Talk Talk - The Rainbow

 continuing in rather sombre mood  . . . somehow

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/781380543707267072/talk-talk-the-rainbow

Talk Talk - April 5th (missed the window on this one but hey whatcha gonna do?)

 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/780917774694416384/talk-talk-april-5th

REMEMBERING MARK HOLLIS | URBANASPIRINES

Mark Hollis: Mark Hollis 1998

Kostas at Urbanaspirines turns up trumps again and this is a lovely tribute to Mark Hollis of Talk Talk fame and such an untimely loss in 2019 from the dread Big C. Lots of folks may not know after his seven year hiatus from the band he did a solo album and this is a treat for all music fans

                        Kostas says "The frontman of the influential new wave-era band Talk Talk, singer/songwriter Mark Hollis finally mounted his long-awaited solo career during the late '90s. The younger brother of Ed Hollis, a disc jockey and producer who went on to manage bands such as Eddie & the Hot Rods, Hollis originally planned to become a child psychologist but in 1975 left university to relocate to London, eventually forming a band called the Reaction. In 1977, the Reaction recorded a demo for Island Records; among the tracks was a Hollis original titled "Talk Talk" that later surfaced on the Beggars Banquet punk compilation Streets. After just one single, 1978's "I Can't Resist," the Reaction disbanded, and through his brother, Hollis was first introduced to musicians Paul Webb, Lee Harris, and Simon Brenner, with whom he formed Talk Talk in 1981; they soon signed to the EMI label. "

Bass – Chris Laurence
Bassoon – Julie Andrews, Maggie Pollock
Clarinet – Iain Dixon, Tim Holmes
Drums, Percussion – Martin Ditcham
Flute – Andy Penayi
Guitar – Dominic Miller, Robbie McIntosh
Guitar, Vocals – Mark Hollis
Harmonica – Mark Feltham
Piano, Harmonium – Lawrence Pendrous
Trumpet – Henry Lowther

Talk Talk on Urban Aspirines HERE

read on here . . .

MARK HOLLIS and A TALK TALK TWO! | URBANASPIRINES

Talk Talk: The Colour Of Spring 1986 + Spirit Of Eden 1988

nice set of albums from Talk Talk from Kostas again . . .thought we had these before but hey, go check it out! WE have posted a fair bit on Mark Hollis including his untimely death back in February 2019

Song of the Day Classic pop revisited | TALK TALK - It’s My Life (Live 1986) | Top Hat Crew's "Live Music Archives” [Facebook]

 Talk Talk - It's My Life (Live at Montreaux 1986)

R.I.P Mark Hollis

Top Hat Crew's "Live Music Archives"

Talk Talk: The Party's Over 1982 + It's My Life 1984 | URBANASPIRINES

Kostas does it again and has posted a nice profile piece up to his usual standard ( how does he find the time?!) on the legendary and much missed Mark Hollis and his band Talk Talk

Lovely stuff this . . . . 

Kostas says:

Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). Initially a synth-pop group, Talk Talk's first two albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984), reached top 40 in the UK and produced the international hit singles "Talk Talk", "Today", "It's My Life", and "Such a Shame". They achieved widespread critical success in Europe and the UK with the album The Colour of Spring (1986) and its singles "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World”.. . . . . . . . 

 

Mark Hollis died after a long struggle with cancer on February 2019 he was 64

read the rest and more on Talk Talk here . . . .

Talk Talk - It's My Life (US Mix)

both albums featured are long out of print [although if you don’t know the band there is a nice intro cd available about £3.99] If you know otherwise and wish me to take down the links please get in touch

Talk Talk - Live In Spain 1986::FRESH & ALIVE

 Nice set of TALK TALK from Spain in 1986 and although its a single file it is excellent radio broadcast quality and well worth having and you can always break it up yourself. ( I did and use a variety of file splitters)

Talk Talk Live In Spain 1986 - Fresh & Alive

Talk Talk - Salamanca, Spain

XXVI Spanish Radio Chain Festival

September 10, 1986

Track Listing:

01 - Talk Talk

02 - Dum Dum Girl

03 - Call it the Nightboy

04 - Tomorrow Started

05 - My Foolish Friend

06 - Life Is What You Make It

07 - Mirror Man / Does Caroline Know

08 - It's You

09 - Living In Another World

10 - Give It Up

11 - It's My Life

-Encore-

12 - Such a Shame

13 - Renze

TALK TALK - MISSING PIECES - FLOPPY BOOT STOMP

    We had been talking (geddit?) lately about Talk Talk and the tragic loss of Mark Hollis so I had to post links to this from the legendary Floppy Boot Stomp . . . . . of course this is Spring music and go on treat yourself and turn it up!

