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TALK TALK SUBSCRIBERS We asked our subscribers what Talk Talk meant to them . . . and here's what some of the people on the Spirit Of Talk Talk mailing list had to say...
It's been nearly six years since I properly discovered Talk Talk. I'd had 'It's My Life' on a 'Now!' compilation since 1990. When I heard 'Life's What You Make It' on the radio in the summer of 1994, I decided to try and track down a Talk Talk album, managing to get my hands on 'Natural History'. I think it must have been a couple of months before the cassette left my tape player. The release featured some classic Eighties pop, but there was clearly more about Talk Talk than just producing music for the charts; the second half of the compilation was evidence of that. Mark Hollis' unique voice, the moving lyrics, and varied melodies made it unique and wonderful listening.
'Natural History' had such an effect on me that by the end of the year I'd purchased three more Talk Talk albums; 'It's My Life', 'The Colour Of Spring', and 'Spirit Of Eden'. I listened to them in chronological order, and the magical progression in Talk Talk's songs, as Mark Hollis' songwriting stature just grew and grew, was incredible. I don't think I've ever been caught by the sheer beauty, and magic of the music on any release, quite like I was on 'The Colour Of Spring' and 'Spirit Of Eden'. Every song screamed out 'Classic!' and every little detail about every song was perfect; every single note was perfect. Spirit Of Eden is probably my favourite of all Talk Talk's albums, with 'I Believe In You' my favourite track, but it's by no means an easy choice.
My collection of Talk Talk releases has since swelled dramatically. I've
bought their first and last studio albums, 'The Party's Over' and
'Laughing Stock', whilst also getting hold of 'Asides Besides',
'The Very Best Of Talk Talk', and 'London 1986'. Talk Talk have
to be one of the best live bands of all time. Few bands can match
their studio standard when performing in concert, but Talk Talk
actually surpassed there's. 'Renee', 'Tomorrow Started' and
'Does Caroline Know' where all good tracks on the band's 2nd album,
but on the live release they became superb, thanks to the reworking
of them. The b-sides of the band's work is a breath of fresh air
in an age when so many 'manufactured' bands are featured in the
charts, serving the only purpose of satisfying the management
of their record company. But Talk Talk took a genuine pride in every
song they wrote. No songs were ear-marked as singles, then the rest
of the album filled with weak cover versions. Talk Talk's music was
beautifully unique. It was brilliant to see the return of Mark Hollis
in 1998 and I like the music of .O.rang as well. After the last three
Talk Talk albums, and the Mark Hollis debut, I've found myself wondering
where can he/they go from here. Each time the results have been
surprising and wonderful. Let's hope we hear lots more from Mark,
Paul and Lee in their respective solo careers in the new millenium.
Wonderful lyrics, amazing vocals, beautiful music - Talk Talk are simply one
of the greatest bands of all time. Well, I got into Talk Talk after hearing, "It's My Life" on the radio in 1984 (which made me about 11). My sister then got me the album, and I've been hooked ever since. I wish I could've seen them in concert, but I was too young at the time. I'm not the hugest fan of their later work, except "Spirit of Eden" is pretty good. I just can't seem to get into "Laughing Stock". I think I'll always be a fan no matter what. They're just a cool group.
Since my late twenties I've become much more
selective about the kind of musick I listen to. I
discard acts that are derivative (Nirvana, Wyclef
Jean)for others that are either innovative, evocative,
daring or just adult (TT, D. Sylvian, XTC). I do this
not for the sake of being different, which in essence
is boring, but for the sake of quality.
Talk Talk is one of the few pop bands that I have
actually something to say about, and sharing those
thoughts with people who have experienced Talk Talk's
music truly interests me.
Like most music that I love, it's very difficult for me to pinpoint
exactly what it is that makes me love it so much. Talk Talk were a band
that I'd been aware of since the mid-80's, but I was only around 10 or
11 at that time, and the music just passed me by. Even when singles were
issued around the time of Natural History I was pretty much oblivious.
