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Talk Talk are often remembered for their synth-pop hits included in various '80s revival collections, particularly for the iconic "It's My Life" and "Such A Shame," which marked the new romantic era but are a small thing compared to the lesser-known treasures of their later discography.
This "Spirit Of Eden" dates back to 1988 and marks a distinct shift in their sound. Now their music sounds like a Salvador Dalì painting, with instruments weaving slow-moving textures that dissolve into the air, the sounds seem to compel the second hand to move less frantically to redeem the impatient spirit of our time.
The opening "The Rainbow" immediately reveals its whisper of a still life, with shy and subdued instruments that, instead of chasing each other, play at lightly brushing against each other without ever fully touching, caressed by the velvety and seductive voice of Mark Hollis, who truly seems to have found his natural place.
The same enchantment is repeated in the subsequent "Eden," formed from the ashes of the previous song, transporting the listener into the same trance state. This time we are closer to the classic song form, with a "chorus" that resembles an explosion with a silencer, so muffled and dreamlike... then everything naturally implodes, disappearing with the same grace with which it appeared.
If "Desire" maintains a similar structure, "Inheritance" reveals a closer kinship with jazz, with its brushed drums and a more pronounced free-form tone.
But Talk Talk also knows how to offer us the sweetest themes, like those found in "I Believe In You," a lullaby of paradisiacal beauty. The album closes with "Wealth," the shyest track of the lot, and therefore the most suitable for sliding the listening experience of this masterpiece where memories and evocations rest, ready to move your fingers to place the CD in your player again countless times.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Inheritance (05:24)
April song
Lilac glistening foal
Ten as one
On the breeze they flow
When it gets my heart out
When it gets my heart out
Nature's son
Don't you know where life has gone
Burying progress in the clouds
How we learn to linger on
Head in sand
Expecting the dour
To redress with open arms
Ascension in incentive end
(Instrumental)
When it gets my heart out
When it gets my heart out
Nature's son
Don't you know how life goes on
Desperately befriending the crowd
To incessantly drive on
Dress in gold's surrendering gown
Heaven bless you in your calm
My gentle friend
Heaven bless you
03 I Believe in You (06:16)
Hear it in my spirit
I've seen heroin for myself
On the street so young laying wasted
Enough, ain't it enough
Crippled world
I just can't bring myself to see it starting
Tell me how I fear it
I buy prejudice for my health
Is it worth so much when you taste it
Enough, there ain't enough hidden hurt
A time to sell yourself
A time for passing
Spirit
How long
04 Wealth (06:35)
Create upon my flesh
Create approach upon my breath
Bring me salvation if I fear
Take my freedom
Create upon my breath
Create reflection on my flesh
The wealth of love
Bear me a witness to the years
Take my freedom
Let my freedom up,
Let my freedom up
Take my freedom
For giving me a sacred love
(Instrumental)
Create upon my flesh
Create a home within my head
Take my freedom
Let my freedom up,
Let my freedom up
Take my freedom
For giving me a sacred love
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Other reviews
By Mariaelena
"Spirit Of Eden is a rarefied poetry of the soul."
"For Mark and not only, the desire for paradise is where the music speaks of spirit, where the spirit speaks of the soul."
By Battlegods
"Spirit Of Eden is the Bible for the future, aware of symbolizing eternally the future itself."
"Mark Hollis transforms into a prophetic shaman, transcendental, belonging to another dimension."
