STEVEN WILSON
The progressive principal bows to Talk Talk’s 1986 The Colour Of Spring.
'It was 1986. I was listening to a lot of 4AD and Factory bands, and discovering a lot of music from the ’70s. I think the first time I connected with The Colour Of Spring was the video for Life’s What You Make It, on a Saturday morning kids’ show. I responded to the extraordinarily Gilmour-esque guitar line, which wasn’t something you expected from a so-called synth pop group, because until that album Talk Talk had been seen as contemporaries of Duran Duran or Tears For Fears. So I bought the album, one of the first compact discs I ever bought, from Our Price in Hemel Hempstead. I was entranced. I love the music of the ’80s but it did have a very processed, artificial quality. This was very natural sounding, almost something that could have been recorded in the late ‘60s, early ’70s, with this musical palate I recognised, with Hammond organs, a very organic drums and bass production, acoustic guitars, very warm analogue spring reverbs. It was surprising, but also exactly the kind of music I was looking for. It felt like a throwback but was also of its time. The idea of the ambitious pop record that was very accessible was in vogue – albums like Hounds Of Love, So by Peter Gabriel, Seeds Of Love by Tears For Fears, Parade by Prince. The Colour Of Spring is a brilliant example of that, it’s that perfect tipping point where they were still interested in writing pop, while reaching for a vocabulary that had nothing to do with pop music. I’m a believer in the album as a sequenced, conceived musical journey, and I got that feeling: it was a musical narrative that gradually unfolded. Each of the eight songs, is a miniature symphony-masterpiece – Happiness Is Easy is stunning, Chameleon Day, April 5… Living In Another World and Give It Up are perfect, timeless pop songs. And it’s exactly in the middle of the Talk Talk catalogue, where they’re beginning to move into that post-rock, almost jazz-influenced experimental realm. In the last few years I’ve remixed classic albums (Yes,King Crimson,XTC etc), and I tried to do the same with The Colour Of Spring. The message was, ‘Mark’s not interested.’ I think he’d see it as sacrilegious, which is fair.”
Steven Wilson’s To The Bone is out now on Caroline International.