Last updated November 8, 1998
From Inpress (Melbourne, Australia), July 15, 1998
Mark Hollis
Mark Hollis (Polydor)
"Formerly of Talk Talk" says the sticker on the label, and for good reason. When Talk Talk made their public debut at the height of the New Romantic movement of the early 80s, most who came across their debut album presumed they were dealing with yet another style-obsessed fashion-pop band - not an entirely surprising situation, in hindsight. Upon signing to EMI, Talk Talk were suddenly transformed by their label into The Next Duran Duran, the label even going as far as recruiting Duran’s producer, Colin Thurston, to helm the debut album. And so began a relationship between band and label fraught with misunderstanding, bitterness and mutual loathing. For EMI weren’t going to be the proud parents of another insta-pop band; Talk Talk had other ideas.
Scoring a few hits in the UK throughout the 80s, Talk Talk were - and still are - seen by many people as a throwaway 80s moment. But those who embraced the five albums that band recorded knew differently; singer and principal songwriter Mark Hollis had found a collaborator in producer Tim Friese-Greene, and gradually moved completely away from conventional pop music. The culmination of it all was the astonishing Spirit Of Eden album, recorded with a huge budget and entirely free of anything even remotely single-friendly. That record ended the band’s relationship with EMI; signing to Polydor’s revived jazz label Verve, they were to record one only more album. Mark Hollis described Laughing Stock as the culmination of everything Talk Talk had been working towards, and promptly disappeared for seven years, the band quietly disintegrating.
In the intervening time, though, the musical climate changed. Radiohead scored a worldwide hit album with a record that was more than slightly influenced by late-period Talk Talk, prompting many to dig out the albums and rediscover them in the context of what’s come since. Ahead of their time throughout their life, Talk Talk remain one of the most underrated bands in musical history.
For his debut solo outing, Hollis has abandoned the textured, almost jazz-tinged working method that defined Talk Talk - which often meant songs constructed from hours of improvisation - for something a bit more, well, baroque. Completing songwriting before recording, this time around Hollis is being more direct, more assured; simultaneously, though, his songs have become even more insular, delicate and fragile. With Warne Livesey handling most of the production, Friese-Greene is nowhere to be seen on this record, Hollis feeling that the partnership had reached a logical end; with him has gone much of the cinematic atmosphere and late-night warmth, replaced by two-mike simplicity and gentle ambience. The instruments of choice this time are unconventional - a woodwind section, piano, trumpet and harmonica all share space with Hollis’ impossibly fragile vocal. This is not a pop album, needless to say; the fact that it makes Talk Talk’s final album sound like one, though, should give an idea of what to expect here. This album needs repeated listens, but over the course of months rather than days. It’s not hard work, by any means, but to ears savaged by years of join-the-dots pop it’ll take a while to properly reveal itself. Those who’ve got the entire inventory of Talk Talk CDs in their collection need no such warning, of course, and this album works perfectly well as a logical progression from Laugbing Stock while being a completely different beast in the emotion stakes.
That this album is already scoring radio airplay in Australia is testament to the respect many have for this man’s work; certainly nobody anywhere makes records quite like Mark Hollis. Delicate, layered, impossibly deep music that’s a million miles removed from the rest of the world, this long-awaited solo debut is one of the most intriguing, frustrating, fascinating and downright beautiful records ever committed to tape, an addition to an already highly valued catalogue that’s certain to be treasured and explored for years by those lucky enough to hear it.
Anthony Horan
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Last updated November 8, 1998