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Rating:
Talk Talk were certainly one of the best bands of the '80s. Even in the early part of their career, when they were tied to the synth-pop fashion, they had a class and sophistication unknown to their rivals. What they didn't have was an easily marketable image (Mark Hollis certainly didn't make the girls swoon), and the charisma of the more prominent British stars à la Depeche Mode (Mark Hollis could not be defined as a stage animal). "The Colour of Spring" is the transition album par excellence, a bridge between the previous "The Party Is Over" and "It's My Life" and the second period of free-form masterpieces of the wonderful "Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock".
Eight tracks with an average length of five minutes splashed like colors on the palette of their "musical spring", carrying with them a vast instrumental repertoire, always arranged in a meticulous and refined manner. The opening track immediately sets things straight: not a simple danceable drum-machine rhythm garnished with synth flourishes and "dandy" vocals. No, none of this in a 1986 album from a band labeled among many "techno-pop acts" in circulation. Rather, an intro of percussion and drums accompany Hollis's voice (distinctly above the average of the period, and by far) that duets with a children's choir in a celestial crescendo, with heavenly hues. It’s "Happiness Is Easy", a gem that alone would justify buying the album. But the next track "I Don't Believe In You" captivates our ears in the same way, this time decadent and twilight-like but always of high quality. "April 5th", as well as "Chameleon Day", are previews of the dilations that will follow in the future, while "Living In Another World" reprises the engaging sounds of the past in a more elegant key, deformed by the new inspiring light. "Time It's Time", the final track, reaches the same levels as the initial one, with a colorful landscape of sound cues (there's even a gospel-like choir) and mood swings, with an ecstatic tail of blue keyboards like the sky, maintaining that "playful" spirit that has always distinguished all of Talk Talk's production, from all periods.
In conclusion, "The Colour Of Spring" is not a masterpiece, but it's undoubtedly a must-have album, which one could easily fall in love with anyway.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Happiness Is Easy (06:31)
HAPPINESS IS EASY
Makes you feel much older
Sublime the blind parade
It wrecks me how they justify their acts of war
They assemble, they pray
Take good care of what the priests say
'After death it's so much fun'
Little sheep don't let your feet stray
Happiness is easy
Joy be written on the earth
And the sky above
Jesus star that shines so bright
Gather us in love
Guilt upon their shoulders
How well the cause evades
Infecting your religions, claiming pacts
It's easy to shoulder the blame
Happiness is easy
Try to teach my children
To recognise excuse before it acts
From love & conviction to pray
Happiness is easy
04 April 5th (05:50)
APRIL 5TH
Here she comes
Silent in her sound
Here she comes
Fresh upon the ground
Come gentle spring
Come at winter's end
Gone is the pallor from a promise that's nature's gift
Waiting for the colour of spring
Let me breathe
Let me breathe the colour of spring
Here she comes
Laughter in her kiss
Here she comes
Shame upon her lips
Come wanton spring, come
For birth you live
Youth takes its bow before the summer the seasons bring
Waiting for the colour of spring
Let me breathe
05 Living in Another World (06:55)
Better parted
I see people crying
Truth gets harder
There's no sense in lying
Help me find a way from this maze
I can't help myself
When I see tenderness before you left
That even breaking up was never meant
But only angels look before they tread
Living in another world to you
Living in another world to you
Living in another world to you
Better parted
I see people hiding
Speech gets harder
There's no sense in writing
Help me find a way from this maze
I can't help myself
Help me find a way from this maze
I'm living in another world to you
And I can't help myself
Did I see tenderness where you saw Hell?
Did I see angels in the hand I held?
God only knows what kind of tale you'd tell
Living in another world to you
Living in another world to you
Living in another world to you
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By paolofreddie
I am already flying. And I cry, too.
This fear I have of Talk Talk is rather a awareness of being, like many others, destined to disappear, because there are no answers, except the simplest ones, those of a life lived.
