Torment and Toreros

The second and last Marc and the Mambas studio effort was the definition of indulgence on several levels, sprawling over two albums in the vinyl era (and the CD, for that matter) in an often lush and always darkly shaded demonstration of just how close to the edge Marc Almond had reached by that point. The vivid spite of “Catch a Falling Star” remains perhaps the most vicious thing Almond’s recorded — which is saying something! — but there’s nothing else quite like it from that time, a cabaret fantasia of emotional extremities.