus, the couple began looking to new developments in Latin American music. In the early 1960s, this led them to embrace the nueva canción (new song) movement, which unconsciously mirrored the US folk movement as Chile's Victor Jara and Cuba's Silvio Rodríguez reshaped Latin America's troubadour tradition to reflect the struggles under way across the South American continent.

Sosa and Matus chose nueva canción songs that suited her voice, such as Violeta Parra's Gracias a la Vida (Thanks to Life) and Horacio Guarany's Si Se Calla el Cantor (If the Singer Is Silenced), and her success helped to popularise the movement. Sosa's ability to convey a wide emotional range meant that listeners connected strongly with both songs and singer, and by the mid-1960s she was very popular in Argentina. Nicknamed "La Negra" because of her long, jet-black hair and Amerindian heritage, Sosa issued a series of albums, including Romance de la Muerte de Juan Lavalle (Ballad of the Death of Juan Lavalle) and Mujeres Argentinas (Argentinian Women), that established her as a distinctive artist. By the late 60s, she was drawing material from across the region (including Amerindian communities) and this made her a pan-Latin American star. When Sosa and Matus's marriage ended, Matus forged a respected solo career in Argentina.

In the early 70s Sosa acted in the film El Santo de la Espada (The Saint of the Sword), a biopic of the Argentinian independence hero José de San Martín. Sosa's popularity found her touring internationally, her leftist political sympathies – a 1972 album Hasta la Victoria (Until Victory) celebrated workers' struggles – making her especially welcome in the Soviet bloc. As a champion of the rights of the poor, Sosa became known as "the voice of the voiceless ones". These political leanings caused Sosa trouble when the Argentinian military, under Jorge Videla, staged a coup in March 1976. Initially, only some of Sosa's songs were censored, but as she became seen internationally as a voice of freedom, the harassment increased.

In early 1979, Sosa was performing in the Argentinian university city of La Plata when the military stopped the concert. Humiliating Sosa by searching her on stage, they then arrested her and 350 members of the audience. Sosa was detained for 18 hours until international pressure forced her release (she had to pay a large fine) but this event – alongside increasing numbers of death threats – forced her to flee to Europe, where she lived in Madrid and Paris.

Sosa found exile difficult and returned to Argentina in early 1982. The military junta remained in power, but Sosa's fame excluded her from punishment, and a series of concerts she gave at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, with guest appearances from celebrated Argentinian singers, found her truly welcomed home. A live recording of these concerts was issued after the junta fell. Sosa continued to tour (performing in the UK several times) and to record, her fame growing on an international scale – she shared stages or studios with artists including Luciano Pavarotti, Sting and Shakira. In a career spanning almost six decades, she released 70 albums. She won three Latin Grammy awards and received a huge number of honorary titles including the UN Voluntary Fund for Women (Unifem) prize from the United Nations, in recognition of her defence of women's rights. She remained politically active and vocally opposed Carlos Menem when he was Argentinian president.

"I didn't choose to sing for people," Sosa said in a recent interview on Argentinian television. "Life chose me to sing." Overweight for many years, Sosa had begun suffering serious health problems. She was admitted to hospital two weeks ago suffering from liver problems. Progressive kidney failure and cardiac arrest followed.

She is survived by her son, Fabián, he said: "She lived her 74 years to the fullest. She had done practically everything she wanted, she didn't have any type of barrier or any type of fear that limited her".[17] The hospital expressed its sympathies with her relations

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Mercedes Sosa
A Quien Doy (trans. To whom I give)

"Dedicated to all who walk around the World, and if with this record at any time I made them feel even a little closer to our Earth, I will have to feel more than satisfied."

Mercedes Sosa - A Quien Doy (flac  245mb)

01 A Quien Doy 4:04
02 Zamba Del Laurel 4:50
03 La Flor Azul 2:27
04 Cuando Me Acuerdo De Mi Pais 4:52
05 Los Mareados 437
06 Maturana 3:37
07 Canción De Las Simples Cosas 2:48
08 El Día Que Me Quieras 4:35
09 Santafesino De Veras 2:09
10 Mis Ganas 2:05
11 Pollerita Colorada - Carnavalito Del Duende 3:48

Mercedes Sosa - A Quien Doy   (ogg  92mb)

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"Gracias a la vida" (Spanish for "Thanks to life") is a song composed and first performed by Chilean musician Violeta Parra, one of the artists who set the basis for the movement known as Nueva Canción. It was released on Las Últimas Composiciones (1966), the last album Parra published before committing suicide in 1967. The song is one of Parra's most renowned and is performed throughout the world, and remains as one of the most covered Latin American songs in history. The song was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013
One of the artists most associated with "Gracias a la vida" is the Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. "Gracias a la vida" became something of a personal anthem for Sosa and was a constant in all of her performances up until her death.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me two beams of light, that when opened,
Can perfectly distinguish black from white
And in the sky above, her starry backdrop,
And from within the multitude The one that I love.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me an ear that, in all of its width
Records— night and day—crickets and canaries,
Hammers and turbines and bricks and storms,
And the tender voice of my beloved.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me sound and the alphabet.
With them the words that I think and declare:
"Mother," "Friend," "Brother" and the light shining.
The route of the soul from which comes love.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me the ability to walk with my tired feet.
With them I have traversed cities and puddles
Valleys and deserts, mountains and plains.
And your house, your street and your patio.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me a heart, that causes my frame to shudder,
When I see the fruit of the human brain,
When I see good so far from bad,
When I see within the clarity of your eyes...

Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
It gave me laughter and it gave me longing.
With them I distinguish happiness and pain—
The two materials from which my songs are formed,
And your song, as well, which is the same song.
And everyone's song, which is my very song.

Thanks to life
Thanks to life
Thanks to life
Thanks to life

"Todo Cambia", "Razon de Vivir", and "Gracias a la Vida". I don't speak Spanish but I looked up the lyrics on the web and then translated them through Google translator. She has a uniquely beautiful voice-a very pure, perfectly pitched alto. Moving, inspiring her heart comes through her music. Wonderful.

Mercedes Sosa - Gracias a la Vida   (flac  301mb)

01 Todo Cambia 4:43
02 Unicornio (Feat Charly Garcia) 4:32
03 La Maza 3:48
04 Canción Para Carito 3:16
05 Canción Y Huaino 2:44
06 Yo Vengo A Ofrecer Mi Corazón 6:07
07 Los Bailes De La Vida 4:44
08 María María 2:54
09 El Corazón Al Sur 3:34
10 Galopa Murrieta 3:33
11 Corazón De Estudiante 3:21
12 Como Pájaros En El Aire 3:24
13 Razón De Vivir 3:48
14 Venas Abiertas (Feat.Cuarteto Zupay) 3:19
15 Gracias A La Vida (Live) 4:49

Mercedes Sosa - Gracias a la Vida   (ogg  135mb )

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Mercedes Sosa is a living legend, she has a wonderful voice, full of passion and very strong. Hear her voice just once and you will fall in love. Try understand the lyrics.She selects only the best, the most beautiful, full of poetry, and discover the soul of South America. Her Spanish version of 'Fragile' at least equals Sting's original, "El Puente de los Suspiros", a great peruvian vals, and discover a great guitar player, Lucho Gonzales.

