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As a youngster growing up in Southport, Merseyside, Marc Almond was immersed in the magical world of the 3-minute single. Tuning in to Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and a weekly fix of Top Of The Pops acted as catalysts for the aspiring singer’s dreams and ambitions. The 45-rpm single was king, and Marc Almond worshipped at its throne. Marc had always aspired to become a great singles artist; he wanted to follow in the footsteps of two of his heroes, David Bowie and Scott Walker in turning the single into an art form. He achieved exactly that when Tainted Love rocketed to the top of the UK chart in September 1981 (and became the biggest selling single of the year), commencing a singles chart love affair that has played a huge part in Marc’s 40 + year career and has seen him shift in excess of 30 million sales.

Now that impressive singles career is celebrated on March 10TH with the UMe release of Hits And Pieces – The Best Of Marc Almond And Soft Cell, which comes available as a 2 CD disc or single CD digital download and traces Almond’s singles career from Soft Cell through to his solo work and collaborations. Almond has always excelled at recording superb singles – he has secured a body of work that encompasses truly outstanding originals, covers and duets. Highlights of Hits And Pieces include Tainted Love, What!, Say Hello Wave Goodbye, the Number One reaching Gene Pitney duet Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, his interpretation of Scott Walker’s cover of Jacques Brel’s Jacky with its epic kitchen sink production from Trevor Horn, a cover of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love with, Bronski Beat, Melancholy Rose and Ruby Red from the Mother Fist album, a Tony Visconti produced nugget The Dancing Marquis, last year’s superb The Velvet Trail, the glam stomper Varieté and another unforgettable cover in the form of The Days Of Pearly Spencer.

To complete the package is the newest track on this compilation: the previously unreleased A Kind Of Love, three effortlessly breezy minutes that hint at Almond’s past – the “light summery psychedelic sounds” on that mid-60s transistor radio, the Northern soul scene that inspired Soft Cell to cover Tainted Love and What! – without really sounding much like anything Marc Almond has recorded before. A Kind Of Love was co-written and produced by Chris Braide, a man with excellent pop credentials having worked with Beyonce, Sia, Lana Del Rey and Trevor Horn. A Kind Of Love is Marc Almond the singles artist showing once again how to turn 3 and a half minutes into aural gold

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Hits And Pieces – The Best of Marc Almond And Soft Cell Track Listing

Single CD Digital Version

1. Soft Cell – Tainted Love

2. Soft Cell – Bedsitter

3. Soft Cell – Say Hello Wave Goodbye

4. Soft Cell – Torch

5. Soft Cell – What!

6. Bronski Beat with Marc Almond – I Feel Love

7. Marc Almond – Stories Of Johnny

8. Marc Almond – Tears Run Rings

9. Marc Almond with Gene Pitney – Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart

10. Marc Almond – A Lover Spurned

11. Marc Almond – Jacky

12. Marc Almond – My Hand Over My Heart

13. Marc Almond – The Days Of Pearly Spencer

14. Marc Almond – What Makes A Man (Live)

15. Marc Almond – Adored and Explored

16. Marc Almond – The Idol (Part 1)

17. Marc Almond – Child Star

18. Marc Almond – Scar

19. Marc Almond – A Kind Of Love (Radio Edit)

2CD Version
CD1

1. Memorabilia (Soft Cell)

2. Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go (Original 12” Version) (Soft Cell)

3. Bedsitter (Soft Cell)

4. Say Hello Wave Goodbye (Soft Cell)

5. Torch (Soft Cell)

6. What! (Soft Cell)

7. Where The Heart Is (Soft Cell)

8. Soul Inside (Soft Cell)

9. Down In The Subway (Extended Single Version) (Soft Cell)

10. I Feel Love (Full Length Version) (Bronski Beat with Marc Almond)

11. Black Heart (Marc & The Mambas)

12. Stories Of Johnny

13. Melancholy Rose

14. Tears Run Rings

15. Ruby Red

16. Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart (Marc Almond with Gene Pitney)

17. A Lover Spurned

CD2

1. The Desperate Hours

2. My Hand Over My Heart

3. Jacky

4. The Days Of Pearly Spencer

5. What Makes A Man (Live)

6. The Idol

7. Adored and Explored

8. Brilliant Creatures

9. Child Star

10. Tragedy (Take A Look And See)

11. Glorious

12. Variety

13. Burn Bright

14. The Dancing Marquis

15. Bad To Me

16. Scar

17. A Kind Of Love (Full Length Version)

18. Tainted Love (Marc Almond with Jools Holland and the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra)

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