Talk Talk
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=91704
Printed Date: April 25 2024 at 22:50
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Talk Talk
Posted By: ShipOfFools
Subject: Talk Talk
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 04:46
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On my search for new bands, I came across this little band called Talk Talk. Being younger than most (I was born the year that their first album came out), I can't really say I knew any of their songs, but I downloaded their whole discography. The first two New Wave/pop albums are good, but the last three are superb. Especially Laughing Stock; this album is beauty on a whole different level. I am not sure if they would classify as straight up prog, but they do classify as some of the best musicians and songwriters I've ever heard. Ranking the albums: 1. Laughing Stock 2. Spirit Of Eden 3. It's My Life 4. The Colour Of Spring 5. The Party's Over -------------  "Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace" - Buddha |
Replies:
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 05:21
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1129" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1129 
or even:
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/search_results_posts.asp?SearchID=20130124052003&KW=Talk+Talk" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/search_results_posts.asp?SearchID=20130124052003&KW=Talk+Talk  ------------- What? |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 06:55
| Great band, amazing transformation from the synth-pop band I once saw supporting Duran Duran. "Spirit of Eden" is quite possibly the best album ever made. |
Posted By: Ady Cardiac
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 07:17
Spirit of eden is my favorite album of all time......yeah i still love the synthy sound from the eighties but not as much as color of spring onwards......also Mark Hollis did release 1 solo album before he split the music scene completly.....worth getting as its a nice add on to the last 2 albums.......also recently a double CD cover album came out called "the spirit of talk talk" which is also worth a look too.
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Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 08:18
| I was intrigued by their move from commercial new wave success into prog obscurity, so I checked out a few of their albums on spotify. Definitely interesting. I plan to review one of them soon. Probably Spirit of Eden |
Posted By: warrplayer
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 09:30
| Don't forget the offshoot project O'Rang. Their only album 'Herd of Instinct'. Which is where the band HOI got their name. |
Posted By: TheProgtologist
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 09:59
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Love Talk Talk,and I think their brilliant The Colour of Spring album is one of the best pop albums ever made. To the topic creator,you need to check out XTC. -------------  |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 10:23
| Everyone should check out XTC |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 10:46
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I remember when the Colour of Spring came out, it threw me for a loop because they'd ditched most of the synthesizers and gotten just a wee bit jazzy. Still didn't prepare me for Spirit of Eden, one of the biggest "musical shocks" of its time. I liked it right away, even if i still didn't really get what they were doing. A lot of their fand ditched them at that point, and everyone else just ignored it. Years later I heard about "post rock" and was glad to see that album finally getting respect it deserved. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 10:50
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And ditto about XTC. Lots to enjoy there. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: elbownut
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 11:24
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Really liked " Life's what you make it " when it first came out. Mainly on the back of this I bought their best of "Natural History" which had mainly their more poppy hits but also a few tracks from The Colour of Spring ( including Lifes what you make it"
Must confess I kinda didnt pay much attention to the other newer tracks back then
However, its only been in the last few years that I have really discovered the last three Talk Talk albums, together with the Mark Hollis one and only solo effort.
Great stuff particularly if you want to chill .
