Spirit of Eden

The first side of mine is absolutely gorgeous and noise free, which proves that it can be, but I just can't play the second side for the fusillade of Rice Krispies giving it all that. I don't think it's a case of folk being used to cds, blu-rays or whatever, because side one, which sounds that vinyl way, is great. One that I suspect might fall prey to the cd silent/vinyl noisy problem though is Playing With Fire by Spacemen 3. Stay with your cd for that one - no vinyl can reproduce silence as well - silently as that. As for this one though, if you get a good one, it'll be really great, if not, play the dvd, which is worth your £20 or whatever any day. What a stunning album though, whatever way you hear it really.

Like many other people recently I had another listen to Talk Talk’s back catalogue upon learning of the passing of the band’s composer and singer, Mark Hollis. I still collect music on vinyl and the inclusion of a bonus audio DVD made this particular version of Hollis’s masterpiece “Spirit of Eden” well worth adding to my collection. I wont comment on the music itself, as many others have already done so over the years, but I would suggest hearing it before purchasing if you only know Talk Talk’s singles from the early eighties – this is not like that!Other reviewers have commented on the surface noise from the vinyl version but, because of the quiet nature of the music featured on Spirit of Eden, noise is inevitably going to be more noticeable than on loud rock music – it is the price you pay for analogue audio and not necessarily a faulty pressing. The LP is made from decent 180 gram vinyl so is nicely weighty – but even so you cannot completely eliminate surface noise from the medium - if you don’t want pops and crackles then buy the CD version instead. However, you do get a bonus with this LP in the shape of a DVD-Audio, which contains a 96kHz/24 bit LPCM stereo mix of the album, which I have played on my Blu-ray player through my TV soundbar and it sounds pretty good with no surface noise! The DVD contains the six album tracks plus “John Cope”, the B-side of the 1988 single “I believe in you” - which was an edited version of the album track; the disc comes tucked inside the album’s sleeve.This LP/DVD package has been up and down in price over the last few days and if you catch it at around twenty pounds it is a bit of a bargain. Although all of Talk Talk’s music is now rather sadly due a reassessment with the passing of Mark Hollis, I would personally recommend a listen to Spirit of Eden – I wish I had paid more attention to their later music at the time!

great album great artist

A great album my favourite followed by laughing stock a close second

Great album! Talk Talk albums are all special in their own way, need to be listened to.

OK OK I know - there's a lot of great music out there, everyone has their favorites. I listen to a wide range of music, and have over the last 40-odd years. Rock, Classical, World, Folk, Dub, Dance, Pop, Electronica. But for me, this is a very special album. It may even be my favorite ever piece of music. I can't think of anything to match it at this particular moment.I bought it, unheard, in 1990 or thereabouts, along with Aswad's A New Chapter of Dub (great music shopping day, that was). Don't even know how many times I've heard it over the last 25 years. Must be hundreds. And I listened to it again this morning. An amazing thing is that unlike so much music from the 80s, that has the "80s sound" (snare too loud), this sounds absolutely contemporary. It could have been released last week. It is timeless, in the sense that it's not fixed to a certain genre or era of music. That's a testament to the great good taste of the musicians and their genius engineer Phil Brown, the unsung hero of Talk Talk & Mark Hollis's sublime sound.I absolutely expect that if I'm still around after another 25 years I will be listening to this record.If you haven't heard it, buy it without hesitation. If you have, go and listen to it again. It's one of the achievements of 20th century music, and should be considered up there with the greats, imho.I love it. And I just wanted to share that.

An awesome album that deserves significant recognition. A very special and important album

It'll change your life