Avoid the ‘C’ Word: Gary Marx Unveils Bizarre, Brilliant ‘Red Planet Blue’

Sisters Of Mercy co-founder GARY MARX drops one of the best albums of 2026, the wonderfully bizarre yet highly addictive ‘Red Planet Blue’ (via Infrasons E.Y. Records).

“What’s it like?” said Marx, “Well don’t use the ‘c’ word, it’s not a concept album! However, it is seventy-two minutes of music spread over four sides of vinyl. Side one is the poppiest, side three is the most varied and adventurous, side four is the silliest, and side two has the most elephants.”

It’s a colossal, wildly imaginative piece of work, it’s also glam, glam with bell-bottomed bells on, the ghost of Marc Bolan omnipresent, a totally different beast than previous long-player, ‘Green Ginger Jive.’

“It’s bigger and bolder. I’ve thrown everything at it this time round, saxes, synths, sci-fi sound fx, stand-up, and it had to be seventy-two minutes long because I became a teenager in 1972, and this album represents me closing the circle.

“And I decided I only wanted to invite people to sing who were my age. I relaxed the rule slightly for the CD, but on the vinyl, I needed kids who would have been in my year’s intake at high school. That became my gang.”

‘Red Planet Blue’ is underpinned with various clips from interviews, and snippets of dialogue from live shows. But the album’s inspiration was discovered in the unlikeliest of places, ‘The Who Sell Out,’ and Todd Rundgren’s ‘A Wizard, a True Star.’

“The pirate radio aspect appealed to me from The Who album, and so I use a similar device to connect the main songs. With Todd, I liked the idea of not forcing every idea to be a three-minute song, or even a song at all. And I also wanted to make use of all the material I’d generated through the time of this project in some way.”

‘Red Planet Blue’ was recorded and mixed by Mark Sturgess at Wakefield’s Soundstation, except Tiger Moth, was recorded and mixed by John Spence at Hull’s Fairview Studios, with Spence also mixing Ten Foot Two, 73, and mastering the album.

Mine the Red Planet Blue in your own time and you’ll discover the diamonds. Jumbo Mambo, Next Stop The Moon, Planchette, the Jarvis-esque 73, and Sand le Mere all ideal starting points for your journey.

Ride a white swan and connect with Gary Marx HERE