Highly recommended
------------- "Music was my first love and it will be my last" - John Miles "Music" |
Posted By: tszirmay
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 12:20
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Check out the Live in Montreux DVD, pop with serious prog tendencies ! Amazing performance by all the members but Hollis (wow!) ------------- I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth. |
Posted By: elbownut
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 12:33
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^^ may well do that. thanks ------------- "Music was my first love and it will be my last" - John Miles "Music" |
Posted By: DisgruntledPorcupine
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 12:54
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For some reason I really do not like The Colour of Spring. Their last two albums are perfect, though. |
Posted By: catfood03
Date Posted: January 24 2013 at 21:55
| Laughing Stock is in my top 10 all-time faves. It's My Life is their worst album IMHO, despite featuring a stellar title track. |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 02:24
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No Doubt-It's My Life
------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 06:24
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I thought No Doubt did a pretty good job with that song. Nothing beats the original, of course. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Ady Cardiac
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 07:29
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like i say.....the "spirit of talk talk" double CD of covers is a must......check out this outstanding version of after the flood....played this when i DJ'ed the other week......got away with it as well..... |
Posted By: ProgMetaller2112
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 17:47
No Doubt kicks ass ------------- “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four "Ignorance and Prejudice and Fear walk Hand in Hand"- Neil Peart |
HolyMoly wrote:Posted By: lucas
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 17:54
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In your love of late Talk Talk, I advise you to check the following albums : - Eyeless In Gaza - Rust Red September - The Blue Nile - Hats - Spoonfed Hybrid - s/t - David Sylvian - Secrets Of the Beehive ------------- "Magma was the very first gothic rock band" (Didier Lockwood) |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 20:23
Yes!!! Absolutely incredible ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: January 25 2013 at 20:37
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I've never seen any footage of Talk Talk apart from the video for the early single "Talk Talk". It's high time I sought out that DVD. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: TheProgtologist
Date Posted: January 26 2013 at 03:51
Agreed,got it about a year ago.Wonderful performance!  ------------- |
Posted By: Nov
Date Posted: January 26 2013 at 09:49
On the other hand, I'd say it's probably my favourite album of the 80s - and Talk Talk were my favourite band from that period, along with The Blue Nile. I saw them at Hammersmith Odeon in 1986 on The Colour of Spring tour and it's in my top 3 gigs of all time. Simply incredible. If there were two song performances I could relive, it would be "Living In Another World" from that concert and "Awaken" on the Reunion tour (by Yes of course). I also saw them supporting Genesis in 1982 but that was a whole different story................... |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: January 27 2013 at 11:04
I have heard bits and pieces from Eyeless and Blue Nile, but Secrets of the Beehive is one of my favourie albums and I do hear some hints of that in Talk Talk, but so far they have not hit the spot nearly as much
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Posted By: Nov
Date Posted: January 27 2013 at 11:08
I prefer the first album - A Walk Across The Rooftops |
Posted By: The Whistler
Date Posted: February 06 2013 at 01:39
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I have become eerily dependent on Talk Talk within the past couple of months. I think I came to them via Fripp and Eno's spacier, more spacious stuff. Really opened the whole post rock setting up for me.
------------- "There seem to be quite a large percentage of young American boys out there tonight. A long way from home, eh? Well so are we... Gotta stick together." -I. Anderson |
Posted By: catfood03
Date Posted: March 08 2013 at 19:31
| Talk Talk's contributions cannot be highlighted enough. Truly a game-changer for experimental music. |
Posted By: LinusW
Date Posted: March 10 2013 at 15:36
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Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, and to a lesser degree, The Colour of Spring. Oh yes. Love it. That spaciousness, that clarity, those dynamics, that minimalistic elegance and atmosphere. Obtuse and slightly cryptic on the surface, but still the smoothness and accessibility of what they did before, with even a few good hooks thrown in for good measure. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/LinusW88" rel="nofollow - Blargh |
Posted By: DisgruntledPorcupine
Date Posted: March 10 2013 at 15:40
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I always found it coincidental how both post-rock and post-metal were created by bands suddenly drastically changing their style. Talk Talk was new wave, then came Spirit of Eden. Neurosis was hardcore punk, then came Souls at Zero. It's a funny thing. Anyways, I love Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock to death. Not too keen on the rest (even Colour of Spring) though.
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Posted By: axeman
Date Posted: March 28 2013 at 20:26
------------- -John |
Posted By: King Only
Date Posted: May 23 2013 at 10:50
| There's a band called Bark Psychosis. Two of their albums, "Hex" and "Codename: Dustsucker" feature Lee Harris from Talk Talk and have some similarities to late-period Talk Talk. |
Posted By: Ady Cardiac
Date Posted: May 23 2013 at 11:22
| does anyone know where i can listen to the first album by "orang" on the internet?.....it was the band formed by the other two members when mark hollis split talk talk. |
Posted By: King Only
Date Posted: May 23 2013 at 11:39
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Posted By: Earthmover
Date Posted: May 23 2013 at 14:21
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Laughing Stock is slowly becoming one of my favorite albums. -------------  |
Posted By: jude111
Date Posted: May 24 2013 at 20:36
I love Hats. I only heard it for the first time maybe a year a go... Despite its 80s sound, it's still such a fantastic album and hasn't aged at all.
