Marc Almond – The Sea Says

Today sees the release of Hits and Pieces, a career retrospective for one of my favourite artists Marc Almond. I won’t be buying it as I’ve got pretty much everything on there, in some cases several copies in fact but you can never have too much vinyl can you eh? Hmmmm. Anyway, wandering the beach scaring the seagulls this morning this track, The Sea Says, popped into my head and blow me down if this year isn’t the 30th ruddy anniversary of the album that spawned it, the utterly splendid Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters.  Quite possibly one of Almond’s finest and most distinctive vocal performances it never fails to remind me - cue sepia tinged memories - of my days living in Brighton and working at 7-Eleven in Hove, a job which necessitated rising at 5am, getting the train from Falmer to Brighton and then plodding the 2 miles or so to work. I’d often walk along the virtually deserted sea front to get there in all weathers, which was both pretty depressing and rather soul stirring (in retrospect at least) all at the same time. Fast forward almost 30 years and I’m somehow back living by the sea again (albeit on the opposite side of the country), thankfully not rising at 5am or working at 7-Eleven this time... 

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.