Classics of the 80's: "The Colour of Spring" Talk Talk
Today I'll start the first of a new Weekly Geek music miniseries. Most of us rabid gamers and followers of nerd culture grew up in the musically confusing decade of the 1980's. So once a month (until I get sick of writing about it), I'll be looking at some of the most enduring albums to make it out of the new-wave era gasping for air.
We'll begin with a record by a band best known for creating the song "It's My Life," which was later butchered at the hands of Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. Talk Talk made two incredible albums in the mid to late 80's: Laughing Stock and The Colour of Spring. The latter and more accessible of the two is more or less about a man having a crisis of faith- in humanity, in religion, and in himself. Solace for the narrator is only found giving in to reality and accepting the surrounding problems and trying to live a respectable life going forward.
Mark Hollis, Talk Talk's singer/songwriter, voices the album's theme in a very strange way. At times, he seems to be forcing and straining the notes out through the top of his head and bringing out all of his thoughts through osmosis. The opening song "Happiness Is Easy" is nearing on sarcastic. Hollis pokes fun at death and pretends that it's easy to put on a smiling face. He works through his doubts methodically in the piano and organ driven tracks like "I Don't Believe In You," and eventually finds comfort in the driving, percussive "Life's What You Make It."
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