The Ben Wardle interview starts at about 37 minutes into the broadcast Radcliffe and Maconie - Music, chat and celebrating Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis - BBC Sounds
They often play TT on the RadMac show and both Mark Radcliffe and his co-host (who wasn’t there today) Stuart Maconie (former NME journalist) have a lot of love for the band. I never miss their weekend shows, a lot of irreverant humour and chat and great music.
A few weeks back I decided to read The Dice Man, due to at least a few TT songs having their lyrics or at least a line or two, based on this book. I can clearly see where inspiration for some of the lyrics came from, and if Mark liked the book fair enough, it gave us some interesting songs at least. For me however, this is one of the most boring books I have ever read. I rarely, and mean extremely rarely, give up on a book, but I have given up on this at page 466 of 564. I refuse to waste anymore hours of my life on a book this tedious. I had really wanted to enjoy this, but don't. Such a shame.
I remember my dad having The Dice Man paperback sometime in the 70s. Thought about reading it but the blurb on the back cover said something about the 'hero' throwing the dice to decide whether he should go and r*pe his female neighbour and decided it wasn't for me. Glad Mark got something positive out of it though.
It's My Life and Colour of Spring are my go-tos. As much as I love the last two albums, and Mark's solo, I find them to be "special" listens for me, almost always entire album. Whereas IMF and CoS are almost everyday listens, at least a few tracks, and especially the Montreux DVD. No wrong way to love TT
Interesting take on "Renee". Includes Salamanca video. “I didn’t want to lose it on the two” … ‘Renee’ … Throw that Ace
This morning, driving to and back from school I gave The Colour of Spring a listen for the first time. Now all that’s left is The Party’s Over. Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock are still my favorites by them, but “Life’s What You Make It” and “Living in Another World” are great hits, “April 5th” and “Chameleon Day” are very interesting signs of what’s to come, and “I Don’t Believe in You” displays a very chilled out yet still poppy sound that I enjoy. The other tracks are great too, and while I don’t whether I prefer this one or It’s My Life overall song-for-song, I can say I definitely prefer the sound and style of Spring.
On FB the 1986 London concert. Sounds good, this would be a nice candidate for a video upgrade. I know wehave Montreux, but there are differences in line-up, arrangements, etc. Haven't compared, so I don't know if this is the night on the London CD or not, but if it is, there's a great quality soundtrack for the upgraded video (Yes, I dream). Oh and Starts about 7:40 And it's wonderful.
Thanks for this - never saw this video before! This must be the 2nd night - May 8, which is the performance on the London 1986 CD. It starts with Tomorrow Started, whereas the previous night's show, the May 7 show recorded by the BBC and recently streamed on the BBC's web site, starts with Talk Talk and Dum Dum Girl. The London 1986 audio is a bit too compressed, but IMHO it still sounds worlds better than the audio track of this video. I'll bet someone with sufficient time on their hands could sync that YouTube video to the London 1986 audio.
Thanks, is there any chance running orders were messed with? I don't have great ears or gear, but again am way more likely to put on the Monteux DVD than the London cd. I rember a while ago my daughter and granddaughter came over with a BluRay they wanted to watch. After ejecting the tray, seeing Montreux, she said "God, is this still in here?" LOL
I haven't viewed the full YT video so I don't know the running order, but yes, there is always a chance the running orders could've been messed with. For example, the original BBC transcription LP of the May show has one track in a different location in the running order than the recent BBC online stream of the same show. (The BBC stream also edits down one other track and adds a new-to-us track that was never included on the original transcription LP.) But that said, there is no known recording of Tomorrow Started from the May 7 show and no known recording of Talk Talk and Dum Dum Girl from the May 8 show - to my knowledge, those tracks were not performed on those nights, or at least not recorded or ever made available. And from what I can tell, the version of Tomorrow Started in the YT video is the same performance as the one on the London 1986 CD.
Almost every show on the 1986 tour had the same set list. A couple of songs swapped positions on the very first few shows (eg Living In Another World was the original set closer, but was moved to allow It's My Life into the final spot early on in the tour), and the running order soon settled down. The only significant change towards the end of the tour was, occasionally, I Don't Believe In You being dropped for time reasons (see the oft-bootlegged Salamanca gig). So... with that in mind I would say it's 99.9% certain that both nights at Hammersmith had exactly the same set list and running order: Talk Talk, Dum Dum Girl, Call In The Night Boy, Tomorrow Started, My Foolish Friend, Life's What You Make It, Mirror Man / Does Caroline Know? It's You, Chameleon Day / Living In Another World, Give It Up, It's My Life. encore - I Don't Believe In You, Such A Shame Renee. You can't really trust bootlegs for 100% accurate set lists, and also radio broadcasts frequently move songs around to fit schedules etc. It's clear that both Hammersmith performances were recorded and yes it would be wonderful to hear both nights in full one day. Although the set lists would be identical, and TT were remarkably consistent in performance from show to show, this live band was stellar and the more we can hear the better!
