''Absinthe'', also known as ''Absinthe – The French Album'', is the eighth studio album by the British singer/songwriter

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...

. It was released by

Some Bizzare Some Bizzare Records was a British independent record label owned by Stevo Pearce. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of ''Some Bizzare Album'', a compilation of unsigned bands including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, the The, Neu Elect ...

in October 1993.

Background

According to the writer and poet

Jeremy Reed Jeremy Thomas Reed (born June 15, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Early life Reed graduated from Bonita High School in La Verne, California in 1999, and went on to play college basebal ...

in his biography of Almond, ''The Last Star'', "Almond largely at his own expense worked on the songs between 1986 and 1989 at Milo Studios". The album is considered the companion piece to ''

Jacques Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

'' and in a similar vein contains cover versions of French songs that have been had their lyrics translated into English by Paul Buck. The album contains liner notes by Buck explaining the origins of the songs and the reasons for their inclusion.

Critical reception

''Absinthe'' received generally favourable reviews from critics. Ned Raggett states in his

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review that ''Absinthe'' is "In the end, more of a curiosity than ''Jacques'', but an enjoyable one."

Track listing

Personnel

* Martin Watkins –

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Annie Hogan Annie Hogan (sometimes spelled as Anni Hogan) also known as Ann Margaret Hogan is a British musician, record producer, composer and club DJ, born in 1961. Originally known for her association with British musician Marc Almond, Hogan has since c ...

– Piano *

Martin McCarrick Martin McCarrick (born 29 July 1962) is an English cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. Aside from being a live and recording artist, he is also a teacher and visiting lecturer in music. Career His first recording in the pop/rock ar ...

–

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

and Piano * Steven Humphreys –

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Audrey Riley Audrey Riley is an English cellist and string arranger, based in the UK. Career Riley trained at the Guildhall School of Music with Leonard Stehn. She was a cellist for Virginia Astley from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of The Fam ...

– Cello * Bill McGee –

Double Bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Enrico Tomasso –

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Nigel Thomas –

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

* John de Aquiar – Guitar and programming * Charles Gray – Guitar * Jacquezs Quezin –

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Gini Ball – Violin * Hirt Aust – Drums * Michel Grunberger – Brass * Joel Mahaut – Brass * Guy Carpentier – Accordion * Charles Gray – Production * Martin Watkins – Mixing * Paul Buck – all translations * Marc Almond – Production and arrangements * Barnard Natier – Engineering

References

{{Authority control 1993 albums Marc Almond albums Covers albums Some Bizzare Records albums Electronic albums by English artists