The Colour of Spring

The Colour of Spring
Studio album by Talk Talk
Released	February 1986
Recorded	1985
Genre	Art rock
Length	45:40
Label	EMI
Producer	Tim Friese-Greene
Talk Talk chronology
It's My Life (1984) The Colour of Spring (1986) Spirit of Eden (1988)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Mojo	[3]
Q	[4]

The Colour of Spring is Talk Talk's third album and was released in 1985 in Germany, and then 1986 in other countries.

Reception

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 (i.e. UK), where it reached No. 8 - and stayed in the UK charts for 21 weeks.^[5] 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, reaching #58. 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".

Composition

Musically, The Colour of Spring was a major step away from the synthesised pop of early Talk Talk, with a greater focus on guitars, pianos, and organs 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.

Album cover

The album cover was designed by James Marsh, who also designed the band's other albums.

Track listing

All tracks written by Tim Friese-Greene and Mark Hollis. 

Personnel

Talk Talk^[6]

• Mark Hollis – vocals, organ (track 4), guitar (track 8), piano (tracks 3, 5, 6, and 7), melodica (track 8), Mellotron (track 6), Variophon (tracks 4 and 7), keyboards (track 1), cello (track 1)
• Lee Harris – drums, percussion (tracks 1-3, 5, 6, and 8)
• Paul Webb – bass guitar (tracks 2, 5, 6, and 8), backing vocals

Additional personnel^[7]

• Tim Friese-Greene – producer, piano (tracks 1, 2, 4, and 8), organ (tracks 3, 6 and 8), Mellotron (track 3), Variophon (tracks 4 and 7), Kurzweil synthesizer (track 1), keyboards (uncredited)
• Ian Curnow – keyboards (tracks 2 and 6)
• Martin Ditcham – percussion (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8)
• Mark Feltham – harmonica (track 5)
• Alan Gorrie – bass guitar (track 1)
• Robbie McIntosh – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 5 and 8), dobro guitar (tracks 4 and 6)
• Morris Pert – percussion (tracks 1, 2, 5, and 8)
• Phil Reis – percussion (track 1)
• David Rhodes – guitar (tracks 3, 5, and 6)
• David Roach – saxophone (tracks 2, 4, and 5)
• Gaynor Sadler – harp (track 2)
• Danny Thompson – double bass (track 1)
• Steve Winwood – organ (tracks 1, 2, and 5)
• Dennis Weinrich – engineer
• Dietmar Schillinger – engineer
• Paul Schroeder – engineer
• Pete Wooliscroft – engineer
• James Marsh – cover art

Charts

Album

References

External links

• The Colour of Spring (Adobe Flash) at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)