Spirit of Eden

Spirit of Eden is the fourth studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1988 on Parlophone Records. The songs were written by vocalist Mark Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene and the album was compiled from a lengthy recording process at London's Wessex Studios between 1987 and 1988. Often working in darkness, the band recorded many hours of improvised performances that drew on elements of jazz, ambient, blues, classical music, and dub. These long-form recordings were then heavily edited and re-arranged into an album in mostly digital format.

Spirit of Eden
Studio album by
Talk Talk
Released12 September 1988[1]
Recorded1987–1988
StudioWessex Studios in Highbury, London
Genre
Length41:30
LabelParlophone (EMI)
ProducerTim Friese-Greene
Talk Talk chronology
The Colour of Spring
(1986)		 Spirit of Eden
(1988)		 Natural History
(1990)
Talk Talk studio album chronology
The Colour of Spring
(1986)		 Spirit of Eden
(1988)		 Laughing Stock
(1991)
Singles from Spirit of Eden
  1. "I Believe in You"
    Released: September 1988

Spirit of Eden was a radical departure from Talk Talk's earlier and more accessible albums. Compared to the success of 1986's The Colour of Spring, it was a commercial disappointment.[5] Despite its mixed reception, the album's stature grew more favourable in subsequent years, with contemporary critics describing Spirit of Eden as an early progenitor of the post-rock genre. In 2013, NME ranked Spirit of Eden at number 95 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[2]

Background

Talk Talk, led by singer Mark Hollis, formed in England in the early 1980s. From the start, Hollis cited jazz and impressionist artists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Béla Bartók and Claude Debussy as major influences, but the first two Talk Talk albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984), did not readily reflect such influences; critics compared the band to contemporary new wave groups, especially Duran Duran. Hollis partly attributed the shortcomings of their early music to a financial need to use synthesizers in place of acoustic instruments.

Although critics did not favour the band's early output, the first two albums were commercially successful in Europe. This gave Talk Talk the money needed to hire additional musicians to play on their next album, The Colour of Spring (1986). The band no longer had to rely on synthesizers. Instead, musicians improvised with their instruments for many hours, then Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene edited and arranged the performances to get the sound they wanted. A total of sixteen musicians appeared on the album around the core of Hollis and Friese-Greene. The Colour of Spring became Talk Talk's most successful album, selling over two million copies and prompting a major world tour.[6] At the same time, minimalist songs like "April 5th," "Chameleon Day," and the B-side "It's Getting Late in the Evening" pointed towards the band's next direction.[7]

Music

Recording

It was very, very psychedelic. We had candles and oil wheels, strobes going, sometimes just total darkness in the studio. You'd get totally disorientated, no daylight, no time frame.

Phill Brown, Engineer[8]

Following the commercial success of The Colour of Spring, EMI gave Talk Talk an open budget for the recording of their next album, Spirit of Eden.[9] Talk Talk were given complete control over the recording process; their manager and EMI executives were barred from studio sessions.[6] Recording for Spirit of Eden began in 1987 at Wessex Studios, London and took about a year to complete.[6]

The sessions took place in a blacked-out studio, with an oil projector and strobe lighting.[5] Engineer Phill Brown said that the album, along with its successor, was "recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea."[10] According to Brown, "twelve hours a day in the dark listening to the same six songs for eight months became pretty intense. There was very little communication with musicians who came in to play. They were led to a studio in darkness and a track would be played down the headphones."[5]

Style

Writing for The Guardian, Graeme Thomson described Spirit of Eden as "six improvised pieces full of space and unhurried rhythm," which blend together "pastoral jazz, contemporary classical, folk, prog rock and loose blues into a single, doggedly uncommercial musical tapestry" which would be labeled "post-rock."[5] Simon Harper of the Birmingham Post observed the album's "combination of jazz, classical, rock and the spacey echoes of dub, using silence almost as an instrument in its own right.[11] Although the album is noted for its tranquil soundscapes, Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis notes "Noise is important. I could never understand people I knew who liked Talk Talk and saw it as something 'nice to chill out to' when I loved the overwhelming intensity and the dynamics."[12]

