When the England-based Talk Talk started its career, the band made a highly marketable style of synthpop. Over the years, though, the band would start pursuing a more experimental, albeit more critically respected, sound which would result in the band creating two albums that are widely credited as masterpieces--1988's Spirit of Eden and 1991's Laughing Stock. Formed in 1981, Talk Talk would initially be associated with the new romantic music movement, oftentimes being compared to labelmates Duran Duran, an apt sonic and aesthetic comparison. After receiving a good amount of attention for its early singles and after subsequent touring, the members of the group, in particular singer/songwriter Mark Hollis started to create more serious music with rich lyrical subtext and song, art rock instrumentation. These characteristics would be blatantly exposed on both Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, but in the end, the pressures of artistic creation proved insurmountable, and Talk Talk disbanded in 1991.
