Weekend, and artists lucky to be signed in the 80s

I've had a nice relaxed weekend, there will be a beer report soon - a tipple shared with Adrian. Wandered downtown on Sat morning to buy clothes, and am in a quandry over some jeans (tight-ish ones are cool, less cool ones are looser...which to get). Then came home pickled some beetroot, cooked some rhubarb, made some plum muffins. Ate lots of watermelon. Huzzah!

So after doing a few things I needed to today (Sunday) I've watched some more Wire (s4), and now Talk Talk videos.

Which brings me to subject #2: Mark Hollis. Now there's a strange looking fella (check out those ears!) there is no way his brand of pop would have been signed in the 90s or 00s. Especially with those looks!
And yet the level of influence Talk Talk have had on other major acts... I think TT are a brilliant band, and like a few major talents, they improved dramatically through their career. Early TT are like a talented Duran Duran, synth pop with stunning hooks - which still don't sound dated. Later era TT demonstrates a prodigious talent pushing pop boundaries, and not really caring - which, as you'd expect, kinda led to their downfall (and the influential court case). Mark's solo album is one of the truely perfect late night whisky/cigar albums, the other that springs to mind is George Michael's "Older" - if we discount jazz/blues classics. So like Gabriel, Michael, and (albeit not solo) The Beatles, Hollis managed to turn into something really interesting, even if it did kill his sales. The only downside is the lack of anything new since the solo album, as Hollis retired from music. There's a quick summary of TT/Hollis career from the Guardian here.

that's all. at some point I keep meaning to comment on the Hollis solo album, and GM 'Older'. But eh who knows when that'll be.

B