Mercedes Sosa - Gestos De Amor (flac  313mb)

01 Mon Amour 3:42
02 El Puente de los Suspiros 3:02
03 Como Dos Extraños 4:04
04 De Fiesta en Fiesta 2:28
05 Un Vestido y un Amor 4:26
06 Los Mareados 3:54
07 Fragilidad (Fragile) 3:58
08 Por un Solo Gesto de Amor 4:20
09 Caserón de Tejas 3:51
10 De Alguna Manera 3:20
11 Vuelbo Al Sur 3:38
12 Pescadores de Mi Rio 2:14
13 Serenatero de Bombos 3:46
14 Estas Alas Nuevas 3:08
15 Palabras Para Julia 3:58
16 Vidala de la Soledad 5:58

Mercedes Sosa - Gestos De Amor (ogg  130mb)

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Banality is not in Mercedes "La Negra" Sosa's dictionary. After experimenting and succeeding with other music styles, with this album La Negra goes back to her roots: Argentine folk music. I'm always amazed by her ability to choose songs. In her songbook there are no meaningless tunes. She chooses each one to express herself, and in what classy way!! This is not her best album but is very close to be it. If you know Spanish only if you were the Tin Man will not feel moved by "La Villerita" (by other Argentine folk giant: Horacio Guarany). It describes a teenager forced to prostitute herself to survive in a slum in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. I heard this song live and La Negra's emotions are for real, believe me. "Al Despertar" is another milestone in La Mecha's career

Mercedes Sosa - Al Despertar   (flac  317mb)

01 Vientos del Alma 3:03
02 Pueblero de Alla Ite 4:17
03 Como Urpilita Perdida 2:08
04 Desandando 3:24
05 Dejame que Me Vaya 2:52
06 La Villerita 4:35
07 Agitando Panuelos 3:40
08 Viejo Corazon 2:50
09 Del Tiempo de Me Ninez 2:14
10 Bajo el Sauce Solo 3:53
11 Suenero 3:25
12 Zamba Por Vos 3:31
13 Al Despertar 4:58
14 Luna de Cabotaje 4:30
15 Almas en el Viento 3:02
16 Indulto 3:34
17 La Belleza 2:34

Mercedes Sosa - Al Despertar   (ogg  128mb)

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RhoDeo 1736 Tales 12

Hello, at Monza Hamilton cruised to victory, Vettel managed the 3rd spot behind Bottas and before Ricciardo who saw a path opening for him after bad luck befell Verstappen once again after Massa slashed his backtyre far from the pits loosing him a minute, he managed to get back upto 10th. There's a definite (supernatural) pattern there.

On more serious news, Walter Becker has died age 67, he was half of 'that dildo band' Steely Dan, they made some great music in the 70's, and were revered for their jazz-tinged music and cynical lyrics. In a statement released shortly after the announcement of Becker’s death, his lifelong musical partner Donald Fagen wrote: “Walter Becker was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny.” According to Discogs their most wanted album is the one i offer up here... Steely Dan - Can’t Buy a Thrill  



Today's artist was an American author and screenwriter. He worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction. Widely known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953), and his science fiction and horror story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and I Sing the Body Electric (1969), our man was one of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century American writers. While most of his best known work is in speculative fiction, he also wrote in other genres, such as the coming-of-age novel Dandelion Wine (1957) or the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992).

Recipient of numerous awards, including a 2007 Pulitzer Citation, Bradbury also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, many of his works were adapted to comic book, television and film formats. On his death in 2012, The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream.... N'joy.

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The Ray Bradbury Theater is an anthology series that ran for two seasons on HBO, three episodes per season from 1985 to 1986, and four additional seasons on USA Network from 1988 to 1992. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel. All 65 episodes were written by Ray Bradbury and many were based on short stories or novels he had written, including "A Sound of Thunder", "Marionettes, Inc.", "Banshee", "The Playground", "Mars is Heaven", "Usher II", "The Jar", "The Long Rain", "The Veldt", "The Small Assassin", "The Pedestrian", "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl", "Here There Be Tygers", "The Toynbee Convector", and "Sun and Shadow".

Many of the episodes focused on only one of Bradbury's original works. However, Bradbury occasionally included elements from his other works. "Marionettes, Inc." featured Fantoccini, a character from "I Sing the Body Electric!". "Gotcha!" included an opening sequence taken from "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair". Characters were renamed, and elements added to the original works to expand the story to 23–28 minutes or to better suit the television medium.

Each episode would begin with a shot of Bradbury in his office, gazing over mementos of his life, which he states (in narrative) are used to spark ideas for stories. During the first season, Bradbury sometimes appeared on-screen in brief vignettes introducing the story. During the second season, Bradbury provided the opening narration with no specific embellishment concerning the episode. During the third season, a foreshortened version of the narration was used and Bradbury would add specific comments relevant to the episode presented. During the fourth and later seasons, a slightly shorter generic narration was used with no additional comments.

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The Ray Bradbury Theater 11 The Man Upstairs (avi  318mb)

Young boy investigates whether his loving grandmother's new strange lodger is a vampire.


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Here a series of Ray Bradbury stories specially dramatised for radio with introductions by the author.

Ray enthusiastically agreed and, joined by writer Catherine Czerkawska and director Hamish Wilson (who had collaborated on some Bradbury stories broadcast by BBC Scotland), we embarked on a series of 30-minute plays under the generic title Ray Bradbury's Tales of the Bizarre.

Ray Bradbury introduces his own spooky tale of confessions and confectionary dramatised by Catherine Czerkawska. Starring TP McKenna as the priest and John Yule as the young man. Director: Hamish Wilson

Ray Bradbury - 12 The Day it Rained Forever (mp3  26mb)

12 The Day it Rained Forever 28:45

The last remaining residents of a drought-stricken hotel receive salvation from an enigmatic source.



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previously

Ray Bradbury - Night Call, Collect (mp3  27mb)
Ray Bradbury - Have I Got a Chocolate Bar for You (mp3  24mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Jar (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - I Sing the Body Electric (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - Skeleton (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Man Upstairs (mp3  25mb)
Ray Bradbury - Jack in the Box (mp3  25mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Scythe (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Wind (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - And So Died Riabouchinska (mp3  26mb)

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Sundaze 1736

Hello, F1 qualifying in the rain caused a lot of waiting and in the end the Ferrari's found themselves in the bottom of the top 10 unable to get their raintyres to work properly. Hamilton took his 69th recordbraking pole in front of the Red Bulls but they got plenty of penalty points, more teams decided to take penalty points at Monza, so with his 20 penalty points for a new engine Verstappen still gets to start 14th ouch, hopefully he gets thru the first lap. In the Vuelta all is set for a Froome victory, however behind him the battle for the other two podium places is far from decided the whole top ten is within striking distance.



Today's Artists are a hypnotic chillgaze electronic outfit from Australia. Their music is atmospheric and spacey and if you ever find yourself longing for the era where trip-hop bands were dishing out beat-driven noir, then you may want to check out this Australian trio.....slow, cinematic, trip-hop....ambient textures derived from sources like Neu! and Eno, which gives their music a wide open feeling ....N'Joy

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All India Radio is the project by Martin Kennedy and Aidan Halloran, both ex-members of Pray TV, one of Australia´s most critically acclaimed indie bands. Pray TV released albums across the world beginning in the late 80´s with legendary Aussie labels Mr Spaceman and Au Go Go Records,  and were acclaimed by international media including Melody Maker, CMJ,Alternative Press, Puncture, Gavin & Rolling Stone and more.

All India Radio are a partially live band and partially studio-based project. The founding (and constant) member of the band is Martin Kennedy, they have released sixteen albums since 2000 and their music has been featured in film and TV including CSI: Miami, One Tree Hill, Sicko, Till Human Voices Wake Us, Big Brother Australia, Bondi Rescue and Recruits. Kennedy with All India Radio and Steve Kilbey provided the original soundtrack music for the Australian post-apocalypse film, The Rare Earth.

They were nominated for Australian recording industry award (ARIA) and have collaborated with Steve Kilbey, Graham Lee (The Triffids), Ed Kuepper (The Saints, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds guitarist) and David Bridie (Not Drowning Waving) among others.

WIRED magazine describe All India Radio perfectly: "Since the turn of the 21st century, All India Radio has mashed the ambient-hop signatures of DJ Shadow, Tortoise and Thievery Corporation with the instantly recognizable guitar soundtracking of Ennio Morricone and Angelo Badalamenti. The resulting narcotic musical textures are capable of floating listeners to galaxies far, far away."