Thanks - really informative! I'm sure you are right. Based on what you've laid out here, it seems likely that the May 8 Hammersmith show had the setlist you describe, but for whatever reason it has only ever circulated as a partial recording, from Tomorrow Started onward. Similarly, the BBC has only ever circulated the May 7 show in partial form too, with some different tracks omitted and some different ones included, but all from the same setlist no doubt. That would explain why the Montreux DVD is about 90 minutes (if memory serves), while the London 1986 CD (May 8) and the BBC releases (May 7) are each about 50-60 minutes in length.
How nice would it be to have a audio/video combo package of these 2 nights? Even if it was done as some kind of limited edition, I'd gladly pay for a CD/DVD or Blu-ray combo of these shows especially for whatever video footage exists, since we know there's audio for both. It's probably a huge rights/clearance issue to do so, but being there is so few official live releases for the band it truly is a shame they aren't better represented for history's sake.
+1 I fear a new release is unlikely sadly. I know we'd dearly love one, but the setlist for the tour was so set, many might say I have Montreux, why do I need this? Maybe a 1984/86 box? No official release from '84, which is good stuff too. I know, dream on.....
The TT Facebook page hasn't posted since July, which isn't a huge amount of time but does feel like it given there was regular TT activity for a few months. I'm curious to see if they pick up where they left off on the reissue programme. I was sceptical about releases for the sake of it, yet I've bought them all so far, so my mind was changed quickly. I have to admit that should stuff be released that has zero unreleased material and nothing different other than being packaged in a nice box, then yeah I would blink and buy it. Mark would hate all that of course!
As much as I would also love to be able to buy what you mentioned(although doubtful a BluRay would be an option to improve the Video given the year-1986 of these Concerts and why Montreaux was probably never upgraded from DVD to BluRay), now that Hollis has died a few years ago, I just do not have any hopes for such a release, as he had about 20 years since his retirement to potentially release any Talk Talk Concerts in Audio and Visual Formats, and we got nothing. Although, I have no idea if Hollis had control rights to release any Concerts(whether revised from London or Montreaux in Audio and Visual Formats or from other Concerts), or if the Music Label controls all rights to the Talk Talk Music. Seeing that there were s few recent reissued Titles on Vinyl, I guess it is possible to get a Box Set with Concerts, but I am not to hopeful. I bought 2 Copies of the London 1986 CD and the Asides/BeSides 2 CDs Set, just to make sure I have backup copies, so I love the Music of Talk Talk. I even recommended TCOS, SOE, LS and the MH Solo Album to my Neurosurgeon, a few weeks ago, as we discuss Music briefly on my occasional visits Pre & Post Surgeries I have had to try and relieve severe pain from my Damaged L4 and L5 Nerves caused by another Doctor, who did my Original Herniated Disc Surgery. It is unfortunate that Hollis retired after his only Solo Album, as we can only wonder what else he might have had to offer us Fans(which unfortunately is small in overall numbers, even among SHF Members, which I assume is the Largest Website Forum to discuss and discover Music Artists and Albums Worldwide), but then again, I have been waiting 20 Years now for an Album of New Songs from Peter Gabriel(although apparently he has plans to finally release an Album soon). I just do not know if a limited Fan Base would decrease the chances of any Talk Talk Box Set with Concerts getting made(although I discovered the Music of Pere Ubu from making a Blind Purchase on their Datapanik in the Year Zero CD Box Set just based on reading that they were an Art-Rock/Avant-Garde type of Music Artist, and assume that they had a Small Fan Base), or if Hollis controlled the rights to all of those Concerts, and if so, then if he left instructions with his Estate on blocking any potential releases, as if he wanted it done, he had plenty of time after his retirement to give us Fans what we crave. If Prince had made a Will, we might have never gotten a few of his recent Box Sets(with Songs from his Vault). Fortunately, David Bowie seemed to have pre-planned Box Sets allowed to be released after his death, but Bowie and Prince were still making New Music, while Hollis had left the Music Business for around 20 years prior to his death, so he seemed not that interested in leaving a legacy of his Music Output, including Unreleased Concerts or Completed Concerts from partial Prior Releases, along with any potential Surround Sound Remixes of the Studio Albums. I just have a feeling that aside from the recent few Vinyl Reissues, that the Book on Talk Talk has been closed. I hope I am wrong though.
