Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

1997 EMI release, their fourth album (1988) digitally remastered. The album features six extended ambient tracks, including 'Desire', 'Eden' and 'I Believe In You'. Album Description

A forgotten classic.

For several years Pink Floyd has been my one and only favorite band of all time. Talk Talk's "Spirit of Eden" was enough to catapult them to share a space right next to my (now other) favorite band.

It is sometimes difficult to believe that this album was released in 1988. Think about some of the music that was topping the charts at that time... synth laden pop catering to chart climbing. Talk Talk did start out at a new wave act, and after the success of some of their previous albums could have easily continued a similar formula for a quick buck. But they didn't (and the preceding album to Spirit of Eden, "Colour of Spring" hinted at this). This album sounds more like a release from the 90's, when all of that so called "post-rock" was coming out. Horrible name for a genre though it may be, Talk Talk, in my opinion, created the first "post-rock" album. Years ahead of their time with this album, Talk Talk.

Jazz, blues, ambient, it's all here, as well as much more. They even manage to actually rock the hell out a bit on the chorus of the third track, "Desire." But this is an album of dynamics. If you are going to listen to this album for the first time I suggest you do so alone, with either headphones or an incredible speaker system cranked up. You will be knocked out of your seat, provided you have patience. This is an album that rewards its listener many times over, but you must be able to appreciate the fact that this album is a single, cohesive work of art.

For some reason this album apparently bombed back when it was released in the eighties. A critical success for the most part but a commercial failure. Talk Talk released one other album after this, "Laughing Stock," which picks up where this left off, full of beauty and plenty of atmosphere to take you somewhere in your head, but with much more emphasis on minimalism. Beyond that, Talk Talk was no more, and I selfishly find myself angry at their disbandment, wanting to know what more they could have done. However, they did well enough with Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock, as well as Colour of Spring, which is also worthy of a checkout.

Unfortunately Talk Talk is still pretty much unheard of. I'm sure most people believe Gwen Stefani wrote "It's My Life," but that's the way it goes. Hollis deserved the royalties, at least. But there are people out there who know, and these albums, I think, are coming around and finally getting the attention and appreciation they deserve. Not to mention the bands out there who are well aware of Talk Talk and their genius work (Doves, Elbow, Shearwater, Engineers).

You owe it to yourself, if you're into "space rock," "ambient," "post-rock," "art rock," "experimental," or anything similarly styled, to try this album out. Some people will not like it, that is true, music is a subjective experience. But this band is far too overlooked. More people should be aware of this beautiful work.

I don't have many "5 star" or deserted island albums. This is one of the few.

Footnote: I used quotation marks rather heavily in this review, but that is because this album defies description and can not be easily pigeonholed. August 20, 2008

It seems louder because it is surrounded by quiet.

This is one of those albums that reaffirms your faith in the power of music, and in the possibility that there is something worth saving, and that there is something in the world that is not tainted. It works brilliantly on every level. It is musically compelling. It is clever. It has a fantastic sound. It is a special secret. It is timeless, dense, and deep, one of those albums that you might play once a year for the rest of your life, without growing tired of it. It works. It is the kind of record, the kind of thing, that might make a man pack up his job and travel the world.

Ever since I can remember, I have associated sounds and visual images all together. When I listen to Spirit of Eden, I visualise ice floes in the Northern Latitudes, and the sun is shining. It is a glacial record, slow and deliberate, but not cold. It's not a sad record. The sparse lyrics are delivered in a breathless, haunting voice by the lead singer, as if he was channelling a higher truth, as if he was not afraid any more. The instruments are equally breathless. They are usually played softly, a distant wash of sound. There are only a few moments that rock; "Eden" has swirling electric organ, the end of "The Rainbow" has a blistering harmonica solo, and "Desire" is punctuated with a full-on cymbal-crashing crescendo that seems louder because it is surrounded by quiet.

It seems louder because it is surrounded by quiet. A lot has been written recently about the dynamics of pop records, the way that pop records tend to be very loud all the way through from beginning to end. Spirit of Eden is not like that. It has crescendos, it has long stretches of quiet punctuated by bursts of noise. The bursts of noise seem louder because of the surrounding quiet. Talk Talk developed the idea further with their next and final record, Laughing Stock, which transformed the quiet bits into shattering crescendos, but that is another story.

Spirit of Eden is essentially one long song. There are shifts of mood, and if you listen to the record several times you can detect verses and choruses, but it is the kind of thing you have to listen to in one sitting, perhaps several times in a row. For this reason, it's not the kind of record you are likely to pop onto the turntable whilst you have a bite to eat, but you'll never be without a copy.