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The acclaimed debut album from Australian downtempo instrumental band All India Radio. Spun by the late great John Peel who playlisted it on his show, the album also charted in the Belgium, Dutch and Polish Indie charts. 'The Inevitable' is a very beautiful album of ambient music, an album which could have been imagined by the German pioneers of ambient music. These two Australians, obviously influenced by Asia and the Indian ocean more than we are in Europe, have avoided all the typical traps of so called "immobile music". They do not just produce a showcase of beautiful sounds. Here one is submerged by the notes coming out of the drum machine. Noises pour out in a delirious dreamlike form, the way it feels when one is slightly feverish and everything sounds rushed and mangled. The sci-fi ambient themes of Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream can also be heard in the music and the world music themes are touched upon with a collection of lo-fi Indian street recordings upon which the album is based. These were recorded in India by Aiden Halloran.

All India Radio - The Inevitable  (flac 316mb)

01 Hotel Madras 4:40
02 Street Conversions 3:59
03 Losing Houston 3:25
04 Night Fevers 2:13
05 Bollywood Nights 4:18
06 Wake in Waco 4:38
07 Holy Cowboys 5:18
08 All India Radio 5:06
09 Radio Silence 3:02
10 The Final Frontier 5:58
11 Bombay Mafia 2:05
12 Departure Lounge Tea Break 5:50
13 All India Radio (Drivetime Remix) 4:41
14 Hotel Madras (Reprise) 3:04
15 Bollywood Nights (echo beach version) 3:50
16 Holy Cowboys (2002 version) 6:31

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A.I.R. Keeps things interesting because their abums are completely different... These all have their own unique feel. A.I.R  are versatile awesome dinner music, work music, or something to chill .. contemplate to.. . It is warm and friendly.. calming. It is always interesting and never boring. They always have a perfect sound scape!

All India Radio - 002 (flac  215mb)
 
01 By The Time I Get To Narita 3:59
02 Permanent Revolutions 4:40
03 Pacific High 0:28
04 You'll Never Go To Bollywood 4:07
05 Conspiracy Theories 2:50
06 Havana Waits 2:16
07 Highland Lowlife 3:30
08 How Many, For How Long 2:08
09 All The Way Down The West Coast 2:00
10 Border Crossings 2:33
11 Gringo Perdito 2:04
12 Wetbacks And Greenbacks 4:16
13 Surf On The Malecon 3:14

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Beginning with the chilled feedback ambience of "Home," All India Radio's self-titled album is a gentle masterpiece of instrumental rock, contrasting against the frenetic noise of their countrymen the Dirty Three and the aggressive shifts between loud/soft/loud of Mogwai with slow and steady guitar/electronics soundscapes that balance between feelings of the past and a sense of a vast yet melancholy future. Shifting between short transitional pieces and longer compositions, the overall feeling of the album is of being out in some near-empty desert in an eternal sunset glow, near dark but not quite there yet. It makes the song "Evening Star" all that much more appropriately titled, the steady drumming and softly rising keyboards and sense of distant space framing the lovely main guitar line. "Waukaringa," with its own guitar part disappearing and almost total silence before a sudden lush return by the full band, is its own example of suddenly beautiful change, as is the "Trincomalee" percussion loop of backwards beats and almost dub bass. The slow brushed drum and twangy guitar of "Tijuana Dream," not to mention the melancholy yet utterly beautiful and serene string synths later in the song, looks back to everyone from the Walkabouts and Chris Isaak to Lee Hazlewood but finds its closest contemporaries in the Paradise Motel, at once "modern" and a burnt-out dream of it, feeling like a conclusion to an epic film soundtrack. As for the shorter pieces, they often have a clear beauty of their own, like the soft piano parts and rising and falling feedback and drone flow of "Voodoo Instrumental."

All India Radio - All India Radio (flac 289mb)

01. Home 1:48
02. Tijuana Dream 6:08
03. Silent Surf 2:22
04. Untitled Beginning 0:38
05. Evening Star 5:20
06. Open Sky Experiment 3:44
07. Voodoo Instrumental 2:40
08. Moon Rise 1989 0:57
09. Waukaringa 4:33
10. Trincomalee 2:56
11. 10:58 5:40
12. Home II 1:50
Expansion
13. Untitled Demo 1 2:44
14. Tijuana Dream (Demo Version) 4:39
15. Waukaringa (Early Mix) 4:48
16. Untitled Demo 2 3:53
17. Evening Star (Last Port of Call Version) 2:33
18. Untitled Demo 3 1:21

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Australian ambient pop outfit All India Radio make a bid for wider recognition in the Northern Hemisphere with their fourth album, signing with the estimable Chicago-based indie Minty Fresh. That's the only noticeable change on Echo Other, however: otherwise, this is a whole lot more of the same, and that's a good thing. Sounding like a mellower version of Boards of Canada, All India Radio (basically, multi-instrumentalist Martin Kennedy plus occasional guests) specialize in the dreamiest kind of dream pop, all floating sustained keyboard chords and downtempo beats, accented with folky acoustic and twangy, Ennio Morricone-style electric guitars and, rarely, female vocals mixed well into the background. (Indeed, the vocals on this album are a good example of Phil Spector's famous dictum that some instruments should be felt but not heard.) The music is beautiful and organic with enough depth to keep coming back for multiple listening sessions...it’s a delicate and intriguing piece of work. (Expanded Edition here featuring 8 unreleased tracks and remixes)

All India Radio - Echo Other (flac 428mb)

01 Four Three (feat. Selena Cross) 4:02
02 The Quiet Ambient 4:18
03 Mexicola 5:25
04 Song in C 3:36
05 Sunshine Briefly 2:03
06 Tropic Of Unicorn 1:56
07 The Time 3:54
08 Elizabethland 1:33
09 Ghost Dirt 3:37
10 Whistle 3:51
11 Echo Other 5:32
12 Endless Highway 5:19
Expansion
13 Mexicola (MK early mix) (free) 5:21
14 Epic (unreleased) 4:08
15 Restless (unreleased) 2:26
16 Four Three (ambient mix) 1:57
17 Quiet Ambient (early mix) 4:35
18 Mexicola (demo) 4:19
19 Echo Other (MK early mix) (free) 3:23
20 Four Three (MK vocal early mix) 3:32

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RhoDeo 1735 Grooves

Hello,

She is known the world over by her first name and as the undisputed, reigning 'Queen Of Soul,' Aretha Franklin is peerless. This 2005 recipient of a Presidential Medal Of Freedom honor (the U.S.A.'s highest honor), 17 Grammy Awards (and counting), a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Grammy Living Legend Award. She has received countless international and national awards and accolades. Aretha has achieved global recognition on an unprecedented scale. She has influenced generations of singers from Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole and Mary J. Blige to 'American Idol' winner Fantasia Burrino and Oscar- winning Jennifer Hudson. Her ever-distinctive soulful, to-the-bone vocal style has graced the music charts for over four decades and while her 'live' performances have touched the hearts of literally millions since she began her musical journey as a gospel-singing child prodigy, it is her rich legacy of recordings that are a testament to the power, majesty and genius of this one-of-a-kind artist of the first order.   ........ N'joy

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Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942. A gifted singer and pianist, Franklin toured with her father's traveling revival show and later visited New York, where she signed with Columbia Records. Franklin went on to release several popular singles, many of which are now considered classics. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2008 she won her 18th Grammy Award, making her one of the most honored artists in Grammy history.

The fourth of five children, Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Baptist preacher Reverend Clarence La Vaughan "C. L." Franklin and Barbara Siggers Franklin, a gospel singer. Franklin's parents separated by the time she was six, and four years later her mother succumbed to a heart attack. Guided by C. L.'s preaching assignments, the family relocated to Detroit, Michigan. C. L. eventually landed at New Bethel Baptist Church, where he gained national renown as a preacher.

