Talk Talk (RIP Mark Hollis)

Wow at the Fumbling comparison, v v otm

Man, some of the editing/mixing on Spirit of Eden is so incredible -- there's that moment in Rainbow where it goes from the sort of "verse" part into I guess what could be called a refrain, where there's this very quick and smooth transition from an almost screechy sound into what sounds almost like a building up church organ swell into a hammond organ and then suddenly everything drops out and it's just the piano, chills

even more impressive when you factor that much of the record was made by piecing together chunks of improvisation

Wow at the Fumbling comparison, v v otm

― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, February 28, 2019 12:37 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sarah and pierre marchand talked about spirit of eden in interviews a lot around the time, whenever they were asked about the sound of solace/fumbling/surfacing. the only reason i know about this is bc i had to research it lol but it was a huge revelation

Rocko Schamoni, a German musician, ex-punk, writer, comedian and entertainer had planned to seek out Mark Hollis and give him some flowers to say thank you for all. Unfortunately it won't happen anymore. But at least he made a song. Mark Hollis lebt!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5nulPjQD_o

i am gonna listen to sarah mclachlan now it seems!

i mostly like that SM record but it doesn't much in common with SoE beyond the instrumental palette iirc

Pictures of Bernadette. Such a weird tune.

Just refreshed my memory of this one. That riff in the chorus sounds like 96 Tears or something! Like 'Talk Talk' the song, it reminds me a lot of Teardrop Explodes, another band that were purported to be Duran Duran-esque new pop but had a big splash of garage psych about them

and the title seems like a Who nod.

Not strictly a b side, but Why Is It So Hard (from 84, a film soundtrack song) is amazing. The Asides Besides compilation is fabulous and was v important to me when I was first exploring TT.

Was that the one Hollis pushed back on? Or was it the remixes release?

and the title seems like a Who nod.

The Who Tops

It was the remixes album I think xp

Asides Besides has some extended mixes on the first disc which I understand he wasn’t always keen on, but the second disc is purely b sides (and Why Is It So Hard).

https://www.allmusic.com/album/asides-besides-mw0000455804

and the title seems like a Who nod.

He did start off in a mod band after all.

could also be a nod to status quo

Asides Besides is not a cash in, it is absolutely essential (for disc 2)

One thing that hasn’t been discussed in this global wake is his peculiar habit of titling songs (or albums) after pre-existing classic songs to which they bear no resemblance whatsoever. This practice stretches from the first album all the way to his solo.

btw quo also had songs called 'caroline', 'looking out for caroline' and 'the party ain't over yet'. massive quo fan was hollis

Asides Besides has some extended mixes on the first disc which I understand he wasn’t always keen on, but the second disc is purely b sides (and Why Is It So Hard).

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy)

maybe he wasn't, but the extended "life's what you make it" (actually a completely different recording afaik) is great

i never should have traded that comp. it's so amazing.

has anyone ever heard this?

i like the song that goes 🎶my polish friend/don’t try to live my life 🎶

Here's the Anja Garbarek album Mark co-produced/arranged(and played bass, piano & melodica)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxCxoiuLG7c

Steven Wilson, Robert Wyatt and Richard Barbieri are also on there, quite a line-up.

from two separate interviews in 1994:

But unlike Gabriel, whose interest in exotic rhythms derived in large part from his own interest in the sound of other cultures, McLachlan doesn't spend her time listening to recordings of African and Asian music. Or much of anything else.

"I used to listen to Peter Gabriel," she says. "I don't listen to anybody now."

Why not? "I just don't hear anything I like" she says. "Haven't for years. Or else it's a I-like-it-but-now-I'm-over-it kind of thing. So I have my five or 10 CDs that I've had for five or 10 years -- the music that I've liked. I've got 'Thursday Afternoon' by Brian Eno, I've got 'Closing Time' by Tom Waits, 'Spirit of Eden' by Talk Talk, and those are the only CDs I've listened to for years. I keep going back to them, because they fulfill me."

What kinds of things can a songwriter do to be open and ready to write?

Well, for me on this new record, it was mainly secluding myself, being away from society and being away from everything. I locked myself up in a cabin in the mountains and stayed there for seven months. It was just an amazing time for me to really focus on a lot of stuff that had sort of been lurking behind the scenes in my brain, but never had the time to come out. Or it kept being put aside, because there were so many distractions. Also I think, I got incredibly in tune with the earth, with nature, like I hadn’t before. I couldn’t write a thing for three months. My brain was eating itself. It was terribly cold out and I couldn’t do anything creative. I was just frozen. Everything was churning around inside but nothing would come out. Then spring happened and everything totally opened up. I was blossoming as well.

Most of the songs were written then, between April and May. The place I got to in myself of feeling calm and peaceful and also for the first time in my life, feeling I’m happy now. Not “I would be happy if … “ There was always that going on with me. I finally got to a place where I was totally happy and peaceful and living in the present tense instead of in the future.

Did you go into that experience with any sort of agenda?

