Talk Talk

Talk Talk was an English art-pop band that released the 1982–86 EMI albums The Party’s Over, It’s My Life, and The Colour of Spring, followed by the 1988 Parlophone release Spirit of Eden and 1991 swan song Laughing Stock. They scored UK–European hits with “Today,” “Such a Shame,” “Life’s What You Make It,” and the Eighties evergreens “Talk Talk” and “It’s My Life.”

Members: Mark Hollis (vocals, piano, organ, guitar, variophone, Mellotron), Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass, backing vocals, 1981-88), Simon Brenner (keyboards, 1981-83)

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Background

Talk Talk formed in 1981 when Tottenham musician and composer Mark Hollis teamed with keyboardist Simon Brenner and the rhythm section of the unrecorded Essex ska act Eskalator: bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris.

Hollis (1955–2019) first appeared in 1977 fronting The Reaction, formed at the encouragement of his older brother, DJ and producer Ed Hollis, then-manager of Eddie and the Hot Rods. The Reaction cut the taut, aggressive “Talk Talk Talk Talk,” included on the multi-artist punk compilation Streets, released on Beggars Banquet. Their second and final release, the pile-driven mod-rocker “I Can’t Resist” (b/w “I Am a Case”), appeared in 1978 on Island.

After the initial wave of punk, Hollis took an interest in symphonic-rock, post-bop, and the third stream collaborations between Miles Davis and Gil Evans. The spacious intricacy on Miles’ 1959–60 albums Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain inspired Mark’s next band, named after the 1977 Reaction song.

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The Party’s Over

Talk Talk released their debut album, The Party’s Over, on July 13, 1982, on EMI.

The Party’s Over contains the pre-released singles “Mirror Man” and “Talk Talk” — a remake of the 1977 Reaction song — plus two additional Mark Hollis originals: “Have You Heard The News?” and “Candy.”

Side B contains “Another World,” a Paul Webb composition. The album’s balance consists of group-credited numbers, including the title track and the third single, “Today.”

Musically, the album presents minor-key dance songs and ballads, marked by Hollis’s anguished vocals, Webb’s fretless basslines, Simon Brenner’s luminous keyboards, and Lee Harris’s electro/organic rhythms.

1. “Talk Talk” (3:20)
2. “It’s So Serious” (3:19)
3. “Today” (3:28)
4. “The Party’s Over” (6:10)

5. “Hate” (3:56)
6. “Have You Heard the News?” (5:05)
7. “Mirror Man” (3:18)
8. “Another Word” (3:12)
9. “Candy” (4:40)

“Mirror Man” first appeared as a February 1982 single backed with “Strike Up the Band,” a non-album group composition.

B. “Strike Up the Band” (2:41)

Talk Talk recorded The Party’s Over with Colin Thurston, an alumnus of the Bewley Bros. production team behind 1977 Berlin albums by Iggy Pop (Lust for Life) and David Bowie (“Heroes”). Most recently, he produced titles by Bow Wow Wow, Classix Nouveaux, Honey Bane, Siam, Landscape (From the Tea Rooms of Mars…), and the self-titled debut by Duran Duran.

BBC soundman Mike Robinson mixed The Party’s Over amid work with Bauhaus, Modern Romance, Simple Minds, and Visitors.

In March, the song “Talk Talk” appeared as a second advance single, backed with the non-album character title “?” (aka “question mark,” a group-written song).

B. “?” (4:09)

The “Talk Talk” video opens with a beam-down into a chrome rontunda where Hollis enacts the “Ay! Ay!” vocables with anguished expressions. The band performs in white amid similar metal fixtures against a bright-lit blue/gray backdrop.

The Party’s Over appeared in a gray-framed ivory sleeve with a somber lip-eyed face (front, reminiscent of Bowie’s makeup in the “Life On Mars” video) and partial face reveals of each member (back) painted by James Marsh with design details by Bill Smith, who created The Jam‘s spray-paint logo and earned recent visual credits with The Cure, New Musik, The Passions, and The Sound. Canadian copies used the red/black art of the “Talk Talk” single sleeve.

