Talk Talk

Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles "Talk Talk" (1982), "It's My Life", and "Such a Shame" (both 1984) before moving towards a more experimental approach in the mid-1980s,[5] pioneering what became known as post-rock.[3] Talk Talk achieved widespread critical success in Europe and the UK with the singles "Life's What You Make It" (1985), and "Living in Another World" (1986), and in 1988 they released their fourth album Spirit of Eden, which was critically acclaimed yet commercially less successful.

This article is about the music group. For the British telecommunications group, see TalkTalk Group. For other uses, see Talk Talk (disambiguation).

Talk Talk
(L-R) Hollis, Webb, Harris. 1988
Background information
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Years active1981–1991
Labels
Associated acts
Past membersMark Hollis
Lee Harris
Paul Webb
Simon Brenner

Friction with the band's label, EMI, resulted in legal action and countersuing. Webb departed, and the band switched to Polydor for their final studio album, 1991's Laughing Stock, but split soon afterwards. Singer Mark Hollis released one solo album in 1998 before retiring from the music industry; he died in 2019. The band's founding bass player and drummer, Paul Webb and Lee Harris, played in several bands together; long-term collaborator Tim Friese-Greene continued in the business as a musician and producer.

History

1981–1983: formation

Talk Talk began as a quartet consisting of Mark Hollis, formerly from The Reaction (vocals/main songwriter), Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass guitar), and Simon Brenner (keyboards). In their early years they were often compared with Duran Duran. In addition to a band name consisting of a repeated word, the two shared a Roxy Music-inspired musical direction, as well as the same record label (EMI) and producer (Colin Thurston). The band also supported Duran Duran on tour in late 1981.

The band released their first single, "Mirror Man", on EMI in February 1982. The single was not a great success, but was quickly followed by their self-titled single in April 1982 (a rerecording of a track by The Reaction) which reached No.52 in the UK. The band's first album, titled The Party's Over, was released in July 1982. The band had their first UK Top 40 hits with the singles "Today" (UK No. 14) and a re-release of "Talk Talk" (UK No. 23). These singles also were hits in other countries including Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The re-release of the "Talk Talk" single reached the U.S. Top 75. The album was produced by Colin Thurston, who was Duran Duran's in-house EMI producer at the time, but picked by Hollis because of his involvement with David Bowie's Heroes.[8] It was a moderate success in the UK reaching No.21, and was later certified Silver by the BPI for sales of 60,000 copies by 1985. It was a Top 10 hit in New Zealand.[9]

Brenner left after the 1983 non-LP hit single "My Foolish Friend", which was produced by frequent Roxy Music collaborator Rhett Davies. At this point, Talk Talk was now a trio, as Brenner was never officially replaced. However, Tim Friese-Greene was recruited to assist with the recording of their second album, It's My Life,[10] and he became the band's producer as well as keyboardist and Hollis' songwriting partner. Although a major contributor to the band's studio output and a de facto fourth member,[11] Friese-Greene never officially joined the band. As such, he did not play with the touring band on live dates, and was absent from the band's publicity material.

1984–1986: commercial success

Although major success still eluded them in the UK, Talk Talk achieved considerable international success in 1984/85, particularly in continental Europe, North America and New Zealand with the album It's My Life. The accompanying single "Such a Shame" (a song inspired by the book The Dice Man) became a Top 10 hit in Austria,[12] France, Germany, Italy,[13] Netherlands and Switzerland[14] during this period. The title track of the album was also a Top 10 hit in Italy (where a remix of six songs from the albums and non-album singles, It's My Mix, was the No. 86 best-selling album of 1985[15]), and entered the U.S., Canadian, French, German, New Zealand[16] and Netherlands[17] Top 40. A third single, "Dum Dum Girl", was a success in some European countries and in New Zealand;[18] however, the album and its singles were largely ignored in the UK. Commercial success notwithstanding, the band made deliberate choices that moved them away from the mainstream. The music video for "It's My Life", for instance, featured a grumpy Hollis who mocks lip-synching; after EMI protested, they re-shot the video, turning it into "a total piss-take of lip-synching", in Alan McGee's words.[19]

The artist James Marsh designed the first cover image for It's My Life based on the band's name. He followed the theme for subsequent singles, remaining the band's artistic frontman and creating all their covers and posters throughout their career.

