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Bulldog · 06-19-2010, 02:45 PM

Alrighty then, first of two reviews here...

Talk Talk
It's My Life
1984

1. Dum Dum Girls
2. Such a Shame
3. Renée
4. It's My Life
5. Tomorrow Started
6. The Last Time
7. Call In the Night Boy
8. Does Caroline Know?
9. It's You

With a moderate hit in the shape of Today under their belts, Talk Talk's fairly patchy debut had got their career in the mainstream music industry well and truly on the rails. Although, given how dated the album sounds by you and me's standards, the Party's Over had been as blatant a stab a commercial audience in those days as dying your hair purple and banging on a marimba for an album's worth of songs, there was the odd hint that there was something more to this band and, by the odd hint, I do of course mean the terrific Have You Heard the News - easily one of Talk Talk's best songs and basically the highlight of the album. While It's My Life still isn't any indicator of what was to come next from Talk Talk, it does find the band maturing very nicely as a group of songwriters and is a much more worthwhile album for it.

Part of this maturity can only have had something to do with keyboardist Simon Brenner's being replaced by Tim Friese-Greene shortly after the Party's Over's release, seeing the latter form a songwriting partnership with lead singer Mark Hollis which was absolutely pivotal to Talk Talk's evolution as a band. The Hollis/Friese-Greene partnership doesn't totally dominate this album, but it is nicely represented here and does the band's sound a world of good, as the opener Dum Dum Girls testifies - starting as it does with some neat vocal harmonies and synth before finding its way round to a great little chorus. The instrumental passage in the bridge is the work of a more mature band too, and right from the off we're already given a huge improvement on a lot of the Party's Over.

What follows are two Mark Hollis compositions, starting with Such a Shame, itself the band's first truly noteworthy success on the international singles charts (and a deserved one too, given its weird knack for being both darkly brooding and pretty damn catchy at once). The second of these songs, Renée, again shows off the darker, more pensive vein of Hollis' songwriting which would dominate the band's sound in their twilight years. While the synths underpinning it do sound fairly of their time, it doesn't hinder the level of quality one little bit. Another Hollis/Friese-Greene co-write, It's My Life, is where the album truly hits the heights, boasting just about the best chorus of all time as well as a very sharp bassline to drive it along. Breaking into the top 30 of singles charts pretty much everywhere but the UK (even hitting number 1 in the US), it stands as quite possibly Talk Talk's most well-known song. And the less said about that gobshite No Doubt cover the better.

After such a great opening salvo for the album, things get onto a bit of a downward slope with Tomorrow Started - not a bad song at all, but it pales in comparison to some on this record. Same story with the Last Time really. In fact, it's probably the weakest song on the album, what with how it overuses some of those instantly recognisable 80s-isms we all love to hate. Still, not bad at all, but just not hat great either. Call In the Night Boy, the last Talk Talk song to be co-written by the now-departed Simon Brenner, hasn't dated that well either, but the songwriting is more than strong enough to stop this from hindering the overall quality. Again, very nice keyboard-work from Friese-Greene (great solo in the bridge too).

As the album rolls along to its conclusion, another Hollis/Friese-Greene co-write in the shape of Does Caroline Know comes into view. Very interesting work on the synths from the latter (which help to shape a nicely atmospheric piece), a great bassline from Paul Webb and, more importantly to this whole thing about a band maturing, another pretty cool instrumental bridge. Like It's You after it though, it's a perfectly good song but just doesn't quite touch some of the heights this album's already reached.

Such is basically what prevents me from calling this album anything truly brilliant. While there are some terrific songs on this album and not any bad ones by any stretch of the imagination, it's definitely an uneven level of quality throughout. A massive improvement on the Party's Over and home to one of the very best singles of the 80s but, frankly, it's nothing compared to what was to come next. I'd still recommend it though.

8/10

06-19-2010, 02:45 PM	#17 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Alrighty then, first of two reviews here... Talk Talk It's My Life 1984 1. Dum Dum Girls 2. Such a Shame 3. Renée 4. It's My Life 5. Tomorrow Started 6. The Last Time 7. Call In the Night Boy 8. Does Caroline Know? 9. It's You With a moderate hit in the shape of Today under their belts, Talk Talk's fairly patchy debut had got their career in the mainstream music industry well and truly on the rails. Although, given how dated the album sounds by you and me's standards, the Party's Over had been as blatant a stab a commercial audience in those days as dying your hair purple and banging on a marimba for an album's worth of songs, there was the odd hint that there was something more to this band and, by the odd hint, I do of course mean the terrific Have You Heard the News - easily one of Talk Talk's best songs and basically the highlight of the album. While It's My Life still isn't any indicator of what was to come next from Talk Talk, it does find the band maturing very nicely as a group of songwriters and is a much more worthwhile album for it. Part of this maturity can only have had something to do with keyboardist Simon Brenner's being replaced by Tim Friese-Greene shortly after the Party's Over's release, seeing the latter form a songwriting partnership with lead singer Mark Hollis which was absolutely pivotal to Talk Talk's evolution as a band. The Hollis/Friese-Greene partnership doesn't totally dominate this album, but it is nicely represented here and does the band's sound a world of good, as the opener *Dum Dum Girls* testifies - starting as it does with some neat vocal harmonies and synth before finding its way round to a great little chorus. The instrumental passage in the bridge is the work of a more mature band too, and right from the off we're already given a huge improvement on a lot of the Party's Over. What follows are two Mark Hollis compositions, starting with *Such a Shame, itself the band's first truly noteworthy success on the international singles charts (and a deserved one too, given its weird knack for being both darkly brooding and pretty damn catchy at once). The second of these songs, Renée, again shows off the darker, more pensive vein of Hollis' songwriting which would dominate the band's sound in their twilight years. While the synths underpinning it do sound fairly of their time, it doesn't hinder the level of quality one little bit. Another Hollis/Friese-Greene co-write, It's My Life, is where the album truly hits the heights, boasting just about the best chorus of all time as well as a very sharp bassline to drive it along. Breaking into the top 30 of singles charts pretty much everywhere but the UK (even hitting number 1 in the US), it stands as quite possibly Talk Talk's most well-known song. And the less said about that gobshite No Doubt cover the better. After such a great opening salvo for the album, things get onto a bit of a downward slope with Tomorrow Started* - not a bad song at all, but it pales in comparison to some on this record. Same story with *the Last Time* really. In fact, it's probably the weakest song on the album, what with how it overuses some of those instantly recognisable 80s-isms we all love to hate. Still, not bad at all, but just not hat great either. *Call In the Night Boy, the last Talk Talk song to be co-written by the now-departed Simon Brenner, hasn't dated that well either, but the songwriting is more than strong enough to stop this from hindering the overall quality. Again, very nice keyboard-work from Friese-Greene (great solo in the bridge too). As the album rolls along to its conclusion, another Hollis/Friese-Greene co-write in the shape of Does Caroline Know* comes into view. Very interesting work on the synths from the latter (which help to shape a nicely atmospheric piece), a great bassline from Paul Webb and, more importantly to this whole thing about a band maturing, another pretty cool instrumental bridge. Like *It's You* after it though, it's a perfectly good song but just doesn't quite touch some of the heights this album's already reached. Such is basically what prevents me from calling this album anything truly brilliant. While there are some terrific songs on this album and not any bad ones by any stretch of the imagination, it's definitely an uneven level of quality throughout. A massive improvement on the Party's Over and home to one of the very best singles of the 80s but, frankly, it's nothing compared to what was to come next. I'd still recommend it though. 8/10 Last edited by Bulldog; 12-05-2010 at 03:49 PM.