Look, if the doctor told me I had cancer, and the prognosis was not good, I would still listen to this record. And "Land of 1,000 Dances", and also "Rockaway Beach". And lots of other records too, but I would listen to this one particularly. If only it had been longer. June 26, 2008

Soundtrack To Life

When you open your heart to this album, it will make the rest of your album collection pale and seem very insignificant in comparison because no other album can move you in the deepest and most emotional ways that this one can. This is the album that first anticipated the term "post-rock" but unlike the countless artists and albums that followed in its wake, none can match the grace, power, beauty, and majesty (the textures, mood, and atmosphere, the light/shade, silence/sounds, and catharsis) of this album. From the seamless three-song suite which encompasses abstract jazz ("The Rainbow"), delicate ambience ("Eden"), and earthy, visceral blues/rock ("Desire") on the first side to the second side where quieter yet even more captivating drifting passages of complexity ("Inheritance") share space with one of the greatest songs ever written ("I Believe in You") and a closer with closure and redemption ("Wealth"), Spirit of Eden is, quite simply, a record that stands out because it actually speaks to and becomes part of your most interior and emotional moments--it is one of those rare albums that actually deserves to be called a "soundtrack to life". April 28, 2008

UniqueMasterpiece/ListenHeadPhones

It must be admitted; I had for the longest time a rather negative view on Talk Talk. I first discovered Talk Talk via their first singles - Talk Talk and Today - that became moderate hits. Despite being decent songs, the group was an obvious Duran Duran light outfit, with Duran's same producer on the helm and the name in the same vein as Duran.

Some respect was added when It's My Life, Dum Dum Girl and Such a Shame were released. All 3 remain pop classics. I even became tempted buying their Colour of Spring album based on very favorable reviews and the hits Living in Another World and Life's What You Make It. Like so many other people, I settled for their Natural History collection which I have listened to regularly for many years.

That collection included 2 of the songs on Spirit of Eden. They did not, however, fit in any way with the rest of the collection so I most often simply stopped listening at that point. Having, however, read rave reviews about the album for many years, I became curious to hear how it actually is. Could it be that as a whole, it sounds better than the fragments I had heard on the Natural History collection? I finally gave in and bought it a couple of years ago. In most cases, such shots in the dark lead to nowhere (Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens are recent examples). This time I struck, however, gold.

This is a demanding album and really unlike almost everything else. Yet, I became instantly hooked on it. I have been constantly playing it since I bought it, always discovering new dimensions. Being such a unique album, it is difficult describing the music. The songs are long (only six of them) and in most cases relatively mellow. Comparisons that come to mind are David Sylvian, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Of course, these artists differ widely in styles but that simply underlines how difficult it is to pinpoint this album.

I have now bought Talk Talk's other great albums, The Colour of Spring and Laughing Stock. Both are fantastic in different ways. For me, though, Spirit of Eden is their best album and is part of my short desert island music list.

April 24th, 2008

After listening to Spirit of Eden constantly for over a couple of years, I finally came about experiencing it via the use of headphones. Usually that is a different experience; obviously one hears subtle sounds that are not heard when listening with speakers in addition to the added depth and clearer image. This album, however, blows practically all other albums away. It is almost as if one gains an added dimension using good headphones. The sound is not crystal clear - this being an analog recording - but the care and feel of the whole set in a way embraces the listener and yet sets the sound stage wide open. I am really at a loss for words, but strongly recommend not limiting listening to Spirit of Eden through load speakers but also using headphones, most preferably better ones than the typical small sets included with iPods.

August 28, 2007

thank goodness this cd is in my life

My story with this CD begins with my friend and I going to a high-end audio store pretending that we were going to actually buy something. My friend had worked in a recording studio for a couple years, so he knew the ins and outs of what the guy was saying, but I just stood there drooling over all the pretty things I could neither understand nor afford. Near the end of the tour, the two of us and the saleman went into a room with a couple chairs, a recliner, a couple amazing looking turntables, and a set of speakers in the front of the room. Of all the CDs, my friend pulls this one out. After making sure the speakers were perfectly balanced (of course I couldn't tell the difference) we popped in the CD. I nearly fell off my seat. Then my friend offered the recliner to me, which was situated directly in front center of the speakers. I had NEVER heard anything so beautful in my life. It made me tear up right there in the store.

I love this whole CD, from that amazing harmonica to the percussion spectacle in the middle of "Desire". My friend was right in saying that he's ruined me for life. The production and emotion of this album can only be truly appreciated blasted on decent headphones or speakers. One part of me wants to buy a bazillion copies of this and air-drop it over the world so everyone can hear it, but another part of me likes having it as my own personal gem. An incredible piece of work. April 3, 2007

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