Back in 2014 I was at the start of my "Slint are incredible" phase of post-rock-listening (and I'm clearly still there as I'm still constantly amazed by Spiderland) and I was reading a bunch of articles about them, and post-rock in general. One thing that came up was that they were heavily influenced by Talk Talk. I was a bit surprised that there was a band apparently so central to a genre that I loved that I wasn't aware of. A short while later I was in Manchester and found this Best Of so figured it would be a worthwhile purchase.
When the needle hit the record I wondered if the articles were all having a laugh; the first half of this record is quintessentially 80's pop. The closest thing to it in the rest of my record collection is the soundtrack to The Lost Boys (which a friend gave to me after finding in a charity shop. More on that another time). I certainly couldn't hear how it influenced post-rock.
I've since learnt that the album Spirit of Eden was the turning point and the catalyst of all the post-rock influence, and that album only features at the end of this compilation. I've since bought a copy of Spirit of Eden in the hope that would shine more light, but I remain none the wiser about how this band were an influence on post-rock. It's a fine album, but I, as a non-expert (musically) cannot see the connection (here the clue is that the five songs on side B are mostly 6-minutes-plus, compared to the seven pop-length songs on the first side).
I'm putting this down to what I'm calling the "Blade Runner effect". I saw Blade Runner in my mid-20's having already seen many, many other sci-fi films. As a result, I was confused by its "classic" status - controversial opinion moment - it's a fine film, but not the greatest sci-fi film ever made. However, it was one of the first, and that's why it's a classic - it paved the way for all those other films. So many of the ideas in Blade Runner were novel at the time, but now seem like sci-fi tropes, or so basic they're not even a thing. But, if you saw it when it came out, I can totally understand how it would have blown your mind. Same goes for Talk Talk and the subtle change from the first half of side B to the second half I think.
That's a very long way of saying that "I think you had to be there" to really appreciate the impact of Spirit of Eden. I wasn't there, and I've heard a lot of music that has, in theory, taken what they were doing and ran with it. That makes it pretty hard to as overwhelmed by Talk Talk as I hoped to be (maybe my high expectations were part of the problem).
That said, there is plenty to take some enjoyment from here - Such a Shame has a pretty huge chorus and I'm constantly reminded of my utter confusion when It's My Life hit - for some reason knowing this song really well but not knowing why (the No Doubt cover was, of course, the reason); it is a fine pop song, as both versions demonstrate. I'm not a fan of the freaky childrens' choir on Happiness is Easy. The final two songs (from Spirit of Eden) are a bit of a departure from the rest - slower and more considered, but somehow less happens. Not sure if that's the post-rock influence or not. Desire has that quiet-to-very-loud thing that I guess is pretty typical, so that's something.
Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £8 second-hand
Bought: Vinyl Exchange, Manchester
When: 18/05/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