Talk Talk - Missing Pieces - Floppy Boot Stomp

My local Museum of Natural History has a stuffed Dodo, just thought you should know!

The Boss says:

'Missing Pieces' picks up where EMI's 'A's & B Sides' left off. After leaving EMI the band signed to Polydor to produce their final album 'Laughing Stock'. This CD is a collection of the A and B-sides of the singles issued during the Polydor era. Also includes the very rare piece called 'Piano', recorded in 1998.

 ~AMG

Please note: this is long out of print and if anyone knows otherwise just let me know and I will do something about it . . . . . . . . . 

Talk Talk - Festival Werchter, Belgium, 1986 - VOODOO WAGON

 This is nice over at the Voodoo Wagon we have Talk Talk from the sorely missed Mark Hollis of the uniquely haunting voice and expert lyric writing . . . . . . Hollis pass away in 2019 aged just 64 after a short illness

Talk Talk - Werchter 1986 - Voodoo Wagon

Track List:
1.Dum Dum Girl.
2.Call In The Night Boy.
3.Life's What You Make It.
4.Mirror Man Intro - Does Caroline Know ?
5.Living In Another World.
6.It's My Life.
7.I Don't Believe In You.
8.Such A Shame.

This is lovely and of course really worth downloading if you are a fan and check out the band's wonderful back catalogue too! Mark left a wife and two sons.

Snow In Berlin

Wayback Machine - Within Without

SONG OF THE DAY No.2 : TALK TALK - IT'S MY LIFE

 For Mark Hollis fans . . . . . . . . . 

 . . . . quite one of the oddest videos IMHO but worth it for the smile on Mark's face and the animals!?

From The Vaults 1984 Episode IV with Guy Garvey - TALK TALK - Mark Hollis

 FROM THE VAULTS

with 

GUY GARVEY

+ VOODOO WAGON TRIBUTES

Elbow frontman and broadcaster Guy Garvey lifts the lid on two decades of TV gold – with era-defining musical performances, long lost studio appearances and revealing interviews that have remained on the shelves for decades. 

I've been watching Guy Garvey's From The Vaults on Sky Arts television and enjoying it immensely. It does seem to contain genuine elements that have never been seen before largely from The Tube and other similar programmes Being an Elbow fan it was always going to appeal and Garvey is a fine frontman to such a programme

We got up to Episode Four yesterday and 1984 where we looked at The Style Council with a previously unseen 'Shout To The Top' and it finished with someone Guy obviously admires above many others in Talk Talk's sadly missed Mark Hollis with some deeply moving comments and clips

1984

1984: Guy looks back at 1984 and Madonna's first British TV appearance, unseen performances from Sade and The Style Council, Culture Club's Japan tour footage and more. 

Guy Garvey - From The Vaults - Sky link here

I Believe in You - Mark Hollis

This is the Clip from From The Vaults

Hollis retired from music to spend more time bringing up his children in 1998 and his untimely death in 2019 was a shock to us all

I had I am ashamed to say forgotten recently just how great Talk Talk and Mark Hollis' songwriting was and he is much missed and we are unlikely to see his like again. Thanks to Guy's most welcome reminder

VOODOO WAGON covered Hollis' Death and posted a couple of things really worth checking out.

TALK TALK - Live in Utrecht 1984 - Voodoo Wagon

TALK TALK - Live at The Paris Theatre BBC London, 1982 - Voodoo Wagon

Mark Hollis

In Memoriam

                                                              RIP  - Mark Hollis A Life



Voodoo Wagon posted this fine TALK TALK set in tribute to Mark Hollis who passed away in February this year . . . . . 

