such a shame
February 25, 2019 12:33 PM Subscribe
Since then, Hollis’ whereabouts have become unknown. There haven’t been any reformations or hits of reunions. The music—from Talk Talk’s debut single, the absurdly confident romantic synth-stomp of 1982’s “Mirror Man” through to Mark Hollis—is still there, ripe and ready for revision. The work remains, even when the artist is no longer present. And the work, surely, should remain the important thing.A career retrospective of Mark Hollis, front man of eighties pop group Talk Talk, who twenty years ago retired from pop music, as reports come in he's passed away today.
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It's My Life is still a go-to album for me when I want something a bit more contemplative to listen to when I'm alone.
posted by NoMich at 12:38 PM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
It's My Life is still a go-to album for me when I want something a bit more contemplative to listen to when I'm alone.
posted by NoMich at 12:38 PM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
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posted by supermedusa at 12:38 PM on February 25, 2019
posted by supermedusa at 12:38 PM on February 25, 2019
This article seems to project a lot onto Hollis. Did he really “slink away?” Who would know?
posted by 41swans at 12:40 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 41swans at 12:40 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
all we do is . .
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:46 PM on February 25, 2019
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:46 PM on February 25, 2019
Talk Talk was never one of my favorite bands but some of their songs are my favorite songs, and I listen to them regularly still. I did not even know about Hollis’s solo album; just downloaded it from Apple Music to give it an in memoriam listen. Thanks for the post.
posted by ejs at 12:48 PM on February 25, 2019
posted by ejs at 12:48 PM on February 25, 2019
Augh. This is hitting me harder than I expected it to.
This here
posted by salt grass at 12:49 PM on February 25, 2019
This here
posted by salt grass at 12:49 PM on February 25, 2019
Mark Hollis's s/t record is my favorite record. The mythos behind its creation has more to do with the way that I approach making music today than just about anything else. His voice is my favorite voice. The particular brand of transgressive joy that the last two Talk Talk records represent (just a total fuck you to the music industry and a brilliant raucous joyful sound)... they represent everything that I love about myself and how important it is to tell people to just fuck off so that you can be yourself.
Listen to the Mark Hollis record if you can, straight through, maybe in the dark with something nice to drink. It made me weep before this news, even.
Best to you on your ascension day, Mr. Hollis. We loved you, we didn't deserve you.
posted by n9 at 12:59 PM on February 25, 2019 [18 favorites]
Listen to the Mark Hollis record if you can, straight through, maybe in the dark with something nice to drink. It made me weep before this news, even.
Best to you on your ascension day, Mr. Hollis. We loved you, we didn't deserve you.
posted by n9 at 12:59 PM on February 25, 2019 [18 favorites]
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posted by Keith Talent at 1:15 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Keith Talent at 1:15 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
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In my mind, the final two Talk Talk albums (Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock) form a trilogy with the Mark Hollis album. Play all three back to back for a truly epic experience that defies categorization. We lost a genius today.
posted by /\/\/\/ at 1:21 PM on February 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
In my mind, the final two Talk Talk albums (Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock) form a trilogy with the Mark Hollis album. Play all three back to back for a truly epic experience that defies categorization. We lost a genius today.
posted by /\/\/\/ at 1:21 PM on February 25, 2019 [10 favorites]
The grasp of pop sensibility and musical eccentricity always made Talk Talk one of my favorite bands and Hollis one of my iconic musicians. Really a singular body of work.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:32 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by octobersurprise at 1:32 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
If you haven't heard it already, you should give his original punk version of the song Talk Talk a listen. It's amazing.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:39 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:39 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
If you haven't heard it already, you should give his original punk version of the song Talk Talk a listen.
