History Music / TalkTalk

[[quoteright:319:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Talk_Talk_4741.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:319: Talk Talk in the 1980s. From left to right: Lee Harris, Mark Hollis, Paul Webb.]]

* Mark Hollis - vocals, guitar, piano, organ; the chief songwriter and idea guy

Buoyed by the success, EMI granted Talk Talk a large budget and no schedule for recording the next album. The band proceeded to lock themselves in Wessex Sound Studios (a former church hall converted into a recording studio) for about a year, refusing to allow execs or their manager to visit, and recorded hours upon hours of improvised material with 12 additional musicians and the Chelmsford Cathedral choir, using incense, candles and occasionally complete darkness to "get in the mood", which Hollis and Friese-Greene would then painstakingly edit together. The result: ''Spirit of Eden'', whose 6 [[EpicRocking pretty long tracks]] showed the band moving into experimental, jazz- and ambient-influenced territory that helped, if not [[TropeMaker create]], at least [[TropeCodifier codify]] PostRock.

* {{Beat}}: CD copies of ''Spirit of Eden'' feature 30 seconds of silence where the side switch on a vinyl or cassette tape would be.

* ''Spirit of Eden'' (1988)

** The band's first single was called "Mirror Man", their final album opens with "Myrrhman".

* DoubleDoubleTitle: The first song on their first album, ''The Party's Over'', is called "Talk Talk".

* NewWaveMusic: Their best known style among the mainstream consciousness. Among fans and more devoted music listeners though, it's their status as one of the founding bands of the PostRock genre that makes them stand out. The discrepancy is mainly down to post-rock having never been a very accessible (or well-known) genre from the get-go.

* PepTalkSong: "Life's What You Make It"

Crippled world''
I just can't bring myself to see it starting

Critical acclaim greeted the record while sales predictably decreased a bit, and some attempted ExecutiveMeddling from EMI making them release "I Believe in You" as a single led to a lawsuit that the band eventually won and had their contract dissolved. Webb left in the meantime, and the now-reduced-to-a-trio Talk Talk moved to Polydor Records. Their last album, ''Music/LaughingStock'', came out in 1991 on Polydor's famed jazz label, Verve. The recording sessions were even more demanding, the list of guest musicians was longer, the track lengths increased as well, the music moved in an even more minimalist, improvisational direction, the influence on PostRock was larger and the critical acclaim even larger. In short, ''Laughing Stock'' was ''Spirit of Eden'' turned UpToEleven.

While Hollis from the start cited jazz musicians like Music/MilesDavis, Music/JohnColtrane, and classical artists like Bartók and Debussy and influences, the band's financial situation in their early years forced them to rely on synths and brought about predictable comparisons to [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] artists like Music/DuranDuran. Snapped up by EMI, the lads released their first album in 1982, ''The Party's Over.'' Produced by former Music/DavidBowie and Music/DuranDuran engineer Colin Thurston, the album showcased the SynthPop / [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] sound that attracted accusations of [[FollowTheLeader derivativeness]] but scraped the UK Top 40 with "Talk Talk" and "Today." In the ensuing tour, the band opened for Music/{{Genesis}} at a concert, forcing Hollis to spend most of the set avoiding whatever fans threw on stage.

Discography:
* ''The Party's Over'' (1982)
* ''It's My Life'' (1984)
* ''The Colour of Spring'' (1986)
* ''Spirit of Eden'' (1988)
* ''Music/LaughingStock'' (1991)

* IAmTheBand: Mark Hollis became this around ''Laughing Stock''.

Talk Talk were a British [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]]-[[GenreShift turned]]-[[PostRock]] band in TheEighties known for one of the standout examples of GrowingTheBeard and successful {{New Sound Album}}s in AlternativeRock. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

Talk Talk were a British [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] band in TheEighties known for one of the standout examples of GrowingTheBeard and successful {{New Sound Album}}s in AlternativeRock. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

On February 25, 2019, reports emerged that Hollis had passed away at the age of 64. The reports were confirmed the following day by his former manager, who specified that Hollis had died of "a short illness from which he never recovered." No exact date of death has been specified, nor has the name of the illness; Hollis will be dearly missed.

* TitleTrack: Confusingly, the ''song'' "The Colour of Spring" doesn't appear on the ''album'' "The Colour of Spring" (which does contain the phrase in the lyrics of the song "April 5th"); it shows up on Mark Hollis' solo album instead. In fact, only the band's first two albums play this trope straight.

* TitleTrack: Confusingly, the ''song'' "The Colour of Spring" doesn't appear on the ''album'' ''The Colour of Spring''; it shows up on Mark Hollis' solo album instead, while the lyrics of "April 5th" from the ''album'' "The Colour of Spring" do contain the ''phrase'' "The Colour of Spring". In fact, only the band's first two albums play this trope straight.

** The first track on Hollis's solo album is called "The Colour Of Spring".

* TitleTrack: Confusingly, the ''song'' "The Colour of Spring" doesn't appear on the ''album'' ''The Colour of Spring''; it shows up on Mark Hollis' solo album instead. In fact, only the band's first two albums play this trope straight.

** One example, of a sort: ''The Colour of Spring'' gives us "I Don't Believe in You"; ''Spirit of Eden'' gives us "I Believe in You".

On February 25, 2019, reports emerged stating that Hollis had passed away at the age of 64; initially appearing as rumor, they were confirmed by both Hollis' cousin-in-law and Webb. No exact date or cause of death has been specified; Hollis will be dearly missed.

* TheXOfY: ''Spirit of Eden''

On February 25, 2019, reports emerged stating that Hollis had passed away at the age of 64; initially appearing as rumor, they were confirmed by both Hollis' cousin-in-law and Webb No exact date or cause of death has been specified. He will be dearly missed.

** The last two album covers feature birds in trees. The ''Music/LaughingStock'' artwork gives the birds shapes similar to the Earth's continents; it's subtle, but impossible to unsee once you notice it.

* NewWaveMusic: Their best known style.

* PostRock: TropeMaker on ''Spirit of Eden'' and ''Laughing Stock'', possibly alongside Music/{{Slint}}. When music journalist Simon Reynolds coined the term "post-rock", it was in a review of Bark Psychosis' 1994 album ''Hex'' in which he was directly comparing that album to ''Spirit of Eden''. UnbuiltTrope applies to a certain extent here.
* SiameseTwinSongs: "The Rainbow", "Eden", and "Desire", which form the suite that takes up half of ''Spirit of Eden''.

* Paul Webb - bass, left in 1988 after ''The Spirit of Eden''

On February 25, 2019, reports from Hollis' family emerged stating that he had passed away at the age of 64; no exact date or cause of death has been specified. If the rumors are true, he will be dearly missed.