Spirit of Eden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Spirit of Eden | ||
 |
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| Studio album by Talk Talk | ||
| Released | 1988-09-16 | |
| Recorded | 1987–1988 at Wessex Studios, London | |
| Genre | Post-rock | |
| Length | 41:30 | |
| Label | Parlophone/EMI | |
| Producer(s) | Tim Friese-Greene | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Talk Talk chronology | ||
| The Colour of Spring (1986) |
Spirit of Eden (1988) |
Laughing Stock (1991) |
Spirit of Eden is a 1988 album by the English band Talk Talk. It was written by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene, and performed by numerous session musicians using a diverse combination of instruments. The album emerged from a demanding, unconventional recording process: over the course of a year, hours of improvisation were recorded, edited down, then arranged into an overall piece using digital equipment. The end product is characterized as having elements of rock, jazz, classical, and ambient music. The album was released on the Parlophone record label, an imprint of EMI.
Spirit of Eden's experimental nature was in contrast to the pop leanings of Talk Talk's previous releases, the most recent being their 1986 hit The Colour of Spring. Though Spirit was not a commercial success, it has been critically praised and is considered influential to the post-rock movement of the 1990s.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Talk Talk—comprising singer Mark Hollis, bassist Paul Webb, and drummer Lee Harris—formed in England in the early 1980s. From the beginning, Hollis cited various jazz and classical artists as major musical influences, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Béla Bartók, and Claude Debussy.[citation needed] But Talk Talk's first two albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984), did not readily reflect such influences; the band was widely compared to contemporary New Wave groups like Duran Duran. Hollis partly attributes the shortcomings of their early music to an economic need to use synthesizers in place of acoustic instruments.
While not critical favourites, the commercial success of the first two albums in Europe gave Talk Talk the financial resources needed to commission the use of acoustic instruments. The band hired a dozen other musicians to help with the recording of their next album, The Colour of Spring (1986). Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene edited and arranged their worthy performances into an overall piece. Manager Keith Aspen remarked, "Mark and Tim had an awful geeky way about them in the studio . . . they became The Odd Couple with their own private language."[1]
The resulting album contained more lush and elaborate compositions. Minimalist songs like "April 5th", "Chameleon Day", and the outtake "It's Getting Late In the Evening" foreshadowed the band's next direction.[2] The Colour of Spring became Talk Talk's most successful album, selling over two million copies and prompting a major world tour.[3] This success afforded the band an open budget and schedule for the recording of their next album.[4] It had also earned them autonomy: their manager and EMI executives would be barred from the forthcoming recording sessions.[5]
[edit] Recording
| It was very, very psychedelic. We had candles and oil wheels, strobes going, sometimes just total darkness in the studio. You'd get totally disorientated, no daylight, no time frame. —Phill Brown, Engineer[6] |
Recording for Spirit of Eden began in 1987 at Wessex Studios, London[7] and took about a year to complete.[8]
[edit] Music
- "The Rainbow" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- The opening three minutes typify the non-commercial, experimental nature of the album.
- "Eden" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- The track shifts from "The Rainbow" to "Eden".
- "Desire" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "Every control at 10".
- "I Believe In You" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- The album's only single concerns heroin addiction.
- "Wealth" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- The closing song has religious connotations.
