Mark Hollis [Import]

Product Description
1998 solo debut by the former vocalist & songwriter of Talk Talk, an album mixing acoustic guitar with vocal harmonies and piano. Eight tracks. A Polydor release. Available at an incredibly low price!

Mark Hollis,Mark Hollis,Fontana Int'l,Alternative Pop/Rock,Pop,Post-Rock/Experimental,Rock,Rock/Pop,Singer/Songwriter

Mark Hollis [Import]

Average customer rating:

Simply Breath-taking, anyone that loved Talk-Talk's last couple of albums, need this....!!!
clean and pure Mark Hollis
absolute masterpiece!!!
The Best
PERFECTION

Mark Hollis
Mark Hollis
Manufacturer: Ume Imports
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Spirit of Eden
Laughing Stock
The Colour of Spring
Asides Besides
The Party's Over

ASIN: B0000084J7
Release Date: 2000-04-04

Tracks:

The Colour Of Spring
Watershed
Inside Looking Out
The Gift
A Life (1895-1915)
Westward Bound
The Daily Planet
A New Jerusalem

Album Description

1998 solo debut by the former vocalist & songwriter of Talk Talk, an album mixing acoustic guitar with vocal harmonies and piano. Eight tracks. A Polydor release. Available at an incredibly low price!

Album Details

Solo Project of Former Talk Talk Member.

Customer Reviews:

Simply Breath-taking, anyone that loved Talk-Talk's last couple of albums, need this....!!!.......2007-06-06

After fronting the vastly underrated Talk Talk, the singer Mark Hollis, went on to fulfil his own increasingly individualistic path of music, with his own solo album. With a sound and structure that would encompass: Experimental, Post-Rock, Jazz, & Ambient. His is a sound that centres around the fractured dynamics of "Mark Hollis" vocals, with an album, that is not simple to categorise & easily define. Mainly because this is centred around a largely uncategorizable sound informed, by pieces of various downtempo genres reworked and composed to fit within his increasingly selective musical sensibilities, and seemingly committed to making huge musical (and artistic) strides.

The mood is a resolutely subdued one, which takes in a mannered and organically gloriously uplifting piece of sophisticated reflective experimental/Post-Rock tracks. Which are in parts breath-taking, or just simply beautiful, with an understated grace and mood, not since his work with Talk Talk. Here, things are comprised of eight tracks, each of which are arguably stand-out in their own right. Songs, with the barest sketches of ambient instruments, and compositions of equal parts minimalist guitar & piano. With Mark Hollis adding fractures of vocals over the top.... that like a previous reviewer commented on, has lyrics that seemed to be chosen for their tone and expressiveness, rather than their enunciation, in the subtlest way possible....its cerebral without seeming pretentious, moving without feeling forced, and a statement of artistic endeavour over commercial appeal.

There simply no getting away from the fact the arrangements here, aim for maximum emotional impact, and frequently resonant with their minimalist tones, with layers of percussion and lingering guitar riff, punctuated by strings and horns, and detached vocals matched with a haunting hypnotic sound, belie a level of complexity and immense beauty, and it becomes quickly clear that the music is stretching for something far beyond conventional pop/rock themes and entering into a more spiritual realm, even if that means sacrificing mainstream appeal, in favour of something more substantial.

And although most of the tracks on this album, feel like long improvised sections, with delicately balanced ambient flourishes....it's the way that each track delicately unfolds, subtly and fitting perfectly into the dreamlike mood of the rest of the album, and feel like evolving soundscapes, constantly pushing the boundaries of atmospheric music, & instrumentation, to a level only previously felt on Talk Talk's previous albums, and thus managing to make all the elements combine, to produce something of a truly breath-taking introspective elegance.

For an album that was generally ignored by the record-buying public (expect the diehard fans of Talk Talk's work), it's probably not too hard to see why this was passed over. It's not a regular album in the conventional sense, with the lilting, delicate and softly-focused performances pointing towards a quietly elegant album, which seems so largely out of step with relatively dominance of Pop/Rock/Indie bands over the last decade, that I'm sure only a small minority; of listeners actually bother to pick up this album. If you are reading this review, then you are almost certainly strongly recommended to pick this album up. It shows an air of grace, bittersweet and passionate subtlety rarely seen in the music, around the time this was released (or indeed since), and one that unfortunately relegated the album to the margins of being a cult release, It's a album that is far too subtle for mass market appeal, but those that are prepared to take the leap, will be rewarded with a creatively and artistically stunning album. Extremely recommended.

clean and pure Mark Hollis.......2006-08-23

I don't think there is much to say about this album other than it is simply beautiful. While it will never achieve any level of commercial success - who cares? This is yet another album for fans of the breathy yet nasal, eclectic and hauting voice of Mark Hollis. If you followed the course of the Talk Talk albums as they moved further and further outside of the mainstream, you'd have to agree that this album fits right in as the next link in the chain. Love it.

absolute masterpiece!!!.......2005-09-18

A must have record...absolute masterpiece for all kind of music fans. Yes, you could label this as minimalist, but put on your headphones before going to sleep and enjoy the genius of Mark Hollis...whispering voices...the essence of contemporary music...

