release date: Apr. 20, 1998
format: digital (2-disc)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: EMI - nationality: England, UK
A 2 cd compilation - again issued by EMI - released shortly after Mark Hollis released his eponymous solo album in Jan. on Verve Records. Most tracks here are original Talk Talk compositions in (strongly) altered versions attached "Extended Version", "Extended Remix", "12'' Mix", "Dub Mix", "Dance Mix", "U.S. Mix", "Demo Version", or just "Edit". Yes, the old label surely know how to make money. Everything, of course, is released without the band's consent, and to make the company even less sympathetic, they chose to release the album just a few months after Mark Hollis had released his first and only solo album - just to harvest that more... The band had sued and won a the case against EMI with its release of the album History Revisited (1991, see Natural History...), but here EMI "just" release the same remixed songs on an album, claiming it's "demo material"... And my guess - as well as that of EMI - is that the band members simply wouldn't go through another lengthy law suit, so you may ask yourself, who really won the case.
The songs are there - a few of them have been made in extended versions by the band's co-composer and main producer throughout the band's career, Tim Friese-Greene, but the majority of the tracks are edited by EMI engineering staff.
Especially, the older compositions sounds truly fine, but it's also a mixed bag with so many compositions tampered with, and frankly, the studio albums are there, and they're all you need.
