Mark Hollis [IMPORT]

Mark Hollis

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 4, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Polydor/UMe Imports
• ASIN: B0000084J7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,223 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

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!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beauty of Imperfection, December 12, 2003

By	FloydWaters - See all my reviews

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.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sit Back and Enjoy, April 14, 2004

By	David Maier (Rochester Hills, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Remember Talk Talk from the eighties? Lead singer Mark Hollis returns in the present with an astounding array of ear candy for the open minded adventurist. With his mesmerizing vocal eccentricities MH delivers the goods in an esoterical gathering of pieces which well deserve the title "art" as well as music. Breathtaking instrumentation paints the background with haunting jazzlike percussion and percision that sweeps in and out of the tranquil landscapes directly and subliminally. The upright bass does justice to wind instruments from glass harmonica to flutes to the clarinet. Distinct subtle piano dances here and there as MH purposely starts, and then haults, his barely distinguishable rising and lowering vocal delivery of delightfully elusive lyrics throughout each arrangement.

Definitely a wonderful departure from the pop/hiphop humdrum that fills the airwaves of modern radio and teenage music television shrinkwrapped for the mindless masses that suck it up and soak it in like drones of zombie clones.

Strings are perfectly subdued in a number of pieces and one can almost drift into MHs' train of thought practically unnoticed. Interesting is the use of the tamborine as the main beat in many of the tracks with the drums taking the back seat. Mazzy Star comes to mind when hearing that strong tamborine leading the path into the depths of the transpiring vision that was obviously his direct intention.

Mellow music? Perhaps, but look for moments of intensity that seem to come out of nowhere as the notes dart from sharp to flat when MHs' voice dissapears at precisely the exact moment that the volume of music increases.
Smart, emotional, content indeed.

Overall, a splendid album that will not lose it's appeal after many listens like most cd's do with time. -d-

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary!, November 21, 1999

By	Douglas Gunn (England) - See all my reviews

Hushed, intense meditative music which, to my mind, is quite unlike anything else. An album that finishes all too soon and leaves you with the horrible realisation that, until Mark makes another, there is no-where else to go! Utterly utterly beautiful - buy it!