Best of 1986- The Album List

n the early months of 1985, the Pet Shop Boys made a significant impact on the UK charts with "West End Girls," a track that would go on to become their signature tune and biggest hit. Alongside Erasure, they played a pivotal role in transforming synth-pop into electro-dance, giving the genre a fresh and contemporary sound. The Communards also contributed to this evolving trend, as their cover of the disco classic "Don't Leave Me This Way" emerged as the best-selling single of the year.

Meanwhile, established artists like Madonna and George Michael continued to be among the best-selling acts, further shaping the pop genre. Madonna's third studio album, "True Blue," stood out as the best-selling album in the UK during this period, solidifying her status as a pop icon. The musical landscape of 1985 reflected a dynamic fusion of synth-pop, electro-dance, and enduring pop influences.

Best of 1985 - Top 50 Singles List

The year 1985 was the year of big charity concerts and records. Following up on the release of "Do They Know It’s Christmas Time" from 1984, the big Live Aid concert was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. The event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, UK, and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, US. Also inspired by Band-Aid, USA for Africa band project released "We Are the World", a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. 

Among the best-selling albums this year was Dire Straits’ album Brothers in Arms, which at the same time was the first ever album to be released on CD. Jennifer Rush had the best-selling single in the UK with "The Power of Love" while in the USA, Madonna and George Michael both solo and with Wham! ruled the charts. 

With 1985 New Wave completely faded, knocked out by guitar-driven rock most notably by the Jangle rock which in this period of time was popularized as College rock with R.E.M. and The Smiths paving the way. On the other hand, Electronic music was transforming into new rhythms with the emerging Chicago house and Detroit techno that would give hits in the years to come.

01. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill 
02. The Smiths - How Soon is Now? 
03. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls 

04. The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary 
05. Depeche Mode - Shake the Disease 
06. Killing Joke - Love Like Blood 
07. Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) 
08. New Order - The Perfect Kiss 
09. The Cure - Close to Me 
10. Talk Talk - Life's What You Make It 
11. a-ha - The Sun Always Shine on TV

12. Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm
13. The Cure - In Between Days
14. Echo & The Bunnymen- Bring on the Dancing Horses
15. Jesus and The Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
16. Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule The World
17. Madonna - Into the Groove
18. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
19. King - Love and Pride
20. David Bowie and Pat Metheny Group - This is not America

Kim Wilde and Talk Talk Triple Album Reissues

Parlophone Label Group (Plg) has announced a series of triple album collection reiusses for this month. Most interesting for us are the Kim Wilde and Talk Talk reissies. The label will release the first three studio albums by both artists. The Kim Wilde Reissue collection will include the albums 'Kim Wilde', 'Select' and 'Catch as Catch Can' released between 1981-1983 and as of for Talk Talk, their reissue collection will feature their synth-pop era albums 'The Party's Over', 'It's My life' as well as their more organic orientated third album 'The Colour of Spring' from 1986. More info about the The triple album releases through Amazon, out January 9th.

Best of 1984 - Top 50 Singles List

The growing popularity of Michael Jackson which started in 1983 also set foot in 1984 especially after the video for "Thriller" was released. Even though the content of the video was controversial at that time, it was also groundbreaking, and it revolutionized the music industry and the world of pop by breaking down the racial barriers and transforming the music video into a work of art.

Even at the other end of the Atlantic the 1983 started with a small scandal which involved Frankie Goes To Hollywood who got banned by BBC for almost a year due to the explicit lyrics and provocative video for their biggest hit "Relax". Despite this fact, the band managed to have major success around the world with their debut album, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome". This was also the first big success for ZTT Records and three times platinum in the UK. Towards the end of the year the Frankie Goes to Hollywood ban was slowly lifted and "Relax" was the ultimate anthem of 1984 introducing the Frankie Says Relax trend. 

With the growing popularity of MTV, in 1984 the first MTV Music Awards were given away at the  Radio City Music Hall in New York. Among the winners were Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Herbie Hancock. Madonna has not been up for awards, but manged to make prominence and shake the pop world with her performance at the VMA's. 

Just ahead of Christmas when 1984 was in the fade out, a group of musicians headed by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure got together for a good cause, forming Band-Aid. This was a group of musicians who recorded a song to raise awareness and funds for the Ethiopian famine in 1983–1985. It included more than 40 musicians, and it sold over two million copies around the globe and raised more than $24 million. 

 Towards the end of the year New Gold Dream which could easily be translated as the golden era of new Wave slowly began to vanish and became clear that the new musical term was Pop.

