Spirit Of Eden

It's almost as good as people make out, definitely worth getting. Be patient with it, I found his vocals a bit grating when i first listened to it. I really like the drum sounds on this album - there's one moment (on the 4th track I think) where the music is reaching boiling point, then drops out so all you can hear are the drums being THWACKED. it's good.

As did I and as I did on all subsequent hearing of this album - musically I find this album to be really beautiful but I really cannot listen to it with any great pleasure

a wild claim - and very possibly true! i have three greatest records ever (by man or beast and it varies from day to day which particular one it is) though two of them happen to be talk talk records - predictable perhaps (for ILM anyway)...

The bizarre recording process for the TT records is becmoing a bit of an urban legend as well (recording musicians individually in complete darkness, etc).

The music is very different from the previous TT 'hits' - obtuse, strange, and beautiful. The first time I listened to Spirit of Eden, I knew it was something special, because it confused me - I couldn't decide if it was complete crap or pure brilliance.

Absolutely essential - full stop.

I'll give you 21.

'Tilt' is great, but I don't think it's an unblemished masterpiece. It sort of sags a bit in the middle. The 'Lemon Bloody Cola' song is a bit overlong. Some of the lyrics are richly evocative, others verge on unintentional parody. Also, what in fuck has the Luzerner Zeitung got to do with anything?

Also i would never say that Mark Hollis's solo record was patchy i think it's almost on a par with "spirit of eden"

I agree that 'Tilt' is one of those few albums that sinks in slowly, that you can love even though you hated it to start off with. The lyrics are both one of its pleasures and one of its frustrations. Some of the lyrics make eminent sense - the 'brain grass' and the 'long, long eye gas' are incredibly creepy, evocative and original images that fit perfectly with the presentiment of death in that song. All the images in 'Rosary' go together so well. The Cockfighter, as a song, just about makes sense to me. But then lemon bloody cola, the Luzerner Zeitung, the jacket in the park and all the rest seem so wilfully obscure that they stray into modernist parody.

My favorite story about SOE is how they wouldn't let the record company listen to the work-in-progress. So when they finally delivered it, the record exec broke down into tears -- unknown was whether it was because of the record's beauty or because he knew it would sell about 19 copies.

Its ten times better

With the exception of "Computer Love", "New Grass" may be the only track I've listened to consistently for over a decade and still feel completely engaged by when listening to it. The song is perfect.

contains salvific moments & can save your life

Loveless by any chance?

OK, there's very little that DOESN'T give HSA the horn, but it's perfect shoegazer shag soundtrack.

Good articles.. I can check which issues they were in but Im thinking 34 and 35?

I checked.. its actually issues 31 and 32 I believe.

I sat down and put it on and after about 2 minutes was completely amazed. It's brilliant. Naturally I ran out the next day and bought "Laughing Stock". My previous experience of Talk Talk had been seeing them do "Talk Talk" twice on Crackerjack and quite liking "Life's what you make it". This is something different. Not the same band; "Spirit of Eden" (and the subsequent even better "Laughing Stock") are amazing.

No-one has made records like these before or since and all the comparisons are meaningless. They are unique. "Laughing Stock" is definitely high up my top 10 records of the nineties.

So, classic then.

I put it on and listened to in the dark (I think it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon or something, but I pulled the shades), in some sort of ridiculous fanboy attempt to create "atmosphere". When the ridiculous guitar feedback noise tone that lasts for ninety seconds appeared, I swear I saw god.

Best band ever.

i can never listen to spirit of eden.

i'm going straight home to tilt.

(what's the third record, colin? knock knock?)

good mark hollis interview.

this page has a lot of good interviews. including one with phill brown.

I just got Bed's Spacebox and The Newton Plum and I've got to heartily concur whoever recommended these upthread.

The thing is ... it's so difficult to evaluate Bed objectively, that is to say apart from its role as pornography that caters to Talk Talk/Bark Psychosis enthusiasts.

I love all this music. It's now a neat little genre that's been cooking steadily (but slowly and carefully) for fifteen years. Truly an interesting phenomenon, as far as music goes.

Hmmm ...

I am just suprised that I missed it in 88, it could have been altering my mind for years. Better late than never.

I Believe In You

For fanatics, something sublime (even though it's mimed).
For the unconverted, it'll swing you one way or the other (RadioWho?).

Still amazing. I know every second and it still floors me.

Absolutely love it. I think I prefer Laughing Stock just a touch more though.

Played it at our record club last night.

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/talk-talk-spirit-of-eden-round-38-nicks-choice/

Graham at our record club adores late-period Talk Talk, but he's kind of encountered it as an end-point, and not really kept up with music after getting into these records.

So, given that Graham also likes Cocteau Twins, Simple Minds, and various other early 80s alternative stuff, what records from the last decade might you recommend for him?

That record club blog is fun. Nice one!

XP - Ulrich Schnauss?

M83, Telefon Tel Aviv, Glasser

Shearwater?

More electronic stuff probably isn't going to float Graham's boat, I'm afraid; he's been left pretty nonplussed by the likes of Four Tet at record club. He's a big Led Zep and Pink Floyd fan, so I think the rockier / profiler angle is probably the one to take.

