Almond is certainly up for a challenge. But, in gathering some of the finest Soviet songs and singers of the last century to invoke the spirit of Mother Russia, has he gone a steppe too far? Well, though the sleazy tunes of the Weimar Republic might be more up his strasse, he finds much of himself in the romance, tortured self-analysis and mawkish melodrama here. Singing partly in Russian, backed by desolate violins, discrete keyboards and the odd naval choir, he keeps it respectful which, despite the lack of Russian wildness, makes it all the more moving.
Almond is certainly up for a challenge. But, in gathering some of the finest Soviet songs and singers of the last century to invoke the spirit of Mother Russia, has he gone a steppe too far? Well, though the sleazy tunes of the Weimar Republic might be more up his strasse, he finds much of himself in the romance, tortured self-analysis and mawkish melodrama here. Singing partly in Russian, backed by desolate violins, discrete keyboards and the odd naval choir, he keeps it respectful which, despite the lack of Russian wildness, makes it all the more moving.
