Soundtracks to films that were never made...

Career & Creative Influences, Part One.

 Vale, Mark Hollis.

Your incredible voice & musical legacy have kept me

company over so, so many years..

.

I first discovered you as a young art student,

in the late 80s/early 90s.

Your music was perfect to paint and create to

(influencing but not distracting);

your ethereal singing & lyrics becoming

yet another instrument in the mix.

And there were many.

But your production skills were out of this world.

Those of us that discovered, loved and treasured your (truly) original,

haunting, fragile (and at times, dear I say it, violent?) aural "masterpieces":

(I don't use that word lightly)

We saw beyond that 'big single'.

And our lives were transformed from the encounter.

This was not merely music to listen to,
but to transcend to...

And an experience to completely soak and immerse the senses in

.

Who needed drugs, when there was music like this being created.

I always described his latter releases as
(to my more commercial-loving friends,
who stopped listening after 'Life's What You Make It):

"soundtracks to films that were never made".

If you have never heard Mark / Talk Talk's music before,

this is where the magic really began...

'Spirit of Eden' (1988)

  'Laughing Stock' (1991)

  'Watershed AKA Mark Hollis' (1998)

These are the three essentials 
for late-at-night headphone listening.

Music that completely defies
labels, genre, expectation or description. 
 
The world has lost a rare, unique & uncompromising
voice, musician and producer.

Do yourself a huge favor tonight
& dust off those headphones.

Discover Mr. Hollis & Talk Talk
(perhaps for the second time?). 

And be prepared.
To be transported.
Somewhere else entirely.



(26 February, 2019.)