Mark Hollis' lyrics reflect his religious and spiritual outlook. Though he acknowledges that his lyrics are religious, he says they are not based on a specific creed, preferring to think of them as "humanitarian."[13] "I Believe in You" has been described as an "anti-heroin song."[9] When asked whether the lyrics are based on personal experience, Hollis replied, "No, not at all. But, you know, I met people who got totally fucked up on it. Within rock music there's so much fucking glorification of it, and it is a wicked, horrible thing."[13]

Contract dispute with EMI

By early March 1988, the band had finished recording Spirit of Eden and had sent a cassette of the album to EMI. After listening to the cassette, EMI representatives doubted that it could be commercially successful. They asked Hollis to re-record a song or replace material, but he refused to do so. By the time the masters were delivered later in the month, however, the label conceded that the album had been satisfactorily completed.[14]

Despite their reservations towards Spirit of Eden, EMI chose to exercise their option to extend the recording contract. The band, however, wanted out of the contract. "I knew by that time that EMI was not the company this band should be with," manager Keith Aspden told Mojo. "I was fearful that the money wouldn't be there to record another album."[6] EMI and Talk Talk went to court to decide the issue.[15]

The case centred on whether EMI had notified the band in time about the contract extension. As part of the agreement, EMI had to send a written notice within three months after the completion of Spirit of Eden. The band said that EMI had sent the notice too late, arguing that the three-month period began once recording had finished; EMI argued that the three-month period did not begin until they were satisfied with the recording, on the basis that the definition of an "album" in the contract provided that the album had to be "commercially satisfactory". The band disputed this, particularly on the basis that there were no changes made to the album in the space between its recording and eventual release. Justice Andrew Morritt ruled in favour of EMI, but his decision was overturned in the Court of Appeal.[14] Talk Talk were released from the contract and later signed to Polydor.

Marketing and release

Spirit of Eden's moody, experimental nature made it a challenge to promote; one critic said it "is the kind of record which encourages marketing men to commit suicide."[16] Tony Wadsworth, Parlophone's marketing director at the time, told Q: "Talk Talk are not your ordinary combo and require sympathetic marketing. They're not so much difficult as not obvious. You've just got to find as many ways as possible to expose the music."[17] Evaluating some masterpieces of the eighties in a 2004 article for The Guardian, John Robinson calls Spirit of Eden, like David Sylvian's Brilliant Trees, "triumphant, [but] completely unmarketable."[18]

Although the band did not originally plan to release a single, EMI issued a radio edit of "I Believe in You" in September 1988 (the previously unreleased "John Cope" was included as the B-side). The single failed to breach the UK Singles Chart Top 75. Around August, Tim Pope directed a music video for "I Believe in You", featuring Hollis sitting with his guitar, singing the lyrics. "That was a massive mistake," said Hollis. "I thought just by sitting there and listening and really thinking about what it was about, I could get that in my eyes. But you cannot do it. It just feels stupid."[17]

The band did not tour in support of the album. Hollis explained, "There is no way that I could ever play again a lot of the stuff I played on this album because I just wouldn't know how to. So, to play it live, to take a part that was done in spontaneity, to write it down and then get someone to play it, would lose the whole point, lose the whole purity of what it was in the first place."[19] The band would never tour again.

Spirit of Eden was released worldwide in 1988. It did not enjoy nearly as much commercial success as The Colour of Spring. The album spent five weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 19.[20] The album cover depicts a tree festooned with seashells, snails, birds, and insects. It was illustrated by James Marsh, who did Talk Talk's artwork throughout their recording career. The booklet provides reproductions of Hollis' handwritten lyrics. The album was digitally remastered by Phill Brown and Denis Blackham in 1997.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[21]
Mojo[22]
NME7/10[23]
Pitchfork10/10[24]
Q[16]
Record Collector[25]
Record Mirror4/5[26]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[27]
Sounds[28]
Uncut10/10[29]

