Talk talk

Talk talk
General information
origin	London , England
Genre (s)	Synth pop , new wave art rock , post rock
founding	1981
resolution	1991
Last occupation
Singing , piano , guitar	Mark Hollis († 2019)
Drums	Lee Harris
bass	Paul Webb
former members
Keyboard	Simon Brenner (1981-1983)

Talk Talk was a British band that started with synth pop and new wave in the early 1980s and achieved great commercial success by the mid-1980s. After that, the band changed artistically and published two avant-garde works between 1988 and 1991, which had an important influence on art and post-rock and inspired numerous subsequent musicians . The publications were made by the EMI, Polydor and Parlophone labels.

Band history

The London band was formed in 1981. The commercial peak was reached in the mid-1980s. The group produced pop music that dealt with more serious subjects than those of many contemporary synth-pop bands, which made them cult. The 1984 song Such a Shame was influenced by Luke Rhinehart's novel Der Würfler .

The keyboardist Simon Brenner left after the first album The Party's Over , which was released in July 1982 and was a first success for the band, especially in English-speaking countries. On the following productions Tim Friese-Greene took over the production and playing of the keyboard instruments and composed together with the singer Mark Hollis , but never became a permanent member of the band and did not take part in concerts of the band, which were for live performances on session Musician resorted to. The two albums It's My Life (1984) and The Color of Spring (1986) were great commercial successes, and so the band initially got a free hand for future productions. 1986 played Talk Talk at the Montreux Jazz Festival ; the performance was recorded for television and now enjoys cult status. In 1988 the artistically avant-garde work Spirit of Eden was created , in which u. a. Jazz greats like Henry Lowther , the violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy and the instrument inventor Hugh Davies . This demanding project delighted critics and many musicians, but was far from commercially able to build on the earlier successes, so that the record company dropped the band. Therefore, the last album Laughing Stock was released in 1991 on the jazz label Verve . This new style was later referred to as post-rock . EMI released a remix album History Revisited in 1991 , which led to legal disputes with the band because it happened against the will of the musicians. Eventually, Mark Hollis broke up the band.

Later projects of the former band members

Mark Hollis released an album of the same name as a solo artist in 1998, but then withdrew from the music scene. One last extremely minimalist piece was released by him under the pseudonym John Cope - named after a Talk Talk song of the same name - on the album AV1 by Dave Allinson and Phil Brown.

Paul Webb and Lee Harris jointly released two albums and an EP under the name ".O.rang" (or "'O'rang") from 1994 to 1996, on which they spread a variety of soundscapes without common song structures. During this time they worked with the still unknown musician Beth Gibbons . Lee Harris was hired as a drummer by various bands such as Midnight Choir or Bark Psychosis . In 2002 Paul Webb released the album Out of Season under the pseudonym "Rustin 'Man" together with Portishead singer Beth Gibbons . Together with Lee Harris and some Portishead members they went on tour. For the two ex-Talk-Talk members it was the first stage presence since 1986. When Mark Hollis died in 2019, Webb stated that he had not had any contact with the singer for years.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1982	The Party's Over	-	-	-	UK21st silver (25 weeks)UK	US132 (16 weeks) US
1984	It's my life	DE4th gold (42 weeks)DE	-	CH2 (15 weeks) CH	UK35 (8 weeks) UK	US42 (22 weeks) US
1986	The Color of Spring	DE11 (25 weeks) DE	AT16 (4 weeks) AT	CH3 (16 weeks) CH	UK8th gold (21 weeks)UK	US58 (17 weeks) US
1988	Spirit of Eden	DE16 (10 weeks) DE	-	CH12 (7 weeks) CH	UK19th silver (6 weeks)UK	-
1991	Laughing stick	DE65 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK26 (2 weeks) UK	-
1999	London 1986	DE46 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	Live album

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	Natural History - The Very Best Of	DE10 gold (27 weeks)DE	-	CH27 (4 weeks) CH	UK3 gold (21 weeks)UK	-
1991	History Revisited - The Remixes	DE27 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	UK35 (2 weeks) UK	-
1997	The very best of	-	-	-	UK54 gold (2 weeks)UK	-
2011	Essential	-	-	CH61 (2 weeks) CH	-	-

More compilations

• 1984: It's My Mix (Remixes)
• 1986: Mini LP (US Mixes)
• 1998: Asides Besides
• 1998: 12x12 original remixes
• 2000: The Collection
• 2001: Remixed
• 2001: Missing Pieces
• 2003: Introducing… Talk Talk
• 2003: The Essential
• 2005: The Ultra Selection
• 2013: Natural History
• 2013: Natural Order 1982–1991

