Latest releases reviewed

MARC ALMOND
Sin Songs, Torch and Romance Demon Vision ***

Now recovered from a horrific motorbike crash last year, Marc Almond recorded this from a series of acclaimed concerts at London's Almeida Theatre. Featuring songs about "doom, tragedy and beauty", it's all very Brecht-on-a-bad-day but none the worse for that. Over the years Almond has made the transformation from synth pop star to chanteur, and here he showcases his Kabaret-style vocal performances to great effect. A lot of the material is drawn from his Heart on Snow album (a collection of Russian love songs), but there are also excursions into jazz, blues and rumba. At times he's perhaps a bit too theatrical for his own good, but then the lyrics here don't really allow any real alternative. The bonus material features a good interview, sound check footage and first rehearsals at the venue.

Brian Boyd

VARIOUS
Soul to Soul Rhino ****

For the American soul stars who high-tailed it to Ghana in 1971, it was an away-trip with a difference. The country was celebrating Independence Day with gusto and 100,000 citizens turned up in Accra to see such acts as Ike & Tina Turner, The Staple Singers, Eddie Harris, Les McCann and Wilson Pickett. For Pickett in particular, it was a real thrill as he discovered that he was a huge star in Ghana. Director Denis Sanders kept his cameras rolling from the moment the plane landed and captured plenty of strange off-stage moments (like the stars visiting a coastal castle from where slaves were shipped across the Atlantic), but it's the performances that really zing. Pickett's version of Land of a Thousand Dances is a joy, while a fiery River Deep, Mountain High from Ike and Tina and a powerful When We Will Be Paid by The Staple Singers also rise the hairs on the back of your neck. www.rhino.com

Jim Carroll