Talk Talk directly preceded The Party’s Over with “Today,” released as a June single with the album track “It’s So Serious.” In the “Today” video, a boy (possibly Mark’s younger iteration) awakes and wanders through dark rooms and bright, foggy corridors as the band arrives in a steamy vehicle and appears in assorted light-less rooms.

Talk Talk mimed “Today” amid foggy green-lit scaffolding for the August 19 broadcast of the BBC music program Top of the Pops, which also aired in-studios by Haircut One Hundred (“Nobody’s Fool”), Soft Cell (“What?”), Thomas Dolby (“Windpower”), and Dexys Midnight Runners (“Come On Eileen”). They returned and mimed the earlier “Talk Talk” against a neon diamond backdrop for the November 25 TotP broadcast, which also featured A Flock of Seagulls (“Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)”), Culture Club (“Time (Clock of the Heart)”), and Yazoo (“The Other Side of Love”).

The Party’s Over reached No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart and cracked the middle third of the Billboard 200 in the US, where the video to “Talk Talk” became a second-year staple of the fledgling cable network MTV. The band’s stateside label, EMI America, issued a promo mini-album with “Talk Talk,” “Today,” “Candy,” and “It’s So Serious” (truncated as “Serious”).

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“My Foolish Friend”

On March 7, 1983, Talk Talk released “My Foolish Friend,” a standalone a-side backed with “Call In The Night Boys,” an eventual album track.

Mark Hollis and Simon Brenner co-wrote “My Foolish Friend,” which EMI issued in standard 7″ and extended 12″ formats.

A. “My Foolish Friend” (3:17 / 5:30)

The video takes place in Depression-era London, where Hollis and his bandmates fail at menial factory work and collect their benefits, then head about the bleak cobblestone streets amid fellow downtrodden locals. Later, Mark sits on a hilltop and encounters his aged father, who conjures visions of young, innocent times.

Ongoing Talk Talk illustrator James Marsh designed the joker’s-eye sleeve for “My Foolish Friend,” which longtime Eno soundman Rhett Davies produced amid projects by Industry and Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark.

After this single, Brenner left Talk Talk, which continued as a trio. Brenner formed a duo with guitarist Reg Meuross. They cut two 1983/84 EMI singles: one as Soho (“Remember My Name” b/w “Looking for You”) and one as Blue Section Two (“Strange Fascination” b/w “Nothing to Say”).

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It’s My Life

Talk Talk released their second album, It’s My Life, on February 13, 1984, on EMI. The band are now a trio with Lee Harris on electronic drums and Mark Hollis adding acoustic guitar to the mix.

It’s My Life contains five Hollis solo compositions, including “Such a Shame,” a Top 2 European hit. Producer ans supplemental keyboardist Tim Friese-Greene co-wrote the album’s two other singles, “Dum Dum Girl” and the title track.

Side Two includes the pre-released b-side “Call in the Night Boy” (from Brenner’s tenure) and “The Last Time,” a co-write with keyboardist Ian Curnow (ex-Scrounger), Simon’s unofficial replacement.

It’s My Life also features guest musicianship by pianist Phil Ramocon (ex-Kabaka, Ozo), guitarist Robbie McIntosh (formerly of Chris Thompson’s Night), and Mike Oldfield percussionist Morris Pert (ex-Brand X). Veteran jazz trumpeter Henry Lowther plays on “Renée” and “Tomorrow Started.” Oldfield bassist Phil Spalding plays bass guitar on “The Last Time” in lieu of Paul Webb, a strictly fretless player.