"Mark Hollis started from punk and by his own admission he had no musical ability. To go from only having the urge, to writing some of the most timeless, intricate and original music ever is as impressive as the moon landings for me." - Guy Garvey, Elbow
posted by prinado at 2:05 PM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
"Mark Hollis started from punk and by his own admission he had no musical ability. To go from only having the urge, to writing some of the most timeless, intricate and original music ever is as impressive as the moon landings for me." - Guy Garvey, Elbow
posted by prinado at 2:05 PM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
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Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden are hard to beat.
posted by porn in the woods at 2:33 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden are hard to beat.
posted by porn in the woods at 2:33 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Talk Talk were a band with such a fascinating arc -- to go from being a talented but not-especially-distinguished-from-the-pack 80s synth-pop band to the group that recorded Spirit of Eden is just a remarkable transformation. In fact, I'm just gonna quote Jason Ankeny's Allmusic.com review in its entirety, as I agree with every word of it:
Anyway.. if you only know Talk Talk from their early work it's probably time to fix that, and to spare a thought to appreciate the work of a remarkable group of artists, one of whom is now gone.
This Spirit of Eden era B-side is also well worth a listen.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:35 PM on February 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
Compare Spirit of Eden with any other previous release in the Talk Talk catalog, and it's almost impossible to believe it's the work of the same band -- exchanging electronics for live, organic sounds and rejecting structure in favor of mood and atmosphere, the album is an unprecedented breakthrough, a musical and emotional catharsis of immense power. Mark Hollis' songs exist far outside of the pop idiom, drawing instead on ambient textures, jazz-like arrangements, and avant-garde accents; for all of their intricacy and delicate beauty, compositions like "Inheritance" and "I Believe in You" also possess an elemental strength -- Hollis' oblique lyrics speak to themes of loss and redemption with understated grace, and his hauntingly poignant vocals evoke wrenching spiritual turmoil tempered with unflagging hope. A singular musical experience.I always regretted Hollis' apparent retreat from music but it was always understandable to me.
Anyway.. if you only know Talk Talk from their early work it's probably time to fix that, and to spare a thought to appreciate the work of a remarkable group of artists, one of whom is now gone.
This Spirit of Eden era B-side is also well worth a listen.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:35 PM on February 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
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Spirit of Eden -- side one ...
“Springtime, 1989, the year I ended up in London somehow. It’s a long story, which only matters here because that’s where I found Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. Lonely, very low on cash, wandering through the big HMV near Piccadilly and there it was on cassette, remaindered, dead cheap. What I knew of Talk Talk was that they were a better than average synth-pop outfit. What I was completely unprepared for was the deep and spacious and ultimately gobsmackingly epic first side of Spirit of Eden – three titles (The Rainbow, Eden + Desire) but all one seamless song to my ears, and exactly what I needed to set my soul free and get my thinking straight toward sorting out the problem of the rest of my life. I left town the next day.”
posted by philip-random at 2:51 PM on February 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Spirit of Eden -- side one ...
“Springtime, 1989, the year I ended up in London somehow. It’s a long story, which only matters here because that’s where I found Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. Lonely, very low on cash, wandering through the big HMV near Piccadilly and there it was on cassette, remaindered, dead cheap. What I knew of Talk Talk was that they were a better than average synth-pop outfit. What I was completely unprepared for was the deep and spacious and ultimately gobsmackingly epic first side of Spirit of Eden – three titles (The Rainbow, Eden + Desire) but all one seamless song to my ears, and exactly what I needed to set my soul free and get my thinking straight toward sorting out the problem of the rest of my life. I left town the next day.”
posted by philip-random at 2:51 PM on February 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
Joining in the Spirit of Eden praise. One of the finest albums of the rock era.
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posted by Joey Michaels at 2:52 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by Joey Michaels at 2:52 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by snortasprocket at 2:53 PM on February 25, 2019
posted by snortasprocket at 2:53 PM on February 25, 2019
Music From Beyond: Talk Talk's 'Spirit of Eden' at 30
"Often credited as one of the first post-rock albums — and therefore a genesis point for whole new sounds that developed in the ’90s and ’00s — Spirit Of Eden is an album that plenty of artists have claimed as an influence. Yet while you can make arguments for Spirit Of Eden’s cultural importance, if you’re looking at it as an album, as its own work, there are perhaps even larger arguments to be made. The few words that are sung on Spirit Of Eden occasionally betray a spiritual bent. That’s the territory the album is traveling to.
