One of my fave music authors, Graeme Thomson (Kate Bush, Simple Minds, etc), writes about one of my fave acts (Talk Talk).
Out next Thursday.
https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/In-Another-World/Graeme-Thomson/9781917923613
Graeme Thomson on Talk Talk
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Mark & Dave chat here:
Already heard this, Mark and (especially) Dave seemed to get stuck on one thing “the albums took a long time” and that’s all they wanted to know about.
Thankfully, Graeme is a much better writer than interviewee.
Erm. A pedant writes, Talk Talk released 5 albums not the 3 mentioned in the blurb. I have a massive soft spot for the debut.
Grrrr
I think it means their reputation is mainly from the 3 more experimental albums they released after the more conventional pop first couple
In the WIYE thing, Graeme explains that he came late to Talk Talk. He’s 3 years younger than me, so he missed the early synth stuff (he’d have been 8 or 9 when the first album came out).
Yep, I was just being a bit snarky. I’m a big TT fan though, pseud alert, I respect rather than love the last two albums.
I really enjoyed the first 3 albums at the time but found the later two “genius, boundary pushing experimental” ones a bit much if I’m being honest. Never found the third one too much of a challenge though.
You am I @nick-l
The Colour of Spring their meisterwerk.
Isn’t it just! Excellent songs beautifully recorded…you can’t really ask for more than that.
Yup. A perfect melding of their melodies and otherworldliness.
Only really know them through there singles so today’s deep dive is to explore them more . Graeme’s book on Simple Minds was excellent.
As is his book on Kate Bush. However I have stopped buying music biographies mostly as I find many musicians are actually not very interesting or not interesting enough to read 250 pages on them. Naturally Kate Bush IS very interesting
Yes, his book on Kate was a very good read, and I preferred it to his one on the mighty Minds, where he seemed to overdo the metaphors and wander into a “sonic cathedrals”-type pseuds’ corner.
I somehow missed the WIYE episode but have since rectified. Some interesting and new (for me anyway) insights. The influence on Kate Bush and the rumour that she and Mark Hollis tried to work together; the fact that there were demos of Spirit of Eden! Also the sheer number of top notch musicians who were brought in to play on that album and were either rejected outright (Larry Kline and Steve Gadd – did I hear that right??!!) or only had one or two notes used (Nigel Kennedy). Reminiscent of the Aja sessions. Surprised Danny Thompson didn’t nail them all under a carpet a la John Martyn but then most of his contributions seem to have made the cut.