1. “Dum Dum Girl” (3:51)
2. “Such a Shame” (5:42) was inspired by The Dice Man, a 1971 novel by American author George Cockcroft (aka Luke Rhinehart) about a psychiatrist who makes decisions at the roll of dice.
3. “Renée” (6:22)
4. “It’s My Life” (3:50)

5. “Tomorrow Started” (5:57)
6. “The Last Time” (4:23)
7. “Call in the Night Boy” (3:47)
8. “Does Caroline Know?” (4:40)
9. “It’s You” (4:41)

Talk Talk preceded the album by five weeks with “It’s My Life” (the song) as a January single (b/w “Does Caroline Know?”) The video intercuts high-speed aquatic and wildlife footage with scenes of a trench-coated Hollis outside a rhino enclosure with a near-roaming elephant. Throughout the video, Mark’s lips remain sealed with animated scribbles.

“It’s My Life” reached No. 9 in Italy and crested in the 30–32 region in multiple territories. In the US, the song topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Sessions occurred in late 1983 with Friese-Greene, who programmed the drum machines on It’s My Life and used the title-song’s backing track for Talkwell, a 1984 Italo-disco single composed of a medley titled “Sixtynine,” which merges covers of “It’s My Life” and the Rockwell novelty hit “Somebody’s Watching Me.”

Curnow’s involvement followed credits on 1983 titles by Light of the World, Miro Miroe, Silent Running, and Weapons of Peace.

James Marsh designed and illustrated the cover, which shows flying wooden puzzle pieces with details from The Boyhood of Raleigh, an 1870 oil on canvass by English Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. 

On March 26, Talk Talk lifted “Such a Shame” as the second single, backed with “Again, a Game…Again,” a non-album Hollis original. EMI issued a 7″ edit (4:23) and a 12″ extended version (6:58). Marsh’s sleeve art carried over the dice theme from Cockcroft’s book.

B. “Again, a Game…Again” (4:27)

The video to “Such a Shame” highlights Hollis, who faces the lens with intensity, clad throughout in the same trench coat and stocking cap amid multiple changes in shirt, scarf, and hair part. (The stylist accentuated his elfin features, rendering him more ‘boyish.’)

“Such a Shame” was a huge hit in Central Europe, where it reached No. 1 in Italy and Switzerland and No. 2 in Austria and West Germany. Along the western Continent, “Such a Shame” reached No. 7 in France, No. 9 in the Netherlands, and No. 13 in Belgium.

In July, Talk Talk lifted “Dum Dum Girl” as the third single, backed by “Without You,” a non-album Hollis original.

B. “Without You” (3:23)

It’s My Life reached No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 3 in the Netherlands, and No. 4 in West Germany. The album peaked at No. 27 in New Zealand and No. 35 in the UK.

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The Colour of Spring

Talk Talk released their third album, The Colour of Spring, on February 17, 1986, on EMI.

The Colour of Spring contains eight songs co-composed by Mark Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene. The two split roles on piano, organ, and the nearly antiquated Mellotron, which Talk Talk resurrects on “Life’s What You Make It” and “Give It Up,” both issued as singles.

Three tracks (“Happiness Is Easy,” “April 5th,” “Chameleon Day”) feature Kurzweil Synthesizer and the Variophon, an electronic wind instrument invented eleven years prior at the University of Cologne. The latter two songs lack Lee Harris.

The album features returning guests Robbie McIntosh and Morris Pert, plus Ian Curnow, who plays the synthesizer solos on “I Don’t Believe in You” and “Give It Up.”

Paul Webb restricts his fretless bass to the album’s even-numbered tracks and the Side Two opener “Living in Another World,” the album’s second single. “Happiness Is Easy” features acoustic bassist Danny Thompson (ex-Pentangle) and electric bassist Alan Gorrie, who ironically played in the Average White Band with a different Robbie McIntosh (their original drummer, who died in 1974).

Steve Winwood plays organ on the first two tracks and “Living in Another World.” Five tracks feature percussionist Martin Ditcham (ex-Eye to Eye). Select interior numbers feature Peter Gabriel guitarist David Rhodes (ex-Random Hold) and soprano jazz saxophonist David Roach, a recent sideman for Andrew Poppy and Michael Nyman.

