SPIRIT OF EDEN

Martin Ditchman scrapes a bowl and Talk Talk emerge through the passageways of a complex evolution. From pop to top grade prog rock. They spent a year making this. It sounds like concentrated genius and a protracted sequence of mistakes and retakes in equal measure. Tension and release. There aren't many moments like Mark Feltham's harmonica solo. And Mark's voice? Not quite there to deliver a lyric, let alone a message. More a shimmering, frail instrument drawing us along as the strange journey unfolds. And the mighty Tim Friese-Green, producer, musician, just as much a member of Talk Talk as Eno is of U2. Perhaps more so. Eno merges as one of several, Friese-Green was one of two that sit at the heart of this influential masterpiece.

If you listen to this and you don't get it, google bands and musos who hold Talk Talk, and this album in particular, as an important influence. Then listen again.