2/26/19
edit:
this is really good, but it is from The Tea Party so go figure.
2/25/19
Article
Rest in Peace Mark Hollis.
A few things to say:
a) I know many people who are Talk Talk fans who may find this blog
b) I don't hate his voice, but I struggled to like it
c) Talk Talk had a large influence on many bands I enjoy including Oceansize, Doves, Broken Social Scene, The Tea Party, and Mansun among others
That being said, people who were fans of Talk Talk but didn't find Steve Hogarth all that great used to accuse H of trying to be (or ripping off) Mark Hollis.
This was many years ago on some of the forums. Maybe 2004? possibly earlier.
At that point I checked out Talk Talk and while there were some similarities and later found H was a fan of Hollis and Talk Talk; I honestly don't hear THAT much of a similarity. I hear more differences anyway (almost like a recent comparison on FB I saw with a song from The Family Crest and a System of a Down tune).
That all being said, I checked out 1 or 2 of Talk Talk's records. Spirit of Eden and The Colour of Spring.
Neither really impressed me all that much. And many call SoE the 1st "Post Rock" album, which some may feel that it is, but honestly, POST ROCK's origins as I've said for many years, really draws from SOUNDTRACKS and NEW AGE music, so in my mind, the 1st "Post Rock" album really goes much further back than that record.
And that record resembling "Post Rock" is vague and highly subjective.
But I may need to revisit, or re-revisit some of their records again as sometimes, time helps as it was many years ago I listened to some of those albums. I recall a couple of years back, buying 1 of their albums on tape and listening in my old car's tape deck. It was very earthy and had a lot of percussion, but the songs and vocals I recall were not highly memorable.
But again, maybe now they would do more for me?
anyway, Rest in Peace to someone who was a great, admired musician to many.