Well, in the process of not being able to write, I kept a journal, these sort of morning pages. I wrote three pages before I’d do anything else, just to try and clear my head. Most of it was totally banal like “Mmm, coffee smells good, I have nothing to say, I have nothing to say” (laughs) for 10 times. But sure enough, about midway through the second page, sometimes I’d really open up and all this stuff would come out. You know, you’re not really awake yet and you’re just sort of spewing whatever’s on the top of your head in free form. And there was no editing happening there at all, because no one was going to read this book. I could say whatever I wanted. I didn’t have to hide behind anything, and I think that really helped me. To be really open and honest with myself, that was good. I’m pretty good at deceiving myself or I’ve known myself to do that in the past (laughs).

Did you listen to music while you were there?

I listened to a lot of Tom Waits, and Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden, which is one of my favorites.

and from a Reddit AMA a few years ago:

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Sisiwakanamaru
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4 years ago
I have two questions:
What is your favorite song and album at the moment?
What is your favorite dessert?
Thank you.
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_SarahMcLachlan
67 points
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4 years ago
My Desert Island CD, if that is what you're asking, would be Talk Talk Spirit of Eden.

Probably chocolate eclairs. It's got a bit of all the good things - pastries, fat cream, chocolate.

xp Austin The Missing Pieces is disappointing, a slightly different mix / edit of AtF (basically foregrounding a lot of the shimmer / haze elements to fill up the track, and a different harmonica fill), three unmodified album cuts, "Stump" which is a murky drum, bass and guitar jam, "5:09" which is little mix elements from "New Grass" reversed and looped and stuff, and then "Piano" which I don't quite understand - it's an attractive, spare improv (by the sounds of it) but Discogs says it's "from the Allinson-Brown AV-1 album" which lists John Cope as the composer and nary a TT member on the disc credits. So why is it on a TT disc? Phill Brown produced it?

I still wish I had picked them up as they were released at the time, with a very beautiful piece of art:

https://www.discogs.com/Talk-Talk-Laughing-Stock-CD-Collection/release/12463899

I remember seeing it somewhere in 1992 but I didn't have money to spare for it. So I'm very glad for the resultant comp, with the extra track for whatever reason.

To my shame I bought this last year, hadn't heard the B sides and I was curious. Set me back around $50 off eBay.

Excuse my conversation with myself here, but it turns out "John Cope" is a Hollis pseudonym and so it's him on "Piano".

Love that 5:09 is listed as 5:11 long.

And yes, John Cope is a Hollis alias. After some BBC sound recordist or something? The song of the same name is incredible.

I think someone who worked with Hitchcock?

Rather good tribute show from Huey Morgan on 6 Music today. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002syd

Anyone seen this yet????

I dunno if it's Paul Webb or TF Greene, I"m guessing the latter but it's lovely to hear.

https://soundcloud.com/user-947232876/eden-rehearsal-cassette

Guess the record wasn't quite as pieced together as we'd been led to believe...

Greene posted that SoundCloud link on Twitter earlier today

And I have to agree with Matthewk above that Missing Pieces isn't worth buying. Listening to my copy now. The only great unavailable track is Piano, a solo piano piece.

Good God, I've spent a beautiful evening with a bottle of red and "Laughing Stock" on headphones.

Simon Reynolds on Mark Hollis.

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/28/698650688/mark-hollis-and-talk-talks-brilliant-nuanced-stubborn-visions

I think Why Is It So Hard is a close relation of It’s My Life.

Man, some of the editing/mixing on Spirit of Eden is so incredible -- there's that moment in Rainbow where it goes from the sort of "verse" part into I guess what could be called a refrain, where there's this very quick and smooth transition from an almost screechy sound into what sounds almost like a building up church organ swell into a hammond organ and then suddenly everything drops out and it's just the piano, chills

Associated with this^^: there's a phenomenon I associate with Talk Talk - particularly the last two records and the solo Hollis - where I get a sort of anxiety that I can't remember the track names or the shape and depth of the music: a kind of sonic amnesia. It's not until the moment of listening that I find I can navigate the sonic field and the safety and familiarity returns. I wouldn't say it was just Talk Talk but it's certainly more pronounced with them. Dunno if it's age-related or indeed if it's even worthy of comment but it's definitely a thing.

I think it's worthy of comment, definitely; I feel like I experience the same thing. It's like you can't conceive of it unless you're in it.

Yeah, that's it. It's like a Borgesian puzzle or the uncanny spaces in House of Leaves.

I read that as House of Fraser and started to think that was a Talk Talk connection I'd not come across before.

there's a phenomenon I associate with Talk Talk - particularly the last two records and the solo Hollis - where I get a sort of anxiety that I can't remember the track names or the shape and depth of the music: a kind of sonic amnesia. It's not until the moment of listening that I find I can navigate the sonic field and the safety and familiarity returns

this is why laughing stock always sounds new to me, even though i've listened to it thousands of times

Here's a question for you: how do you interpret the title 'Laughing Stock'? why call it that?

Because it was the title of a Love song and he liked titling things after 60s favorites

Mirror Man, For What it’s Worth, Daily Planet...

ooh, i never thought of that!

It also feels deliberately inscrutable as a title but in an oddly throwaway fashion.