A penetrating study of Talk Talk’s maverick leader.
Though it was No Doubt’s hit take on Talk Talk’s early synthpop single It’s My Life that eventually financed Mark Hollis’ first Porsche, acclaim and posthumous near-sainthood came via his avant-garde masterpiece Spirit Of Eden. Like its follow-up Laughing Stock, it saw Hollis go to extraordinary lengths to realise jazz and minimalist classical-influenced music. “What would [that part] be like if you played it like you were a rhesus monkey?” he asked one contributor.
Interviewing pretty much every relevant party still willing to talk, Ben Wardle’s detailed chronology of Hollis’ life and career is a fascinating glimpse behind the veil. It presents him in all his complexity: the cripplingly shy performer who hid behind mirrored sunglasses and alcohol; the wind-up merchant who…
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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 138