Talk Talk (RIP Mark Hollis)

LOL "who was unable to attend this year's London Awards"

Would love to read that book - and to hear the Hollis solo album. I'm a relatively new Talk Talk convert - one of those "where have they been all my life" bands.

Ya gotta start somewhere. Think of it this way, sir -- you had Slint from the early nineties on to lock into, where I went for Talk Talk. (Obv. a lot of people went for both.)

I wonder how Hollis can actually afford to do nothing. Talk Talk weren't that huge were they? Surely you can't retire forever off the back of a few synth pop hits in the eighties?

He could just live very simply for all we know. They were certainly enough of a commercial success in Europe at least that if he squirreled away enough then he could take it easy, and it seems that he might well feel he's said what he has to say. See also: Bill Withers.

bill withers had HUGE hits in a much bigger country that are still on the playlists of many radio formats AND were sampled by many million-selling hip-hop artists. just sayin'.

gonna pull spirit of eden out tonight. break the headphones out.

Yeah, it's very feasible for Withers to be living off his royalties, a bit less so for Hollis. A few big European hits in the 80s might have netted him a few hundred thousand at most.

Like I said, though, dude could be living very simply! Or even just doing some quiet work somewhere at his own pace. My point re: Bill Withers wasn't in terms of comparative success so much as the latter point of my sentence before it -- if he's said what he's said to the extent he feels moved to, then his stepping away makes perfect sense.

I think No Doubt probably act as pension for Hollis.

yeah 'it's my life' is still on the radio all the time in the US in the talk talk version, plus the no doubt version...I'm sure he's doing ok.

I still hear Life's What You Make It quite often, too. The steady drip-drip-drip of PRS and royalty checks just from those two songs is probably enough for Hollis to live comfortably (if modestly); given the aescetic nature of his solo album one suspects he probably doens't live in a lavish penthouse anywhere.

Pretty sure Mark Hollis supports himself by writing jingles and adverts these days.

Josh, are you joking?

laughing stock and mark hollis s/t two albums i'm perfectly happy to own on cd. they sound amazing. i bought spirit of eden on vinyl when it came out and that sounds great too, but talk talk records - going back to colour of spring one of the first CDs i ever bought - sound great no matter how you slice them. if every cd sounded as good as laughing stock i might, uh, own a lot more cds!

^^ agree

I bought both Spirit and Laughing Stock on CD about ten years ago, because my vinyl versions were getting annoyingly crackly (especially LS). But if you're a vinyl freak, I suppose they're very tempting to own

xpost Yes, I was joking ... as far as I know!

feel like if he made another album it would just be one note on a piano for a few seconds followed by 69 minutes of silence.

it would be one perfect chord, resonating. Followed by a bowed cymbal.

It would prob be a lot like Morton Feldman

the joke will be on all of us when they regroup to tour "the partys over" in it's entirety

Two to one says that's the only photograph of him from the past decade.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, September 1, 2011 1:47 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Third picture down:
http://talktalk.rmc.fr/8/

I think that's a pic of the french guy who runs that talktalk site... (although I love the thought of Hollis wearing a Marillion t-shirt on his birthday)

^^ yeaah!

Oh y'know, the usual influences... Tago Mago, Sketches Of Spain, Forever Changes... MARILLION

There's another pic of what looks like the same guy at the bottom of this page...

http://talktalk.rmc.fr/14

...where he appears to be presenting the TalkTalk story to a group of alcoholics.

A good read here:

http://thequietus.com/articles/06963-talk-talk-laughing-stock

That is a great read. He repeats the point of "but was it really a David vs Goliath struggle? One tends to think not!" a couple of times too many to my liking, but otherwise it's a very insightful and interesting read.

"If you understand it, you do, if you don't, nothing I say will make you understand it. The only thing I can do by talking about it is detract from it. I can't add anything. Can I go home now, then?"

Was just about to post a link to that piece. Really nice.

