Album Club - Week 141: 15/04/2014: Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring

[Album Club]

This week, we've got the penultimate album in this round and it's thanks to Lee (webby) for providing it for us. Cheers Lee!
Please enter into the discussion if you wish to vote, and listen to the entire album before commenting.



Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring (1986)



Wiki Band

Wiki Album

For those that don't know about Talk Talk, they are an english band of the 80's and early 90's. They released 5 studio albums in that time. Their first two albums were of the synth-pop genre that was very prevalent in the early 80's, but clearly, they did not want to be restricted by the limitations of pop, and perhaps, were not happy with the demands of the pop circus. They moved away from pop and ended their career with two highly rated art-rock albums. The Colour Of Spring was their 3rd album and a bridge between those two styles. In many ways, it was their OK Computer.

For me, as with Radiohead, the later albums, although enjoyable, step a little too far into the experimental, avant-garde style of art/prog-rock (I'm not good with music labelling so forgive me if I have these styles wrong). Like OK computer though, The Colour Of Spring was the perfect transitional album; more complex and experimental, but melodic and easy on the ear. The production and recording, to my ears, are superb and I think its dated very well (there are no 80's sounds on here). It's also very dynamic, scoring 14 on the DR Database. The musicianship is excellent and there are some great players on this album; Mark Feltham, Robbie McIntosh, Danny Thompson and Steve Winwood to name a few.

I didn't buy the album on it's release. I remember seeing the singles Life's What You Make It and Give It Up on TOTP and liking them but I didn't get the album then; I would have been 16 in '86 and I was listening to a lot of pop music. I first heard the entire album around a year or so later when I started to discover new stuff and picked it up whilst recalling the singles I liked.

This album blew me away! It was so different to what I was used to. The instrumentation; percussion, double bass, fantastic organs, brass and woodwind made it sound like such grown up, serious music. The songs weren't short pop songs, they evolved and meandered along their (mostly) 5mins-plus length and were more complex and layered, so they revealed more on each subsequent listen. The biggest nod to their forthcoming style is track 7, Chameleon Day, which is quite a jazzy interlude (completely new to me at the time). Probably one of my top ten favourite albums.

I recommend listening to it from start to finish, loud and with the lights off. Enjoy!

Warning: there are some child singers on the album, but hey, if its good enough for Pink Floyd…..

Spotify:



Can't find the full album on YouTube but here's a playlist

There's also a live concert from '86, Live at Montreux '86. Worth a look if you like the album.



Finally, a few random, and humourous thoughts on that gig

[MartinT]

Thanks, Lee, I'm going to enjoy listening to this again. I agree that it is high on SQ and the percussive timing, as I remember, is superb. I'll comment and vote later.

[sparrow]

Great pick and one of THE best albums ever made. I've already voted 10/10...heard it a 1000 times. Their masterpiece and although I enjoy Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock this album hits all the right spots with myself. Very proggy iin bits and not a bad second on the whole LP....a second hand vinyl or the more recent reissue are worth tracking down.

[webby]

Great pick and one of THE best albums ever made. I've already voted 10/10...heard it a 1000 times. Their masterpiece and although I enjoy Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock this album hits all the right spots with myself. Very proggy iin bits and not a bad second on the whole LP....a second hand vinyl or the more recent reissue are worth tracking down.

It is rather good isn't John?

Edit: I have the original cd, so I might check out the remastered reissue. Not that I think there's anything wrong with the original cd mind.

[Tim]

I don't think I have ever played a Talk Talk album before, I certainly don't own one. I gave this a spin this arvo' and really enjoyed the first half of the album, certainly very well recorded. Its a shame I missed this first time around, as I would have really liked it in the 80's, but my tastes have changed and its not something I would buy these days. Anyway, as the last few tracks didn't really do it for me I'm going to give it a 6, had I heard it 20 years ago I probably would have scored it 8/10. Good to listen to though and expand my musical knowledge, so thanks for sharing Lee.

[MartinT]

It's a good album but, as Tim has just said, the first half betters the second half musically. I love all the syncopation work with the percussion. Very well recorded and the vinyl sounds in the demonstration class. 7/10.

[synsei]

It was nice to get reacquainted with this album once again, it's been a while. I concur with one of Tim's comments, an excellent album however the song quality tails off as the album progresses. Even so it gets 7/10 from me as this album contains one of my fave Talk Talk tracks, Life's what you make it...

[webby]

Interesting! I never felt that the first half (1st 4 tracks I assume) better the second half.

Each half contains a slower tempo, jazzy number; #4 April 5th and #7 Chameleon Day. I actually prefer to hear Time it's Time after Chameleon Day rather than on it's own. It's like a brilliant release from the rather claustrophobic track before it.

10/10 for me

[losenotaminute]

Love this album, 8/10 from me. Percussion and vocals are the highlight.

[ruleof72]

Wow, this album is a blast from my past. I listened to this quite a bit in 1986-1987 while in college but since then I haven't really heard more than "Life's What You Make It" every once in a while on the radio. I had forgotten most all the other tracks until tonight. Like most everyone, I enjoy the percussion elements, which are very well put together. But, like Tim said, this isn't something I'd purchase at this point in my life. 7 out of 10 for me.