"Pop catharsis might allow us to transcend ourselves from time to time, but the kind of experimentation that Spirit Of Eden was built on, and the effects it has on your mind, are the sort built for breaking into the heavens, for wrestling with ideas beyond communication. This is often the power of the ambient and/or improvisational music Talk Talk were drawing upon: those moments when something cosmic seems to enter the music, beyond what any one musician could have dreamt up, the moments when it feels as if there is some outside power interacting with the players in the room.
posted by vverse23 at 3:24 PM on February 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
"Often credited as one of the first post-rock albums — and therefore a genesis point for whole new sounds that developed in the ’90s and ’00s — Spirit Of Eden is an album that plenty of artists have claimed as an influence. Yet while you can make arguments for Spirit Of Eden’s cultural importance, if you’re looking at it as an album, as its own work, there are perhaps even larger arguments to be made. The few words that are sung on Spirit Of Eden occasionally betray a spiritual bent. That’s the territory the album is traveling to.
"Pop catharsis might allow us to transcend ourselves from time to time, but the kind of experimentation that Spirit Of Eden was built on, and the effects it has on your mind, are the sort built for breaking into the heavens, for wrestling with ideas beyond communication. This is often the power of the ambient and/or improvisational music Talk Talk were drawing upon: those moments when something cosmic seems to enter the music, beyond what any one musician could have dreamt up, the moments when it feels as if there is some outside power interacting with the players in the room.
posted by vverse23 at 3:24 PM on February 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
In the world of music, there are times when art prevails. By art, I mean the individual’s vision that needed to be seen. And in some cases, a vision realized by a group. I’m so glad I’ve had their music since the early 90’s. I listen to it frequently now. In a way, it’s as if the music slowly retreated back into the mind of the artist over their last few albums. This news only signifies the final retreat.
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posted by njohnson23 at 4:07 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by njohnson23 at 4:07 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
One very specific memory I have about Spirit of Eden..
Many years ago, during the years when I was living in Ann Arbor in an orbit around the university, sometimes a student, sometimes staff, occasionally neither for a while until I fell back into its gravity, I remember going to a stranger's house to buy a set of second-hand stereo speakers -- they were nothing exorbitant (I think they were Boston Acoustics?) but maybe the first set of halfway-decent ones I was able to afford on my own.
The seller offered me a chance to audition the speakers before purchase and so I asked him to put on the copy of Spirit of Eden I had brought with me for that purpose -- I had chosen it because it was an album with which I was intimately familiar and because its dynamic range and surprising variety of instrumentation make it somewhat better suited as a test than much of the other music to which I was commonly listening in the early 90s (I mean "Loveless" and "Psychocandy" were (are) both brilliant but even after a thousand listens neither's ever going to be an album where I can pick out how every note's supposed to sound.)
Anyway, during the first couple minutes of the opening track, which are low and rumbling and where it's not really even clear what you are listening to, he wore an expression which I can best describe as "let's get this over so you can give me the money and leave." Then at about two minutes into the opener the main line comes in, one bit at a time, and within thirty seconds the expression on his face had clearly changed to "wait, don't turn that off, I need to listen to this.." Before I could leave with the speakers he made me write down the name of the album and the artist for him..
I got many years of use out of the speakers and was well content with my purchase but I think he probably still got the most out of our exchange.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:08 PM on February 25, 2019 [15 favorites]
Many years ago, during the years when I was living in Ann Arbor in an orbit around the university, sometimes a student, sometimes staff, occasionally neither for a while until I fell back into its gravity, I remember going to a stranger's house to buy a set of second-hand stereo speakers -- they were nothing exorbitant (I think they were Boston Acoustics?) but maybe the first set of halfway-decent ones I was able to afford on my own.
The seller offered me a chance to audition the speakers before purchase and so I asked him to put on the copy of Spirit of Eden I had brought with me for that purpose -- I had chosen it because it was an album with which I was intimately familiar and because its dynamic range and surprising variety of instrumentation make it somewhat better suited as a test than much of the other music to which I was commonly listening in the early 90s (I mean "Loveless" and "Psychocandy" were (are) both brilliant but even after a thousand listens neither's ever going to be an album where I can pick out how every note's supposed to sound.)
