This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Spirit of Eden is the fourth studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1988 on Parlophone Records. It was compiled from a lengthy recording process at London's Wessex Studios between 1987 and 1988, with songs written by singer Mark Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene. Often working in darkness, the band recorded many hours of improvised performances that drew on elements of jazz, ambient, classical music, blues, and dub. These long-form recordings were then heavily edited and re-arranged into an album in mostly digital format. The results were a radical departure from Talk Talk's earlier synth-pop recordings, and would later be credited with pioneering the post-rock genre. Compared to the success of 1986's The Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden was a commercial disappointment. Despite its mixed reception, the album's stature grew more favourable in subsequent years, with contemporary critics describing Spirit of Eden as an underrated masterpiece. In 2013, NME ranked Spirit of Eden at number 95 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Writing for The Guardian, Graeme Thomson described Spirit of Eden as "six improvised pieces full of space and unhurried rhythm," which blend together "pastoral jazz, contemporary classical, folk, prog rock and loose blues into a single, doggedly uncommercial musical tapestry" which would be labeled "post-rock." By early March 1988, the band had finished recording Spirit of Eden and had sent a cassette of the album to EMI. After listening to the cassette, EMI representatives doubted that it could be commercially successful. They asked Hollis to re-record a song or replace material, but he refused to do so. By the time the masters were delivered later in the month, however, the label conceded that the album had been satisfactorily completed. Despite their reservations towards Spirit of Eden, EMI chose to exercise their option to extend the recording contract. The band, however, wanted out of the contract. "I knew by that time that EMI was not the company this band should be with," manager Keith Aspden told Mojo. "I was fearful that the money wouldn't be there to record another album." EMI and Talk Talk went to court to decide the issue. The case centred on whether EMI had notified the band in time about the contract extension. As part of the agreement, EMI had to send a written notice within three months after the completion of Spirit of Eden. The band said that EMI had sent the notice too late, arguing that the three-month period began once recording had finished; EMI argued that the three-month period did not begin until they were satisfied with the recording, on the basis that the definition of an "album" in the contract provided that the album had to be "commercially satisfactory". The band disputed this, particularly on the basis that there were no changes made to the album in the space between its recording and eventual release. Justice Andrew Morritt ruled in favour of EMI, but his decision was overturned in the Court of Appeal. Talk Talk were released from the contract and later signed to Polydor.
I am getting to the point where I question why I’m continuing with the user list, then every so often I get a glaring omission from the list I hadn’t thought of, this talk talk album is one of these masterpieces that was ignored from the list and make this user list all the worth while.
Nice early post-rock. Never knew Talk Talk produced anything besides their well known (and certainly not bad synth-pop).The nasal singing voice of Hollis still annoys me after a while.
This should have been the pick over "Laughing Stock."
Apple Music liner notes begins with ‘Spirit of Eden is one of the most powerful and singular experiences in modern music’ My liner notes ‘It was fine’
I was waiting for something to kick in but it never did.
I LOVE “It’s My Life” and “Life’s What You Make It”, and we already had the album with “Life’s What You Make It”, so I assumed I’d be hearing “It’s My Life” on this. This was not the 80s confection my palette was expecting. Instead Talk Talk has served up a moody, low-key sort of album that has more in common with experimental jazz than those 80s songs I love. As this was totally out of left field it took a few minutes to adjust, but once I did I really got into this. It was pretty cool to lie back and loll around to this. Really interesting and at the same time quite soothing to me. What a terrific suggestion for the list!
This did not sound like I thought it was going to. Atmospheric, occasionally dipping into things like jazz and blues. It reminded me of later Pink Floyd, which I mean in the best way possible. This smacks of "The Division Bell". But also... I'm not sure if it's essential in the way that this list *tries* to be. It definitely is at least as good as like... 400 albums on the real list, though, so why not.
I already like this album and the first song is my favourite Talk Talk song. What a relaxing and interesting album. Greatly enjoyed listening to this!