I'm thinking Grizzly Bear, Smother by Wild Beasts, maybe latterday Swans, Bark Psychosis (obviously). Shearwater are a good shout. I think the last Notwist album had quite a pastoral Talk Talk vibe at points.

Might be worth trying Tame Impala on him, for an updated 60s / 70s vibe. "Pygmalion" by Slowdive, admittedly not last ten years but he might like it. What about Mogwai? "Rock action" has a few tracks with a post Talk Talk vibe?

Maybe Dungen alongside Tame Impala. Rock Action might be a good shout.

Calico e might be a good shout. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, too.

Califone, fuck you, iPad.

Try him on The Gathering - How To Measure A Planet.

Low - The Great Destroyer
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place

Mark McGuire (Emeralds), maybe.

I still think that Dean Roberts' Autistic Daughters project that he had with a couple of Austrian improv guys (Werner Dafeldecker & Martin Brandlmayr, who have both done things with Fennesz and Otomo Yoshihide and David Sylvian and folks like that) is one of the best takes I've heard on a post-Spirit of Eden sound. It's quite low-key music, but instead of being a lazy, broad-brush recreation of that particular hushed mood, the playing is very detailed and sensitive and there's this great shimmering, expansive feel to it, kind of like Kranky's ambient rock version of the Necks. Two albums, both on Kranky, I prefer the second (Uneasy Flowers), but Jealousy & Diamond is the only one that's on Spotify in the UK:

http://open.spotify.com/album/5Sd169h39UqT82e3kExP9i

Speaking of Fennesz and Sylvian, that Fennesz/Sakamoto-record from a few years back might work. "Cendre". Doesn't carry quite the emotional impact late-era Talk Talk does, though. On the other hand, very few records do.

Sylvian doesn't go for searing impact though, ever. His is not struggle music like late TT or mark II Scott Walker.

I was speaking of the Fennesz/Sakamoto-record when I wrote that, but I agree re Sylvian. Only mentioned him because the post before did, and his association with Sakamoto made me think of the record the latter did with Fennesz.

Yeah wasn't trying to be combative. Just somth I've thought about before w/r/t sylv. And it can be a good thing!

Definitely.

This little exchange made me put on "Secrets of the Beehive" for the first time in ages. So thanks.

Nick, what about "post-progressives" like No-Man's TOGETHER WE'RE STRANGER or Hogarth/Barbieri's NOT THE WEAPON. These ones always struck me as being about halfway between Talk Talk and Pink Floyd.

Oh!

What about Cass McCombs - Wit's End

It'd be perfect?

Maybe worth taking a look in this thread Nick

Music that sounds like 'Spirit of Eden' and 'Laughing Stock'

I hear a Talk Talk vibe in that last Notwist album as well. If it's Post-Rock-y stuff he's into maybe Labradford or Do Make Say Think.

Aside of that maybe

Destroyer - The Laziest River

Menomena - Mines (One of the most under appreciated albums of recent years for me. I hear a Talk Talk sensibility in some of their stuff)

Bon Iver - Bon Iver (Probably not the most popular or hip choice but I get a Spirit of Eden influence in this. They used to cover 'I Believe In You' live as well)

King Kreosote and Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

Idaho - Hearts of Palm or The Lone Gunman

Diamond Mine!

Yeah, had a root through that thread when I posted this, some good suggestions.

Given that your friend has a liking of Pink Floyd, Zep and the Cocteau Twins, I wonder if he might like a band on K-Scope called North Atlantic Oscillation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43P_8UkA5A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFYImUCbiGA

Yeah, Graham could do worse than investigate the entire K-Scope catalog. Or go even further and explore the Burning Shed site. (Thanks for the "Cell Count" link, Mares. A great, great song that's going down particularly well this morning.)

The first Marconi Union, Under Wires and Searchlights, is also worth checking. They went much deeper into the electronics after this, but the debut is a engaging mix of atmospherics, Gilmour-era Floyd and Morricone guitar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUFUC7ndTeA

I first listened to Spirit of Eden at a time of crisis in my life. It was the year I graduated college and my first love/first relationship ended. I was at rock bottom. Spirit of Eden was the most deeply moving and spiritually cathartic album I had ever heard.

Around the same time, I had also listened to similar albums such as Hex (Bark Psychosis) which became one of my favorite albums and is, for me, perfect late-night listening and the quintessential winter album. At this time, I listened to Laughing Stock, as well, and, although its instrumental complexities were entrancing, it simply did not speak to my emotions the way Spirit of Eden did.

Spirit of Eden is still the album I go to when I'm at my lowest and searching for my path.

It's one of my Desert Island albums, alongside
A Storm in Heaven (The Verve)
No Other (Gene Clark)
Lazer Guided Melodies (Spiritualized)

GP, you don't need to post this on every thread.

I actually find LS more cathartic than SoE, to the extent that I don't listen to it anywhere near as often because it's almost too much.

^this. and I also have the same relationship with Tilt.

Haha just saw all the dupe posts