this is a great musical piece, and to my opinion the best of talk talk . romantic and emotional. pure music.

This is album is a landmark in the history of Talk Talk. It really does bridge the gap between their earlier electro-pop (It's My Life) and their later albums (Spirit of Eden & Laughing Stock). This album begins their metamorphosis, much like Achtung Baby was a necessary album for U2 to make to jump from Joshua Tree to Zooropa. Overall, this is a pop album that takes chances. It's very organic and uses acoustic brushmarks to highlight it's texture. I certainly see where bands like The Catherine Wheel were influenced. There are many layers of skin to peel back on this onion as with each listen there are new sounds and rhythms to focus on yet on the surface it's still a collection of very accessible songs. Personally, the only song I can't really get into is "Chameleon Day" which is the reason I give this album a 4 star vs a 5 star. To me this is easily their best album. If you're looking for another "It's My Life", it's not here, go buy a Tears for Fears album, but if you are looking for an audio adventure, purchase this album.

This was the peak of the bands creativity. The music and lyrics create a perfect unit. The lyrics are often hard to understand and cryptic but they are so much a part of the music itself that you end up not minding much. When you finally figure the meaning of the words out, there is no surprise, because somehow you get the message even if you understand only 20% of the words. That, in my definition, is how a perfect song should be. The album somewhat foreshadows the even more melancholy and experimental direction that the group took after "The Colour of Spring". Unfortunately that led them too far from the mainstream, and eventually, music altogether. But this album is the peak effort of one of the most talented bands of the 80's.

This album was so unexpectedly ahead of its time in 1986 people are still catching up to it twenty years later, although that's not a bad thing. Colour of Spring is one of those rare albums that can be appreciated on a lot of levels. The first thing people always notice about Talk Talk is Mark Hollis's unique nasal-congested voice, and his slurred annunciation. It's often hard to make out the lyrics of a Talk Talk song, which in an odd way is what makes them interesting, in the same way that Michael Stipe's delivery adds a little bit of enigma to a lot of early REM songs. While many of the lyrics are a bit cryptic, Hollis offers a generally philosophical look at humanity, although at moments he can turn quite caustic. As hinted in the album title, there's a general interest here in the cycle of nature, and thus this album's positioning in "spring" reflects a desire to simplify and focus on the important things in life, admonishing listeners not to lose sight of the importance celebrating the simple beauty of the world and living for the present. It's not all oblique cryptograms however, as in this verse from the opening track "Happiness is Easy"

"It wrecks me how they justify their acts of war
They assemble, they pray
Take good care of what the priests say
'After death it's so much fun'
Little sheep don't let your feet stray"

What shouldn't be underestimated is the incredible feeling and power Hollis imbues into these songs. Hollis's vocals are deceptively effortless, and it's not until you hear someone attempt a Talk Talk song (Gwen Stefani for example, with her recent cover of 'It's my life') that you really appreciate what an incredible singer this guy was during this time period. The Colour of Spring is nothing less than the essential Talk Talk album, an album of artists at their creative and commercial peak, focused solely on the composition and recording process as an end in itself. Colour of Spring is Talk Talk's "Sgt Pepper's" if I might risk the employment of that overused cliche.

Having begun their life as a synth-pop band often associated with other bands of the time, most notably Duran Duran (as they shared the same producer initially) Hollis chaffed at EMI's attempts to market Talk Talk in the same vein as other synth pop bands, and despite the eventual success of several singles including "Talk Talk" opted for a change in direction and soon parted ways with synth keboardist Simon Brenner, leaving the band free to employ session musicians, as it was now comprised of a three person nucleus of singer, bassist and drummer.

The creative turning point for Talk Talk came when they met producer/Keyboardist/Songwriter Tim Friese-Greene, who would become a major force in the genesis of the band, co-writing many of their best and most popular songs, and playing on the tracks of Colour of Spring. Thanks to the success of the title single from their second album "It's my life", EMI allowed the band a lot of time and freedom in recording the follow up, and with Friese-Green, they began to adopt an improvisational Jazz approach, bringing in a variety of musicians (most notably Steve Winwood who plays Organ on a number of tracks) who were allowed to vibe and do whatever they felt like. If Friese-Green and the band didn't like the outcome they simply left it out of the final mix.

There are a number of songs on the album that have an undeniable, almost tribal groove thanks to the small army of percussionists employed. A myriad of instruments were used on most tracks, including Piano, Harp, Organ, sax, mellotron, variophon, Harmonica and Dobro. The resulting product was a solid top 10 UK hit, and a critical home run, which would also turn out to be the last album of its kind, as Talk Talk's subsequent albums veered into experimental territory, never to return. For a brief moment, Colour of Spring planted Talk Talk unexpectedly at the forefront of popular recorded music, and had Hollis not chosen to retreat, I imagine given the bands who have clearly followed in the album's footsteps (Radiohead, Coldplay, Keane and Sigur Ros most recently) that Talk Talk could easily have become one of the most popular bands in the world. Instead, they took over 2 and a half years to record the deliberately anti commercial "'Spirit of Eden" with Hollis expressing no interest in singles, videos or a tour to support. Some rumors began to float around that Hollis was addicted to Heroin, but the fact's were a lot simpler: by the time Colour of Spring was released, all the members of the band had become fathers, and ex-psychology major Hollis, always a bit of an introvert, simply wanted to raise his young children on a farm.

The band's final album was experimental, it would eventually become associated with a new genre, dubbed by critics in the 90's as "Post-Rock". Clearly Colour of Spring was a huge step in that direction.

Despite EMI's interest in resigning them, Talk Talk also took the opportunity to depart the label, leading to EMI's release of a greatest hits collection "A Natural History" in 1999, featuring a number of songs from Colour of Spring. That album quickly suprised many people by rapidly selling over a million copies. Colour of spring is an album I have returned to many times over the years, and I consider it one of the best in my vast collection, and one that has that rare quality that seems to transcend the passage of time and fads. Quite simply, if you bought "A Natural History" and enjoyed it, then you need to buy this brilliant album, stick it in your CD player and leave it there for a long time.

The 80's was a decade filled with great new wave songs - A-Ha's "Take On Me" is but one example. What separates Talk Talk from, say, A-Ha is how creative they are - they definitely follow standard song structure here, but the instrumentation is very organic and spontaneous at times. You can tell these guys aren't simply trying to cash in on a popular genre. This is most clearly evident when one listens to the album that follows this one, "Spirit Of Eden", which completely abandons new wave in favor of post-rock/experimental/ambient rock. These guys are, simply put, overlooked geniuses (if you were to ask most people if they ever heard of Talk Talk, I'm pretty sure almost everyone would say no). Mark Hollis' voice is very new wave - he has a distinctly 80's sound and his voice sounds like he's a little timid. The lyrics are pretty good, but it's not really the focus of the songs. It's mainly a nice and atmospheric new wave album - the instrumentation is the key. Every song features extremely creative ideas that verges on experimental rock. Most people should really like this album as well as its follow-up "Spirit Of Eden". This album also features lesser-known 80's hits including "Happiness Is Easy" and "Life's What You Make It". If you're looking for a great new wave record, "The Color Of Spring" will amaze you. Highly recommended!

Highlights include:
the entire album!