Spirit of Eden has been both acclaimed and panned by numerous music critics. Among contemporary reviews, Record Mirror's Betty Page commented that Talk Talk had become "a law unto themselves, unconstrained by narrow ideas of 'what will sell'",[26] while Q's Mark Cooper likened the album to "the pastoral epics of the early 70s" and noted "a range, ambition and self-sufficiency that enables Hollis and co to step out of time and into their own."[16] "No hit singles then", the latter wrote, "but a brave record that is not afraid to follow its own muse and damn the consequences."[16] In Sounds, Roy Wilkinson said that Talk Talk had "evolved into contemplative muso-techs", and while finding their lyrics occasionally awkward and the album's second half not at the level of the first's "magnificence", he deemed Spirit of Eden as a whole "uncommonly beautiful."[28] Simon Williams began his review for NME with a joking dismissal of the album as an exercise in "conceptualism", before going on to describe the band as "resolute and determined, flaunting [sic] commercial rules with fascinating disregard for understanding or acceptance."[23]

In the 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide, J. D. Considine rated Spirit of Eden one star out of five: "Instead of getting better or worse, this band simply grew more pretentious with each passing year ... by Spirit of Eden, Mark Hollis's Pete Townshend-on-Dramamine vocals have been pushed aside by the band's pointless noodling."[27] Marcus Berkmann of The Spectator in a 2001 retrospective felt that the album was "almost wilfully obscure", with a musical style close to free-form jazz that was too far removed from The Colour of Spring for fans to enjoy.[30]

AllMusic reviewer Jason Ankeny considered Spirit of Eden, in its eschewing of "electronics for live, organic sounds" and of "structure in favor of mood and atmosphere", an "unprecedented breakthrough".[21] Mojo's Danny Eccleston wrote in 2012 that "there will never be another album like it, since the demise of the profligate old-school record industry means that no one will ever spend so much money making anything so left-field again."[22]

Legacy

Some music critics consider Spirit of Eden and its 1991 follow-up Laughing Stock influential to the post-rock genre, which developed in Britain and North America in the 1990s. In a review of Bark Psychosis' album Hex, where the term "post-rock" was coined, Simon Reynolds opined that Hex aspires to the "baroque grandeur" of Spirit of Eden.[12] Andy Whitman of Paste magazine argues that Spirit of Eden represents the beginning of post-rock: "The telltale marks of the genre—textured guitars, glacial tempos, an emphasis on dynamics, electronica, ambience and minimalism—were all in place, and paved the way for bands like Sigur Rós, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Low and latter-period Radiohead." In the Birmingham Post, Simon Harper argued that "there can be little argument that Tortoise and their Chicago-based compatriots would hardly sound the same were it not for the staggering achievements of Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene".[11] Numerous bands and artists, including Graham Coxon,[31] Doves[32] and Elbow[5] have praised Spirit of Eden or have cited it as an influence.

In 2008 Alan McGee wrote: "Spirit of Eden has not dated; it's remarkable how contemporary it sounds, anticipating post-rock, The Verve and Radiohead. It's the sound of an artist being given the keys to the kingdom and returning with art."[33]

Spirit of Eden was voted number 419 in the 2000 edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[34] In 2006, Q placed Spirit of Eden at number 31 in its list of the "40 Best Albums of the '80s"[35] and in 2013, NME ranked the record at number 95 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Tim Friese-Greene and Mark Hollis.

Side one

  1. "The Rainbow" – 9:05
  2. "Eden" – 6:37
  3. "Desire" – 6:57

Side two

  1. "Inhertiance" – 5:16
  2. "I Believe in You" – 6:11
  3. "Wealth" – 6:35

Personnel

Talk Talk

  • Mark Hollis – vocals, piano, organ, guitar, melodica and Variophon (uncredited)
  • Lee Harris – drums
  • Paul Webb – electric bass guitar

Additional personnel

  • Tim Friese-Greene – harmonium, piano, organ, guitar
  • Martin Ditcham – percussion
  • Robbie McIntosh – dobro, twelve-string guitar
  • Mark Feltham – harmonica
  • Simon Edwards – Mexican bass
  • Danny Thompson – double bass
  • Henry Lowther – trumpet
  • Nigel Kennedy – violin
  • Hugh Davies – shozygs
  • Andrew Stowell – bassoon
  • Michael Jeans – oboe
  • Andrew Marriner – clarinet
  • Christopher Hooker – cor anglais
  • Choir of Chelmsford Cathedral
  • Phill Brown – engineering, bowed guitar
  • Tim Friese-Greene – production
  • James Marsh – cover art