Then, I borrowed a compilation from a friend which included It's My
Life. The song just connected with me immediately. The atmosphere and
melody of the music struck a real chord with me, and I loved the sound
of Mark's voice. As I have a slightly addictive personality, especially
when it comes to music, I just had to know more about this band. I went
out and bought Natural History to try and give myself a broad view of
the music. I loved it and then started to build up my collection as
quickly as I could afford to...
Around four years later, I still listen to Talk Talk regularly and the
music means a huge amount to me. The way in which the band developed so
much in it's life span is something I admire hugely - not enough bands
and musicians are brave enough to make that kind of progress. As I think
I've mentioned on the list before, I don't necessarily pay a lot of
attention to the lyrics. For me, I feel that the feel and intention of
the song comes across in Mark's delivery of the vocal, and as long as
Mark feels for what he is singing, that will be apparent in the song.
Spirit of Eden is possibly my favourite album of all time, and those
final two albums are absolutely superb in my view.
Mark Hollis is a musician that I have a great deal of respect for. His
songwriting partnership with Tim Friese-Greene was a period of brilliant
creativity, and something that I will always enjoy. Similarly, Lee
Harris is a hugely talented drummer, and I often think his contribution
to Talk Talk is poorly represented in terms of songwriting.
So, in a nutshell, Talk Talk are responsible for some of my favourite
ever music, and I will always be grateful to my friend who lent me that
compilation !
I don't think it is possible to communicate what it really is that makes you
connect to a certain kind of music while other music leaves you cold.
Must be something like chemistry, deep below the surface...Nevertheless
a deep emotional experience (like listening to TT) makes you want to talk
about it, so here we are:
I really discovered TT after they had ceased to exist, listening to a tape
given to me by someone with excerpts from LS on it. As a result I bought
the CD and listened to the music lying on the sofa curtains closed and
lights out, which I hadn't done since listening to Gustav Mahler's sixth
symphony back in my schooldays. In fact I grew up listening more to classical
music, and when I turned to Pop it was so called progressive rock I liked
most. I had heard Such a Shame in the eighties, as it got a lot of
airplay in Germany, and thought it was an extremely good Pop song at the
time, and when in the nineties I discovered there was one band behind this
catchy Pop tune and LS I really wanted to know all about the band. So the thing
that strikes me most about TT is that they connect two sides of my
"musical personality": the "avantgarde-esperimental" approach to music as
well as my hunger for catchy, melancholic if not sentimental Pop tunes.
And then there is this feeling that the music of TT has something to do with
me and with life in general: it's life squeezed until music comes out, like
you begin talking when as a child you are alone and frightened, or you
scream out of horror or joy. So even in TT's most elaborate moments (e.g. in
LS) it all comes down to expressing and communicating.
That leads me to commenting Mark Hollis' solo CD, which has also been
a topic lately. I like it very much, and it certainly has more to do with
LS than with It's my Life, but on the whole I can't help finding the
athmosphere a little claustrophobic. Almost too intimate to materialize. I am probably the oldest member of the list- born in April 1955. I first began enjoying the band when I saw the video of Such A Shame. I didn't care for the single "Talk Talk" and thought the band to be just another English techno group. So I bought the second album, and was hooked by the unique melodies and involved arrangements. Although I bought each subsequent album as it was released, I became less thrilled with the way the group was evolving. Usually, musicians start off as rebels, and become commercial. With Talk Talk, it was the reverse. It took many years for me to begin appreciating Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock. I keep Talk Talk CD's in my car for myself and my 11 year old son, who loves the first album, and various songs from The Colour of Spring. I've recently purchased Asides Besides, and obtained Natural History. It was incredible to see the videos again after so many years! A couple of years passed and I was impressed by the "It's My Life" video when it arrived. Surprisingly that song even made it onto US radio (I think it was one of maybe 3 TT tracks to ever get played with any rotation). I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Talk Talk was opening for the Psychedlic Furs at their upcoming show (March 1984 I think). But frankly I was expecting both "synth" and "pop." What they played absolutely blew me away. This discussion group has talked a lot about their live performances on the 1986 tour and I regret that TT never made it to the states for Colour of Spring. But the 40 minutes I saw 15 years ago were extremely powerful and are etched in my memory. Lee Harris walked onto a darkened stage and kicked on the drum machine for what I would later