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
[edit] Track listing
- "The Rainbow" / "Eden" / "Desire" (23:11)
- "Inheritance" (5:24)
- "I Believe in You" (6:16)
- "Wealth" (6:35)
Spirit of Eden consists of six songs. The first three, "The Rainbow", "Eden", and "Desire", don't have audible breaks between one another. "The one definite decision was that we'd write one side [of the record] as a single piece, The Rainbow," Hollis explains.[9] The original CD released throughout most of the world reflects this, while the North American version and reissues divide the album into six tracks. Working titles of the songs were "Modell", "Camel", "Maureen", "Norm", "Inheritance", "Snow in Berlin", and "Eric".[10]
[edit] Sound and arrangement
While the album is noted for its tranquil soundscapes, Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis notes "Noise is important. I could never understand people I knew who liked Talk Talk and saw it as something 'nice to chill out to' when I loved the overwhelming intensity and the dynamics."[11]
[edit] Lyrics and vocals
| Spirit closed with the line "Take my freedom for giving me a sacred love" – it sounded like Hollis had been boning up on the renegade, mystical Christianity of William Blake. —Rob Young, The Wire[12] |
Mark Hollis' lyrics contain religious and spiritual references. Terms like Eden, Easter, omnipotent, heaven, bless, spirit, and sacred are found within the lyric sheet. Though Hollis acknowledges that his lyrics are religious, he says they are not based on one specific religion, preferring to think of them as "humanitarian".[13]
"I Believe In You" has been described as an "anti-heroin song".[14] When asked whether the lyrics are based on personal experience, Hollis replied, "No, not at all. But, you know, I met people who got totally fucked up on it. Within rock music there's so much fucking glorification of it, and it is a wicked, horrible thing."[15]
[edit] Promotion and sales
Spirit of Eden was released in September 1988. Q magazine described it as "the kind of record which encourages marketing men to commit suicide."[16] Tony Wadsworth, Parlophone's marketing director, was outwardly optimistic:
Talk Talk . . . [are] not so much difficult as not obvious. You've just got to find as many ways as possible to expose the music. The standard marketing route is whack out a single, try to chart the single, and then hopefully on the strength of that, sell some albums. With the way the media is angled, the room you've got to expose adult music – for want of a better term – is very restricted. We've got to do what I believe to be a very heavy campaign on Talk Talk. We've got to go out very bullishly and tell people that this is an album for 1988.[17]
Originally it was announced that no single would be taken from Spirit of Eden,[18] but "I Believe In You" was edited down to radio length and released in September. The previously unreleased "John Cope" was included as the B-side. Hollis said that the single was issued "purely in order to help the record company". It spent two weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #85. Around November, Tim Pope directed a bare music video for "I Believe In You" which featured Hollis sitting with his guitar, lip syncing the lyrics. "That was a massive mistake," said Hollis. "I thought just by sitting there and listening and really thinking about what it was about, I could get that in my eyes. But you cannot do it. It just feels stupid."[19]
The band declared that there would be no tour in support of the album. "There is no way that I could ever play again a lot of the stuff I played on this album because I just wouldn't know how to. So, to play it live, to take a part that was done in spontaneity, to write it down and then get someone to play it, would lose the whole point, lose the whole purity of what it was in the first place," explained Hollis.[20] The rigors experienced in the previous tours also factored into the decision. Though the band would never tour again, a lip synced performance of "I Believe In You" was recorded for Dutch television.[21]
Spirit of Eden did not enjoy the same widespread, commercial success of The Colour of Spring. The album spent five weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at #19.[22] Specific data on sales has not been published, but it is widely believed that the album was "commercial suicide". Some critics speculate that EMI released Natural History in an attempt to recoup financial lost incurred by Spirit of Eden.
[edit] Litigation
During the making of Spirit of Eden, Talk Talk manager Keith Aspden attempted to free the band from their recording contract with EMI. "I knew by that time that EMI was not the company this band should be with," Aspden said. "I was fearful that the money wouldn't be there to record another album."[23] EMI, however, wished to keep the band on their roster.[24] 18 months of litigation ensued; ultimately the band lost, but they appealed and successfully overturned the judgment.[25] Aspden recalled, "Then people said we'd delivered Spirit specifically to get out of [the contract], which is ridiculous."[26] According to engineer Phill Brown,
The record company hated it, and they sued the band and me for "Technical Incompetence" because it wasn't commercial. It got thrown out of court. The judge was wonderful. But they changed the British production contract. It now says you must deliver masters that are "commercially satisfactory." I think that's even worse. . . . Mark's attitude to the music business changed drastically after that.[27]
In 1990, Talk Talk agreed to a two-album contract with Polydor, which was used to record Laughing Stock (1991) and Mark Hollis (1998).
[edit] Critical reception
Spirit of Eden has received much acclaim from music critics.
