Mark Hollis: A Perfect Silence

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We learn Mark was into golf and motorcycles, but never strayed from that fiercely independent streak. A Perfect Silence includes interviews with many people who worked closely with Mark and helps us get as close as possible to understanding the man who walked away from music (and public life) almost 25 years ago and never resurfaced. The biography also confirms how Hollis was deeply influenced by his brother Ed, and includes key recollections from producer/musician Tim Friese-Greene and manager Keith Aspden.

In the first in-depth biography of the Talk Talk leader, author and music industry insider Ben Wardle has interviewed scores of Mark Hollis’ friends, musicians, collaborators and record company executives. Afterward, everyone involved dispersed, even Hollis’ trusted producer and collaborator, Tim Friese-Greene. Indeed, Phill Brown likened Hollis’s unforgiving standards to attempting to “bottle the spirit of improvised magic”.All the while, take after take, Hollis relentlessly listened after that elusive feel and didn’t stop before it was there. Hollis has stated about the song…“That was someone born before the turn of the century…and dying within one year of the First World War at a young age.

Sofia Coppola got him started on an attempt to compose music that would more or less fit the period depicted in "Marie-Antoinette", then she had a complete change of mind and decided instead to use modern pop music, and Hollis was out at this point, so it never went any further. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. They formed in 1981 and in their early years were ridiculed in the music press and dismissed as poseurs and lightweights. After the solo album, Hollis would continue composing for woodwinds on his own and briefly look into film scoring.

Talk Talk would push their methods to radical heights to achieve this sonic and spiritual ascension. Ben Wardle, a lecturer in music business at the University of Gloucestershire, has set himself the challenge of getting behind or going over the wall and telling Hollis’ story.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Among the interviewees for this book are Simon Brenner, producer Rhett Davies, Phill Brown, James Marsh, musical collaborators George Page, Phil Ramocon, Martin Ditcham, Dominic Miller, Mark Feltham, Johnny Turnbull, Robbie McIntosh and others. Add to this a growing cult following and dedicated fan sites, and a grand mythification will inevitably build. First edition hardback in slipcase, signed by Ben Wardle and Talk Talk album illustrator James marsh to title page.Ben Wardle knows the music industry’s intricacies - he was a talent spotter for Warner and the creator of indie label Indolent. In the absence of any direct communication from the man himself his admirers sought answers to these riddles and intrigues in his opaque, quasi-mystical lyrics or in interviews he’d given years before.