01. Bronski Beat - Small Town Boy 

02. Echo & The Bunnymen- The Killing Moon 

03. Talk Talk - It’s My Life 

04. Prince - When Doves Cry 

05. Billy Idol - Eyes Without a Face 

06. Cyndi Lauper- Time After Time  

07. Leonard Cohen - Dance Me to the End of Love  

08. Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Around 

09. Duran Duran - New Moon on Monday 

10. Alphaville - Big in Japan 

11. A-ha- Take on Me

12. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

13. Madonna - Borderline

14. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls '84

15. Gary Numan- Berserker

16. Siouxsie and The Banshees - Dazzle

17. Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again 

18. Frankie Goes To Hollywood- Two Tribes

19. The Smiths - What Difference Does it Make  

20. The Style Council - Shout to the Top

Talk Talk- Natural Order- Natural History

Talk Talk are back with two new compilations on EMi this year. The first one is called 'Natural History - The Very Best Of Talk Talk' and it is a 3 CD reissue which features Talk Talk's commercial hits. Along with this comes 'Natural Order 1982 - 1991', curated by Mark Hollis, which showcases the “other” side of Talk Talk compared to the more commercial tracks on 'Natural History'. Both compilations are out next week, January 14th 2013. 

Best of 1982 - The Singles List

After having been propelled further by the New Romantic movement and becoming much easier to handle, Synthesizers became dominant in pop music and a possible formula for future success. The Human League were still ruling the charts and won the BRIT Award for the best Breakthrough act. Following their success story other bands like Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Soft Cell adopted synthesizers as main instruments which had an impact in launching of the Second British Invasion in the US. This brought the new styles, rhythms and stars to the States including Duran Duran, The Human League, Eurythmics, Billy Idol and more. Sadly some of the great bands from late 70s and early 80s disbanded which included most notably Blondie, Adam and The Ants, ABBA and Japan.

01. Yaz(oo)- Don't Go 

02. Tears for Fears- Mad World 

03. Heaven 17- Let Me Go 

04. Talk Talk- Talk Talk 

05. Yazoo- Situation 

06. Duran Duran- Rio 

07. Tears for Fears- Pale Shelter 

08. Eurythmics- Love is a Stranger

09. A Flock of Seagulls- I Ran (So Far Away) 

10. Japan- Ghosts 

11. The Psychedelic Furs- Love My Way 

12. Visage- The Damned Don't Cry 

13. New Order- Temptation 

14. Soft Cell- Torch 

15. Simple Minds- Promised You A Miracle 

16. The Stranglers - Golden Brown

17. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark- Maid of Orleans 

18. Modern English - I Melt with You 

19. Duran Duran- Save a Prayer 

20. ABC- Poison Arrow 

The Spirit of Talk Talk Updates

New updates on the Talk Talk tribute project! "The Spirit of Talk Talk" will be the name of this pompous new project which will mark Talk Talk's 30th anniversary. It will feature 30 artists and acts and personalities including King Creosote, Alan Wilder, Jason Lytle, Zero 7, Crispin Hunt, Linton Kwesi Johnson, White Belt Yellow Tag, Electric Soft Parade, Joan As Policewoman, White Lies, Goldheart Assembly and many, many more guesting cats from Bon Iver to Arcade Fire covering 30 Talk Talk tunes from 'Today' to ‘Life’s What You Make It’ to ‘After The Flood’ in their own inimitable style. 

The album is slated for release on September 3rd, 2012 on double CD and download and as part of the whole tribute-themed narrative arc the record will be accompanied by a lavish book, also called 'Spirit Of Talk Talk' which features eulogies from, among others, the smitten likes of Guy Garvey, Richard Wright (Pink Floyd), Karl Hyde (Underworld), Wild Beasts and James Lavelle from UNKLE. The artwork for both artefacts is by original Talk Talk illustrator James Marsh and the book features all manner of Mark Hollis-related delights for music lovers old and new alike to swoon over such as lost photos and handwritten lyric sheets. 

Source:
http://fiercepanda.co.uk

Featured: Talk Talk- Such a Shame

"Such A Shame" was one of Talk Talk's biggest hits in continental Europe and the second single from the the album It's My Life. The songs was written by Mark Hollis and he was inspired by Luke Rhinehart’s cult novel The Dice Man. The novel tells a story of psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice. The song was reissued twice, in 1990, when it became a hit in the UK and in 2004.

Mark Hollis and Talk Talk

Talk Talk is an English band which was formed in the early 80’s consisting of Mark Hollis (vocals), Simon Brenner (keyboards), Lee Harris (drums) and Paul Webb (bass guitar). The group released five brilliant studio albums and several hit singles during their ten year existence. In the early years, they were generally associated with the New Romantic movement and their music was mainly based on synthesizer sound. Due to some line-up changes, the band managed to transform their music into the authentic Talk Talk and to serve more complex and organic sound. On both tracks, the band remains as one of the most influential bands in the music history.

The group was formed around a nucleus of drummer Lee Harris, bassist Paul Webb, and singer and chief songwriter Mark Hollis. Previously Mark had been in the band the Reaction until its disintegration in 1979. Mark Hollis continued to write music and he was offered some studio time to demo his song writing in 1981. Rehearsals with Hollis's new material went well, Simon Brenner was introduced on keyboards and the band officially became a four–piece group Talk Talk. The band's demo material and a couple of gigs secured them a session on Radio One, and a subsequent deal with EMI.