Talk Talk abandoned the synthpop style completely with their third album, 1986's The Colour of Spring. It became their biggest success in the UK, making the Top 10 (and certified Gold by the BPI for sales over 100,000 copies), in part due to the Top 20 single "Life's What You Make It", which was also successful internationally.[20] Another single, "Living in Another World", charted in the Top 40 in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy (and just outside the Top 40 in the UK and France). By this time, all Talk Talk songs were being written by Hollis and Friese-Greene. The extended line-up for the 1986 tour consisted of Hollis, Webb and Harris, plus John Turnbull (guitars), Rupert Black and Ian Curnow (keyboards), Phil Reis and Leroy Williams (percussion), and Mark Feltham (harmonica). Most notable among these concerts was their appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 11 July 1986, released on DVD in 2008 as Live at Montreux 1986.

1987–1991: experimental period

The success of The Colour of Spring afforded the band a bigger budget and schedule for the recording of their next album. Over a year in the making, and featuring contributions from many outside musicians, Spirit of Eden was released in 1988, on EMI's Parlophone label. The album was assembled from many hours of improvised instrumentation that Hollis and Friese-Greene had edited and arranged using digital equipment. The result was a mix of rock, jazz, classical, and ambient music. Critically praised, the album reached the UK Top 20 and was certified Silver by the BPI for sales of over 60,000 copies. The band announced they would not be attempting to recreate the album live (since, according to Hollis, "People would just want to hear the songs as they are on the album and for me that's not satisfying enough"). Without touring and without music videos and singles as the band originally intended, there was little marketing left that the record company could do; in the end the band grudgingly agreed to a video for the remixed version of "I Believe in You", released as first single. Hollis, though, was unhappy with the video, as he made clear in an interview with Q Magazine: "I really feel that [the video] was a massive mistake ... I thought just by sitting there and listening and really thinking about what it was about, I could get that in my eyes. But you cannot do it. It just feels stupid. It was depressing and I wish I'd never done it."[21]

During the making of Spirit of Eden, Talk Talk manager Keith Aspden had attempted to free the band from their record contract with EMI. "I knew by that time that EMI was not the company this band should be with," Aspden said. "I was fearful that the money wouldn't be there to record another album."[22] EMI, however, wished to keep the band on their roster.[23] After many months of litigation, the band ultimately succeeded in extracting themselves from the contract. EMI then sued the band, claiming that Spirit of Eden was not "commercially satisfactory", but the case was thrown out of court.[19] Webb left the band in late 1988.

With the band now released from EMI, the label released the retrospective compilation Natural History in 1990. It peaked at number 3 on the UK album chart and was certified Gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies. It was also an international success and eventually went on to sell more than 1 million copies worldwide. The 1984 single "It's My Life" was also re-released, and this time became the band's highest charting single in their native country, reaching number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. A re-release of the single "Life's What You Make It" also reached the Top 30. Following up on this renewed popular interest in the band, the label then released History Revisited in 1991, a compilation of new remixes, which made the UK Top 40 (it also reached the Top 30 in Germany and the Top 75 in the Netherlands). The band sued EMI for releasing the remixed material without their permission.[19][24]

By 1990 the band had essentially morphed into a vehicle for the studio recordings of Hollis and long-term collaborator Friese-Greene, along with session musicians (including long-term Talk Talk drummer Harris). The group signed a two-album contract with Polydor Records and released Laughing Stock on Polydor's Verve Records imprint in 1991. Laughing Stock crystallised the experimental sound the band started with Spirit of Eden (which has been retroactively categorised as "post-rock" by some critics).[3] Despite being even more minimalist than its predecessor, Laughing Stock peaked at No. 26 in the UK Albums Chart.

Post break-up

After Laughing Stock, Talk Talk disbanded in 1991; Hollis said that he wished to focus on his family.[25] Paul Webb rejoined Lee Harris, and the two went on to form the band .O.rang, while Tim Friese-Greene started recording under the name Heligoland. In 1998, Mark Hollis released his self-titled solo début Mark Hollis, which was much in keeping with the minimalist post-rock sound of Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, but he retired from the music industry shortly afterwards.

