It seems The Party's Over for the Christmas festivities this year, hopefully for the first and The Last Time,  but Life's What You Make It and Happiness is Easy to find inside the magical world of the Internet, although it sometimes seems like we're Living in Another World in this strange Chinese Year of the Plague. Anyway, without Another Word being said on that particular subject, it's back to the music, and this Time, It's Time to Give It Up for Talk Talk! Have You Heard the News? Their music is much more than just light-hearted Synth-Pop. It's So Serious, especially when you listen to the lyrics of their thought-provoking songs. Their Mirror Man single bears no relation to the Human League song of the same name.  it's Such a Shame that Talk Talk don't have a wider audience, although it's good to see they're still popular here Today on ProgArchives.  Even if you have no Desire to listen to Talk Talk's earlier albums and you generally Hate Synth-Pop, there's a Wealth of great music to explore in Talk Talk's five-album musical Inheritance. Check out their two superlative later Post Rock albums:  Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock. They're pure ear Candy! And finally, music means so much more to me than a simple song played on the radio. It's My Life!!

 

All song titles in Red highlights by Talk Talk

 

 

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Partys_Over_%28Talk_Talk_album%29" rel="nofollow -   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Its_My_Life_%28album%29" rel="nofollow -   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_of_Spring" rel="nofollow -   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Eden" rel="nofollow -   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Stock" rel="nofollow -

 

Talk Talk - Talk Talk

 

So you've realised they're not a synth-pop band then?

To be fair I once saw them supporting Duran Duran so they did start off like this. I'm not that familiar with their first 2 albums but the last 3 are brilliant, particularly Spirit of Eden which is the best thing ever committed to vinyl imo.

RIP Mark Hollis.

Just listen to this and marvel at its brilliance. It's actually the studio version and they're miming btw.

I like their first two Synth-Pop albums too, but Spirit of Eden is the only Talk Talk album I have on CD. I'd like to get hold of all five of their albums eventually though.

 

I had no idea Mark Hollis was no longer with us until now.

Sorry to break it to you like that, he died in Feb 2019.

http://classicalbumsundays.com/album-of-the-month-talk-talk-spirit-of-eden/" rel="nofollow - https://classicalbumsundays.com/album-of-the-month-talk-talk-spirit-of-eden/

I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised that EMI didn't know what to do with this album and tried to get Hollis to make it more commercial, to his credit he refused. This just goes to show that the average A&R dept can't recognise genius when they hear it (and probably explains why they wouldn't let the EMI A&R dept in the studio whilst they were recording).

That`s truly is a marvel at the brilliance...thanks for sharing  

So sad a truly re-maker able talent... 

 

 

"Amid its melancholic ebb and flow - a collision of Peter Green, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and The Velvet Underground - there were no album highlights. It was ALL great!"

 

Not quite on the same level, but the post-TT project of Lee Harris and Paul Webb, 'O'Rang, was also excellent and all three of their records make for very rewarding listening.

From what I have read over the years he was troubled by his brothers death from heroin ( 'I Believe In You' is about that event) and wanted to be with family/children in his later years . I have read several short articles over the years but it's unclear what his 'short illness' (his managers comment) was before he passed on.

Been meaning to buy his solo lp for many years but never got around to it.

Thanks to 'Mascodagama' for mentioning ORang..had not heard of them.

I've been following Talk Talk from when I heard the "My Foolish Friend" single on the radio in 1983. Excellent song, seems almost unknown these days. I bought their first album and must say that I was rather underwhelmed, although it has two or three tracks I like, including the Talk Talk track itself. I'm not sure why but I thought from the beginning that they are a band to keep an eye on, and an ear of course. The second album has all these hits and annoying synthpop sound, but then some really supreme songwriting and surprises such as Renee and Call In The Nightboy. Speaking of which, the Montreux live performance of Call In The Nightboy is sensational, the whole gig is. Then came Colour of Spring, which may not be prog but is a truly fantastic album - the world hasn't heard many pop songs of the quality of Living In Another World or Life's What You Make it, and the album has very subtle moments and experimentation. My brother thinks this is the best album ever, and although we otherwise rarely agree on music, I'm with him that this is a masterpiece.

And then they managed to get even better. Spirit of Eden is stunningly innovative, and listening over the whole period, I like Laughing Stock even more (although I see why some rate it slightly lower). This band has truly been a revelation to me. I still love My Foolish Friend, and I don't know any other band who became better and better in this way, in such a short time, from synthpop sound with some unclear potential to top notch innovators. 

I also love Mark Hollis' solo album and I've got to say, for me personally, the best album out of the Talk Talk cricle is actually, together with Laughing Stock, .O.rang's Herd of Instinct, that's my sound! 

Great great band and undisputed members of my personal prog big 5.

 

Bridge of Sighs is one of the best albums all time.  A perennial top 10