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Posted By: Sergey Lenkov
Date Posted: May 25 2013 at 00:23
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To be true I like 80s sound, but I remember the surprise feeling in time of the first listening to Spirit of Eden. The music is meditative, jazz influences of Miles could be heard (I suppose so). Of course Laughting Stock and Mark Hollis solo album also impressed me. I think the manner of singing by Hollis much influenced Steve Hogarth (Marillion).
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Posted By: jude111
Date Posted: May 25 2013 at 00:29
Have you heard the Blue Niles' album Hats? It's got Marillion written all over it. Clearly Hogarth is a Blue Nile fan, and has modeled his voice on Paul Buchanan's. Check out the track "Let's Go Out Tonight": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQx-6cUyHVo" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQx-6cUyHVo The thing about Talk Talk's last 3 albums was that they anticipated the sound of the 90s and 00s. I can totally hear Radiohead in some of their tracks... |
Posted By: Sergey Lenkov
Date Posted: May 25 2013 at 00:34
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Thank you for recommendation - I didn't heard Blue Nile. |
Posted By: jude111
Date Posted: May 25 2013 at 00:45
Hogarth often mentions them in interviews through the years. In one I've found online, the interviewer asks him who he's inspired by, and he says, "The Blue Nile is a huge inspiration and their singer Paul Buchanan." In a Time Out interview, Hogarth talks about his love for both the Blue Nile and Talk Talk: Q: Have you ever been so passionate about any band that you would’ve chipped in to pay their way across the ocean, or bought several records in advance? Hogarth: I think the only band I might have done it for—and I didn’t, and they never asked—had they been American, I would have probably put my money in to bring the Blue Nile over here. But as it turns out, the Blue Nile were from Edinburgh in Scotland, and they never asked, and they’re here anyway. Part of the reason I would have paid for the Blue Nile is because they were extremely uncompromising, musically. They were just doing their thing; they had nothing to do with the music business per se, really. They did have a deal with a major label for one album, but really they weren’t a band whose music was tailored to the mass market. Maybe Talk Talk, in their later years, had they said, “We’ve made this most incredible, strange record and we can’t get a label to put it out—we could do with help, how’d you feel?” I would’ve been probably in the queue with my money. http://www.timeout.com/newyork/music/interview-steve-hogarth-of-marillion-rock-pop-hip-hop |
Posted By: Takeshi Kovacs
Date Posted: May 25 2013 at 12:31
Me too! -------------  Open the gates of the city wide.... Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/TakeshiKovacs/ |
Posted By: Sergey Lenkov
Date Posted: May 26 2013 at 11:20
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Thank you, Jude111!
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Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: May 27 2013 at 19:38
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It took me years to fully appreciate Spirit of Eden. I was a big fan of
their previous albums, especially Colour of Spring, and then came this
abstract expressionistic thing that I wasn't sure how to take. I knew
there was something there but it wasn't getting through to me right
away. I forced myself to listen to it for a while. Then Laughing Stock
came out and it was more of the same, so obviously there was no going
back. These albums had no precedent to provide a frame of reference. When the appreciation finally hit me was one day when I had it turned way up and the transition from minimal ambience to grinding metal came on at the end of "Desire" and it sent the shivers up my spine, and the creepy crawlies down my lager and lime. |
Posted By: Floyd Steely
Date Posted: May 27 2013 at 20:45
Oh, snap! I'd never heard of O'Rang, but on first listen... WOW! I'm immediately far more in love with this than with Talk Talk. What a shame the album appears to be rare and out-of-print. |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: May 27 2013 at 21:00
I felt the same way............took me awhile to 'get into it'. Hollis was into heroin for awhile and I wonder if that affected the more quiet / slower musical direction. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: May 27 2013 at 22:08
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I've read that it was Mark Hollis' brother, who died from a heroin overdose, that is the subject of the heroin references rather than Mark himself. There is definitely something tortured in the vocals on the last 2 albums. Probably the most emotional vocals I've ever heard. |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: May 28 2013 at 10:11
It was implied in several articles back then that I read in some rock mags but it was unclear and it probably related to his brother. I've never heard his solo lp....while I like some of the material on the last 2 Talk Talk lp's at times they seem really slow to me. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Fox On The Rocks
Date Posted: May 28 2013 at 20:45
I Believe In You is about heroin OD, I guess his brother's. It's quite prevalent in the lyrics, check it out. ------------- 
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Posted By: Rando
Date Posted: June 01 2013 at 08:34
I'm so glad TALK TALK was finally given notice here. To me they were one of the best bands of the 80's, but I always felt were overshadowed at the time by the more poppy commercial bands like DURAN DURAN, Culture Club, etc. It didn't matter I always felt these guys were in a special league of their own, and on a much different musical plain and path as evidenced with each album.