Webb also collaborated under the name of Rustin Man with Portishead lead singer Beth Gibbons and released Out of Season in 2002, Drift Code in 2019 and Clockdust in 2020, while Lee Harris featured on the Bark Psychosis 2004 album, ///Codename: Dustsucker.

Mark Hollis died on 25 February 2019, aged 64.[26]

Legacy and influence
Talk Talk frontman, Mark Hollis

Talk Talk's influence upon musicians has exceeded the band's visibility among the general public. Along with the band Slint, Talk Talk are credited with inventing "post-rock" in their last two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock.[27] The artists who have praised the band or cited them as an influence include Tears for Fears, Matthew Good,[28] Radiohead,[29] Doves,[30] Elbow,[31] Shearwater,[32] M83,[33] Bark Psychosis,[34] The Notwist,[35] Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta,[36] Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree,[37] Storm Corrosion (a joint project between Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson),[38] Steve Hogarth of Marillion,[39] Richard Barbieri of Japan and Porcupine Tree,[40] and Death Cab for Cutie.[41]

The bands Placebo, Weezer, the Divine Comedy and the Gathering covered their song "Life's What You Make It" and No Doubt scored a global hit with a cover of "It's My Life" in 2003 which reached number 20 on the UK charts. Lights recorded a cover of "Living in Another World" in 2012. Guy Garvey of the band Elbow said: "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."[42]

A tribute album and anthological book, both titled Spirit of Talk Talk, were released in 2012. The book includes all the artwork James Marsh did for the band, and hand-written lyrics (by the band). The album includes covers by various artists, proceeds going to the conservation organisation BirdLife International.[43]

On Tuesday 26 November 2019, Spirit of Talk Talk organised A Celebration of Mark Hollis and Talk Talk concert[44] at the Royal Festival Hall, London, UK. Founding band member Simon Brenner, who played keyboards on studio album, The Party's Over was amongst the long list of guest musicians who performed songs from all five Talk Talk studio albums and Mark Hollis' solo album. The evening was described as A Majestic Tribute by the London-based daily newspaper The Evening Standard.[45]

Hollis and Talk Talk continue to be praised as artists who did not cave in to the pressures of corporate and commercial interests. Says Alan McGee, "I find the whole story of one man against the system in a bid to maintain creative control incredibly heartening."[19]

Discography
Main article: Talk Talk discography

Notable covers
  • In 2002, Sandra released a cover version of "Such a Shame" which was not a hit.
  • In 2003, No Doubt released a cover version of "It's My Life" which became a major international hit, reaching number 20 in the UK charts in December 2003 and number 10 on the US Billboard charts in January 2004.

In other media
  • In 2002, the song "Life's What You Make It" was featured in the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
  • In 2004, the song "Life's What You Make It" was featured at the ending scene of Head-On.
  • In 2006, the song "It's My Life" (extended version) was featured in the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
  • In 2011, "It's My Life" was featured in Saints Row: The Third.
  • In 2016, "Life's What You Make It" was featured in season 2 episode 8 ("Lost and Found") fadeout of the Amazon Prime series Red Oaks.
  • In 2018, "Such a Shame" backs a scene at the 32 minute mark in Episode 3 of Deutschland 86.

