Talk Talk have announced a new half-speed reissue of their classic 1988 album ‘Spirit Of Eden’.
The band – made up at the time of singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Hollis, bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris – made a radical departure from their early synthpop sound with ‘Spirit Of Eden’, with Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene recording for many hours at a time and editing the tracks down to fit the album format.
The record veered in an eerie, ambient-influenced direction, embracing jazz, dub and classical music. Its ethereal sound and experimental recording process would become highly influential, and is often credited as being an early landmark in the post-rock genre.
The band had already trialled many of the techniques on their third album ‘The Colour Of Spring’ in 1986, but many view ‘Spirit Of Eden’ as their finest hour, and NME named it the 95th greatest album of all time in 2013.
The reissue has been overseen by Harris and Hollis’ son Charlie, alongside producer Matt Colton, and it will be released on February 6, 2026 – you can pre-save/pre-order your copy here.
Talk Talk went on to release one more album, 1991’s ‘Laughing Stock’, before Hollis decided to withdraw from the music industry. He released a single self-titled solo album in 1998.
A documentary film Talk Talk: In A Silent Way, which focused on the making of ‘Spirit Of Eden’, was released in 2021.
In an interview at the time, archived by Rock’s Back Pages, Hollis said about the album: “It’s certainly a reaction to the music that’s around at the moment ‘cos most of that is shit. It’s only radical in the modern context. It’s not radical compared to what was happening 20 years ago.
He added: “If we’d have delivered this album to the record company 20 years ago they wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.”
Discussing the enduring influence of Hollis, Elbow’s Guy Garvey told Mojo in 2012: “Mark Hollis started from punk and by his own admission he had no musical ability. To go from only having the urge, to writing some of the most timeless, intricate and original music ever is as impressive as the moon landings.”
Hollis died from cancer in February 2019 at the age of 64.
