Pop Music - Talk Talk

This is in reference to the opinion that is commonly promulgated about Talk Talk - that those 'in the know' would have you believe. It is that there is nothing much to take in from them until the last two albums. That all they were in the period 1982-1986 was a grimly inferior label-mate of Duran Duran, modelled on them in fact, and that there is nothing much to them until Life's What You Make It, and that that was only a poppy start to the real stuff.

I can definitely see the fascination in Spirit of Eden (1988) and Laughing Stock (1991) - fabulous textures built up in lilting, long progressions. Well worth it. But for the life of me I wonder whether these commentators have listened to the earlier material, or if they have, whether they have the ears to hear it. Mark Hollis seems to me to be the definition, in this early period, of the maladjusted boy with enormous talent, just hitting the point where articulation breaks through his wordless rage. As such he ought to be the hero of many! The crucial part of that is the talent - the pop-wisdom of the first two albums is phenomenal, extending to greatness in the case of the second, It's My Life (1984). Where a lot of other material from the period now sounds twee or worn, Talk Talk are still speaking loud and clear.

The idea that they were some sort of imitation of Duran Duran is the most peculiar. I have no doubt that EMI would have liked them to soak up some of their label-mates' success and perhaps dressed them similarly, as of course did many a contender in those days. But the music is an entirely different matter. About the only Duran Duran song which gets near to them is the fab Careless Memories, and that only obliquely. Where this idea started I have no notion, but it seems to be one of those things that just keeps on and on, Chinese whispers-style, wrong as it ever was. Hollis' songwriting is completely different, the treatment is completely different, the result is......and on we go.

I was hoping there would be a considerable wake created by No Doubt's cover of It's My Life - that there might be a wholesale rediscovery and reappreciation of the early Talk Talk. It doesn't really seem to have happened, though it's great to see a newer generation taking an interest; maybe it just has to be one of those slow-burning events. I look forward to hearing what can be made of The Last Time, Call in the Night Boy or It's You from It's My Life by younger artists. And Today, Mirror Man and Candy from the first, The Party's Over (1982).

Not to mention, between the two, the fantastic My Foolish Friend, released as a single in 1983. I remember reading in music papers at the time that it was the first single from the new album, supposed to be called My Chameleon Hour. Then some months later came the news that the album had been scrapped. When its magnificent replacement finally came out the single was nowhere to be seen. That's always made me wonder. As has the fact that I can clearly hear Hollis singing the lyric

'And my chameleon hour
has already started..'

in the song. All the lyrics around on the internet, and therefore I presume in the published song, have a completely different pair of lines at that point. Mmmmmmm, what does it all mean? Mark must be laughing into his cornflakes......