Spirit of Eden also generated mixed feelings and criticism. Markus Berkmann of The Spectator was ambivalent about the album: "It is either a work of immense merit and bravery or a load of bilge, and I cannot decide which."[28] Roy Wilkinson of Sounds, while rating the album highly, thought that the second side was not as good as the first.[29] Chris Dafoe of The Globe and Mail was not impressed with the album: "At its best, this can be evocative and slightly unsettling. More frequently, however, it sounds like dreary New Age miserablism. Yawn Yawn."[30] J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone rated the album 1 star out of 5: "Instead of getting better or worse, this band simply grew more pretentious with each passing year. . . . by Spirit of Eden, Mark Hollis's Pete Townshend-on-Dramamine vocals have been pushed aside by the band's pointless noodling."[31]
[edit] Legacy
Some music critics consider Spirit of Eden and its 1991 follow-up Laughing Stock influential to post-rock.[32] Simon Reynolds coined the term post-rock in 1994 to describe a style of experimental music that was emerging at the time in Britain and the United States. Reynolds observed that Bark Psychosis' album Hex, a notable example of this new genre, aspired to the "baroque grandeur" of Spirit of Eden.[33] Andy Whitman of Paste argues that Spirit of Eden represents the beginning of post-rock: "The telltale marks of the genre—textured guitars, glacial tempos, an emphasis on dynamics, electronica, ambience and minimalism—were all in place, and paved the way for bands like Sigur Rós, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Low, and latter-period Radiohead." Simon Harper of the Birmingham Post adds, "Certainly, their combination of jazz, classical, rock and the spacey echoes of dub, using silence almost as an instrument in its own right, lends itself to the vernacular of post-rock, and there can be little argument that Tortoise and their Chicago-based compatriots would hardly sound the same were it not for the staggering achievements of Hollis and Tim Friese-Green." Aside from post-rock, Piero Scaruffi believes that the album's innovations "pioneered 'slo-core'."[34]
Numerous artists have commended Spirit of Eden and some cite it as a direct influence in their own music. Singer-songwriters Madonna,[35] Sarah McLachlan,[36] Alison Moyet,[37] and Duncan Sheik name it as one of their favorites. Various indie and alternative rock bands, such as Doves, Death Cab for Cutie, Delays, Clearlake, Mansun, Elbow, and Turin Brakes, have acknowledged the album. Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel said that it helped focus "a battle between the aggressive side of what our band does and the incredibly soft, introverted side."[38] Former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler said that its "colour and rhythm" influenced his solo work.
[edit] Release history
Spirit of Eden was released worldwide in 1988. The album was digitally remastered by Phill Brown and Denis Blackham in 1997. The single version of "I Believe In You" and its B-side "John Cope" were compiled on Asides Besides in 1998. A hybrid Super Audio CD (without surround sound) surfaced in 2003. Tracks from the album have appeared on various Talk Talk compilations released by EMI.
The album cover depicts a tree festooned with seashells, snails, birds, and insects. It was illustrated by James Marsh, who did Talk Talk's artwork throughout their career. The booklet provides reproductions of Hollis' handwritten lyrics.
[edit] Personnel
Musicians
- Lee Harris – drums
- Paul Webb – electric bass
- Tim Friese-Greene – harmonium, piano, organ, guitar
- Mark Hollis – vocals, piano, organ, guitar
- Martin Ditcham – percussion
- Robbie McIntosh – dobro, 12 string guitar
- Mark Feltham – harmonica
- Simon Edwards – Mexican bass
- Danny Thompson – double bass
- Henry Lowther – trumpet
- Nigel Kennedy – violin
- Hugh Davies – shozygs
- Andrew Stowell – bassoon
- Michael Jeans – oboe
- Andrew Marriner – clarinet
- Christopher Hooker – cor anglais
- Choir of Chelmsford Cathedral
Technical
- Phill Brown – engineering
- Tim Friese-Greene – production
[edit] Notes
- ^ Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 53.
- ^ "Few could have been prepared for the exquisite and extra-ordinary design of this music. . . . But there were one or two clues of what was about to happen for anyone who was paying attention: the latter single's skeletal B-side, It's Getting Late In The Evening and the diaphonous April 5th or spare Chameleon Day on their hit album Colour Of Spring". Irvin, The Mojo Collection, 603.
- ^ "The result was Life's What You Make It, which helped The Colour Of Spring sell over two million copies and sent Talk Talk on the road for the rest of 1986." Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 53.
- ^ "'Eden' was the first album for which Talk Talk had been given an open budget and schedule". Neiss.
- ^ "Sessions for Spirit Of Eden began with a blanket ban on Aspden and EMI." Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 53.
- ^ Brown, "Sharing food and conversation with Phill Brown."
