It's Talk Talk's Life

To that end (see previous post) here's an album review:

Talk Talk - It's My Life (1984)

Talk Talk are a rather interesting band. They started as a Duran Duran clone¹, tossing out a non-spectacular album of decent but unoriginal New Wave pop. They ended up producing a pair of radically original (and excellent) albums, frequently claimed to be the progenitors of Post-Rock. Somewhere in the middle they released It's My Life, probably the greatest Synth Pop album I've ever heard. And yes, you don't need to tell me, Synth Pop is a terrible genre, but this really is an excellent album, miles beyond anything else in the stylistic vicinity.

So why is it so good? Well, I'm glad you asked, even though I do not excel at actually articulating why I like something. Most obviously, every song on the 9 track album is really good; there're no crappy filler tracks here. Now this might not seem like a huge achievement, but keep in mind that this is a genre completely dominated by one-hit wonders. Thomas Dolby, Gary Numan, A-ha, A Flock Of Seagulls, The Vapors, Ultravox, The Buggles, Soft Cell². In this company, it's quite an achievement for Talk Talk to produce an entire album of good tracks.

Of course, that doesn't really answer the question of why they actually are good. But what can I say? The songs are all catchy. They are evocative, each creating a distinct mood, by turns ethereal, disorienting, defiant and desperate. They benefit from hints of some of the effects that will characterise Talk Talk's later albums - the mumbling vocals, the ambient textures, and the shifting volumes - without thereby sacrificing any of their catchy poppiness (which slightly mars their not-quite-as-excellent following album, The Colour Of Spring³).

So I shall conclude. If you want to hear songs - like, actual, coherent pop songs, with comprehendible lyrics, catchy tunes, and straightforward structures - then this album is excellent. If you're looking for long, esoteric, jazzy, pseudo-ambient masterpieces, then this album is entirely the wrong place to be. Personally, I'm increasingly longing for both.

And because everyone loves ratings:

9/10

¹ Apparently. According to, say, Allmusic. I thankfully haven't heard enough Duran Duran to confirm this.
² Soft Cell actually have a pretty good album in Non-Stop Erotic Caberet. I have seen no similar evidence for any of the other mentioned outfits.
³ Though The Colour Of Spring would be perfect if every song were as good as its closer, Time It's Time. Sooo good.

Postscript: I'm sure this post will do no good to dispell the vicious rumours that I listen to too much terrible 80s pop.