Aretha Franklin's musical gifts became apparent at an early age. Largely self-taught, she was regarded as a child prodigy. A gifted pianist with a powerful voice, Franklin got her start singing in front of her father's congregation. By the age of 14, she had recorded some of her earliest tracks at his church, which were released by a small label as the album Songs of Faith in 1956. She also performed with C. L.'s traveling revival show and, while on tour, befriended gospel greats such as Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Clara Ward.

But life on the road also exposed Franklin to adult behaviors, she gave birth to her first son, Clarence, shortly after she turned 14. A second child followed two years later both with unnamed fathers ! (Think of it what you will -, i know i do)  After a brief hiatus, Franklin returned to performing and followed heroes such as Cooke and Dinah Washington into pop and blues territory. In 1960, with her father's blessing, Franklin traveled to New York, where after being courted by several labels, including Motown and RCA, she signed with Columbia Records, who released the album Aretha in 1961.

Though two tracks from Aretha would make the R&B Top 10, a bigger success came that same year with the single "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," which crossed over to No. 37 on the pop charts. But while Franklin enjoyed moderate results with her recordings over the next few years, they failed to fully showcase her immense talent. In 1966, she and her new husband and manager, Ted White, decided a move was in order, and Franklin signed to Atlantic. Producer Jerry Wexler immediately shuttled Franklin to the studios at the Florence Alabama Musical Emporium.

Backed by the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section—which included session guitarists Eric Clapton and Duane Allman—Aretha recorded the single "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." In the midst of the recording sessions, White quarreled with a member of the band, and White and Franklin left abruptly. But as the single became a massive Top 10 hit, Franklin re-emerged in New York and was able to complete the partially recorded track, "Do Right Woman—Do Right Man."

Hitting her stride in 1967 and 1968, Franklin churned out a string of hit singles that would become enduring classics, showcasing Franklin's powerful voice and gospel roots in a pop framework. In 1967, the album I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) was released, and the first song on the album, "Respect"—an empowered cover of an Otis Redding track—reached No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts and won Aretha her first two Grammy Awards. She also had Top 10 hits with "Baby I Love You,'' "Think," "Chain of Fools,'' "I Say a Little Prayer," "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Franklin's chart dominance soon earned her the title "Queen of Soul," while at the same time she also became a symbol of black empowerment during the civil rights movement of the time. In 1968, Franklin was enlisted to perform at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during which she paid tribute to her father's fallen friend with a heartfelt rendition of "Precious Lord." Later that year, she was also selected to sing the national anthem to begin the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Amidst this newfound success, Franklin experienced upheaval in her personal life, and she and White divorced in 1969. But this did not slow Franklin's steady rise, and the new decade brought more hit singles, including "Don't Play That Song," "Spanish Harlem" and her cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Spurred by Mahalia Jackson's passing and a subsequent resurgence of interest in gospel music, Franklin returned to her musical origins for the 1972 album Amazing Grace, which sold more than 2 million copies and went on to become the best-selling gospel album at the time.

Franklin's success continued throughout the 1970s, as she branched out to work with producers such as Curtis Mayfield and Quincy Jones and expanded her repertoire to include rock and pop covers. Along the way, she took home eight consecutive Grammy Awards for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance, the last coming for her 1974 single "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing."

But by 1975, Franklin's sound was fading into the background with the onset of the disco craze, and an emerging set of young black singers, such as Chaka Khan and Donna Summer, began to eclipse Franklin's career. She did, however, find a brief respite from slumping sales with the 1976 soundtrack to the Warner Brothers film Sparkle—which topped the R&B charts and made the Top 20 in pop—as well as an invitation to perform at the 1977 presidential inauguration of Jimmy Carter. In 1978, she also remarried, to actor Glynn Turman.

A string of chart failures ended Franklin's relationship with Atlantic in 1979. The same year, her father was hospitalized after a burglary attempt in his home left him in a coma. As her popularity waned and her father's health declined, Franklin was also saddled with a massive bill from the IRS. However, a cameo in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers helped Franklin revive her flagging career. Performing "Think'' alongside comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd exposed her to a new generation of R&B lovers, and she soon signed to Arista Records.

Her new label released 1982's Jump To It, an album that enjoyed huge success on the R&B charts and earned Franklin a Grammy nomination. Two years later, she endured a divorce from Turman as well as the death of her father.

In 1985, Franklin returned to the top of the charts with a smash-hit album: the polished pop record Who's Zoomin' Who? Featuring the single "Freeway of Love," as well as a collaboration with the popular rock band the Eurythmics, the record became Aretha's biggest-selling album yet. Her follow-up, 1986's Aretha, also charted well and eventually went gold, and her duet with British singer George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),'' hit No. 1 on the pop charts.

In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Detroit. That same year, she released the album One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, which won the Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance.

Following another relatively quiet period in her career, in 1993, Franklin was invited to sing at the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and the following year she received both a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Kennedy Center Honors. She would also be the focus of multiple documentaries and tributes as the decade progressed. Nearing its conclusion, Franklin reprised her former role in Blues Brothers 2000, released the gold-selling "A Rose Is Still a Rose" and stood in for Luciano Pavarotti, who was too ill to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award, with her rendition of "Nessun Dorma" commanding stellar reviews.
So Damn Happy

In 2003, Franklin released her final studio album on Arista, So Damn Happy, and left the label to found Aretha Records. Two years later, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and became the second woman ever to be inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, she received her 18th Grammy Award for "Never Gonna Break My Faith"—a collaboration with Mary J. Blige—and was tapped to sing at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.  

With 18 Grammys under her belt, Franklin is one of the most honored artists in Grammy history, ranked among the likes of Alison Krauss, Adele and Beyoncé Knowles. In 2011, Franklin released her first album on her own label, A Woman Falling Out of Love. To support the project, she performed several concerts, including a two-night stint at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York. With fans and critics alike impressed with her performances, she successfully proved that the Queen of Soul still reigns supreme.

In 2014, Franklin underscored that point with Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which reached No. 13 on the pop charts and No. 3 R&B. In February 2017, the 74-year-old Queen of Soul told Detroit radio station WDIV Local 4 that she is collaborating with Stevie Wonder to release a new album to be recorded in Detroit and released in September. “I must tell you, I am retiring this year," she said in the interview, adding: "I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now. I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.”

"American history wells up when Aretha sings", president Obama explained his emotional response to her performance of "A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. "Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R&B, rock and roll--the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope".

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For much of the '90s, Aretha Franklin acted as if she couldn't even care about appealing to a younger audience. She rarely recorded, and when she did, it was usually slick adult contemporary material. That's what makes the fresh A Rose Is Still a Rose such a surprise. Although it certainly has its share of predictably glossy ballads fit for adult radio (usually produced by Narada Michael Walden or Michael Powell), the most notable element of the album is that Franklin collaborates with fresh talent, all of whom are either prominent rap figures or at least fluent in hip-hop. That's not to say that A Rose Is Still a Rose is a rap album -- it simply illustrates that the album sounds contemporary, which is the last thing most observers would have expected from Franklin in 1997. That in itself is heartening, but that doesn't necessarily mean everything works. Lauryn Hill's "A Rose Is Still a Rose" is a perfect match, lyrically and musically, but it only shows how shallow Puff Daddy's writing really is on "Never Leave You Again." Still, Dallas Austin's "I'll Dip," Jermaine Dupri's "Here We Go Again" and "Every Lil' Bit Hurts," and Daryl Simmons' "In the Morning" and "In Case You Forgot" all work, and Franklin's original "The Woman" is arguably her most soulful performance in years. Lauryn Hill, Puff Daddy and other hot hitmakers plied fresh beats and old-school samples to aim Aretha's R&B at young ears.as they find Franklin sounding vital.