1. “Happiness Is Easy” (6:30)
2. “I Don’t Believe in You” (5:02) features Sleeping Lions harpist Gaynor Sadler.
3. “Life’s What You Make It” (4:29)
4. “April 5th” (5:51) features Hollis and Friese-Greene with Roach and McIntosh (on dobro).

5. “Living in Another World” (6:58) features harmonica player Mark Feltham (ex-Nine Below Zero).
6. “Give It Up” (5:17)
7. “Chameleon Day” (3:20) is a variophon duet between Friese-Greene and Hollis, whose piano and voice are the only other elements.
8. “Time It’s Time” (8:07) features Hollis on melodica and guitar with the Ambrosian Singers (aka the London Symphony Orchestra Choir).

Talk Talk first issued “Life’s What You Make It” as a January single, backed with “It’s Getting Late In The Evening,” a non-album Hollis/Friese-Greene song. EMI issued standard 7″ and extended 12″ (8:16) versions.

B. “It’s Getting Late In The Evening” (5:43)

In the “Life’s What You Make It” video, Hollis (shaggy hair, shades) plays piano in a damp nighttime forest setting, where frogs and insects roam nearby. Webb (who only does backing vocals on the recording) lip-syncs by a tree in a fringe suede jacket. Birds and foxes come out in the final 30 seconds, which coincide with daybreak.

“Life’s What You Make It” went Top 20 in the Netherlands and New Zealand (both No. 11), Belgium and Italy (both No. 14), Ireland and Switzerland (both No. 17), and the UK, where it reached No. 16, their first major home-country hit in four years.

Friese-Greene produced The Colour of Spring in late 1985 at Battery Studios, a NW London facility where Paul Schroeder engineered the album in sequence with titles by the Comsat Angels, Mark Shreeve, and Real Life. Additional work occurred at Videosonics Studios around bookings by Wang Chung and the Lucy Show.

Talk Talk selected “Living in Another World” as a March second single, backed with the non-album Hollis original “For What It’s Worth” (not the Buffalo Springfield song). EMI issued a 7″ edit (4:11) and a 12″ extended version (8:59).

B. “For What It’s Worth” (5:21)

The video to “Living in Another World” opens in the dark with a piano-seated Hollis, who reappears with his band on a windy, curtain-drawn stage. He’s soon swept with his Baby Grand into a dark, windy vortex as Webb and Harris climb through the soundboard. They pop through the cover as Mark plays on, swaying back and forth in blue/red lights.

The Colour of Spring lists four engineers, including Dietmar Schillinger (Spear of Destiny, Twelfth Night, Working Week), Peter Woolliscroft (Kate Bush, New Order, Then Jerico), and veteran Dennis Weinrich, a soundman on Seventies classics by Duncan Browne, Easy Street, Hummingbird, Streetwalkers, and Eighties titles by Animal Nightlife, Blancmange, Carmel, and Colin Newman.

James Marsh designed and illustrated The Colour of Spring cover and its corresponding singles around butterfly themes.

In May, Talk Talk lifted “Give It Up” as a third single, backed with “Pictures of Bernadette,” a non-album Hollis/Friese-Greene song.

B. “Pictures of Bernadette” (5:02)

In November, Talk Talk lifted “I Don’t Believe in You” as the nine-month-old album’s fourth single, backed with a live version of the earlier “Does Caroline Know?” from their July 11, 1986, performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. (In 2008, their entire Montreux ’86 performance reappeared on an 87-minute DVD, released on Eagle Vision.)

The Colour of Spring reached No. 1 in the Netherlands, No. 3 in Switzerland, No. 7 in New Zealand, and No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart. The album also went Top 20 in West Germany (No. 11), Norway (No. 12), and Austria (No. 16).

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Spirit of Eden

Talk Talk released their fourth album, Spirit of Eden, on September 12, 1988, on Parlophone.

