User:Punctured Bicycle/Spirit
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Spirit of Eden is a 1988 album by the English band Talk Talk. It was written by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene, and performed by a large ensemble of musicians using a diverse array of instruments. The album emerged from a lengthy, unconventional recording process: musicians were encouraged to improvise with their instrument individually, then their performance was edited and arranged into an overall piece using digital equipment. The end product is characterized as having elements of rock, jazz, classical, and ambient music.
Spirit of Eden's experimental nature was in contrast to the pop leanings of Talk Talk's previous releases, the most recent being their 1986 hit The Colour of Spring. Though Spirit was a commercial failure, it has been critically praised and considered influential to the post-rock movement of the 1990s.
Background
Talk Talk, led by vocalist Mark Hollis, began in England in the early 1980s. From the beginning, Hollis cited various jazz and classical artists as major musical influences, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Béla Bartók, and Claude Debussy. However, the band's first two albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984), did not readily reflect such influences; Talk Talk was widely compared to contemporary New Wave groups like Duran Duran. Hollis attributes the band's early artistic shortcomings to their economic need to use synthesisers in place of real instruments.
While not critical favorites, the commercial success of the first two albums in Europe gave the band the financial freedom to drop "that whole synth side...in the bin."[1] On their third album, The Colour of Spring (1986), the band was joined by a dozen other musicians, including Steve Winwood, Robbie McIntosh, and Danny Thompson. They primarily played acoustic instruments.
Recording
Recording for Spirit of Eden began in 1987 at Wessex Studios in London[2] and took nine months to complete.[3] Phill Brown, who had previously worked with Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and others came on board as the recording engineer. Brown recalled:
| “ | ...[W]hen I first met Mark we were talking about my background and I was talking about Olympic in the '60's and working with Traffic and Spooky Tooth ... [H]e said, "What sums up Olympic in the '60's for you?" I said, "It's got to be one o'clock in the morning, November 1967." It was a Traffic session I did. I was 17 years old and it was a new job. That particular night we were doing "Mr. Fantasy" and there was just this fantastic atmosphere with low lights and people were a bit out, wasted. I mentioned this to Mark and he said, "Oh, cool." After a few weeks I got a phone call saying he'd like to get involved. And we met up and went into the studio Mark said, "Let's set this up as if it's one o'clock in the morning, November 1967!" So we then used only equipment that was around prior to 1967.[4] | ” |
According to Lee Harris, original Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb had limited involvement with the album, having left the band completely by 1991's Laughing Stock.[5]
Recording primarily took place in darkness; the only light came from a set of lights that Lee Harris placed around his drums and an oil-wheel projector that he placed in the control room.[6]
Music
Promotion and release
Q magazine described Spirit of Eden as "the kind of record which encourages marketing men to commit suicide."[7] Promotional items included the slogan "let the music speak for itself."
An edited version of "I Believe In You" was released as a single (backed with the song "John Cope"), but it did not chart. Tim Pope also directed a promotional video for the song, consisting of Hollis sitting in a dark room with transparent . In retrospect A lip synced performance of "I Believe In You" was also recorded for Dutch television.
Spirit of Eden marked the beginning of a slew of lawsuits between Talk Talk and EMI, which would ultimately contribute to the band's demise in 1991.
The album cover features a painting by James Marsh, who had done most of the artwork for Talk Talk's previous releases. It depicts a tree decorated with seashells, birds, and insects, with the ocean and sky as a backdrop.
In 1997 Spirit of Eden, along with the rest of Talk Talk's EMI catalogue, was digitally remastered by Phill Brown and Denis Blackham. A hybrid Super Audio CD without surround sound also surfaced in 2003.
Reception and influence
UK Albums Chart #19
Upon its initial release, reviews of the album were favorable.
The album has been praised by several prominent musicians. Sarah McLachlan has called it her favorite album and selected "Desire" as part of her 2004 Artists Choice compilation.[8] Rob Dickinson cited the album as an influence for him and his group Catherine Wheel, saying it typified the "battle between the agressive side of what our band does and the incredibly soft, introverted side."[9] Former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler claimed its "color and rythm" influenced the recording of his 2000 album Friends & Lovers.[10] Former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp said "It's probably the best album ever recorded."[11] Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack ranked it as the fifth best British album.[12]
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Year | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record Mirror | UK | 1988 | End of the year[13] | 14 |
| Melody Maker | UK | 1988 | Albums & Singles[14] | 14 |
| Q | UK | 1988 | End of the year | — |
| Mojo | UK | 1995 | 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made[15] | 87 |
| Q | UK | 1999 | The Chill-Out Albums of All Time[16] | 17 |
| Pitchfork | USA | 2002 | Top 100 Albums of the 1980s[17] | 34 |
| The Observer | UK | 2004 | The 100 Greatest British Albums[18] | 33 |
| The Word | UK | 2005 | Hidden Treasure: Great Underrated Albums of Our Time[19] | — |
| Q | UK | 2006 | Top 40 Albums of the 80s[20] | 31 |
...ranked it at #34 in their "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s" feature, saying "Talk Talk created something so uniquely their own on Spirit of Eden that the only people to effectively traverse that terrain again were Talk Talk themselves, on their 1991 masterpiece Laughing Stock."[21] #33 in industry poll of best British albums.[22]
Track listing
All compositions by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene. Some versions of the CD group "The Rainbow", "Eden", and "Desire" onto one track.
- "The Rainbow"
- "Eden"
- "Desire"
- "Inheritance"
- "I Believe in You"
- "Wealth"
Personnel
Musicians
- Lee Harris – drums
- Paul Webb – electric bass
- Tim Friese-Greene – harmonium, piano, organ, guitar
- Mark Hollis – vocals, piano, organ, guitar
- Martin Ditcham – percussion
- Robbie McIntosh – dobro, 12 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
Technical
- Phill Brown – engineering
- Tim Friese-Greene – production
References
- ^ 2006 Mojo p.53
- ^ Some publications claim the album was recorded in an abandoned church. Wessex Studios was converted from a church hall in the 1960s, many years before Talk Talk ever set foot there. See this interview with Bill Price.
- ^ 2006 Mojo pg. 53
- ^ http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording/tapeop/phil_brown_12_13.shtml
- ^ http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWWlh050399.html
- ^ 2006 Mojo p.53
- ^ http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevQ1088.html
- ^ http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/News.html http://www.taxi.com/faq/songwriting/mclachlan.html
- ^
Dickinson, Rob (1995-11-24). "Riffs: Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel on Talk Talk's 'Spirit of Eden'". The Independent. p. 14.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/News.html http://music.barnesandnoble.com/features/interview.asp?z=y&NID=159524
- ^ Matt Sharp. "Raves". Rolling Stone, 6/15/95 Issue 710, p26, 1p
- ^ http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1241254,00.html http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/observer.htm
- ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/recordmirror.htm#1988
- ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mmpage.html#1988
- ^ http://www.rocklist.net/mojo.html
- ^ http://www.talktalk.hu/eng/qm9907.html Q (7/99, p.151)
- ^ 11-20-02 http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36736/Top_100_Albums_of_the_1980s
- ^ Barney Hoskyns. The Observer. London (UK): Jun 20, 2004. pg. 27 http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/observer.htm
- ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/theword.htm
- ^ August 2006
- ^ 11-20-02 http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36736/Top_100_Albums_of_the_1980s
- ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/observer.htm