Sunday, April 3, 2011


Talk Talk Series, #1: Talk Talk- London 1986 (1999) / Live at Montreux 1986 (2008) MP3 & FLAC


"Better parted, I see people hiding. Speech gets harder, there's no sense in writing."

While the number of bands who have succumbed to the rock cliché of trading artistic integrity for a glimpse of commercial success is countless, only a few have traveled down the opposite path, and fewer still have attempted the kind of dramatic career reversal achieved by Talk Talk. Originally considered little more than derivative purveyors of New-Romantic dance-pop, with each succeeding album, Mark Hollis and co. moved further and further away from both the expectations of the marketplace and from the trappings of traditional pop-oriented song-craft. There were, of course, hints of this impending transformation on their early records, most notably, Mark Hollis' singularly expressive vocals, but it wasn't until Talk Talk's third album, The Colour of Spring, that their artistic restlessness began to explicitly assert itself. London 1986 and Live at Montreux 1986 document the resulting tour, which was to be the last the band would undertake. While The Colour of Spring is a transitional masterpiece, Talk Talk's flawless live performances during this period were simply sublime. Gone were the painfully exaggerated efforts to appear relaxed yet animated that were evident on earlier tours; now they carried themselves like a band who knew they were special. For those who have only heard Talk Talk's studio recordings, or those who may feel inclined to ignore the band's pre-1986 output, these live performances will be nothing less than a revelation.

London 1986
1. Tomorrow Started  (7:50)
2. Life's What You Make It  (4:29)
3. Does Caroline Know?  (7:36)
4. Living in Another World  (7:05)
5. Give It Up  (5:53)
6. It's My Life  (6:27)
7. Such a Shame  (9:00)
8. Renée  (7:43)



Live at Montreux 1986 (DVD Audio Ripped to FLAC)
 1. Talk Talk  (3:18)
 2. Dum Dum Girl  (3:43)
 3. Call in the Night Boy  (6:56)
 4. Tomorrow Started  (7:36)
 5. My Foolish Friend  (4:35)
 6. Life's What You Make It  (4:45)
 7. Does Caroline Know?  (8:09)
 8. It's You  (4:08)
 9. Living in Another World  (7:38)
10. Give It Up  (5:36)
11. It's My Life  (6:41)
12. I Don't Believe in You  (5:41)
13. Such a Shame  (8:31)
14. Renée  (7:25)




15 comments:

  1. Wow, thanks so much for a great post. Really looking forward to the rest of this series!

    Your commitment to maintaining a quality music blog really shows in every post, from the thoughtful writeups to the high-quality cover art. (La) Luna is a treasure.

    (P.S. Any chance you're still planning to post that Jesus and Mary Chain box set sometime soon? I think you mentioned it in a comment a while back...hoping this is still in the cards. Thanks again!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anon. thank you so much for the comment. I really do appreciate the support. The JAMC box will definitely be up at some point. I'll see if I can squeeze it in sooner than later :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent start for another great series! Especially thnk you for lossless Live at Montreaux because I've never had a chance to listen to audio-rip of that dvd. And, of course, even better, it's lossless.
    I'm looking forward to your future posts in this series since I consider Talk Talk one of the best art bands in eighties!

    ReplyDelete
  4. And, by the way, I'm flying tomorrow to London,UK, for a city break and I'm sure I will find a good cd shop with obscure and interesting music. So, probably after next weekend will try to upload my first post On PPP blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. iggy1, this series will be great and will include several surprises. I'm looking forward to your posts at PPP :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. ah enfin... ;)
    severals surprises ?
    Really looking forward to the rest of this series too.
    crescendo =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. douxee, I promise there will be a few exciting obscurities in this series

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you so much for starting this series, voixautre.

    I have Talk Talk's entire studio catologue on CD but I am nevertheless quite interested in hearing these "obscurities" you are talking about.

    I find Talk Talk's studio discography to be near-perfect (only a few cuts on their debut album don't do much for me), but unfortunately I never ventured much beyond their 5 studio albums.

    In fact I listened to them so obsessively when I discovered Talk Talk all those years ago that I overlooked even this tiny live album you posted, so pephaps it's a good opportunity to go back to their excellent music, to get to know it even better and this time enjoy it from the slightly different angle.

    Thank you once again for all you're doing here. Right now I can't think of a music blog better than this one. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Michael, thank you for your comment. I completely agree with what you said about Talk Talk's near perfect discography. The obscurities will include several side projects and related material. Thanks for your kind words about the blog. I put a lot of love and care into (La)luna and I'm glad it shows

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi va! Good start to the TalkTalk posts. I was at the London gig. From what I remember Mark was not a happy bunny. He seldom(never?) looked out from behind his long hair. We could see him, from where we were, whenever he went into the wings, which was fairly often. He seemed to be drinking Heineken or 7up and looking down at the floor ,shaking his head from side to side between sips. Not a happy bunny at all!

    ReplyDelete
  11. TheBongolian, interesting story. That Hollis is a strange dude, but I guess all geniuses are

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.