Mark Hollis' voice was so powerful & passionate but always with a tinge of melancholy, (despair?) I don't know what was transpiring within the band's psyche to evolve musically as they did. Spirit of Eden is timeless and beautiful, need I say more."The Party's Over" is still one of my favorite earlier songs with its synth layered intro, I still feel "My Foolish Friend," "Such A Shame," "It's My Life," and "Living In Another World," are some of their most powerful (and meaningful) music.
I will never forgive NO DOUBT for their horrible & insulting cover of "It's My Life!"  ------------- - Music is Life, that's why our hearts have beats - |
Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: June 01 2013 at 23:28
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Talk Talk was often compared to some of those more popular bands like Duran Duran, but I never felt like they were overshadowed by them. They were in a different category, along with Japan. The only thing they had in common with bands like Culture Club was the decade. |
Posted By: Nov
Date Posted: June 04 2013 at 17:26
Good shout on all those tracks. When they played Living In Another World when I saw them in London in 1986, it was one of the best live moments I have ever experienced  In fact, here it is (you might even hear me whistling  ):Listen to the applause at the end - it was long, emotional and heart-felt. |
Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: June 04 2013 at 19:24
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^ What a voice. Such a shame he hung it up. In an interview in Mojo, referring to his one-note solo on After the Flood with the malfunctioning instrument the name of which escapes me at the mome, "After one note there are no notes." |
Posted By: Rando
Date Posted: June 05 2013 at 00:44
Yes, I listened to the much deserved applause, did they do an encore? I'm not sure if they toured over here to California. If they did I'm so sorry I missed them.
Although, I'm still trying to hear your whistling!   ------------- - Music is Life, that's why our hearts have beats - |
Posted By: Nov
Date Posted: June 05 2013 at 04:13
My pleasure
You mean you don't know about this?: http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-1986-Talk/dp/B00000IAKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1370423131&sr=1-1&keywords=talk+talk+live+in+london" rel="nofollow - http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-1986-Talk/dp/B00000IAKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1370423131&sr=1-1&keywords=talk+talk+live+in+london It's a tad expensive though Alternatively, PM me your address and I'll send you a copy
The encore was "Renee" which ended the evening on a gorgeous mellow note.
I don't know if they ever played in the States 
I'm sure it's there somewhere - I was dead centre in the 2nd row |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: June 05 2013 at 04:57
Awesome material, I never knew this side project existed- thanks ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: the only sane man
Date Posted: June 05 2013 at 07:24
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Brilliant band, and good to see so many people on here agreeing. However, when they supported Genesis at Milton Keynes bowl in 82, if my memory serves me correctly, they went down like a lead balloon!
 |
Posted By: Nov
Date Posted: June 06 2013 at 03:49
Yes indeed. I was there and was really enjoying them until they got bottled off by the knuckle-heads. They just shouldn't have been on the bill to be honest because at the time they were kind of considered (by Joe Public) to be Duran Duran wannabes so not quite the right image to present to early Genesis fans
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Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: June 06 2013 at 23:22
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1982 Genesis: Misunderstanding, Turn it on Again, Abacab Talk Talk: It's So Serious, Hate, The Party's Over Talk Talk was yet to reach their peak, Genesis was long past theirs. I'd have booed Genesis. |
Posted By: Nov
Date Posted: June 08 2013 at 03:55
Ah, but this was the reunion concert with Peter Gabriel where Genesis offered to bail him out when the first WOMAD festival lost a shed load of money Apart from Solsbury Hill and Turn It On Again, the entire set was from the Gabriel era |
Posted By: Earthmover
Date Posted: June 08 2013 at 17:43
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Laughing Stock > every single Genesis and Yes album combined. A top 10 album. A desert island album. ------------- |
Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: June 08 2013 at 18:21
Oh, THAT concert! Well then it makes sense. |