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1982	Talk Talk The Party's Over	-	-	-	UK23 (14 weeks) UK	US75 (7 weeks) US
	Today The Party's Over	-	-	-	UK14 (13 weeks) UK	-
1983	My Foolish Friend	-	-	-	UK57 (3 weeks) UK	-
1984	It's my life, it's my life	DE33 (22 weeks) DE	-	-	UK46 silver (14 weeks)UK	US31 (14 weeks) US	The single was re-released in 1990 and then peaked at number 13 in the UK.
	Find a Shame It's My Life	DE2 (23 weeks) DE	AT2 (12 weeks) AT	CH1 (16 weeks) CH	UK49 (6 weeks) UK	US89 (3 weeks) US
	Dum Dum Girl It's My Life	DE20 (12 weeks) DE	-	CH24 (5 weeks) CH	UK74 (1 week) UK	-
	Another word	DE25 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-
1985	Life's What You Make It The Color Of Spring	DE24 (15 weeks) DE	-	CH17 (8 weeks) CH	UK16 (15 weeks) UK	US90 (4 weeks) US
1986	Living in Another World The Color Of Spring	DE34 (9 weeks) DE	-	CH23 (1 week) CH	UK48 (4 weeks) UK	-
	Give It Up The Color Of Spring	-	-	-	UK59 (3 weeks) UK	-
2003	It's my life	-	-	-	UK64 (1 week) UK	-	Liquid People vs. Talk talk

More singles

• 1982: Mirror Man
• 1982: Another Word
• 1984: Such a Shame (US Mix)
• 1984: Tomorrow Started (Live)
• 1986: I Don't Believe in You
• 1988: I Believe in You
• 1991: Living in Another World (Remix)
• 1991: After the Flood (Outtake)
• 1991: New Grass
• 1991: Ascension Day

Bootlegs

• 1982: Live Gillingham in Concert 82
• 1982: Live Radio One 82
• 1982: Live Munich 82
• 1984: Live Ahoy 84
• 1984: Live Hammersmith 84
• 1984: Live Metropol, Vienna, Austria
• 1984: Live Lyceum 84
• 1984: Live San Francisco 84
• 1984: Live Utrecht '84
• 1986: Live Torhout (Belgium) 86
• 1986: Live Montreux 86
• 1991: Talking Colors Live Hammersmith Odeon 86
• 2005: Fading Colors Live Utrecht Muziekcentrum Vrendenburg 86

Video albums

• 2008: Natural History - The Very Best Of (11 videos)
• 2008: Live at Montreux 1986
• 2013: Natural History - The Very Best Of (12 Videos)

As' O'rang (Lee Harris & Paul Webb)

• 1994: Spoor (EP)
• 1995: Herd of Instinct
• 1996: Fields and Waves

reception

The Rolling Stone classifies Talk Talk as one of the most important pop acts of the 1980s and early 1990s: “Talk Talk is one of the most important pop acts of the 1980s. With hits like It's My Life or Such a Shame , Hollis became a chart star, but it was the albums Spirit of Eden (1988) and Laughing Stock (1991) that raised him to the sphere of songwriting genius because he was increasingly jazz and incorporated new music into his works. "

Awards for music sales

Golden record

•  Canada
  • 1986: for the album The Color of Spring
•  Netherlands
  • 1986: for the album The Color of Spring
  • 1991: for the album Natural History - The Very Best Of

Platinum record

•  Netherlands
  • 1988: for the album It's My Life

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Germany (BVMI)	-	2 × gold2	-	500,000	musikindustrie.de
Canada (MC)	-	gold1	-	50,000	musiccanada.com
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	200,000	nvpi.nl
United Kingdom (BPI)	3 × silver3	3 × gold3	-	620,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	3 × silver3	8 × gold8th	platinum1

Web links

• Talk Talk at Allmusic (English)
• Talk Talk at Discogs (English)
• Talk Talk at laut.de
• Snow in Berlin Extensive unofficial Talk Talk & Mark Hollis Homepage (English) and (German) (French) (Italian)
• Talk Talk Song Index

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ben Myers: How Talk Talk spoke to today's artists on theguardian.com, accessed August 16, 2017
2. ↑ Graeme Thomson: Talk Talk: the band who disappeared from view on theguardian.com, accessed August 16, 2017
3. ↑ Ralf Summer, Bayerischer Rundfunk: From 80s Pop to Chamber Music: The Miraculous Change from Talk Talk | BR.de . April 20, 2012 ( br.de [accessed January 31, 2018]).
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
5. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
6. ↑ Talk Talk - It's My Life (1990) , officialcharts.com
7. ↑ Rolling Stone: Talk Talk: Mark Hollis is dead. February 25, 2019, accessed on February 25, 2019 (German).