MARK HOLLIS

Mark Hollis sole album from 1998 is a must for fans of the last two Talk Talk albums. The album continues the style that Talk Talk set on Laughing Stock. The music is more quiet than Talk Talk though. The approach to the music is very subtle and minimalistic. As mentioned in one of the other reviews of this album silence is a very important player in these songs.

The music is not very accessible and only the first two songs Colour of Spring and Watershed have what I would call hooks. If you listen very carefully there are some memorable lines in some of the other songs though. Mark Hollis vocals are very subtle and emotional. He sings with a vulnerability seldom heard more true in music. I have always been a fan of Mark Hollis vocal style. The music is mostly made up of piano, subdued drumming and percussion, fretless bass, quit guitar playing and occasional winds of all sorts and then lots of silence.

The musicianship is really great here and as the album is recorded live in the studio, it becomes even more impressive. There are no fast runs or scale noodling here, only very controlled emotional playing from all. Mark Hollis is of course center of everything here and his strong voice is very beautiful.

The production is very impressive too, as every little sound is clearly heard.

This is a unigue album even though Mark Hollis distinct voice will surely remind you of Talk Talk and this album is mostly for fans of that band. I must say that personally I prefer Talk Talk´s albums to this one, as I´m having a hard time listening to this subtle music for the whole lenght of the album. The subtility gets a bit annoying IMO even though it´s mostly a beautiful feature in Mark Hollis music. This is the kind of album where you have to listen yourself though. It´s so unique that even though you might feel like me and think this is a good album and not an excellent one, it will surely be an experience for life to listen to. I seldom do myself, but when I do it´s always an enjoyable ride. The mood has to be right though. I´ll rate this album 3 stars, because I think it´s good but not really my prefered taste. This is for now the only solo album from Mark Hollis and I think he retired from the music business after this. Mark Hollis had a hard time with the exposure as a pop artist and in an interview I saw in Danish televisison at the time of the release of this album he told the interviewer that he used hours searching for silence and that he lived a very simple withdrawn life. It tells a bit about the man and his music. His philosophy seems to be that one note played right can say more than ten.