Hey this kinda music doesn't have to be shit! You know why? They don't outstay their welcome. 42 minutes and that's it. That helps so much. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4.5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Slight yes.
What is post-rock? Take a rock band. Let them keep their instruments and their style, but don't let them write rock songs. Let it zone out and put more of a focus on instrumental atmosphere. Borrow more deeply from other genres, more than indie or alt rock. Explore drone, psychedelia, classical, jazz, maybe even noise. Be loose with it, but still have a purpose. A good rule of thumb is to let the song crescendo and then see where it moves from there. The worlds at your fingertips. Be free. Talk Talk certainly didn't "invent" post-rock but they are instrumental in cultivating it's sound. Baffles me that they included Tortoise and Sigur Rós on the original list, but the one Talk Talk album that was there was The Colour of Spring. Either this or Laughing Stock would've been perfect additions. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Yes.
July 22 2025 HL: "The Rainbow", "Eden", "I Believe In You", "Wealth" Talk Talk's follow-up to The Colour of Spring has been on my personal list since I started cobbling that spreadsheet together, and I finally bit that bullet... last month, before I knew someone posted it here. But now I get to listen to it again :D Now in one way, Spirit of Eden is harder to get into than its predecessor. Its slow pace and emphasis on ambience and improvisation had me thinking "Wait, that's it?" after the first time I heard "Wealth" fade off into the ether. Yet the tone it sets, somewhere between religiously cathartic and meditative, is so unlike past Talk Talk and 80s popular music that it intrigues me still. 4 stars- maybe more with time
At first I thought this was gonna be some lame ambient music but then the blues hit and it got much more interesting. Didn’t stick around the whole time but it was an overall pleasant experience.
Slightly better than last time I listened to it
Post-rock, art rock, experimental rock, ambient. Ni fu ni fa.
Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Desire
This was a solid album and impressive given Talk Talk’s popular 80s hits. This was like a prog rock/jazz 80s album that had instrumental range while being a cohesive album. Wild definitely listen to this again as it’s front to back a really good listen and is pretty seamless between tracks and with the instrumental depth it’s got plenty of layers. 7.6/10
Surprisingly somber and contemplative. Very interesting. 3 stars.
Late 80s serviceable adult contempo
Very experimental. Was fine to listen to, but not to special
A little heavy on the Art for my tastes, but decently interesting anyway.
I feel like I would have called this boring if I didn't bother to say "don't I know these guys"? Wikipedia told me I did but they dropped the 80s synth and invented post rock. Well, ok. Good on them.
This was alright, it didn't blow me away but was nice enough.
Enjoyed it enough.
Okay the opening has my attention. a slow ambient intro into a swampy blues piano/guitar combo. Okay I am bought in when it hits Eden. Inheritance I'm not such a fan of. I Believe In You is a similar disappointment. Really the back half squanders what was a really promising sonic start.
Not quite my tempo 2
There are some beautiful melodic moments on this LP, but the surrounding space in each track is so sparse that it feels more like reaching an oasis in a desert than any sort of musical epiphany. Couple that with the ho-hum intermediary songs sandwiched in between tracks stretched well beyond their attention-carrying capacity and the whole album just drags – if the dead space that populates most of this LP was filled I think I would have enjoyed it much more.
I listened to the full first song before I looked up this album on Wikipedia and it already felt improvisational. I don't rate improvisation when it comes to this kind of music. I think it's good for jam sessions, but it's not good for creating full rock music albums. This was okay. I have no real feelings towards it one way or the other. 2/5.
Some parts of Spirit Of Eden worked for me, the first two tracks created some atmosphere and a decent sound, but it was hard going and didn't last very long before fading into nothingness. 2/5.
Not at all what I was expecting. Found it rather underwhelming.
Ethereal but never really goes anywhere or shows me something good
Pretentious garbage
Dear lord, this is a terrible album. Sure, it's nicely produced with a fair degree of dynamic range - but it is a tepid to the point of discomfort.