THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO…MARX – Red Planet Blue (Infrasons E.Y. Records)

What do you get if you stick glam, goth and hard rock into a blender? The answer would be something like Red Planet Blue, the latest offering from multi-instrumentalist and elephant obsessive Gary Marx. Probably originally best known as being the co-founder and guitarist of Sisters Of Mercy he tickled the tonal tastebuds with 2024’s ‘Green Ginger Jive’ and is now back with this bizarrely captivating musical mélange which opens properly with the T.Rex-meets-Sisters ‘High Brighton Rock’ and wraps up 78 minutes later with the wistful – vaguely reminiscent of ‘Dreamy Lady’ for some reason – ‘High School Highs’.

It’s not a concept album apparently, but the CD (and please note that the CD and 2LP set do appears to have shuffled and possibly even different tracklists) rattles through 38 listed tracks (yet the CD player only shows 35, making it a reviewer’s nightmare)! – with barely a handclap between each. Seemingly wrapping up the best of the 70s in one musical blast ‘Red Planet Blue’ is inventive, exciting and completely off-the-wall, and all the more glorious for it.

John Tucker October 2026