Diamonds - Pedro Marin

Back in the early 80's, Spanish sex god Pedro was a teen heart-throb and found international success with some fabulous latino pop though after 2 albums and 2 million records sold in 3 years (1980-1982), he packed it in to work in finance. Returning to the limelight in 2005, Marin starred in a Spanish Survivour style reality TV show La Isla De Los Famosos, posed nude for Zero magazine and recorded a cover of Amanda Lear classic Run Baby Run - which later became part of a new album, Diamonds

Run Baby Run performed on Spanish TV

Unlike his earlier (and subsequent) work, Diamonds is recorded in English and like its precurser Run Baby Run it consists of Amanda Lear covers paying homage to the tracks disco roots and modernising them into stylish electro anthems. Pedro's distinctive vocals work well with the tracks, though the delivery sometimes seems a bit robotic though that is probably down to the nuances of singing in your native tounge not always translating into foreign langauges. Each track is lovingly reworked with rich production that always complements the vocals and tone of the track with excellent use of instrumentation and vocals. As well as ten stunning tracks, remixes of 7 of the tracks accompany the album. Not being familiar with some of Amanda's originals I can't compare all of Marin's versions to hers but for the most part they are worthy of (and in some cases better than) Lear's.

Gold (Live)

Black Holes
A stunning opener that wouldn't look out of place on a Kylie tour - like Light Years (complete with countdown) but much darker. 10/10
Follow Me
A haunting rendition of this Lear classic and the albums only single. 10/10

Run Baby Run
Annoying backing vocalist intro aside, its the kind of track the likes of The Presets and Lily Allen would kill for. Slightly more raw vocals from Pedro on this one 7/10

Blood & Honey
Sexy electro-with-guitars and smooth bassline. Sultry. 9/10

Fashion Pack
Another fabulous and catchy reworking, though slightly irritating backing vocals work against it 7/10

Gold
Both retro and modern at the same time. 7/10

The Sphinx
Taking the tempo down a few notches, this atmospheric track suffers only from beign a tad too short 9/10

Enigma
Lovely production let down by some rather dodgy lyrics. While being essentially a good track, it is one of the weakest on the album. 5/10

Tomorrow
Another brilliantly produced track that doesn't quite hit the same standards as the rest 6/10

Diamonds
Funnily enough, this is the only other dud on the album - and its still quite good. 5/10

Follow Me (Isaac Junkie Remix) 9/10
Gold (Juanimysterfly Remix) 8/10
Fashion Pack (Oblique Mix) 8/10
Tomorrow (Onedbshon Remix) 6/10
Black Holes (Onedbshon Alien Remix) 6/10
Run Baby Run (Pedromarinronniespectormix) 7/10
The Sphinx (Skinnyproject Remix) 9/10
Follow Me (Video) 9/10

The stunning video to Follow Me

Bap rating: Dannii's WMDD's

If you like this: look out for further posts about this Spanish stud or look for Amanda Lear originals if you aren't familiar with them.

Visit: Pedro Marin - Official Website