Illuminating post on the Drowned in Sound forum of not to us Hollis hunters;

"interesting for those who wonder what the great man (hollis) is up to now - last wknd at the Electric Picnic festival in ireland he was spotted by a few people back stage. Turns out he was a guest for the wknd and was there with his wife. Not sure if he was a guest of Reynolds (the promoter who apparently is a massive fan and asks him to play each year) or Arcade Fire. I think it may be the latter as in a recent interview with the Irish Times the guitarist of AF was saying that the band were meant to meet him backstage at a gig but it didnt happen (apparently they are massive fans) and that they would try and rearrange soon (maybe the soon was Electric Picnic)"

Also, a glance over the comments section on an Irish Times article about the Electric Picnic festival yields this tale;

"Nope, not joking. Yes, Mark Hollis, bizarre but true. I got a VIP ticket through a friend who designs the site-map and I met him in the VIP area, queuing for the toilets, of all places. I recognised him as I saw a more recent picture of him in a magazine receiving some award, then when I heard the English accent I politely asked him was he Mark Hollis and he said yes, told him I was huge fan of Talk Talk, blah blah blah and left it at that. Seems like a nice guy, very unassuming, just enjoying the festival with his wife. Saw him again at Big Audio Dynamite standing at the back with his wife. A friend I was with said her Talk Talk-mad brother also met him on a plane coming over to Ireland, he told him was going on holiday in the West of Ireland and was also going to take in the Picnic. Apparently, he comes over here quite often. Gotta say I was a bit stunned after meeting him as Spirit of Eden is in my top five albums and always will be, a timeless, incredibly contemporary-sounding masterpiece of an album that bands like Radiohead owe a huge debt to."

uh oh: http://pitchfork.com/news/45195-talk-talk-celebrated-with-tribute-album-book/

'Spirit Of Talk Talk' (as it is named) is still a mighty affair which, in testament to Talk Talk's 30th anniversary, will feature 30 artists and acts and personalities including King Creosote, Alan Wilder, Jason Lytle, Zero 7, Crispin Hunt, Linton Kwesi Johnson, White Belt Yellow Tag, Electric Soft Parade, Joan As Policewoman, White Lies, Goldheart Assembly and many, many more guesting cats from Bon Iver to Arcade Fire covering 30 Talk Talk tunes from 'Today' to ‘Life’s What You Make It’ to ‘After The Flood’ in their own inimitable style.

ugh do they have to really do this

Most of that list there are contributors to the book.

(i.e. LKJ is not doing a cover version for instance)

Well we've been keeping it under our furry hat but the truth will always out. And so it is that likes of Pitchfork have picked up on the factette that we have been working in our top secret bunker on a compilation tribute album to those abstract ‘80s synthpop wonders TALK TALK. It was 1982 when Mark Hollis and pals first soared into view with a slew of deceptively commercial hit singles. However by the time Talk Talk delivered the seminal 'The Colour Of Spring' album, which brilliantly merged pop instinct with experimental flair, they'd long since shed any hint of being mere also(Duran Du)rans ... We also think Talk Talk are quite splendid because the video for 'It's My Life' featured polar bears, flamingos and flying squirrels.

Is this record being sponsored by Innocent Smoothies or something? Who writes this fucking drivel?

^ that's a quote from the Fierce Panda site btw

http://fiercepanda.co.uk/news.php?story=289

(i.e. LKJ is not doing a cover version for instance)

Y' wha?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UygMpqz9fco/SnvKMKEOkUI/AAAAAAAAAD4/xI4CVnQumrk/s320/__lintonkwesijohnsonmoretime5dh.jpg

Also, could it not be possible that Mark Hollis is getting some sort of 'fee' from the mobile phone company?

LKJ is apparently on the cover version of Inheritance with Alan Wilder.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/talk-talk-mark-hollis/talk-talk-tribute-album-book-project/10150206532049171

At least they're not soliciting for a fucking Kickstarter campaign for this.

Bring it on, sacrificial tribute album lambs.

You know what a good tribute to Talk Talk would be guys? Not recording anything!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSVC5v-evkc

http://spiritoftalktalk.com/

Now this I will buy, unlike the Felt book which I had to pass on. James Marsh is amazing.

looking forward to seeing Hollis signing copies of this at launch events the length and breadth of the land. preceded by a short acoustic session, natch

"Such A Shame" imo

otm

Colour of Spring and Spirit of Eden getting vinyl reissues.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/03/26/emi-to-reissue-classic-talk-talk-albums/

One of these days I will finally buy The Party's Over on CD so my T-shelf no longer says ALK ALK on it.

That's the only reason I own it.