Anyway, during the first couple minutes of the opening track, which are low and rumbling and where it's not really even clear what you are listening to, he wore an expression which I can best describe as "let's get this over so you can give me the money and leave." Then at about two minutes into the opener the main line comes in, one bit at a time, and within thirty seconds the expression on his face had clearly changed to "wait, don't turn that off, I need to listen to this.." Before I could leave with the speakers he made me write down the name of the album and the artist for him..
I got many years of use out of the speakers and was well content with my purchase but I think he probably still got the most out of our exchange.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:08 PM on February 25, 2019 [15 favorites]
Joining in the Spirit of Eden praise. One of the finest albums of the rock era.
Add one to that. That album hit me out of nowhere and I've still yet to hear anything like it.
Very sad to hear this news but I appreciate it being shared.
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posted by CarrotAdventure at 4:12 PM on February 25, 2019
Add one to that. That album hit me out of nowhere and I've still yet to hear anything like it.
Very sad to hear this news but I appreciate it being shared.
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posted by CarrotAdventure at 4:12 PM on February 25, 2019
While I know that the last two Talk Talk albums are the gold standard, the relatively traditional The Colour of Spring is an album that caught me unexpectedly off-guard. I didn't buy it, it dropped into my life - I found I had it one day, someone must have left it with me, and still when I listen to it (even streaming, even thirty-three years later) I have the vague sense that I'll have to give it back at some point. For me it seemed to conjure all sorts of things - an organic, yearning, a sense of the numinous - that I needed at that time and were somehow in short supply in the everyday world.
posted by Grangousier at 4:15 PM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Grangousier at 4:15 PM on February 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
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posted by defenestration at 4:28 PM on February 25, 2019
posted by defenestration at 4:28 PM on February 25, 2019
One of my favourite bands in HS, not least because they weren't well known or especially popular amongst the crowd and were therefore in some way "mine". I didn't know about his solo work, I will have to check it out.
. Rest well, Mr. Hollis.
edited to add, is it inappropriate to give props for a thread title in an obit thread? because, well done. and if not, I apologize most Canadianly.
posted by hearthpig at 4:37 PM on February 25, 2019
. Rest well, Mr. Hollis.
edited to add, is it inappropriate to give props for a thread title in an obit thread? because, well done. and if not, I apologize most Canadianly.
posted by hearthpig at 4:37 PM on February 25, 2019
I've never heard any of this, so I fired up Spirit of Eden and whoa, that's some good shit there. I wish people didn't have to die for me to become aware of their art.
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:44 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:44 PM on February 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
For a long time for me, Talk Talk was that 80s synth-pop band that No Doubt covered, and that was about it. Imagine my surprise first when I saw people talking about Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden they way they are here, and then my further surprise at how wondrous those albums are. It's an astonishing trajectory, and Mark Hollis was an amazing musician.
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posted by invitapriore at 4:49 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by invitapriore at 4:49 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
I Believe in You is one of the very few songs that made cry the first time I heard it. I'm crying again today. Goodbye Mr. Hollis, you did well.
posted by 1adam12 at 5:11 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by 1adam12 at 5:11 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by the sobsister at 5:13 PM on February 25, 2019
posted by the sobsister at 5:13 PM on February 25, 2019
Taphead is for me the quintessential Talk Talk tunes, and one of my absolute favorites.
posted by kenko at 6:56 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by kenko at 6:56 PM on February 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Dropping back in to nth the praise that Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden got, but also to say that The Colour of Spring was the one that really sunk in. I still think about “Happiness is Easy” weekly, and... now this.
As for It’s My Life, I owned THREE copies on cassette, because each one had a different defect that drove me up the wall, and I special ordered each copy because by the time I really wanted a copy of it it was hard to find.
posted by snortasprocket at 6:58 PM on February 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
As for It’s My Life, I owned THREE copies on cassette, because each one had a different defect that drove me up the wall, and I special ordered each copy because by the time I really wanted a copy of it it was hard to find.
posted by snortasprocket at 6:58 PM on February 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
If you haven't heard it already, you should give his original punk version of the song Talk Talk a listen. It's amazing.
