Stardom Road was Marc Almond's first release since his near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2004. It was a long, dark path to recovery that left him unable to write songs and he required singing lessons to find his voice again. Once over that hurdle, Marc returned to the studio to work on a covers album, the concept being that the selected songs contained a narrative relating to his life. Stardom Road was over two years in the making, the project growing from humble beginnings to full orchestral productions of some well-known classics and several obscure, lesser-known tracks.

We talk about each song individually, delve deeper into the track selections and discuss how Marc's versions compare to the originals, culminating in an album rating out of ten from both of us.

We made a Spotify playlist of the original recordings, which creates an enjoyable comparative experience. You can listen here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/74cWCP3yhNbgJ296XLDfNB?si=1ae316ca2fac49f8

We also had a lovely message from Katarina Kovac, who explained how she discovered Marc Almond before going on to record this incredible cover of his song 'Only The Moment':

https://youtu.be/EuY9-oa5iDI?si=IknKS0-hF0ibYCE8

Our review of the UK singles and album charts for the week of release in June 2007 noted a tangible difference between the artists and styles, with the singles chart full of nightclub-friendly heavy beats and samples from the likes of Akon, Gym Class Heroes, Hellogoodbye, and Mutya Buena covering Bob Marley and the Whalers, Supertramp, Avril Lavigne, and Lenny Kravitz respectively. The album charts were much more band-centric and featured singers with musicians, rather than electronically generated sounds, such as Amy Winehouse, Maroon 5, Pigeon Detectives, Kaiser Chiefs, Michael Buble, and the Arctic Monkeys.

Our Top 3 picks for this episode were our favourite duets. Links to each song are below:

KATE

Mississippi Beat, performed by Ian Prowse and Pauline Scanlon:

https://youtu.be/EF0nCcBi2Wc?si=BQ84MA9T0pTLMZmm

Just Like You performed by David Ford and Annie Dressner:

https://youtu.be/fheOm3DvJAo?si=dtfxLrxbphNyfHAH

We should be together performed by The Wedding Present and Louise Wener:

https://youtu.be/jVm_4pnHl3o?si=mULJc0wCIznmfY3K

RICK

No Room For Doubt performed by Lianne Le Havas and Willy Mason:

https://youtu.be/pBCt5nfsZ30?si=GwJhElMumNivvOld

Say Say Say, performed by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson:

https://youtu.be/YnFknaD9eWY?si=Ut6HV_9y1umrqT_M

Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend, performed by The Arctic Monkeys and Dizzee Rascal:

https://youtu.be/hJeE-PlgAfM?si=2dv9qa9GRjrpRnDh

Kate's Single of the Week: Famous, by Police Car Collective:

https://youtu.be/nJJphXP8uy8?si=bL2LrApXm94xxvUE

We also review recent live gigs by Holy Moly & The Crackers, and London four-piece, Spector.

If you're a fan of the show and haven't yet done so, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. We'd appreciate it if you could rate the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can follow or like us on Twitter (X) and Facebook. Comments and opinions about anything covered in the episodes, our posts, or music in general are welcomed.

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Thank you, and best wishes,

Rick, & Kate x