This is the last track off one of my all-time favorite records. The first time I heard Talk Talk was on MTV, with their pop hit Talk Talk from their record called Talk Talk. Ridiculous, but no more so than Melt With You or Safety Dance. I was aware of them but didn’t have any interest.

Years later, in my relatively short stint working at a record store, a promo copy of a record from Talk Talk appeared and I was interested to hear what they sounded like, if it was the same band. When I put the disk in, I assumed they had been switched, because this was unlike any record I had heard before. I mean, Joe Jackson had branched out to some anti-pop tangents, but this was more like a group of seasoned players taking their time and creating something without constraints.

Playing just one song gives you essentially nothing for context; this was a record made to be played front-to-back as a whole. And there’s nothing on here intended to be commercially viable (no hits, in other words) but it’s a gorgeous production that takes its time rolling out, explaining its intent, and eventually resolving with this song:

Once, while behind the record store counter, someone came in and asked me “What’s good right now?” I gave my standard disclaimer regarding my taste and suggested Laughing Stock instead of Nevermind, the Black Album, or Gish. That guy came back the next day to get a refund. C’est la vie.