Charts
Chart (1988) Peak
position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[36] 32
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[37] 16
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] 12
UK Albums (OCC)[39] 19
Chart (2019) Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[40] 63

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[41] Silver 60,000^
Summaries
Worldwide — 500,000[42]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Smith, Robin (10 September 1988). "News: Releases". Record Mirror. p. 11. ISSN 0144-5804.
  2. "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 100–1". NME. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  3. Harvell, Jess (21 October 2011). "Talk Talk / Mark Hollis: Laughing Stock / Mark Hollis". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  4. Munro, Scott (21 July 2017). "Steven Wilson meets Bollywood in Permanating video". Prog.
  5. Thomson, Graeme (13 September 2012). "Talk Talk: the band who disappeared from view". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  6. Irvin, Jim (March 2006). "Paradise Lost". Mojo. No. 148. London. pp. 50–56.
  7. Irvin, Jim, ed. (2001). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time. Mojo Books. p. 603. ISBN 1-84195-067-X.
  8. Crane, Larry; Eckman, Chris (Spring 1999). "Sharing food and conversation with Phill Brown". Tape Op. No. 12. Portland.
  9. Neiss, James (December 1991). "Talk Talk". Record Collector. No. 148. London. Archived from the original on 3 March 2000. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  10. Brown, Phill (12 November 1998). "The Colour of EQing". Within Without. Archived from the original on 15 February 2001. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  11. Harper, Simon (24 August 2005). "The whispers and crescendos of the Spirit of Eden". Birmingham Post. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  12. Reynolds, Simon (March 1994). "Bark Psychosis: Hex". Mojo. No. 4. London.
  13. Young, Rob (January 1998). "Return from Eden". The Wire. No. 167. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  14. EMI Records Limited v Hollis & Others (Court of Appeal (Civil Division) 23 May 1989).
  15. Wallace, Wyndham (12 September 2011). "After The Flood: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock 20-Years On". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  16. Cooper, Mark (October 1988). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". Q. No. 25. London. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  17. Devoy, Adrian (October 1988). "Come on, market me". Q. No. 25. London. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  18. Robinson, John (24 April 2004). "Pieces of eighties". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  19. Sutherland, Steve (24 September 1988). "Paradise Regained". Melody Maker. London. p. 8.
  20. Guinness Book of British Hit Albums (7th ed.). ISBN 0-85112-619-7.
  21. Ankeny, Jason. "Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  22. Eccleston, Danny (May 2012). "Lost horizon". Mojo. No. 222. London. p. 100.
  23. Williams, Simon (24 September 1988). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". NME. London. p. 39. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  24. Larson, Jeremy D. (13 January 2019). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  25. "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". Record Collector. No. 401. London. May 2012.
  26. Page, Betty (17 September 1988). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". Record Mirror. London. p. 32.
  27. Considine, J. D. (1992). "Talk Talk". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. pp. 691–692. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
  28. Wilkinson, Roy (24 September 1988). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". Sounds. London. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  29. Thomson, Graeme (June 2012). "Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden". Uncut. No. 181. London. p. 98.
  30. Berkmann, Marcus (10 November 2001). "Hits and misses". The Spectator. London. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  31. Coxon, Graham (22 September 2009). "Graham Coxon – My Music". NME. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  32. Fleischer, Norman (3 April 2015). "15 Years of 'Lost Souls': Doves talk their debut album". Nothing but Hope and Passion. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  33. McGee, Alan (9 April 2008). "Wherefore art thou Mark Hollis?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  34. Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 155. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  35. "40 Best Albums of the '80s". Q. No. 241. London. August 2006. pp. 84–89.
  36. "Dutchcharts.nl – Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  37. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  38. "Swisscharts.com – Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  39. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  40. "{{{artist}}} | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  41. "British album certifications – Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 24 August 2019. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Spirit of Eden in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  42. Smith, Harrison (26 February 2019). "Mark Hollis, singer who led the influential rock band Talk Talk, dies at 64". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
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