Talk Talk’s journey from their start as opportunistic Duran Duran wannabes to the final shape of their most lasting influence as an innovative, atmospheric, experimental wonder - who inspired not just Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac albums but the entire post-rock genre via Tortoise and Bark Psychosis - is one of the most amazing stories to emerge from New Wave. That story has been told in depth elsewhere, so I’ll not rehash it further here except to note that discussion of their early work sometimes tends to dismissively focus on how awesome it wasn’t compared to their last two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock.
I beg to differ. Not only were none of their pop chart contemporaries doing anything that approached the depth of songs like “Such a Shame” and “I Believe In You,” even their first album’s blatant attempts at hitching on to the popularity of the New Romantic trend showed that the seeds of later greatness had already been planted - this was absolutely not a fallow period. The most telling comparison is not between early and late Talk Talk, but between Talk Talk and The Reaction, TT leader Mark Hollis’ prior band. There’s an actual A/B comparison to make there, since Talk Talk’s namesake debut single was in fact a remake of a song by the earlier band, which probably would have been lost altogether had it not turned up on a Beggars Banquet label comp. Check it out.
The Reaction, Talk Talk
And now, here’s the version the of-a-certain-age types will remember from its saturation airplay on MTV.
As goofy as Hollis’ over-emoting in that video seems, there’s still no contest. The original is kinda meh even without comparing it to the later hit version, and then Simon Brenner’s piano solo just absolutely cements Talk Talk’s superiority - it gets me every time - and he’s the guy that bailed when the band started its drift towards art-rock! (Probably not a terrible thing, all in all - here’s one of his solo efforts. I give it less than a minute in before you get why you’ve never heard of him.)
But while “Talk Talk” didn’t become a good song until other musicians re-worked it, The Reaction did release an enjoyable single - “I Can’t Resist/I’m A Case.” Enjoy it here via YouTube user toorlooo, whose page is a treasure trove of rare and interesting Talk Talk material.
The Reaction, I Can’t Resist
The Reaction, I’m A Case
Gingham and strawberries… because punk rock.