Last updated January 26, 1998
Mark Hollis takes minimalism to its limit with a one-note solo on Talk Talk's new album Laughing Stock. Still a solo, like life, is what you make it, and - hey man! - it's the space between the notes that really matters. Betty Page talks ambience with the reclusive muso who maintains that "the mistakes are the best things..."
Mark Hollis, the enigmatic founding father of Talk Talk, gives brother Ed (of Eddie And The Hot Rods fame) credit for his own musical education. Along with a love of Otis Redding and Ornette Coleman, Ed instilled in his little Bro' the spirit of punk - the enthusiasm, the anarchy, the belief that anyone can be a musician. All of these qualities make Hollis and Talk Talk tick.
Hollis is remote from the notion of Pop Stardom. He listens to no contemporary music, preferring instead the blues of Robert Johnson, classical composers of the early 1900s, plus Stockhausen and Ligeti. He's more concerned with the intense production process of a Talk Talk record than promoting it. "I don't have to do anything, but I don't want to be unreasonable," Hollis explains, quietly but precisely. "It comes down to what it is - it's called choice." He's has ensured that choice is a luxury he can afford: Talk Talk are in the fortunate position of not having to compromise. However, the band only reached this state of grace after an ignominious start in 1981: then signed to EMI, their first LP The Party's Over gave the wrong impression, the press dubbed them 'the new Duran Duran' and when 'Talk Talk' (their first single) was released in 1982, it achieved only a mediocre Number 52 chart placing. Hollis, with Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass) and Simon Brenner (keyboards), felt misunderstood.
A new album was released in the summer of '82, another single 'Today' made a respectable Top 20 showing, but the band were already looking to Europe and America. Although signs were good, Hollis didn't see things EMI's way. Talk Talk were not going to be a pop group.
In 1983, after false starts with several producers, Mark Hollis linked up with Tim Friese-Greene, a marriage made in heaven. Simon Brenner departed and Talk Talk became more of a collective. On its release in early '84 the album It's My Life achieved Top 40 success in the US, selling over a million copies worldwide.
"That was the album that put us in a position to become more insular," Hollis remembers, "because we made it in England with no contact from the record company. That LP didn't really do anything here, whereas in Europe it did really well. I'd got the freedom I wanted, and retained the anonymity."
Though EMI couldn't seem to understand Hollis and his band, at least the musicians were left alone to their own devices. After exhaustive touring, Hollis withdrew, writing and arranging with new soulmate Friese-Greene during 1985. The resulting LP, Colour Of Spring, was less melancholy than its predecessors, and the celebratory 'Life's What You Make It' duly found its way into the Top 20 during 1986.
The great leap of faith came with the last Talk Talk LP for EMI, Spirit of Eden, which used improvisation as its ethos, and was closer in spirit to freeform jazz or modern classical music than anything remotely rock or pop. Laughing Stock continues where Spirit of Eden left off, using musicians purely for their attitude rather than their ability as players.
"They're all talented people, but if I didn't like the person, it wouldn't matter what he played he wouldn't get on the record," Hollis continues. "It's about letting people play for themselves - you give them the freedom to play anything, then take from what they've given of themselves, and assemble that. On these albums everyone is important because they are undirected in what they play. You could never make this LP without any of them. It is of them.
"It's quite often the mistakes that are the best things, and that' s why so much of the LP would be so hard to recreate. The best mistake was a bit where Friese-Greene walked in the studio and tripped over a guitar. It sounded like a class bit of playing. Dissonance is important - where your ear bends. The most important thing you can work with is silence... I've always believed that one note is better than two, two notes are better than three, so it's never hard to choose because you're looking for very small fragments."
"That one note guitar solo on the third track - we wanted to get to that stage with this album and it was one of the most important achievements for us." For Talk Talk, the precarious balance between artistic freedom and commercial necessity is being maintained. Polydor are happy to let them get on with it. Hollis is none too pleased though, with EMI's recent treatment of the band's back catalogue. Last year EMI released Natural History, a 'best of' compilation, but then came the insult: History Revisited, an album of remixes so far removed from the originals that the band are taking legal action against EMI. The record company also re-released TT's singles 'Life's What You Make It' and 'It's My Life'. In bizarre fashion, the songs were bigger hits second time round.
"It was quite strange to have stuff out that was that much out of date... and then the BRITS thing. I found that insulting. You get a nomination for Best Band and it's for stuff that's seven years out of date."
Hollis looks uncomfortable. He's being filmed because he hates photographs. Trying to ignore the intrusion, he makes one more statement: "At the end of the day the record is what I have to say. If you understand it, you do, if you don't, nothing I say will make you understand it. The only thing I can do by talking about it is detract from it. I can't add anything. Can I go home now, then...?"