NATURAL HISTORY: THE VERY BEST OF TALK TALK

Natural History: The Very Best Of Talk Talk is a best of album from Talk Talk. Talk Talk is one of those bands on Prog Archives that have one leg in the progressive camp and one in the more commercial camp. The two first albums from Talk Talk are intelligent new wave synth pop while their their third album The Colour of Spring began their journey into experimentation. It´s a very interesting album even though it´s still very commercial. Their fourth and fifth albums are the most progressive albums from the band. Very minimalistic yet elaborate arrangements and very subtle almost subdued vocals from frontman and bandleader Mark Hollis are some of the ingredients on those two albums. Talk Talk work a lot with structures in the songs on those albums. This best of album includes songs from their first four albums which are also the most accessible ones.

The early synth pop years is represented by the first six tracks. My Foolish Friend must be a single track. It´s not on any of the original albums. Nice early song that one. The five other early tracks are chosen wisely as they are definitely the best from the two first albums The Party´s Over and It´s My Life. The Colour of Spring is represented here with four tracks which shows very well the popularity of that album while the last two tracks are from the fourth album Spirit of Eden. This is in fact a very good representation of Talk Talk´s career up til then. Here on Prog Archives there are two live songs on the list, but they are not on my copy of the album.

The musicianship is very good if you didn´t already know.

The production varies as the first couple of albums haven´t got as interesting a production as the later tracks. All songs are well produced though.

Even though Talk Talk´s last album Laughing Stock is not represented on this best of collection it´s still a very good overview and well worth 3 stars. If you´re curious about how Talk Talk sounds this is a good introduction to their music. Just be sure to get their best album Laughing Stock as well.