Talk Talk's first line-up released a self-titled debut EP in 1982 which was quickly expanded into a full-length album entitled ‘The Party's Over’ which was produced by Colin Thurston who was also producing albums for label mates Duran Duran. The album itself was not a huge success upon release and reached 21 after the single “Today” topped the charts. ‘The Party’s Over’ remained the only album on which writing credits were shared by the entire band.

In 1983 Simon Brenner left the band, just after the non-LP single “My foolish Friend” was released as a single. Later he was replaced by Tim Fries-Greene who became Talk Talk’ unofficial fourth member, Hollis frequent songwriting partner and a major contributor to the band’s studio output. Friese-Greene did not regularly play with the band during live shows or appear in publicity material and the band was officially a trio.

Nothing further was released for a year and Mark Hollis spend the whole year writing new material and assembling musicians to record a follow-up. Talk Talk became a looser more flexible creative unit and abandoned synthesizer s as the main instrument of the band. Their second album ‘It’s my Life’ was released in 1984 and two songs from the album, "It’s my Life" and "Such a Shame" became top ten hits around Europe, but were largely ignored in their native UK. Their new sound featured more melodic arrangements and guitars for the first time. Things went quiet after the third single release and Talk Talk came up with a mini LP release which featured extended and remixed versions of the previously released singles.

The band started recording again throughout 1985 and their first result was the stunning new single “Life’s What You Make It”, released in 1986. The album was released a month later. Instead of synthesizers the, ‘The Colours of Spring’ was a record of rich textures and featured natural instruments and more organic sound. The album went gold and became their biggest studio album success in the UK. Talk Talk launched a major world tour to promote it. Most notable among those concerts was the one at the 'Montreaux Jazz Festival'.

The success of ‘The Colour of Spring’ afforded the band a bigger budget and schedule for the recording of their next album. Their next record ‘Spirit of Eden’ was released in 1988, on EMI's Parlophone label. The album was assembled from many hours of improvised instrumentation that Hollis and Friese-Greene had edited and arranged using digital equipment. The result was a mix of rock, jazz, classical, and ambient music. Although the album made the UK Top 20 upon release, the band declared they would not tour in support of it. During the making of ‘Spirit of Eden’, Talk Talk manager Keith Aspden had attempted to free the band from their recording contract with EMI, and after many months of litigation, the band ultimately succeeded in extracting themselves from the contract. EMI then sued the band, claiming that 'Spirit of Eden' was not "commercially satisfactory", but the case was thrown out of court.

With the band now released from EMI, the label released the retrospective compilation ‘Natural History’ in 1990. It peaked at number 3 on the UK album chart and was certified Gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies, and eventually went on to sell more than 1 million copies worldwide. The 1984 single "It's My Life" was also re-released, and this time became the band's highest charting single in their native country, reaching number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. A re-release of the single "Life's What You Make It" also reached the Top 30. Following up on this renewed popular interest in the band, the label then released ‘History Revisited’ in 1991, a compilation of 12 inch singles and alternative versions which made the Top 40, an unusually high placing for what was effectively a remixes album. The band sued EMI for releasing the remixed material without their permission.

In 1990, Talk Talk signed a two-album contract with Polydor Records. They released ‘Laughing Stock’ on Polydor's Verve Records imprint in 1991. The album crystallized the experimental sound the band started with ‘Spirit of Eden’ and adopted an even more minimalist style than its predecessor.

Note:The artist James Marsh designed the first cover image for It's My Life based on the band's name. He followed the theme for subsequent singles, remaining the band's artistic frontman and creating all their covers and posters throughout their career.

After Laughing Stock, Talk Talk disbanded in 1992. Paul Webb rejoined Lee Harris, and the two went on to form the band .O.rang, while Tim Friese-Greene started recording under the name Heligoland. In 1998, Mark Hollis released his self-titled solo début 'Mark Hollis', which was very much in keeping with the minimalist post-rock sound of 'Spirit of Eden' and 'Laughing Stock'. Hollis retired from the music industry shortly afterwards.

Twenty years after Talk Talk disbanded, EMI has reissued a double CD compilation which features the group’s most successful albums to date, ‘It’s My Life and ‘The Colour of Spring’. In his recent blog entry Alan Wilder announced that he has recorded a cover track for the upcoming Talk Talk tribute album. Full updates will be up as the project is confirmed.

On February 24th, it was reported on social media that the lead singer and the creative mastermind of Talk Talk has passed away. The news was confirmed the next day. His former manager confirmed that his death after two days saying that Hollis died  after "a short illness from which he never recovered"

Source:
Wikipedia (edit)
Mark Hollis Unofficial (edit)
News about Talk Talk Tribute Album

Welcome to Talk Talk May!