Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk explained

Natural History
Type:greatest
Artist:Talk Talk
Cover:Natural History.jpg
Released:29 May 1990
Recorded:1982 - 1988
Length:71:47
Label:Parlophone/EMI
Producer:Colin Thurston
Tim Friese-Greene
Rhett Davies
Prev Title:Spirit of Eden
Prev Year:1988
Next Year:1991

Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk is a 1990 greatest hits album by Talk Talk. It collects songs that the band released under EMI between 1982 and 1988.

Reception

The compilation spent 21 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at #3,[1] and went on to sell over one million copies worldwide.[2] The North American version appended two live bonus tracks. A companion collection of the band's music videos was released in July 1990.

Production and re-releases

EMI released the compilation without the band's supervision. Talk Talk leader Mark Hollis said, "A compilation album is not my idea of an album. I don't like compilation albums and I didn't like that one. It certainly wasn't the selection of tracks I would have liked even if there had to be one. But, at the end of the day, they had every right to do it so . . ."[3] In light of Natural History's success, the remix album History Revisited was released in 1991. Talk Talk sued EMI for remixing their material without permission. Though the collection contains no new material, it does have the non-LP 1983 single, "My Foolish Friend", which had never appeared on a full-length release before. On 12 March 2007 the album was reissued with a bonus DVD of their music videos. Two bonus tracks were also included from the 1999 live release London 1986.

Credits

Notes and References

  1. Tim Rice, Paul Gambaccini, and Jonathan Rice, The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, 7th ed. (Guinness World Records Limited, 1996).
  2. James Neiss, "Talk Talk," Record Collector, December 1991.
  3. Steve Sutherland, "Talk Talk: Silencing the Scams," Melody Maker, September 1991.