References
  1. Harvell, Jess (21 October 2011). "Talk Talk / Mark Hollis: Laughing Stock / Mark Hollis". Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  2. Wallace, Wyndham. "All Talked Out: Dismantling The History Of Talk Talk". The Quietus. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  3. Chuter, Jack (November 2015). Storm Static Sleep (PDF). Function.
  4. Thomson, Graeme (13 September 2012). "Talk Talk: the band who disappeared from view". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  5. Phillips, Amy. "Talk Talk's Mark Hollis Resurfaces With New Music for the Kelsey Grammer TV Show "Boss"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  6. Ankeny, Jason. "Talk Talk Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  7. "Mark Hollis of Talk Talk Has Passed Away - Post-Punk.com".
  8. Seabrook, Thomas Jerome (February 2008). Bowie in Berlin: A New Career in a New Town. Jawbone. pp. 250–51. ISBN 978-1-906002-08-4.
  9. "Talk Talk – The Party's Over (Album)". charts.nz. Hung Medien / eMedia Jungden. 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  10. Crane, Larry; Eckman, Chris (2010). "Sharing food and conversation with Phil Brown". In Larry Crane (ed.). Tape Op: The Book about Creative Music Recording, Volume 2. Hal Leonard. pp. 74–77. ISBN 978-0-9779903-0-6.
  11. Slotnik, Daniel E. (27 February 2019). "Mark Hollis, Leader of '80s Band Talk Talk, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  12. Steffen Hung. "Talk Talk – Such A Shame". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  13. "Hit Parade Italia – Indice per Interprete: T". Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  14. Steffen Hung. "Talk Talk – Such A Shame". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  15. "Gli album più venduti del 1985" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  16. Steffen Hung. "Talk Talk – It's My Life". charts.nz. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  17. Steffen Hung. "Talk Talk – It's My Life". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  18. Steffen Hung. "Talk Talk – Dum Dum Girl". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  19. McGee, Alan (9 April 2008). "Wherefore art thou Mark Hollis". The Guardian.
  20. Steffen Hung. "Talk Talk – Life's What You Make It". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  21. Deevoy, Adrian (28 August 2013). "Talk Talk: 'You should never listen to music as background music' – a classic interview from the vaults". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  22. Irvin, "Paradise Regained", 54.
  23. Neiss.
  24. Buckley, Peter. "The rough guide to rock". Rough Guides, 2003. vii. ISBN 1-84353-105-4
  25. Myers, Ben (28 February 2012). "How Talk Talk spoke to today's artists". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  26. Aubrey, Elizabeth (25 February 2019). "Talk Talk's Mark Hollis has reportedly died, aged 64". NME. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  27. "Music Genres". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  28. Corus Radio (24 May 2011), An Evening With Matt Good – Part 1 of 2, retrieved 13 September 2016
  29. @BBC6Music (16 September 2018). ""It redefines how you listen to music" - @Radiohead's Philip Selway on Spirit of Eden" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. Goodwin, Jimi. "Why I love the enigma of Talk Talk & Mark Hollis by Doves' Jimi Goodwin - exclusive extract". Q. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  31. "Elbow makes its bones in 'Seldom Seen Kid'". Daily News. New York. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  32. "A Body, Not Just a Brain": An Interview with Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg – Arts. The Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  33. "M83". Chicago Innerview. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  34. Wallace, Wyndham (14 August 2014). "I Put A Spell on You: The Story Of Bark Psychosis & Hex". The Quietus. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  35. Solis, Jose (12 March 2014). "From One Wrong Place to the Next: An Interview with The Notwist". PopMatters. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  36. "Influences". thecomatorium.com. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2017. Q: Does music sometimes make you cry?
    Cedric Bixler-Zavala: Yeah definitely. [...] Talk Talk records...because you get moved by them...The last one they did, where they did a complete turnaround musically – Laughing Stock – it's a good rainy day album. I think a person in the band was getting a major divorce and you can hear it in the album. I was attracted to it to it cause the guy who told us about it told us that they recorded it with candles and stuff and it was real dark album for them and the label hated it. So instantly I was attracted to it...It's a big downer, but you know, downer music is good, though, too.
  37. Prasad, Anil (2012). "Steven Wilson | Art as a mirror". Innerviews.org. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  38. "Storm Corrosion – Fan Q&A – Making Something Different". Roadrunner Records UK. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via YouTube.
  39. Randall, David (2004). "10QUESTIONS with... STEVE HOGARTH (MARILLION)". Getreadytorock.com. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  40. Powell, Jim. "The Richard Barbieri Interview". 2uptop.com. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  41. Death Cab For Cutie on Arcade Fire, U2 and their influences – Q25. YouTube (28 July 2012). Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  42. Alexander, Phil, ed. (May 2012). "All back to my place – Guy Garvey". Mojo Magazine. No. 222. London: Bauer. p. 9. ISSN 1351-0193.
  43. Battan, Carrie (25 January 2012). "Talk Talk Celebrated With Tribute Album, Book". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  44. "Surviving Talk Talk musicians announce show to honour Mark Hollis". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  45. "Mark Hollis tribute gig at the Southbank Centre 'majestic, complex stuff'". Evening Standard. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
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