Why Did I Never Realize...

Hello all,

Sorry for the long pause between posts, but things are not good for me right now. Trying to escape the hell that is Los Angeles (the filthiest, most horrendously unfriendly city in the known world, especially without a car), but at least I am listening to absolute beauty at the moment, thanks to an album I should have discovered long, long ago. Lord knows I HATE "It's My Life" enough in the original, and that scaggy-ass Gwen covered it later made it even worse, but even at misguided 16 I knew that Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden was a sublime masterwork of epic proportions, only rivaled at the time by SPK's Zamia Lehammani, which will remain for all time the most beautiful album ever ever crafted. Somehow I neglected to discover Talk Talk's 1991 follow-up Laughing Stock, and I am gladly soaking in the riches of my mistakes by catching up now. It seems especially fitting after watching my man Tony Bourdain soaking in the loveliness of Laos on the No Reservations premiere earlier, while waiting for the much-anticipated (by me at least) Colombia installment, shot in Medellin, wherein I try to forget the boy who almost (and I wish he had) destroyed me. But the Talk Talk is godly, and I'm loving it more than anything. Now if somebody can give me a reason to wake up in the morning other than listening to this album again, other than seeing my Morales Astra Heights boys at the Echo tomorrow now (with Von Iva), even without my beautiful Timmy (the baby of the group, who's moved back to Texas, destined to be my new home (Austin, anyone?)), I'll give you a medal, or buy you a beer if by the odd chance I have any money left. For now, more Mark Hollis... Afterthought: how much did they get from Hula, and Dif Juz, and This Heat, and how much did they inspire my other love J. Swinscoe (other most beautiful man alive), and the other best band in L.A., Signal Hill? xxoo, B.