The Best.......2005-07-16

A track from this just came up on my jukebox. When a track from this record, Spirit of Eden, or Laughing Stock comes up on the player, time just stands still. I guess this is the function of transcendent music. Really, Mark Hollis and Talk Talk changed music. They had far more influence on musicians than they did on the market. Being a musician, this is what I aspire to - not music that sounds like this, but music, any music, that can move and captivate like this...what a gift.

PERFECTION.......2005-03-26

I got this CD from as a special gift from a friend 6 years ago. She thought I will love it since we both were a long time collector of music.
After a long time listing to it and experiencing this sublime music over and over again, I can tell you that my experience with Mark Hollis solo album is incredible: never get tired of it, and always is about beauty and great music.

I understand that this CD is only found as an IMPORT. My is from Germany and the sound of the recording is gourgeus even when this includes dealing with silence.

If you are a serious collector or like good music over the usual shallow expectations of commercial music, don't doubt it and expect perfection!

Average customer rating:

Shhh...
The Beauty of Imperfection
Haunting Beautiful
a fascinating impressionist work...
Dark, bleak and unforgiving

Mark Hollis
Mark Hollis
Manufacturer: Blueprint UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00002MCU2
Release Date: 2000-04-18

Tracks:

The Colour Of Spring
Watershed
Inside Looking Out
The Gift
A Life (1895-1915)
Westward Bound
The Daily Planet
A New Jerusalem

Customer Reviews:

Shhh..........2004-06-28

Mark Hollis seems to be one of the very few contemporary musicians left in the world who has managed to remember that the most powerful note is often the one you don't play. I only wish there were more work coming from this gifted artist in our age of over-production for the lowest common denominator.

The Beauty of Imperfection.......2003-12-13

Those who enjoyed Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock should find much to love in this solo outing. Do not expect virtuosity. Coming into Mark Hollis with such an attitude will cause you to miss the point of this album. This is about emotion, and the very frailties that make us human. If you seek machine-like precision and processed-to-death sounds, look elsewhere. Mark Hollis is a much more *intimate* album than that. Imagine sitting in a circle of musicians, tucked safely away in a back room somewhere, playing without an audience, without pressure. On occasion, a chair squeaks or someone misses a note, or someone joins in just ahead or behind where they "should"...but that's *not* what matters. Instead, it is the private communion with each other, and with the music created between them, that matters. Unconstrained, slowly flowing along from one song to the next, it's rather like a beautiful, spontaneous practice session committed to tape. In today's world of grandeur and overprocessed everything, this is a value we've forgotten. Perhaps that's why Mark Hollis so stirs the heart.

Mr. Hollis' voice and lyrics are as vulnerable as ever, and these soft, melancholy wanderings offer an intriguing contrast to the open, sometimes even refreshing, uplifting arrangements. While never building into the crescendoes of Spirit of Eden's "Inheritance" or Laughing Stock's "Ascension Day", there is certainly enough of interest to keep the ear engaged. Soft and subtle are the key words here. Listen for the murmurring choir in "A life (1895-1915)" for such beauty...I could live in that gorgeous section forever.

While, to be honest, I do not listen to most of the lyrics (they are rather depressing, but furthermore, Mr. Hollis has always focused on tone and expressiveness more than on clear enunciation anyway), I was very impressed by the lyrics of "A new Jerusalem", which seem to capture quite accurately the desolation left in the aftermath of war. This is the return of the shell-shocked soldier to a home that has been ravaged in his absence. I showed this song to a friend who has been personally affected by war, and he was quite moved. We both focused immediately, on our first listenings, on these lines:

"Heaven burn me
Should I swear to fight once more."

This song is lyrically on the level of "New Grass" or "I Believe in You", and that alone is worth the price of the entire album, as well as the stunning music of "A life (1895-1915)". Of course, there is not a bad track to be found on this album. If you cannot tolerate minimalism, imperfection, or improvisation, I recommend looking elsewhere--but if you can keep an open mind, Mark Hollis is well worth obtaining. And, as with the solo works of Pink Floyd's keyboardist Rick Wright, this is an underappreciated work where too few copies were made--so be sure to get it before supplies run out.

Haunting Beautiful.......2002-01-07

A record like this comes once in a lifetime, I think. One cannot call it rock. It isn't. If you are expecting/looking for rock, look further. If you want to hear something different, something quiet and gently like a spring shower, melodically poetic, something to turn out the lights and really LISTEN to, then this is what you are looking for. Combining elements of jazz and the avant garde, this album creates an incomparable landscape a sounds and silence. I have never heard anything else so serene and beautiful.

a fascinating impressionist work..........2001-12-10

Mark Hollis presents a collection of beautiful fractured pieces. I hesitate to call them songs. They are almost impressions of songs. They enter your unconscious only to resurface later.

Dark, bleak and unforgiving.......2001-11-12

While Talk Talk offered up some inspired moments (Colour of Spring) and endeavoured to break down traditional musical barriers (see Spirit of Eden), this solo offering from Mark Hollis - the band's singer/songwriter - is blacker than black. It continues in the same vein as Laughing Stock, and indeed is an introspective, intriguing record as you'll likely to find. BUT, there's something about this record that sends the spirit spiralling down into deep depression. It's dry like a gravestone, it creaks like an old coffin, and is completely bereft of any kind of kind of humour. I don't know whether anybody out there agrees with me. This is the only record I've ever heard that has had this effect on me. This to me is music that is the closest thing to unhappiness in sound I have ever heard.

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