Talk Talk (RIP Mark Hollis)

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I don't understand how anyone could think "New Grass" was 80s.

The voice, the production quality, and the melodies, both vocal and guitar with the lite-jazz beat made me think initially of 80s 'organic' adult pop/rock (and certainly not of medieval music). The Sting comparisons upthread seem apt (though I haven't listened to a whole Sting album either). It sounded like how 'organic' music was produced at that time. (I actually quite like, on the other hand, the sound of glossed-out 80s studio synth-fusion. I don't know if I was hoping for more of that kind of sound, maybe because I'd heard they used to be a synthpop band.) But, like I said, that feeling does change as the track progresses.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 06:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm going to agree with Sundar on this one. I love SoE as much as anyone else, but for me LS does sound too 80s, the sound of the record is more 'produced' than SoE which sounded more naturalistic. Sadly I don't know any of the song titles on LS (I just listen to it not looking at the sleeve) but the last song on it sounds like the sort of thing the Cocteaus tried to do with Harold Budd, there's an effect on the piano which to me totally spoils the song. If you compare parts of "New grass" (the long one on side two?) with parts of "Badman's song" by Tears for fears (from "Seeds of love"), the production styles aren't that dissimilar.

― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 08:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I must have a totally different record.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 08:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I have a copy then please?

― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 08:45 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

My God. I feel like I'm stumbled on a vast, ruined temple.

― Lukas (lukas), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i felt (heh) that way when i got the first two felt records. anyway, i've been listening to the colour of spring a lot recently, and one thing i love about it is the 80's sound parts of it have. like the guitar parts in "give it up" which remind me of that robert plant song called big log or something.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Revisionism be damned: Spirit of Eden is better than Laughing Stock.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)

no way!!!! LS is superior

― francesco (francesco), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

So says...everyone.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Except me. I think.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Laughing Stock is best ever. Listened to it last night. Sounds great even with people talking over it. Very Cageian.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I bet Cage sounded better with people talking over it.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Listen LOUD please k thx bye.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

i think at least half of the people on this thread (including meeee) agreed that "spirit of eden" was best.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess that's true. I should have read all 253 posts before I said that. Still, the late-to-the-party rush on Laughing Stock has become tiresome.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

who cares? just enjoy them both.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, yeah, but people get kind of mouthy about these guys nowadays.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Spirit of Eden is INDEED superior to Laughing Stock.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

No it's not!

― Keith Watson (kmw), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yes it is.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

*rereads thread* Damn, this is one of those thread that should be bronzed or something, ILM at its finest I think.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), January 19th, 2004.

― Lukas (lukas), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

More music should sound like this.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 1 July 2004 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not possible.

Mark Hollis is the best of the three

(for now).

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 1 July 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

these days I listen to color of spring more than the others but that's because the others do intense things to me and I listen to music at work.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 1 July 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

REVIVE.

I just bought Spirit of Eden....It's very cool...bewitching....unstructured but not really arty at the same time....This is the first time I've heard Talk Talk (except for the No Doubt covers)....pleasantly suprised that I can't really think of many records that sound like Spirit of Eden.....Almost in a weird was reminds me of some meld of Scritti Polliti and Van Morrison Astral Weeks, but I'm probably wrong.

Interesting cool stuff....Next up I think is Bark Psychosis I'm finally going to hear those dudes as well....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 2 December 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I've only heard "It's My Life" but I think it's a pretty good song.

― Hot Pants, Thursday, 2 December 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a starting point and a fine one. But there's much more to investigate...

Matt: good on you with Bark Psychosis. Next, Disco Inferno. AND THEN YOU WILL BE MY SLAVE. Er, anyway.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 December 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

LS and SoE do different things. I think I find SoE more enjoyable and LS more rewarding. But it's not black and white by any means.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 2 December 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Matt: good on you with Bark Psychosis. Next, Disco Inferno. AND THEN YOU WILL BE MY SLAVE. Er, anyway.

Disco Inferno the wrestler?? He was okay I guess.

