Open All Night (Marc Almond album) explained

Open All Night
Type:	Album
Artist:	Marc Almond
Cover:	Marc_Almond_Open_All_Night_album_cover.jpg
Released:	March 1999
Recorded:	Matrix and Maison Rouge recording studios
Genre:	Synthpop
Length:	56:54
Label:	Blue Star Music
Producer:	Kenny Jones, Marc Almond
Prev Title:	Fantastic Star
Prev Year:	1996
Next Title:	Stranger Things
Next Year:	2001

Open All Night is the tenth solo studio album by the British singer-songwriter Marc Almond. It was released by Blue Star Music in March 1999.

Background

Following the commercial failure of his 1996 album Fantastic Star, Almond released Open All Night on his own newly founded label Blue Star Music. The album features collaborations with Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie (from The Creatures) on the track "Threat of Love" and with Kelli Ali, who was at that time the lead vocalist of the band Sneaker Pimps, on the track "Almost Diamonds". "Tragedy", "Black Kiss" and "My Love" were released as singles, but neither they nor the album itself charted.^[1]

The American release of the album came with the bonus track "Beautiful Losers".^[2]

Critical reception

The NME describe the songs on Open All Night as inhabiting "an evocative Brel-meets-Barry landscape" with a "midnight blue melancholy". Touching on similar themes the review from Hot Press describes Open All Night's "lush decadence and tragic dissolution". Elsewhere, reviewer Keith Phipps in his review for The A.V. Club magazine states that "Almond's songs have a creepy, dark quality" on this album.

Track listing

1. "Night & Dark" (Marc Almond, Neal Whitmore) – 6:10
2. "Bedroom Shrine" (Almond, Oskar Paul) – 4:32
3. "Tragedy (Take a Look and See)" (Almond, Whitmore) – 5:01
4. "Black Kiss" (Almond, Whitmore) – 3:35
5. "Almost Diamonds" (Almond, Whitmore, Kelli Ali) – 5:16
   • Guest Appearance Kelli Ali
6. "Scarlet Bedroom" (Almond, John Green) – 3:06
7. "My Love" (Almond, Whitmore) – 3:45
8. "Heart in Velvet" (Almond, Whitmore) – 4:14
9. "Open All Night" (Almond, Whitmore) – 5:20
10. "Threat of Love" (Almond, Whitmore) – 4:41
    • Guest Appearance: The Creatures (Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie)
11. "Bad People Kiss" (Almond, Douglass) – 3:34
12. "Sleepwalker" (Almond, Whitmore) – 4:19
13. "Midnight Soul" (Almond) – 3:51

Bonus track (in USA)

1. "Beautiful Losers" (Almond) – 4:57

Personnel

• Marc Almond – vocals and vocal arrangements
• Neal X – guitar, effects, additional programming and assistant production
• Glen Scott – Hammond organ, Wurlitzer, piano and keyboards
• John Green – extra keyboards, string keyboards, pre-production and demo programming
• Rick May – bass and double bass
• Bill Miskimmin – harmonica
• Oliver Langford – violin
• Vladimir Asriev – violin
• Igor Outkine – accordion
• Elliott Douglass – piano
• Henrique da Silva – macumba voice
• Jorge Batista – congas, bongos, Brazilian percussion and Orisha chant
• Esteve Dasilva – Brazilian percussion
• Hossam Ramzy – Egyptian percussion
• Tim Sanders – tenor saxophone
• Roddy Lorimer – trumpet
• Simon Clarke – alto saxophone
• Rebecca S Doe – string arrangement
• Oliver Kraus – cello
• Lucy Wilkins – violin
• Sophie Sirota – viola
• Ann-Marie Gilkes – backing vocals
• Angela Morel – backing vocals
• M Stewart – backing vocals
• Richard Wayler – backing vocals

Notes and References

1. Web site: Marc Almond Steps Into The Light. Billboard. 2 July 2001. 28 March 2015.
2. Web site: Open All Night. The A.V. Club. 19 April 2015. 28 March 2015. Phipps, Keith. Keith Phipps.