ALBUM REACTION: Talk Talk — The Colour of Spring

Green? Yellow? Blue? We never get an answer.

Intro - 0:00
01. Happiness Is Easy - 3:50
02. I Don't Believe in You - 6:53
03. Life's What You Make It - 8:59
04. April 5th - 11:02
05. Living in Another World - 13:26
06. Give It Up - 16:07
07. Chameleon Day - 17:53
08. Time It's Time - 19:48
Outro - 22:42

music by City Girl

►My new album!

[stephanevilleneuve]

Yes, The Colour of Spring is a pop album. But in the '80s, creating richly textured music with the incomparable voice of Mark Hollis, that's high-quality art pop for this period. I was sure that April 5th would be in the vein of what you love and admire about this group. In my opinion, Chameleon Day is brilliant and had what it needed to be further developed, but suffered from the limited time of the vinyl format. However, Time It's Time deserved all the time it needed to reach this level of emotion. Great analysis Alex.

[atomiste]

My fav pop album of all time, glad you finally got around to hearing it, even tho I thought you would appreciate it more. For me it took many listens and is definitely a grower, especially for tracks like Life's what you make it or Chameleon Day. Time Its Time is like the perfect bridge between pop-era and postrock-era imo...

[linkjones]

"Time It's Time" is my favorite Talk Talk song. I started listening to them after hearing "Talk Talk" and went out and bought the album "The Party's Over" after hearing it. It took me a few listens of "Spirit Of Eden" before it grabbed me but it paved the way for me to instantly love "Laughing Stock." I can listen to the last three albums all the way through but not the first two. Their release "Missing Pieces" is a remix/edit of songs from "Laughing Stock' with some unreleased songs from that period, worth a listen.
I've enjoyed watching Alex's reactions and comments to their discography. He was the first person I saw react to "Laughing Stock" a few years ago and four years later I've enjoyed his reactions to their entire discography. He says what I've thought about their releases far better than I can. I haven't studied music so I lack the terminology he has and his expertise. I'm glad I found his channel again.

[johnonorato]

What you said about Chameleon Day is very insightful. As an 80s teenager, my friends and I loved It's My Life, Such a Shame and Life's What You Make It, which was actually in a beer commercial at the time. The more subdued, organic parts of this album were somewhat shocking in a time of Flock Of Seagulls and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I can imagine someone starting with Spirit of Eden or Laughing Stock feeling this album being somewhat pedestrian in comparison. But at the time, Spirit of Eden was incomprehensible. It took me years to finally understand and truly appreciate their last two albums. I'm glad people now get to enjoy all their albums in a new context.

[aldo]

I listen to 'April 5th' on April 5th every year. To bring in the spring. Beautiful track.

[beautyforashes.i-]

April 5th, "A whole album of that please" - you know it!!!

High contender for the most romantic song ever on a pop album (AT LEAST). Embracing love in all its forms and contradictions, desperation for and elation at its very presence in one's life. Sparseness that nonetheless overwhelms. Impossibly beautiful.

[jonatasvitalino]

As a child I listened to It's My Life because of my father. But Color Spring was the album that made me love the band. I had never heard Spirit Of Eden or Laughing Stock so my expectations weren't that high. I remember being amazed at hearing Time It's Time for the first time and finding it strange to hear Chameleon Day even though I loved the song, in fact I couldn't have given a better name for this song. On top of that, the album has some of my favorite songs of all time, April 5th. Anyway, despite being below Talk Talk's last two albums, Color Of Spring is one of my favorite albums and is my favorite pop album of all time.

[aldo]

Story is that EMI liked this album, but they wanted another 'hit'. So they popped away, had a cup of coffee, and banged out 'Life's What You Make It' in a day. And voila, massive hit. I actually prefer it with the video, which is unusual for me. I also agree, 'Time It's Time' is really good and an underrated track in the Talk Talk canon. Plus...'It's Getting Late In The Evening' is a F***ING MASTERPIECE!!!!

[geoffreyhawley]

I too LOVE "Time It's Time'.

[saskiakneulman]

The early demo 'Crying in the rain' in a way forecasts what would come later, as for the 'silent' atmosphere. And 'Pictures of Bernadette' is more like 'Living in an other World' as for the strong emotions. I'd recommend you to give those a listen too, apart from your podcast. Totally feel what you said about 'The Color of Spring', and looking forward to you listening to 'Mark Hollis'! In the end it now happens to be what I play the most, it's so moving.

[motelghost]

I think you'll really enjoy Mark Hollis' solo album, there's some really great songs.

[eddiesongss]

Time it's time is so incredible. Top 2 talk talk track for me

[iainmacrae]

I agree about Life’s what you make it, it’s just never fitted in the album for me. When I listen to this album I arrange all the tracks in a playlist and replace it with the b side “it’s getting late in the evening”. I think that’s how talk talk intended it to be originally, and it makes the album much better and more unified in my opinion

[justaguy]

Pretty iconic 80s album, with very fine songs and a couple of stellar tracks. And since we're talking about the 80s, Alex, how come you haven't yet delve into Japan discography???⏳🧐😕Perhaps the most relevant or at the very least in the top 5 most relevant band of the 80s? The same goes for Gary Numan.🤖🚘

[ms]

I was never a huge fan of "Life's what you make it", so no, you are not going crazy! It is too monotone. April 5th was written for his wife. That is her birthday and that is a great song.