Spirit of Eden features six lengthy pieces co-composed by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene. They share multiple instruments (piano, organ, guitar) and make select use of harmonium (Friese-Greene), melodica and Variophon (Hollis). Lee Harris and Paul Webb (aka Rustin Man) maintain conventional rhythm roles.

The albums retains prior Talk Talk guests players on trumpet (Henry Lowther), percussion (Martin Ditcham), double bass (Danny Thompson), harmonica (Mark Feltham), and 12-string (Robbie McIntosh, also dobro). Soundman Phill Brown adds bowed guitar to the mix.

New guests include classical/klezmer violinist Nigel Kennedy, Royal Opera House bassoonist Andrew Stowell, City of London Sinfonia double-reedist (cor anglais) Christopher Hooker, and London Symphony Orchestra personnel Michael Jeans (oboe) and Andrew Marriner (clarinet), plus the Choir of Chelmsford Cathedral.

Red Box bassist Simon Edwards plays the Guitarrón, a Mexican acoustic bass. Instrument builder Hugh Davies makes a distinct contribution: his 1967 electronic invention, the shozygs. 

A1. “The Rainbow” (9:05) CD copies present the first three songs as part of a 23-minute suite titled “The Rainbow.”
A2. “Eden” (6:37)
A3. “Desire” (6:57)

B1. “Inheritance” (5:16)
B2. “I Believe in You” (6:11)
B3. “Wealth” (6:35)

Talk Talk promoted the album with “I Believe in You,” a September single (3:40 edit) backed with “John Cope,” a non-album Hollis/Friese-Greene composition.

B. “John Cope” (4:40)

Sessions commenced on May 11, 1987, and wrapped on March 11, 1988, at Wessex Studios, a 16-track facility in Highbury, North London, where Hollis and Friese-Greene pieced material together through hours of improvisation. Most of the album’s secondary input occurred in the dark with little communication between the band and their guest performers.

Spirit of Eden was engineered by studio veteran Phill Brown, a soundman on Seventies classics by Amazing Blondel, Dear Mr. Time, Robert Palmer, Stealers Wheel, Third World War, and recent titles by China Crisis, Cutting Crew, Kim Wilde, King, and Virginia Astley.

James Marsh illustrated the cover, which shows a tree grounded in low tide, bedecked in sea shells.

Spirit of Eden reached No. 12 in Switzerland, No. 16 in Germany, and No. 19 on the UK Albums Chart.

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Laughing Stock

Talk Talk released their fifth album, Laughing Stock, on September 16, 1991, on Verve and Polydor.

1. “Myrrhman” (5:33)
2. “Ascension Day” (6:00)
3. “After the Flood” (9:39)

4. “Taphead” (7:39)
5. “New Grass” (9:40)
6. “Runeii” (4:58)

Recorded September 1990 – April 1991
Studio Wessex Studios in Highbury, London

Mark Hollis – vocals, guitar, piano, organ, melodica, Variophon
Lee Harris – drums, percussion

Other musicians
Tim Friese-Greene – producer, piano, organ, harmonium
Mark Feltham – harmonica
Martin Ditcham – percussion
Levine Andrade, Stephen Tees, George Robertson, Gavyn Wright, Jack Glickman, Garfield Jackson, Wilf Gibson – viola
Simon Edwards, Ernest Mothle – acoustic bass
Roger Smith, Paul Kegg – cello
Henry Lowther – trumpet, flugelhorn
Dave White – contrabass clarinet

Technical personnel
Phill Brown – engineer
James Marsh – cover illustration

“After the Flood (Outtake)”
Released: September 1991
“New Grass”
Released: 28 October 1991
“Ascension Day”
Released: November 1991

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Discography:

• The Party’s Over (1982)
• It’s My Life (1984)
• The Colour of Spring (1986)
• Spirit of Eden (1988)
• Laughing Stock (1991)

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Sources:

• Discogs: Talk Talk
• 45cat: Talk Talk
• TVRDb: Top of the Pops – Talk Talk
• RYM: Talk Talk
• 45worlds: Talk Talk
• MusicBrainz: Talk Talk