Chartography - Talk Talk

Very sad news of Mark Hollis's passing. A very distinctive talent, both as a singer and a writer, who deservedly made himself a force to be reckoned with. Artistic evolution of his band Talk Talk is second to none in its scope and determination to eschew the commercial motivations. And yet along the way Mark and his colleagues managed to carve themselves a very nice niche in the market, having a widespread commercial success worldwide during early to mid 1980s. They even made their least commercial outings chart quite nicely, such was the power of their music. Always a bit of an underdog in their native UK, they somewhat surprisingly hit real hard in continental Europe and even managed to break the US market (albeit briefly). Their success story is only a little less fascinating than their creative one. I won't pretend I understand or like or rate that highly their experimental output - but their first two albums are stellar examples of "New Romantic"/synth-led sound of their era, I love them very much. So with this in mind and in memory of Mark Hollis, here's a compendium of their chart achievements:

Talk Talk

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Nb. Discography