Talk Talk Live at The Paris Theatre, London - Voodoo Wagon

MARK HOLLIS

TALK TALK singer dies aged 64

 behindthegrooves

On this day in music history: February 27, 1984 - “It’s My Life”, the second album by Talk Talk is released. Produced by Tim Friese-Greene, it is recorded at Wessex Studios in London from Mid - Late 1983. Originally formed in 1981, Talk Talk first consists of Mark Hollis (lead vocals), Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass) and Simon Brenner (keyboards). Signed to EMI Records in 1981, Talk Talk draw comparisons to label mates Duran Duran, even sharing the same producer Colin Thurston for their first album “The Party’s Over”. Spinning off four singles including “Talk Talk” (#23 UK, #75 US Pop), the band shifts their musical path. Before this occurs, Simon Brenner leaves and is not replaced. Talk Talk hire Tim Friese-Greene, having worked on Thomas Dolby’s debut “The Golden Age Of Wireless”. Not only does Friese-Greene produce the band, he becomes its unofficial fourth member. They are supported in the studio by Robbie McIntosh (guitar), Ian Curnow, Phil Ramocon (keyboards), Morris Pert (percussion), Henry Lowther (trumpet) and Phil Spalding (bass). Also taking an interest in the visual aspect of their music, Talk Talk work with director Tim Pope. Having created memorable music videos for The Cure, Soft Cell and Altered Images, Pope and the band form a lasting creative alliance. The title track “It’s My Life” (#46 UK, #31 US Pop, #1 US Club Play) is released in January of 1984. Looking down upon lip synching in videos, Hollis refuses to do so in the clip for “Life”. The video consists of shots of Hollis wandering around the London Zoo, inter cut with wildlife nature footage. The singer’s anti lip synching stance is further emphasized, when animated black bars and other symbols appear over his mouth in the video. Unhappy at the move, EMI insist that the band make a second clip, which features the original video back projected while they deliberately mime to it poorly and humorously. While it misses the top 40 in the UK, “It’s My Life” is Talk Talk’s breakthrough in North America. The Canadian release contains the extended 12" mix of the title track, rather than the regular 7"/LP mix. It spins off two more singles including “Such A Shame” (#49 UK, #89 US Pop, #12 US Club Play), and “Dum Dum Girl” (Europe, Australia and New Zealand only). The album’s striking cover is painted by artist James Marsh, incorporating images from British Victorian artist John Everett Millais’ work “The Boyhood Of Raleigh”. Regarded as an 80’s classic, “It’s My Life” continues to enjoy popularity, and is later covered by No Doubt in 2003. Originally released on CD in 1985, “Life” is remastered and reissued in 1997. The reissue features the song lyrics in the booklet, handwritten by Mark Hollis. Out of print on vinyl since 1989, it is remastered and reissued as a 180 gram LP by Simply Vinyl in 2000, and again by EMI in 2017. “It’s My Life” peaks at number thirty five on the UK album chart, and number forty two on the Billboard Top 200.[Thanks to Jeff Harris' blog Behind The Grooves]

Mark Hollis's death, after "a short illness from which he never recovered", was confirmed by his former manager on 26 February 2019

BBC announcements of Hollis' death

Well what to say this is the most interesting development for Talk Talk featuring one of the most unique singing voices in pop from Mark Hollis and an album that defies categorisation!

On this day in music history: September 16, 1991 - “Laughing Stock”, the fifth album by Talk Talk is released. Produced by Tim Friese-Greene, it is recorded at Wessex Studios in London from September 1990 - April 1991. The bands first new album since departing their longtime label EMI Records (releasing it in the UK on Verve Records and in the US by Polydor Records, both distributed by Polygram Group Distribution), the band is also reduced to a duo at this point (consisting of lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Hollis and drummer Lee Harris), with bassist Paul Webb having left prior to the recording sessions. In the studio, Hollis and Harris are musically supported by hired musicians and longtime producer Tim Friese-Greene. The album sees them going in an even more experimental direction than before, veering away from their trademark synth-pop/art-rock sound. The band often improvise during the recording sessions, with a number of the tracks having a jazz influenced sound. In many ways the album defies easy categorization, leaving Polygram at a loss as to how to market it properly, especially in the US. As a result of its poor sales, Talk Talk split up months after its release in 1992, though in time it is regarded as one of their finest works. “Laughing Stock” peaks at number twenty six on the UK album chart and does not chart on the Billboard Top 200.

thanks to Jeff Harris' weblog . . .