- ^ Some sources incorrectly claim that the album was recorded in an "abandoned church"; Wessex Studios had been converted from a church hall, but the conversion took place in the 1960s. Some sources also claim that recording took place in Suffolk; Mark Hollis had recently moved to Suffolk, but he traveled to London to record.
- ^ Sources vary as to the exact duration. In 2006 Mojo pg. 53, Phill Brown said they spent 9 months at Wessex. The Mojo Collection (2000) pg. 603 says it was recorded from June 1987 to August 1988, a period of 14 months.
- ^ Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 53.
- ^ Brown, "The Colour of EQing."
- ^ http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1133
- ^ Return from Eden
- ^ Young.
- ^ Record Collector bio
- ^ Return from Eden
- ^ Cooper.
- ^ Devoy.
- ^ Rock Stars
- ^ Come on, market me
- ^ Paradise Regained
- ^ The video was uploaded to YouTube in April 2006.
- ^ Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619
- ^ Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 54.
- ^ "Though EMI were keen to retain the band, their contract had now expired . . ." Neiss.
- ^ Keith Aspden: "When I discovered EMI had missed picking up their contract option [after The Colour of Spring] I pressed that home. It took us 18 months of legal wrangling, and we lost. So we appealed and won on appeal." Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 54.
- ^ Irvin, "Paradise Regained," 54.
- ^ Tape Op
- ^ Randy's return. Berkmann revisited the album in a later article, but said "I still don't know."
- ^ sounds review
- ^ Globe and Male
- ^ -
- ^ Others, such as Bill Martin and Piero Scaruffi exclude them in their accounts of the genre.
- ^ Reynolds.
- ^ "Talk Talk . . . invented a new form of music, one in which a complex atmosphere is created out of slow, inorganic, inarticulate streams of simple sounds. The six lengthy, free-form, brooding and cataleptic ruminations . . . pioneered 'slo-core'." Scaruffi, 237.
- ^ On the Record: Over 150 of the Most Creative People in Music Share the Secrets of Their Success, Guy Oseary, 2004, p. 151 "What are some of your favorite albums? ... Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, Talk Talk"
- ^ In Their Own Words: Songwriters Talk About the Creative Process, Bill DeMain. "I listened to a lot of Tom Waits, and Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden, which is one of my favorites."
- ^ "After hours". Alison Moyet interviewed by Ed Potton. The Times. London (UK): Aug 11, 2001. pg. Play.4 "If I had to pick a favourite album it would be Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden (EMI, 1988). I heard it first ten or eleven years ago, when I met my husband. It is such a fantastic mellowing album: I really like Mark Hollis's voice, the timbre and the sparseness of it. It is an opus, you have to listen to the whole thing in one go."
- ^ Dickinson.
[edit] Working bibliography
- Brown, Phill. "The Colour of EQing." Within Without, November 12, 1998.
- ———. Interview by Larry Crane and Chris Eckman. "Sharing food and conversation with Phill Brown." Tape Op, Spring 1999.
- Cooper, Mark. Review of Spirit of Eden, by Talk Talk. Q, October 1988.
- Devoy, Adrian. "Come on, market me." Includes an interview with Mark Hollis, Tim Friese-Greene, and Tony Wadsworth. Q, 1988.
- Harper, Simon. "The whispers and crescendos of the Spirit of Eden." The Birmingham Post, August 24, 2005, 11.
- Irvin, Jim, ed. "Talk Talk: Spirit Of Eden" in The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, Mojo Books, 2001.
- ———. "Paradise Lost." Mojo, February 2006, 50–56.
- Neiss, James. "Talk Talk." Record Collector, December 1991.
- Reynolds, Simon. Review of Hex, by Bark Psychosis. Mojo, March 1994.
- Rozsa, Ferenc. 2004. Talk Talk Discography. Another World.
- Smith, Andrew. "Talk Talk talk." International Musician and Recording World, November 1988.
- Sutherland, Steve. "Dawn Rising." Review of Spirit of Eden, by Talk Talk. Melody Maker, September 17, 1988, 38.
- ———. "Paradise Regained." Melody Maker, September 24, 1988, 8.
- ———. "Talk Talk: Silencing the Scams." Melody Maker, September 7, 1991, 40.
- Young, Rob. "Return from Eden." The Wire, January 1998, 26.