Aretha Franklin -  A Rose Is Still A Rose    (flac  348mb)

01 A Rose Is Still A Rose 4:27
02 Never Leave You Again 4:36
03 In Case You Forgot 4:49
04 Here We Go Again 3:30
05 Every Lil' Bit Hurts 4:07
06 In The Morning 4:56
07 I'll Dip 4:06
08 How Many Times 4:21
09 Watch My Back 4:45
10 Love Pang 4:20
11 The Woman 7:41

Aretha Franklin -  A Rose Is Still A Rose  (ogg   116mb)

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During the five years that separated So Damn Happy from her previous album, A Rose Is Still a Rose, Aretha Franklin made the celebrity-gossip pages many more times than she earned airplay on the radio. Neatly side-stepping her problems with the law (including the mysterious circumstances that surrounded the fire at her home), Aretha's return to the studio illustrates that her power lies not in managing her career but in putting across any song that comes her way. Recording mostly in Detroit with a small group, she tempered the hip-hop inclinations of A Rose Is Still a Rose to deliver a refreshing (though admittedly sterilized) update of her '70s records. Various producers and songwriters -- including Troy Taylor, Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence, and Jam & Lewis -- give her backgrounds composed of earthy, acoustic-driven soul, similar to contemporary records by India.Arie or Jill Scott. Most of the songs, led by "The Only Thing Missin'," the title track, and "Holdin' On," are up to a high level, catchy and easy to understand (all the better to simply luxuriate in Aretha's powerful voice). Also, two mild concessions to the hip-hop world end up paying off: guest Mary J. Blige arranged the backing vocals for two songs, both of which reach a level not seen since the days of the Sweet Inspirations, while producer Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence delivered an organic arrangement for a song called "Wonderful" that evokes the glory days of '70s soul more than any other song here. Aretha shouldn't need to resort to overkill to proclaim her joy at making music; the songs on So Damn Happy are all the proof her fans need to understand that her talent remains undiminished nearly 50 years after her debut as a secular act.

Aretha Franklin - So Damn Happy    (flac 274mb)

01 The Only Thing Missin' 3:07
02 Wonderful 4:04
03 Holdin' On 4:36
04 No Matter What 4:32
05 Everybody's Somebody's Fool 4:35
06 So Damn Happy 4:28
07 You Are My Joy 2:33
08 Falling Out Of Love 4:30
09 Ain't No Way 4:36
10 Good News 4:53
11 You Are My Joy (Reprise) 2:33

Aretha Franklin - So Damn Happy  (ogg  105mb )

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Aretha Franklin's recordings for Atlantic in the late 1960s and early 1970s are universally acknowledged as her best, and this two-CD set draws exclusively from that era, spanning late 1966 to 1973. Aside from the B-sides "Pledging My Love/The Clock" and "Lean on Me," everything here is a demo, outtake, or alternate version -- a real hoard of largely previously unheard material from the prime of one of the greatest soul singers. Franklin and Atlantic did exercise sound judgment as to what to select for release, however. So these recordings, as valuable as they'll be for soul fans to hear, are neither on par with her best official work nor revelatory insofar as uncovering hidden gems or unsuspected stylistic detours. Still, what's here is characteristic Franklin soul, which is satisfying enough. Historically speaking, the most fascinating of these vault finds may be the three late-1966 demos that lead off the set, including early versions of "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Dr. Feelgood," although the rudimentary arrangements (just voice, piano, bass, and drums) illustrate how vital Jerry Wexler's production was to getting the most out of the material. Otherwise the tracks reflect the diversity of the songs Aretha was putting on her official Atlantic releases, encompassing covers of tunes penned by James Brown, her sister Carolyn Franklin, Motown, Van McCoy, Leonard Cohen, and Gene McDaniels, and even including a pass at "My Way" (as well as several items whose composers remain unknown). Stylistically the palette is broad, too, from wailing near-bluesy soul to near-pop, usually played with tight soul combos, but wrapping up with a solo piano demo of "Are You Leaving Me." The early-'70s recordings on the second disc don't have quite the energy and quality of the first, though they're still performances most artists would envy, taking in mild funk, earthy gospel, and a slight creeping slick pop influence. As for the track that seems most inexplicably passed over for release back in the day, that would be the bold, pounding McCoy-authored 1968 outtake "So Soon."

Aretha Franklin - Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul   (flac 313mb)

01 I Never Loved A Man Like You (Demo) 4:04
02 Dr. Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business (Demo) 4:43
03 Sweet Bitter Love (Demo) 5:12
04 It Was You 3:45
05 The Letter 3:38
06 So Soon 2:47
07 Mr. Big 2:41
08 Talk To Me, Talk To Me 3:29
09 The Fool On The Hill 3:31
10 Pledging My Love/The Clock 4:13
11 You're Taking Another Man's Place 3:30
12 You Keep Me Hangin' On 3:10
13 I'm Trying To Overcome 5:06
14 My Way 4:08
15 My Cup Runneth Over 3:22
16 You're All I Need To Get By (Take 1) 0:42
17 You're All I Need To Get By (Take 2) 3:37
18 Lean On Me 4:37

. Aretha Franklin - Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul  (ogg  154mb)

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Aretha Franklin - Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul 2   (flac 307mb)

01 Rock Steady 4:30
02 I Need A Strong Man (The To-To Song) 3:56
03 Heavenly Father 5:38
04 Sweetest Smile And The Funkiest Side 3:48
05 This Is 3:37
06 Tree Of Life 5:12
07 Do You Know 2:49
08 Can You Love Again 2:40
09 I Want To Be With You 6:02
10 Suzanne 5:13
11 That's The Way I Feel About Cha (Alternate Version) 5:45
12 Ain't But The One 6:08
13 The Happy Blues 2:29
14 At Last 3:25
15 Love Letters 4:03
16 I'm In Love (Alternate Vocal) 3:01
17 Are You Leaving Me (Demo) 4:23

. Aretha Franklin - Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul 2  (ogg  181mb)

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Clive Davis signed Aretha Franklin to Arista in 1980 and helped pull the queen of soul out of a commercial slump.  In 2014, Aretha and Davis reunited after 14 years for this all-covers affair. The latter once again rolled out the red carpet. Babyface and Antonio Dixon produced most of the songs, while the list of background vocalists and instrumentalists, including Cissy Houston, Tawatha Agee, Fonzi Thornton, and Greg Phillinganes, is bound to excite old heads. If there's one positive thing that can be said about the results, it's that Aretha sounds like she had a ball. The energy she put into these versions helps make up for the vocal shortcomings and audible use of Auto-Tune. She could have played it simple and straight, yet she clearly enjoyed the recording process, from melismatic accents to an abundance of personalized touches, such as the "raggedy hooptie" added to "Midnight Train to Georgia," and the "ham hocks and greens" thrown into a swinging André 3000-produced "Nothing Compares 2 U." Some of the creative moves are very questionable. Her take on Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" oddly incorporates "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," a Motown classic opposite in sentiment. Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" -- "Beat it! Get to steppin'! Keep it movin'! Get on down the road, all right?" -- involves a diversion into Destiny's Child's "Survivor" -- a better match when it comes to subject matter, but there's an awkward transition over incongruous booming bass and strings. High on star power and exuberance, this is an album nonetheless highlighted by a reggae makeover of Alicia Keys' "No One."

Aretha Franklin - Sings The Great Diva Classics   (flac 289mb)

01 At Last 3:53
02 Rolling In The Deep (The Aretha Version) 4:00
03 Midnight Train To Georgia 4:21
04 I Will Survive (The Aretha Version) 4:31
05 People 4:04
06 No One 4:01
07 I'm Every Woman/Respect 4:56
08 Teach Me Tonight 2:41
09 You Keep Me Hangin' On 4:41
10 Nothing Compares 2 U 4:17

. Aretha Franklin - Sings The Great Diva Classics  (ogg  97mb)

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RhoDeo 1735 Re-Ups 111

Hello, after having been exposed to weeks of commemoration of Lady Di's death 20 years ago today, i'm glad it's over now, the almost hysterical behavior of the UK public that never understood it was their previous behavior that caused the hunt on Diana and her ultimate death, their hunger for news and pictures that was fed by (immoral) paparazzi. Sadly nothing much has changed.