learn was "Such a Shame." Slowly, one-by-one, the band members entered each adding his part to the tune. Finally Mark arrived and bellowed the line from the refrain "It's a Shame!" Hollis' voice and the band's beautiful arrangements took me to a musical space that I had not before experienced. And they weren't afraid to play solemn ballads amidst the pop hits and moody landscapes. Despite how many people have dismissed the first two albums, I think they are both examples of great songwriting and great arranging, particularly It's My Life. But some of the studio tracks on those records just don't do justice to the music. Renee being a very obvious example. It goes without saying that the Furs ran a distant second at that show. And I was hooked on Talk Talk. Strangely enough, although I immediately connected with both Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock when they were released, Colour of Spring didn't make sense to me until I ran into some serious relationship problems. All of a sudden Hollis' lyrics had a great deal of meaning to me and I became passionate about the album and the band. Maybe because of this, it is difficult for me to relate to Talk Talk without considering the lyrics. It was as if someone had lifted a veil of confusion: "as bad as bad becomes it's not a part of you and love is only sleeping wrapped in neglect." I think the music is the whole package. Talk Talk did it right. The songwriting, the lyrics, the arrangements, the graphics. Every detail seemed to be considered. And when it was over for them as a group, it was over. Isn't it amazing that no one on this list or at the Within Without discussion board has ever mentioned the desire to have the band reunite? What could those three (four) individuals produce that could possibly match the five albums they made. Forget about the Beatles--the progression made by Talk Talk between 1982 and 1988 is mind-boggling. There just isn't another band that even comes close. And I think what it says is that despite the style they chose, they were always about getting it right. I was sat on my sisters couch in the early spring of 1985, in Luneburg Germany. My sister lived there with her German husband. I put in a video of some German music show. The first band on was a group called Talk Talk, with a video called Such A Shame. I must have played that video about twenty times that day. The music, the bass and drums, the vocals singing with such passion and force! I had no money to buy any of their stuff at the time. So I went back to Leeds, England and got a job just so I could buy their albums and singles. I got a job delivering milk at 4am in the morning, before I'd go to school. I walked into HMV in Leeds and bought Such A Shame on 12inch single. Then I got It's my Life on 12inch and 7inch, amazing music, to the point of closing my eyes and I'd be somewhere else. Then The Colour of Spring came out. I bought all the singles and tapes and everything I could get my hands on. When I would play Time Its Time, I would start to spin and dance and just get lost in the pure brilliance of the music. That album became my Bible to life. I once played this song to a friend of mine who was a Catholic Priest, he said of Time its Time, "This is the music they will be playing in Heaven" Then nothing for two years, until Spirit of Eden. I remember skipping school, so I could go buy it first when the stores opened at 9am. I ran in Virgin Record store and looked franticly for the new album. I saw this white album with a picture of Birds and Shells on a tree? What the hell is this? I pick it up, I look on the back. There is only six songs on this, it must be their EP or a Single. But no, it was their album. I took it home, I listend to it straight away. WOW, What am I listening to? I got my friend James to skip school in the afternoon, so he could come listen to it with me. We listend to it, September 16th 1988. At the end of the album we were speechless, now we know where they were coming from with "It's getting late" and "Chameleon Day". At first I did not understand what Mark and Co were trying to convey. I read all the interviews with him and the Band, and I began to realise, TRUTH..... They are trying to become more truthful in their music. More open to the wonders that being free and true to yourself can bring. I love this Album! Nine years later I played this album at the birth of my Son. I want him to live truth in music and life. Then three years after Spirit came Laughing Stock. I skipped a day of Nursing College so I could go and buy the album, September 21st 1991 at 9am.I Took it to my new Student Housing and listend. Could they have gone off the predictable path any further? YES! Miles Davis and Coltrane would have been proud of this band. Such purity and belief, they are the genuine article of music in my life. Whenever you want to slow real down, meditate, fight, yell, scream, love and lose, Talk Talk have a song for you. They are never out of my mind or CD player. I finally have found all their stuff, fifteen years after I first heard Such a Shame on that green leather couch in my sisters house. I love their music, I love their intent, I love their pursuit of real, true sounding forms of communication between player and listener!
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