was just listening to "Such a Shame", great song! for albums it took me longer to get into Spirit of Eden than their previous albums
Fully agree. This is a classic influence on spirit of Eden. An excellent track. Also check out the recent RSD companion to in a silent way. Similar vibes.
What Mark Hollis did in the mid 1980s quitting touring at the height of his success and then creating groundbreaking albums can only find one historical example - The Beatles in 1966/1967.
I had the opportunity to get the multi cd if the complete sessions of « in a silent way » and I just can’t recommande enough to you. My favorite ... and I’m a Talk Talk fan too.
Nice post on the 1983 record - the more you put together from material of this era that showed up later, the concept makes a ton of sense (see the performance of "For What It's Worth" from a 1983 Peel cut), it really is about framing what songs fit the concept, although admittedly, I think it was likely overreaching in it's concept where someone either said no, or the band knew how hard of a sell it would of been as a follow up. I've never seen a provision tracklist myself, only what appear to be mock ups labeled unreleased/recalled/etc. - there's no way it got that far without leaking out Mark and touring... well, I always did think he was a bit odd for the scene he was in, given his age compared to everyone else making synth pop - the idea of being over 30 and having to play to crowds of mostly teenagers AND being more of a private person sounds awful. I'd call it quits then, too.
Thanks again! Wasn't aware of that BBC session but of course it's a preview of what they were planning at the time. And indeed, "For What It's Worth" sounds almost the same as the later recording. As for the quality and potential success... well, it didn't have "It's My Life" and "Dum Dum Girl" but I assume "Such a Shame" would've been there and that turned out to be a big hit, and some of the other material also had single potential. "It's My Life" became a successful album and has its fans but I've always felt that especially side 2 sounded a bit inconsistent; clearly the result of re-fitting songs originally intended for a different context even if I didn't know that when I first heard the album. And the "scrapped" tracks that we know of were not bad at all. So, I think it could have worked. It wasn't more ambitious than Tears for Fears' debut, after all. This is almost driving me insane... it's so intriguing to know there was a plan for an album, and we have most (?) of the songs, just no clear idea in what order they were supposed to be (as said before, this is one of my attempts). Can anybody ask Paul or Phil if they would still remember?
Not a terrible guess of a running order - though I'd assume that Does Caroline Know wasn't reworked until Tim showed up, as the demos leaked including Ramacon would suggest that one was still being worked on, and in the context of that album might have maintained the structure of the original demo - I didn't think of Call in The Night Boy having a reprise, though I envision it as the album track proceeding the single version as the album got closer to wrapping up. Finally, I would think "Renee" either could have been a possible choice given it's demo status as well, though it's difficult to tell where you'd fit it in the concept. Such A Shame was probably a centerpiece track, or the closer - maybe as a resolve of the narrator "eagerness to change" and the fadeout suggests it would have been unresolved? I don't have pictures/evidence now, but I recall years ago seeing the bootleg album, with a tracklist at that on some fan group - one of the regular posters more or less bragged about having this unheard LP, to which a lot of people asking for a rip, only to say it's only for a few people and he couldn't dub the LP or even show the actual record, just the sleeve. I only figured out about Phil after his posting that he indeed plays on the Call in the Night Boy single release, not Tim - maybe he's active still. Paul posts quite often, though considering how fast things were moving, it's hard to tell if either would remember.
It’s a mixed bag but there are some strong performances. I love the Nils Frahm/Peter Broderick ‘Getting Late in the Evening’ and the Jason Lytle covering ‘Tomorrow Started’. The book that was also released at the time is also a beautiful piece of work.
i mean those last few Talk Talk albums are amazing but I’d hardly consider that a valid comparison. They were hardly driving number one records all over the place. Plus the landscape had changed massively in the intervening 20 years.
That is true, Talk Talk are so much better, and their final 3 LPs have not dated at all - not a bad track there.
True the last 2 TT records did not sell. However, that doesn't make them any less innovative and influential on future musicians as Pepper was. Essentially the Velvet Underground of its day. I can name at least 2 artists very influenced: Thom Yorke and Neil Halstead.
Agree with that. Could also be the closer of side 1. That said there is this odd heartbeat / percussion coming up right at the end... which sort of leads into Renée on the LP but could also have been meant as the bridge to something else. The placement Call in the Night Boy came naturally to me. The first three tracks sound like one batch to me, and A Game, Again... A Game felt like a good opener to me, so I left it like that. To me it sounds like an intimation of the full band version, which I wish I could swap for the BBC take now that you've alerted me to it. The single version only hints at the chorus, after all. If we take that BBC session as a template though (I just realize this is all peculiarly similar to trying to piece together a studio version of Pink Floyd's The Man and the Journey, except that was performed in sequence live a lot), Why Is It So Hard could also have been the opener... Looking at that session more closely, it's also interesting that For What It's Worth is followed by the full band Call in the Night Boy... exactly as in my guessed version! Speaking of b-sides, one of my earlier attempts to make a sequence (only from songs I actually have on CD) included Without You, but had a hard time integrating it. Same really goes for It's You - lyrically it makes not much sense, but it reprises musical elements of Such a Shame, so I kept it as the closer. Sadly, no source given, but according to My Foolish Friend — Wikipédia Mark - vocals Paul - bass Phil Ramocon - piano Andy Mackay - cello
Anyone have feelings on the recent Rhino It’s My Life? Talk Talk – It's My Life (2020, Purple Translucent, 180g, Vinyl) I’m ok with my 80’s US but could always use a quality upgrade for $25. Mixed reviews on Discogs. Haven’t scoured the Rhino TV read to see if anyone discussed it there.
Please don’t misunderstand me I don’t wish to downplay the excellence or influence of Talk Talk I just think that by the 80s touring wasn’t the essential part of the mix in terms of sustaining a pop or rock career that it was in the 60s. As such Talk Talk not going on the road after 86 isn’t the seismic change that it was for a band like the Beatles in 66. I would personally argue that the Beatles were more influential but equally Spirit of Eden is as important to me personally as Pepper is.
I would add Steven Wilson, as he cited them as one of the ‘80s Music Artists on his ‘To The Bone’ Album, and he has used Ambient Music on his New Album(The Future Bites), as well on some of his early ‘90s Porcupine Tree Songs and for his No Man Band, Wikipedia mentions the influence below: With each subsequent release the band moved further away from its more conventional pop and rock roots, mirroring the evolution of artists such as Talk Talk, David Sylvian, Radiohead, Scott Walker and Kate Bush
Yes, TT's influence on the best of post-millenium music is profound. I wonder which act that is going strong now will have that influence in say 20 years.