Some confused requests this week,  wrong page (Homosapien & 2 at a re-upped page), someone that wants 3 weeks of Richard Barbieri all at once, 2 too early requests (within 12 months) . Remain 10 correct requests this week, in short another batch of 39 re-ups.

These days i'm making an effort to re-up, it will satisfy a small number of people which means its likely the update will  expire relatively quickly again as its interest that keeps it live. Nevertheless here's your chance ... asks for re-up in the comments section at the page where the expired link resides, or it will be discarded by me. ....requests are satisfied on a first come first go basis. ...updates will be posted here remember to request from the page where the link died! To keep re-ups interesting to my regular visitors i will only re-up files that are at least 12 months old (the older the better as far as i am concerned), and please check the previous update request if it's less then a year old i won't re-up either.

Looka here , requests fulfilled up to August 31th.... N'Joy

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4x Grooves Back In Flac (Rotary Connection - Rotary Connection, Rotary Connection - Aladdin,  Rotary Connection - Songs, Rotary Connection - Hey Love)


3x LSD Sundaze Back in Flac (VA - Dr Alex Paterson's Voyage Into Paradise, VA - Elucidations, VA - Unity Dub's Voyage Into Paradise)


4x Sundaze-Inside Out Back In Flac (Brainwave Sync - Shamanic Consciousness, Koan - When Invisible Becomes Visible + Fulfilled Wish,  Koan - Two Moon Butterflies, Koan - When the Silence is Speaking)


2x Sundaze Back In Flac (Jansen & Barbieri - Stone to Flesh, Jansen & Takahashi - Pulse + Remix, Jansen, Barbieri and Takemura - Changing Hands)


3x Roots Back In Flac (The Rough Guide To The Music Of Madagascar, Oliver Mtukudzi -- Tuku Music, Mokoomba - Rising Tide )


4x Aetix Back In Flac (New Order - Substance 1, New Order - Substance 2,  New Order - Brotherhood, New Order - Brotherhood Bonus, New Order - Power Corruption and Lies, New Order - Movement)


4x Sundaze Back In Flac ( And So I Watch You From Afar ‎– This Is Our Machine And Nothing Can Stop It, And So I Watch You From Afar - Tonight the City Burns EP,  And So I Watch You From Afar - I, And So I Watch You From Afar - I Bonus)


5x Sundaze Back In Flac ( Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing, Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place, Ulrich Schnauss - Far away trains passing by, Ulrich Schnauss - Far away trains passing by Bonus, VA - The Blue Room )


3x Aetix Back In Flac (Sonic Youth - Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising , Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex + Kill Your.Idols)


6x Aetix Back In Flac ( B-Movie - Nowhere Girl,  Pylon - Gyrate Plus, Comsat Angels - Fiction, Comsat Angels - Land, Second Layer - World Of Rubber, still in ogg Youth and Ben Watkins - The Empty Quarter and Delerium)

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RhoDeo 1735 Aetix

Hello,


Today's artist pursued a solo career that followed the same vaguely sleazy, electronic dance-pop his former group had made popular. Almond's strength was never his personality, and his voice tends to waver around the notes instead of hitting them. Almond has steadfastly devoted his career to exploring the art of the song. As an interpreter, he has successfully taken on Jacques Brel (on Jacques), '60s obscurities (on the mini-album A Woman's Story), Brecht and Weill ("Surabaya Johnny" and "Pirate Jenny"). His original compositions draw inspiration from subjects as diverse (or not) as French sensualist Georges Bataille (Violent Silence) and Judy Garland ("Saint Judy" on Mother Fist). In addition, he has collaborated with Coil, Bronski Beat, Jim "Foetus" Thirlwell, Nico, Psychic TV, Sally Timms of the Mekons and Andi Sex Gang. One of the most uncommercial commercial artists in pop,. ........N'Joy

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Almond was born in Southport, Lancashire, the son of Sandra Mary Diesen and Peter John Sinclair Almond, a Second Lieutenant in the King's Liverpool Regiment. He was brought up nearby at his grandparents' house in Birkdale with his younger sister, Julia, and as a child suffered from bronchitis and asthma. When he was four, they left their grandparents' house and moved to Starbeck, North Yorkshire. Two years later they returned to Southport, and then moved to Horsforth, West Yorkshire.

At the age of 11, Almond attended Aireborough Grammar School near Leeds, West Yorkshire. He found solace in music, listening to British radio pioneer John Peel. The first album he purchased was the soundtrack of the stage musical Hair and the first single "Green Manalishi" by Fleetwood Mac. He later became a great fan of Marc Bolan and David Bowie and got a part-time job as a stable boy to fund his musical tastes. He gained two O-Levels in Art and English and was accepted onto a General Art and Design course at Southport College, specialising in Performance Art.

Almond applied to Leeds Polytechnic, where he was interviewed by Jeff Nuttall, also a performance artist, who accepted him on the strength of his performing skills. During his time at Art College, he did a series of performance theatre pieces: Zazou, Glamour in Squalor, Twilights and Lowlifes, as well as Andy Warhol inspired mini-movies.  He left Art College with a 2:1 honours degree. He later credited writer and artist Molly Parkin with discovering him. It was at Leeds Polytechnic that Almond met David Ball, a fellow student; they formed Soft Cell in 1977.

"Mutant Moments" came to the attention of music entrepreneur Stevo Pearce, who at the time was compiling a "futurist" chart for the music papers Record Mirror & Sounds which featured young, upcoming and experimental bands of the new wave of electronic sound. He signed the duo to his Some Bizzare label and they enjoyed a string of nine Top 40 hit singles and four Top 20 albums in the UK between 1981–84. They recorded three albums in New York with producer Mike Thorne: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing and The Art of Falling Apart. Almond became involved with the New York Underground Art Scene at this time with writer/DJ Anita Sarko, and performed at a number of Art events, as well as meeting many New York Art luminaries, including Andy Warhol.

In 1982, Almond formed Marc and the Mambas as an offshoot project from Soft Cell. Marc and the Mambas was a loose experimental collective that set the template for the artist that Almond would become. The Mambas at various times included Matt Johnson, Steve James Sherlock, Lee Jenkinson, Peter Ashworth, Jim Thirlwell and Anni Hogan, with whom Almond worked later in his solo career. Under the Mambas moniker, Almond recorded two albums, Untitled and the seminal double opus Torment and Toreros. He disbanded the collective when it started to feel too much like a regular band. Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of their fourth album, This Last Night in Sodom, though the duo reunited in 2001.

Almond's first proper solo album was Vermin in Ermine, released in 1984. Produced by Mike Hedges, it featured musicians from the Mambas outfit, Annie Hogan, Martin McCarrick and Billy McGee. This ensemble, known as The Willing Sinners, worked alongside Almond for the subsequent albums Stories of Johnny (1985) from which the title track became a minor hit, and Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters (1987), also produced by Mike Hedges. The latter album was highly acclaimed in reviews, with Ned Raggett writing that the 'Mother Fist' album "embraces classic European cabaret to wonderful effect, more so than any American or English rock album since Bowie's Aladdin Sane or Lou Reed's Berlin."

McCarrick left The Willing Sinners in 1987 to join Siouxsie and the Banshees, from which point Hogan and McGee became known as La Magia. Almond signed to EMI and released the album The Stars We Are in 1988  This album featured Almond's version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", which was later re-recorded as a duet with the song's original singer Gene Pitney and released as a single. The track reached No. 1 in the UK. It also reached number one in Germany and was a major hit in countries around the world. The Stars We Are became his biggest selling solo album in the USA, and the single "Tears Run Rings" became his only solo single to peak inside the US Billboard Hot 100.

Almond's other recordings in the 1980s included an album of Brel songs, called Jacques, and an album of dark French chansons originally performed by Juliette Greco, Serge Lama and Léo Ferré, as well as poems by Rimbaud and Baudelaire set to music. This album was released in 1993 as Absinthe, and was initially recorded in the late 1980s then finished in Paris in the early 1990s.