Wow, that's for sure. Real Buzzcocks vibe there which is my right up my alley. Thanks for that.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:25 PM on February 25, 2019
Wow, that's for sure. Real Buzzcocks vibe there which is my right up my alley. Thanks for that.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:25 PM on February 25, 2019
I too was uninitiated to Mr. Hollis' later work and I spent the evening listening to his last three albums and they really are remarkable, lush and sophisticated. They would seem to have been made with an obvious disregard for commercial appeal, at least I hope that's the case, and I hope he retired from music on his own terms. I am sorry to have discovered this only upon his death.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:10 AM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:10 AM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Loved Talk Talk when they had their hits. Their later work is probably a bit too cerebral for my taste but I admire the sheer guts of going that way. You have only to listen to that abysmal cover of "It's my life" to understand how good the original is. What a production, what a voice.
A sound engineer friend of mine is totally obsessed with Talk Talk. Has all the remasters on vinyl, original 12" versions whatnot. He also is very fond of .O.Rang, the other post-Talk Talk project. Again, not totally my cup of tea but people who like the later TT, solo MH stuff will probably love it.
posted by Kosmob0t at 3:03 AM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
A sound engineer friend of mine is totally obsessed with Talk Talk. Has all the remasters on vinyl, original 12" versions whatnot. He also is very fond of .O.Rang, the other post-Talk Talk project. Again, not totally my cup of tea but people who like the later TT, solo MH stuff will probably love it.
posted by Kosmob0t at 3:03 AM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Apparently Mark Hollis wrote music for the movie 'Peacock' in 2010, but it wasn't used. The track ARB section 1 was used for the tv series 'Boss' in 2012.
It makes me curious if there is a vault of unused tracks that may yet be published in the future...
posted by charles kaapjes at 3:41 AM on February 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
It makes me curious if there is a vault of unused tracks that may yet be published in the future...
posted by charles kaapjes at 3:41 AM on February 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
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posted by materialgirl at 5:21 AM on February 26, 2019
posted by materialgirl at 5:21 AM on February 26, 2019
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posted by nightrecordings at 6:05 AM on February 26, 2019
posted by nightrecordings at 6:05 AM on February 26, 2019
Nothing else sounds like Talk Talk at its brief peak - like feeling the sun on your face when you're hurt or struggling. I wish Mark had recorded more, but plenty of people have made twice as many records without approaching anything so enduring.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:34 AM on February 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by ryanshepard at 6:34 AM on February 26, 2019 [4 favorites]
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posted by Token Meme at 8:19 AM on February 26, 2019
posted by Token Meme at 8:19 AM on February 26, 2019
Baby, life's what you make it
Celebrate it, anticipate it
Yesterday's faded, nothing can change it
Life's what you make it
(The lead-in and lead-out sound of crickets on this cut is classic Talk Talk and one of the things that so delighted me when it came out—"You can put enviromental noises in a pop song?!"
Also, it is impossible for me to watch music videos of that period without looking at them like old family photos. Also also, Tim Pope, the director of that video did shitloads of work—that whole period demands a through account of its history and influence.)
posted by octobersurprise at 10:01 AM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Celebrate it, anticipate it
Yesterday's faded, nothing can change it
Life's what you make it
(The lead-in and lead-out sound of crickets on this cut is classic Talk Talk and one of the things that so delighted me when it came out—"You can put enviromental noises in a pop song?!"
Also, it is impossible for me to watch music videos of that period without looking at them like old family photos. Also also, Tim Pope, the director of that video did shitloads of work—that whole period demands a through account of its history and influence.)
posted by octobersurprise at 10:01 AM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
just came here to say that Colour Of Spring was one of those 3 or 4 records that changed my outlook on life and sense of music's power over the mind and soul. It was truly the soundtrack for me late teens/early 20's trying to find footing and direction in life. If anyone close to him comes to Metafilter to read what people thought of him I hope this will join the chorus of testimony to his power to impact so many.
posted by docpops at 3:38 PM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by docpops at 3:38 PM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
I have never devoted much time to Talk Talk so this thread is probably not for me, but I wanted to say that this obituary by Nick Zinca on the Listen To This blog is very well done.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:04 PM on February 26, 2019
posted by Going To Maine at 11:04 PM on February 26, 2019
I bought Laughing Stock on a whim; I liked the title. The lady at Strawberries in Kenmore Square asked me, "You've heard other Talk Talk stuff, right?"
