The Colour of Spring

The Colour of Spring is Talk Talk's third album and was released in 1986. It became the band's highest selling non-compilation studio album, reaching the Top 20 in numerous countries (topping the Dutch charts), including their homeland, where it reached No. 8 and stayed in the charts for 21 weeks.^[1] It did not quite match the sales of its predecessor in the United States, but was nonetheless their last album to enter the Billboard Top 200.

With its international hit "Life's What You Make It", Talk Talk expanded their fan base, and it earned the band the third of their three American hits, along with 1984's "It's My Life" and "Such a Shame".

Musically, The Colour of Spring was a major step away from the synthesised pop of early Talk Talk, with the focus on such songs as “Life’s What You Make It”, “Living in Another World” and “Give It Up”. It had a sound described by the band as much more “organic” than their earlier records, with the improvisation that was to dominate on their later works already apparent in the recording process.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Tim Friese-Greene and Mark Hollis. 

Personnel

• Mark Hollis - Organ, Keyboards, Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Melodica, Mellotron
• Lee Harris - Percussion, Drums
• Paul Webb - Bass, vocals, backing vocals
• Tim Friese-Greene - producer, Piano, keyboards, Mellotron, Kurzweil synthesizer
• Ian Curnow - keyboards
• Martin Ditcham - percussion
• Mark Feltham - harmonica, horn
• Alan Gorrie - bass guitar
• Robbie McIntosh - guitar, dobro guitar
• Morris Pert - percussion
• Phil Reis - percussion
• David Rhodes - guitar
• David Roach - saxophone
• Gaynor Sadler - harp, horn
• Danny Thompson - (double) bass
• Steve Winwood - organ, keyboards
• Dennis Weinrich - engineer
• Dietmar Schillinger - engineer
• Paul Schroeder - engineer
• Pete Wooliscroft - engineer
• James Marsh - cover art

Charts

Album

References