Almond's first release in the 1990s was the album Enchanted, which spawned the UK Top 30 hit "A Lover Spurned". A further single from the album, "Waifs and Strays", was remixed by Dave Ball who was now in the electronic dance band The Grid. In 1991, Soft Cell returned to the charts with a new remix of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" followed by a re-release of "Tainted Love" (with a new video). The singles were issued to promote a new Soft Cell/Marc Almond compilation album, Memorabilia - The Singles, which collected some of the biggest hits from Almond's career throughout the previous ten years. The album reached the UK Top 10.

Almond then signed to WEA and released a new solo album, Tenement Symphony. Produced partly by Trevor Horn, the album yielded three Top 40 hits including renditions of the Jacques Brel classic "Jacky" (which made the UK Top 20), and "The Days of Pearly Spencer" which returned Almond to the UK Top 5 in 1992. Later that year, Almond played a lavish one-off show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which featured an orchestra and dancers as he performed material from his entire career. The show was recorded and released as the CD and video 12 Years of Tears.

In 1993 Almond toured Russia (including Siberia) by invitation of the British consul in Moscow. Accompanied only by Martin Watkins on piano, he played small Soviet halls and theatres, often without amplification, and ended at the "mini Bolshoi" in Moscow. Transmitted live on television Almond made a plea for tolerance of gay people. The tour was fraught with troubles, which Almond detailed in his autobiography, but it marked the beginning of his love affair with the genre of Russian folk torch songs known as Romance.

Almond's next album Fantastic Star saw him part with WEA and sign to Mercury Records. Much of Fantastic Star was originally recorded in New York with Mike Thorne, but later after signing to Mercury, was reworked in London. Almond also recorded a session for the album with John Cale, David Johanson, and Chris Spedding; some made the final cut. Other songs were produced by Mike Hedges and Martyn Ware. Adding to the disjointed recording process was the fact that during recording Almond also spent several weeks attending a treatment centre in Canterbury for addiction to prescription drugs. However, on its release Fantastic Star gave Almond a hit single with Adored and Explored, and also minor hits and stage favorites such as The Idol and Child Star. Fantastic Star was Almond's last album with a major record label, and the period also marked the ending of his managerial relationship with Stevo Pearce.

Almond re-invented himself and signed to Echo records in 1998 with a more downbeat and atmospheric electronica album, Open All Night. This featured R&B and trip hop influences, as well as torch songs for which he had become known. The album featured a duet ("Threat of Love") with Siouxsie Sioux as well as one ("Almost Diamonds") with Kelli Ali (then of the Sneaker Pimps). "Black Kiss", "Tragedy" and "My Love" were the singles from the album Open All Night.

Almond relocated in 2000 to Moscow where he rented an apartment. With the encouragement and
connections of executive producer Misha Kucherenko, he embarked on a three-year recording project of Russian romance and folk songs, called Heart on Snow. Featuring many Russian stars old and new such as Boris Rebenshchikov, Ilya Lagutenko of the Russian band Mumiy Troll, Lyudmila Zykina and Alla Bayanova and featuring The Rossiya Folk Orchestra conducted by Anatole Sobolev, it was the first time that such a project had been undertaken by a Western artist, many of the loved Soviet era songs sung in English for the first time. The album was produced by musician/arranger Andrei Samsonov. Almond performed many times at the famous now demolished Rossiya Concert Hall with Lyudmila Zykina and Alla Bayanova, and with the Rossiya Folk Orchestra.

In 2001, Soft Cell reunited briefly and released their first new album in 18 years, Cruelty Without Beauty. Two singles came out of this album, "Monoculture" and a cover of the Frankie Valli's "The Night", which led to a Top of the Pops appearance for the band, their first since the mid 1980s.

In October 2004, Almond was seriously injured in a motorbike accident near St Paul's Cathedral, London. Near death and in a coma for weeks, he suffered two huge blood clots and had to undergo emergency surgery twice. He also suffered serious head injuries, multiple breaks and fractures, a collapsed lung and damaged hearing. After the accident he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He began a slow recovery determined to get back on the stage and in the studio.

In June 2007, Almond released an album of cover songs, Stardom Road. Picked to tell a story of his life and

career, the album featured songs as diverse as "I Have Lived" by Charles Aznavour, to "Stardom Road" by Third World War, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night", and "Kitsch" by Paul Ryan. The album featured his first new song since the motorbike accident, "Redeem me (Beauty Will Redeem the World)". Stardom Road was to be one of three albums for the Sanctuary label, the UK's largest independent record label up until 2007 when it got itself into financial difficulty and was sold off in June 2007 to Universal Music Group. In July 2007, Almond celebrated his 50th birthday on stage at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London and in September performed at a tribute show to Marc Bolan, his teenage hero. At the concert he dueted with Bolan's wife, Gloria Jones, on an impromptu version of "Tainted Love". In October 2007, the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent picked Almond's "Strangers in the Night" to represent their show at London's Fashion Rocks. Almond performed for the event at the Royal Albert Hall.

In 2008 and 2009, Almond toured with Jools Holland throughout the UK as well as guesting at shows by Current 93, Baby Dee and a tribute show to the late folk singer Sandy Denny at the Festival Hall. In October 2009, Almond released his second album of Russian Romances and Gypsy songs in an album titled Orpheus in Exile. The album was a tribute to Russian singer Vadim Kozin, who was exiled to the gulags of the Arctic Circle. The album was produced by Alexei Fedorov and features an orchestra arranged by Anatole Sobolev.

In June 2010, Almond released Varieté, his first studio album of self written material since Stranger Things in 2001. Almond intimated at the time that this could possibly be his last fully self-penned album. The album marks Almond's 30th anniversary as a recording artist, a fact he celebrated with a new concert tour in Autumn 2010. Also in the summer of 2010 Almond was named Mojo Hero, an award given by the music magazine Mojo. The award was presented to Almond by Anohni who flew from New York for the occasion.

In 2011, Almond released the Feasting with Panthers album, a collaboration with musician and arranger Michael Cashmore. It featured poetry set to music, including the poems of Count Eric Stenbock, Jean Genet, Jean Cocteau, Paul Verlaine and Rimbaud. Later in the same year Almond took part in a music-theatre work Ten Plagues, held at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, as part of the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from 1 to 28 August 2011. Ten Plagues is a one-man song cycle based on Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year (which dates back to 1722), with metaphors of Aids and epidemics. It was written for him by Mark Ravenhill and Conor Mitchell.

In 2012, Almond took the role of the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca in the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet's experimental rock adaptation of Poppea, based on Monteverdi's original 17th-century opera The Coronation of Poppea. The production also featured ex-Libertines member Carl Barat, French singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay, Swedish singer Fredrika Stahl and was directed by ex-Clash drummer Peter Howard. Later that year, on 9 August 2012, Almond performed at Anohni's Meltdown Festival in London's Southbank Centre, reforming Marc and the Mambas to perform their second album Torment and Toreros live for the first time. Anohni has stated that Torment and Toreros was her favourite album throughout her teens and that it became the starting point for Antony and the Johnsons] Anohni joined the band on stage for one song, singing "My Little Book of Sorrows" with Almond.

In 2013, Almond revived Ten Plagues and performed it for a month at Wilton's Music Hall in London. He also performed with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson on stage performing Tull's concept album "Thick as a Brick" at The Royal Albert Hall. That year Almond also received The Ivor Novello Inspiration Award which was presented to him by longtime friend and co-Manager Vicki Wickham, and was also awarded the Icon Award from Attitude.

Almond released three albums throughout 2014. First was The Tyburn Tree (Dark London) with composer John Harle, a concept album about dark historical London. This was followed by The Dancing Marquis album, made with a number of collaborators including Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât and Jools Holland, featuring production from Tony Visconti on some tracks. Finally, Almond released a studio recording of his 2011 show, Ten Plagues - A Song Cycle.