"Yes. I like them. New Wavey, but more organic."
"This is nothing like 'It's My Life'," she warned me. "Just telling you. I'd throw in Spirit of Eden, too, but it's hard to find, at least here."
So I bought Laughing Stock, and, dear reader, a very very very large window opened. Mark Hollis (and Paul Webb/Rustin Man) did more than any other band, and in literally so few strokes, than any band I'd ever heard before or since, in changing my perception of what the spectrum of music could cover. It was the most economic, efficient, but unrushed music I'd ever heard. I went back to the Strawberries the next day and thanked the cashier profusely. She was like, "I KNOW RITE?"
I found Spirit of Eden soon afterward, but it took me two years more to find a copy of Colour of Spring. When I bought Mark Hollis's solo album, I don't think there have ever been any other times since then that I wanted to get directly home, turn off all the lights, and LISTEN. And then I spread the gospel to all my friends. Some of them understood the significance of it. Others said, "Wait, this is the same band? That's funny!"
So anyway, that's what Mark Hollis, and Talk Talk (Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock, and Colour of Spring particularly) taught me: to listen to the space the music resides in; to be patient and wait, and to appreciate the palette of sounds and moods coming out of the speakers. My whole experience of listening to music was greatly enhanced because of those works—nothing else comes close to doing what those works did to my ears and brain, across all of the arts (e.e. cummings may be an exception). Those four albums are so much more expressive and raw and soft and hard and emotional than most anything I've ever heard, and in so few notes.
(Also, since nobody's mentioned it, Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man's Out Of Season is a very excellent album, even if Mark Hollis had nothing to do with the biz by then.)
posted by not_on_display at 8:42 PM on February 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
"Yes. I like them. New Wavey, but more organic."
"This is nothing like 'It's My Life'," she warned me. "Just telling you. I'd throw in Spirit of Eden, too, but it's hard to find, at least here."
So I bought Laughing Stock, and, dear reader, a very very very large window opened. Mark Hollis (and Paul Webb/Rustin Man) did more than any other band, and in literally so few strokes, than any band I'd ever heard before or since, in changing my perception of what the spectrum of music could cover. It was the most economic, efficient, but unrushed music I'd ever heard. I went back to the Strawberries the next day and thanked the cashier profusely. She was like, "I KNOW RITE?"
I found Spirit of Eden soon afterward, but it took me two years more to find a copy of Colour of Spring. When I bought Mark Hollis's solo album, I don't think there have ever been any other times since then that I wanted to get directly home, turn off all the lights, and LISTEN. And then I spread the gospel to all my friends. Some of them understood the significance of it. Others said, "Wait, this is the same band? That's funny!"
So anyway, that's what Mark Hollis, and Talk Talk (Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock, and Colour of Spring particularly) taught me: to listen to the space the music resides in; to be patient and wait, and to appreciate the palette of sounds and moods coming out of the speakers. My whole experience of listening to music was greatly enhanced because of those works—nothing else comes close to doing what those works did to my ears and brain, across all of the arts (e.e. cummings may be an exception). Those four albums are so much more expressive and raw and soft and hard and emotional than most anything I've ever heard, and in so few notes.
(Also, since nobody's mentioned it, Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man's Out Of Season is a very excellent album, even if Mark Hollis had nothing to do with the biz by then.)
posted by not_on_display at 8:42 PM on February 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
Prior to Out of Season Gibbons also guested, I believe, with Paul Webb & Lee Harris' post-Talk-Talk project .O.rang
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:39 AM on February 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:39 AM on February 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
19 Minutes of Mark Hollis Talking About Laughing Stock. (From a promo cassette released in 1991.)
“Some Important Lessons On Music”, by Mark Hollis – taken from an interview with Danish TV, 22nd February 1998. (Transcript)
posted by octobersurprise at 11:52 AM on March 7, 2019
“Some Important Lessons On Music”, by Mark Hollis – taken from an interview with Danish TV, 22nd February 1998. (Transcript)
posted by octobersurprise at 11:52 AM on March 7, 2019
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