Oddly enough, a friend in another corner of the Internets just got a Chameleons record and is raving about it....I've still gotta pick one of those up....Ragget-rock renaissance I guess.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to toot my own horn, but I'm having by best streak at the record stores in a long time.....last 5 discs I bought are:

Nick Cave - Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
PIL - Second Edition/Metal Box
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
Dillinger Four - Midwestern Songs of the Americas

ALL THESE RECORDS ARE GREAT!!! I'M ON FIRE!!!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Sure would be nice to see ILMers discuss their pre-Spirit of Eden material. Like, you know, how they began as a poor man's Duran Duran.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic

Chuck Eddy gets pride of place for being the first guy I know of who liked these fellers. Or so I thought. Good album, RIP.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I take it back, a good slew of ILM folk spoke up all at once over here:

Car Accident Kills Three Exploding Hearts

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I really enjoy Colour of Spring. It sounds like it "should" be cheesy or schmaltzy, with all the big arrangements, child choruses(!), and lyrics like "life's what you make it," but somehow they pull it off perfectly. It's not quite SoE or LS, but definitely, definitely worthwhile.

I haven't dug farther back into their discog though.

xpost

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 2 December 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

re: exploding hearts

That's so sad that they died. Extra poignant cuz that record is so youthful and hopeful and full of life and promise. It would have been interesting to see how they developed as a band, whether they would have kept on with the lo-fi undertones/buzzcocks thing they'd already pretty much mastered or tried more ambitious songwriting and production style stuff....I guess I'm wondering whether they would have taken a Jam-like artistic trajectory or been more like the Ramones....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 2 December 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Sure would be nice to see ILMers discuss their pre-Spirit of Eden material. Like, you know, how they began as a poor man's Duran Duran.

I'm a huge fan of The Party's Over, actually (their much-maligned debut). A completely different beast from Spirit of Eden, it's minor-key synth-pop that sounds nothing like Duran Duran (they never did).

Talk Talk never put out a bad record. FACT!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 December 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Its great music to fuck to!

― Sonny, Ah!!1 (Sonny A.), Thursday, 2 December 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a huge fan of The Party's Over, actually (their much-maligned debut). A completely different beast from Spirit of Eden, it's minor-key synth-pop that sounds nothing like Duran Duran (they never did).

Tell that to Colin Thurston.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

He's Colin Wrongston if he believes differently.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Ho, ho. Seriously, though: do you really think the track "Talk Talk" doesn't sound a thing like Duran Duran?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

do you really think the track "Talk Talk" doesn't sound a thing like Duran Duran?

It doesn't sound a thing like Duran Duran! For a start, Hollis' vocals are nothing like LeBon's. Secondly, Duran Duran aren't nearly as keyboard-driven as Talk Talk (Talk Talk had no guitarist). Duran Duran used actual drums, whereas Talk Talk used synth drums. Duran Duran sing about romance and one night stands and nonsensical adventure, Talk Talk sing about miscommunication, struggles with faith and disillusion. Talk Talk had a more solidly "synthetic" sound, whereas Duran Duran -- by contrast -- sounded pretty conventional (not knocking them, mind you). Apart from the facts that (a) both bands were British and (b) both band names featured a repeated word, they don't have much in common.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, now I double want to get Laughing Stock. This is one potentially good result of the 90s poll.

― LaRue (rockist_scientist), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Apart from the facts that (a) both bands were British and (b) both band names featured a repeated word, they don't have much in common.

Except for the way the chorus's "All you wanna do is talk talk!" sounds, that is.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be flip -- but there's just no question in my mind that Colin and a coked-up Mark were going for that with that song. I can't even remember them enough to know whether the other songs on The Party's Over sound that way or not.

Oh, and Thurston's a fucking hack -- from 1981 onwards, anyway...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Except for the way the chorus's "All you wanna do is talk talk!" sounds, that is.

Not being flip either, but I don't hear it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 December 2004 23:48 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

What an awesome thread. Spirit of Eden is my favorite album.

― Grand Epic (Grand Epic), Sunday, 16 January 2005 09:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i hear "talk talk" and think of "planet earth"

― nick le bon-taylor, Sunday, 16 January 2005 10:38 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Just got near-mint vinyl copies of Spirit Of Eden and It's My Life for a total of 4 bucks from an out-of-the-way record store. Thanks, ILM! Good stuff. I am basking in it as we speak.

― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 08:15 (twenty years ago)

do not neglect the latterday non-album tracks from "asides besides" as they are epic. namely "it's getting late in the evening" "for what it's worth" and "john cope."

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 08:54 (twenty years ago)

f. hazel speaketh the truth. Mind the mid-era b-sides ("Pictures oF Bernadette" esp.) are also fucking great.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 08:59 (twenty years ago)

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