2015 saw the release of The Velvet Trail, an album of original material produced by Chris Braide. Almond is currently working on a song cycle to accompany the filming of a multi media performance of À rebours (translated as Against Nature) by Joris-Karl Huysmans. The score for this project has been written by Othon Mataragas with words from Feasting with Panthers collaborator Jeremy Reed. Reed states that he has written 15 songs for the project commenting that Against Nature is "still probably one of the most decadent books ever written" and that Almond had always wanted to perform it, stating that "now we’re both jaded aesthetes we could do it".

In 2016, Marc Almond signed his first major label deal for 20 years, signing a two-album deal with BMG Rights Management. In 2017, the compilation album Hits and Pieces / The Best of Soft Cell & Marc Almond, debuted at number seven in the album chart.

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If there is someone to fit the "drama queen" tag among the 80s crooners, it is undoubtedly Marc Almond. Well, one of, and just as exceptional in terms of genuine talent. When expected by the industry to continue exploiting his own massive successes with a certain Soft Cell, Almond continually fought the cliché of becoming a "pop star", despite the fact he actually - and deservedly - became (a dark) one. Untitled was Almond's first album away from Soft Cell and was made concurrently with the latter's The Art of Falling Apart album. Almond collaborated with a number of artists for this album, including Matt Johnson of The The and Anni Hogan. The album was produced by the band, with assistance from Stephen Short (credited as Steeve Short) and Flood.

Jeremy Reed writes in his biography of Almond, The Last Star, that Untitled was "cheap and starkly recorded". He states that Almond received "little support from Phonogram for the Mambas project, the corporate viewing it as non-commercial and a disquieting pointer to the inevitable split that would occur within Soft Cell". An article in Mojo noted that "from the beginning, Almond and Ball had nurtured sideline projects, though only the former's - the 1982 double 12 inch set Untitled - attracted much attention, most of it disapproving." The article mentions that Almond "who preferred to nail a song in one or two takes" stated that it was all "about feel and spontaneity, otherwise it gets too contrived" when accused of singing flat. There may be some inconsistency in "Untitled", though. On one side, there is the beauty of its minimal arrangements (mostly augmented by the piano), accentuating Almond's obsession (or identification) with Jacques Brel, Scott Engel, Lou Reed and/or Syd Barrett - each given a decent hommage with an honest, warm-hearted re-interpretation (and how can one not love "Caroline Says" or "If You Go Away"?). Moments recorded in collaboration with the one and only Matt Johnson are also beauties and audibly Johnson's playing trademark left its shine through.

On the other, the aura of the soft-cellish synth-pop (and the presence of Cindy E only adds extra honey for the bees) is hard to ignore, albeit heading more for the experimental territory; the entire 45 bonus disc - "Twilights & Lowlifes", while dangerously bordering the tedious, the two closing counterparts successfully avoid the trap of sounding like a leftover, providing space for a trance groovy improvisation that is neither dub, disco - nor all that jazz...

 Marc And The Mambas - Untitled (flac  359mb)

01 Untitled 4:54
02 Empty Eyes 5:03
03 Angels 8:34
04 Big Louise 5:04
05 Caroline Says 3:38
06 Margaret 3:45
07 If You Go Away 6:28
08 Terrapin 4:17
09 Twilights + Lowlifes 11:29
10 Twilights + Lowlifes (Street Walking Soundtrack) 11:08

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If there's any acid test for being a Marc Almond fan, it would have to be Torment & Toreros, originally a double album and still the longest thing he's yet released. It isn't so much length as it is subject matter, the sheer self-loathing and unrestrained anger have never been paralleled by any of his other releases. Sure, much of the material on this (what was originally a double vinyl) album is sombre, sordid and desperately depressing - but it's also wildly uplifting at times, as the indomitable Marc Almond's lust for life can't help but smash through the gloom.

Marc's singing has always given the impression that we, the listeners, are right there in the room with him. And on T&T it almost sounds like one gin-sodden mate regaling another with his sorry tales of heartbreak and loss in the wee small hours after the party has broken up and everyone else is long gone. As always, Marc lays his emotions bare, holding nothing back... , this album maybe not for everyone. But with its elements of late-night melodrama and Spanish-tinged operetta it should appeal to those who enjoy dark cabaret, modern vaudeville, art-punk, goth and the like.

Marc and the Mambas - Torment and Toreros (flac 504mb)

01 Intro 3:17
02 Boss Cat 4:17
03 The Bulls 2:18
04 Catch A Fallen Star 5:12
05 The Animal In You 7:29
06 In My Room 3:01
07 First Time 3:37
08 (Your Love Is A) Lesion 5:38
09 My Former Self 2:45
10 Once Was 5:10
11 The Untouchable One - Blood Wedding 7:56
12 Black Heart 4:50
13 Medley - Narcissus,Gloomy Sunday,Vision (11:46)
14 Torment 4:21
15 A Million Manias 5:52
16 My Little Book Of Sorrows 5:59
17 Beat Out That Rhythm On A Drum 5:00

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Making his first label jump since signing to Mercury in the early Soft Cell days, Stories continues the drive towards a brighter commercial sound, with Hedges once again producing and the Sinners lineup in perfect sync and well-versed in everything from lush Euro-disco to nightclub jazz and smouldering ballads (add some extra credit for the solid work of album guest Martin Ditchum on "all kinds of percussion"). The troika of brilliant singles from the album's first half makes the album a keeper alone: the tender title track (written about a young friend of Almond's who OD'ed), a sassy remake of Mel Tormé's "The House Is Haunted," and "Love Letter," where electronics resurface to a degree not seen since Soft Cell's collapse. However, there are plenty of other fine delights throughout, such as the solid rocker "The Flesh Is Willing" and the snarling "Contempt," not to mention "I Who Never," a soaring breakup number, and "My Candle Burns," another in the fine series of understatedly intense Almond love/obsession songs. Fans of Almond at his harshest will find this perhaps a bit too smooth at points, but as a balance of killer hooks, great music, and Almond's ever-improving singing, this is a winner through and through.

 Marc Almond - Stories Of Johnny (flac 281mb)

01 Traumas Traumas Traumas 5:07
02 Stories Of Johnny 3:45
03 The House Is Haunted 2:19
04 Love Letter 4:51
05 The Flesh Is Willing 4:45
06 Always 6:03
07 Contempt 3:36
08 I Who Never 4:31
09 My Candle Burns 3:49
10 Love And Little White Lies 5:13

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Great screaming melodrama as Almond does his best to prove that he's the best possible cabaret performer that no one will put on a cabaret stage. Depending on the mood you happen to be in, this collection can either be taken seriously or as a tongue-in-cheek celebration of some great over-the-top material (which even applies to Peter Hammill's "Just Good Friends"). Almond's frenetic cover of "The Heel" alone should raise this mini-album to classic status.  Violent Silence is from a performance originally done for Georges Batailles on 26 September 1984. It's kept in a kind of mimalized style that is more aluding to the Mambas that were finished in January that year and features much more sombre lyrics.

The house is haunted
By the echo of your last goodbye
The house is haunted
By the memories that refuse to die
I can't get away from the vision that brings
Intimate glimpses of intimate things
A voice in my heart like a torch singer sings
I wonder who's kissing you now

 Marc Almond - A Womans Story + Violent Silence + The House Is Haunted  (flac  460mb)
 
01 A Woman's Story 3:41
02 The Heel 3:19
03 A Salty Dog 4:27
04 The Plague 3:09
05 The Little White Cloud That Cried 2:14
06 For One Moment 2:57
07 Just Good Friends 3:53
Violent Silence

08 Blood Tide 2:29
09 Healthy As Hate 7:33
10 Things You Love Me For 5:58
11 Body Unknown 4:45
12 Unborn Stillborn 3:42
The House Is Haunted
13 The House Is Haunted (Ectoplasmix) 6:18
14 Broken Bracelets 5:18
15 Cara A Cara 4:31
16 Medley (Unchain My Heart,Black Heart,Take My Heart) (5:33)
17 Burning Boats (Annie Hogan) 6:03

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