FLEXIPOP!’s (not so) SLOPPY SECONDS No. 38 – Talk Talk by Talk Talk We’re all talk today. Talk Talk, released in April 1982, was the second single from Talk Talk and a track on their debut album, The Partys Over. It peaked at No. 52 in the UK upon initial release but a remix of the song was released later in the same year and this time it reached No. 23 and No. 75 in the US. The single also topped the chart in South Africa in 1983. The band’s first single, Mirror Man, was the original B-side. Sweet 16 Talk Talk facts: 1. The band 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). 2. In their early years they were often compared with Duran Duran, as both bands sported a name which was a single word repeated, a Roxy Music-inspired musical direction, and shared the same record label (EMI) and producer (Colin Thurston). The band also supported Duran Duran on tour in late 1981. 3. Their debut album, The Party’s Over, reached No.21 in the UK, and was later certified Silver for sales of 60,000. 4. In October 1982 they supported Genesis at their reunion concert with original lead singer Peter Gabriel at Milton Keynes Bowl. 5. Brenner left in 1983 and was never officially replaced. However, Tim Friese-Greene was brought in to assist with the recording of their second album, Its My Life, and he soon became the bands producer and occasional keyboard player, as well as Hollis frequent songwriting partner. 6. Their eighth single Such a Shame (a song inspired by the book The Dice Man) became a Top 5 hit in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, during this period. 7. The artist James Marsh designed the first cover image for Its My Life based on the bands name. He followed the theme for subsequent singles, remaining the bands artistic frontman and creating all their covers and posters throughout their career. 8. In 1986, Talk Talk’s third album, The Colour Of Spring became their biggest studio album success in the UK, making the Top 10 and certified Gold for sales over 100,000 copies. By this time, all the band’s songs were being written by Hollis and Friese-Greene. 9. They played the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1986, released on DVD in 2008 as Live at Montreux 1986. 10.The fourth album, Spirit Of Eden, took over a year to complete and was released in 1988, The resultant mix of rock, jazz, classical, and ambient music was critically praised and went Silver. The band announced they would recreate the album live. Without touring and without music videos and singles as the band originally intended, there was little marketing left that the record company could do. The band agreed to a video for the remixed version of I Believe In You. ‘I really feel that [the video] was a massive mistake,’ Hollis said at the time. ‘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 Id never done it. 11.After they left their record company, EMI, the label released the retrospective compilation Natural History in 1990. It peaked at number 3 on the UK album chart and. went on to sell more than one million copies worldwide. 12.The 1984 single Its My Life was re-released in 1990 and became the bands highest charting single in the UK, reaching No. 13. Lifes What You Make It was also re-released and reached the Top 30. 13.Following up on this renewed popular interest in the band, EMI released History Revisited in 1991, a compilation of 12 inch singles and alternative versions which made the UK Top 40. The band sued the label for releasing the remixed material without their permission. 14.Webb quit the band in 1990 and Talk Talk became a brand name for the studio recordings of Hollis and Friese-Greene. They released their fifth and last album Laughing Stock on Polydor in 1991that peaked at No. 26 in the UK. Their final single, and 23rd, Ascension Day, was released the same year. 15.Talk Talk disbanded in 1992, as Hollis wished to focus on his children. 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 a self-titled solo and then retired from the music industry. In 2012 he briefly re-surfaced to record an instrumental track, called ARB Section 1 for the Kelsey Grammer TV show Boss. 16.Artists that have claimed to be influenced by Talk Talk include Portishead, Radiohead, DJ Shadow, Elbow and Death Cab for Cutie. Weezer, The Divine Comedy and The Gathering covered Lifes What You Make It and No Doubt scored a hit with a cover of Its My Life in 2003. The official video for Talk Talk has just gone up on YouTube. Watch it here…
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 12:18:01 +0000
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