Thursday, February 5, 2009

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

An album that changed the face of music forever.

"Spirit Of Eden occupies a space outside musical genres, an area between pop and jazz that is painted vividly with the colours and textures of blues, ambient, classical, rock... The first half of the record consists of a suite of three tracks which flow organically between each other, The Rainbow starting inauspiciously with subdued strings and the rumour of trumpets, the awakening of the record heralded by squalls of over-amped harmonica and electric guitar, Friese-Green in thrall to Lamonte Young, Cage and Stockhausen while Hollis invokes his fascination with Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker. But where Johnson’s soul was sold, Hollis finds his saved amid the fall and rise, the surging tide. The passages of neo-classical ambience belie the loose and buried structure; there are refrains here, musical and almost lyrical, muffled talk of the lawyer’s song, the jailer’s song, the unending trial, before whispered silence drifts us into Eden. Time and again the battle between temptation and redemption ushers us between chaos and bliss, the storm gathering, those gentle passages between the fray opening up the clouds to reveal regions of crystal blue away from the shredding guitar that wails with the dependency and need that hold us back from salvation.


The final section of the opening triptych washes in on cowed church organ, ruminative, reverent, before the implosion that is foreseen but irresistible, Hollis a rage against resignation, a cry of “that ain’t me babe” again and again before a confession of escaped weakness, a refusal to go under; “I’m just content to relax / than drown within myself”, anything but content, turning the ire to aid salvation. All the while the guitar is ferocity, harsh plains of bass and the biting wind of harmonica overset with clattering, broiling drums, percussive white-horses eroding the self to the point of catharsis and sublimation, unstoppable even when the rest has fallen by the wayside, Web and Harris together a source of elemental rhythm, powerful, refined, sometimes elusive and always measured to perfection." - Nick Southall

Inheritance

9 comments:

  1. brilliant album yes. one of my all time favourites, although i think Laughing Stock is a little more brilliant, an album i continue to be drawn to listen. great blog.

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  2. In complete agreement with you, I also happen to think LS is just a wee bit better. Scary to think how much at the peak of their power this band was at that time.

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  3. Educating the kids on this post-rock thing that's so popular nowadays.

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  4. I wonder what other genre has yet to make a comeback. at least in PR. folk? glam? dare i say no-wave?

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  5. Too complex for the masses. They'll just call it indie and paste a Coors Light symbol on it.

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  6. It IS my Life, my friends.
    It is my life...

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  7. sad to say their label didn't think SoE and LS were good at all, loosing interest in promoting them, which is when Talk Talk fade from existance... also check out Mark Hollis' solo album for a glimpse back at some of this brilliance.

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  8. Hollis' album is amazing. O'rang also, Harris & Webb's wonderful project, picking up where they left off after LS in many ways.

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  9. Laughing Stock was definitely the best, but Spirit of Eden ain't bad at all.

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