View source for Spirit of Eden

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox album
| name         = Spirit of Eden
| type         = studio
| artist       = [[Talk Talk]]
| cover        = Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden cover.jpg
| border       = yes
| alt          = 
| released     = {{Start date|1988|09|12|df=y}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/51998361330/in/album-72177720298038943|title=News - Releases|magazine=[[Record Mirror]]|date=September 10, 1988|page=11|access-date=3 December 2025|via=[[Flickr]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/Music-Week-1988-09-10-S-OCR.pdf|title=New Albums|magazine=[[Music Week]]|date=10 September 1988|page=10|access-date=3 December 2025|via=World Radio History}}</ref>
| recorded     = 11 May 1987 – 11 March 1988<ref>{{cite web | url=https://movingtheriver.com/2022/05/11/11-may-1987-talk-talk-commence-recording-spirit-of-eden/ | title=11 May 1987: Talk Talk commence recording Spirit Of Eden | website=Moving The River  | date=11 May 2022 }}</ref>
| venue        = 
| studio       = [[Wessex Sound Studios|Wessex Sound]], London
| genre        = {{flatlist|
*[[Post-rock]]<ref name="NME500"/><ref name= "Paste 300 2024">{{cite web|last= Paste Staff |title= The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine= Paste |date= 3 June 2024|url= https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/greatest-albums/the-300-greatest-albums-of-all-time-2|quote=...the complex, pastoral post-rock of final two albums ''Spirit of Eden'' and ''Laughing Stock''.|access-date=3 June 2024}}</ref><ref name= "PopMatters 2024">{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/best-alternative-songs-of-the-1980s/8|title=The 100 Best Alternative Songs of the 1980s|last=Gerard|first=Chris|date=15 April 2024|website=[[PopMatters]]|access-date=26 December 2024|quote=...their dual post-rock masterworks, ''Spirit of Eden'' and ''Laughing Stock''.}}</ref>
*[[art rock]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Harvell|first=Jess|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15957-laughing-stock-mark-hollis/|title=Talk Talk / Mark Hollis: Laughing Stock / Mark Hollis|website=Pitchfork|date=21 October 2011|access-date=6 April 2015}}</ref>
* [[experimental rock]]<ref name= "Pitchfork Staff 2022">{{cite web |title= The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s |website= Pitchfork|date= 28 September 2022 |url= https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-albums-of-the-1990s/|quote= Directly inspired by Talk Talk’s experimental rock seance ''Spirit of Eden''...|access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref>
* [[Ambient music|ambient]]<ref name="Wide 2020">{{cite book|title= A Field Guide to Post-Punk and New Wave|first=Steve|last=Wide|date= 22 September 2020|chapter= Honourable Mentions: Talk Talk|page= 70|publisher=Smith Street Books|isbn=978-1-925811-76-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEcMzAEACAAJ}}</ref> 
* [[New wave music|new wave]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/new-wave/the-best-new-wave-albums/ |title=The 50 Best New Wave Albums |website=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |date=8 September 2016 |access-date=28 December 2017}}</ref>
}}
| length       = 41:30
| label        = [[Parlophone]] ([[EMI]])
| producer     = [[Tim Friese-Greene]]
| prev_title   = [[The Colour of Spring]]
| prev_year    = 1986
| next_title   = [[Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk|Natural History]]
| next_year    = 1990
| misc         = {{Singles
 | name        =
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[I Believe in You (Talk Talk song)|I Believe in You]]
 | single1date = {{Start date|1988|09|19|df=y}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/Music-Week-1988-09-17-S-OCR.pdf|title=New Singles|magazine=[[Music Week]]|date=17 September 1988|page=40|access-date=3 December 2025|via=World Radio History}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/52029453196/in/album-72177720298380241|title=News - Releases|magazine=[[Record Mirror]]|date=September 24, 1988|page=6|access-date=3 December 2025|via=[[Flickr]]}}</ref>
}}
}}

'''''Spirit of Eden''''' is the fourth studio [[album]] by English band [[Talk Talk]], released by [[Parlophone]] Records on 12 September 1988. It was compiled from a lengthy recording process at London's [[Wessex Sound Studios|Wessex Studios]] between 1987 and 1988, with songs written by singer [[Mark Hollis (musician)|Mark Hollis]] and producer [[Tim Friese-Greene]]. Often working in darkness, the band recorded many hours of [[Musical improvisation|improvised]] performances that drew on elements of [[jazz]], [[ambient music|ambient]], [[classical music]], [[blues]], and [[dub reggae|dub]]. These long-form recordings were then heavily edited and re-arranged into an album in mostly digital format. The results were a radical departure from Talk Talk's earlier [[synth-pop]] recordings, and would later be credited with pioneering the [[post-rock]] genre.<ref name="NME500"/>

Compared to the success of 1986's ''[[The Colour of Spring]]'', ''Spirit of Eden'' was a commercial disappointment.<ref name="Thomson"/> Despite its mixed reception, the album's stature grew more favourable in subsequent years, with contemporary critics describing ''Spirit of Eden'' as an underrated masterpiece.<ref name="Larson"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-02-26 |title=Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden is one of the great masterpieces of modern music |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/mark-hollis-death |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=British GQ}}</ref> In 2013, ''[[NME]]'' ranked ''Spirit of Eden'' at number 95 in its list of the "[[NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]".<ref name="NME500"/>

==Background==
Talk Talk, led by singer [[Mark Hollis (musician)|Mark Hollis]], formed in England in the early 1980s. From the start, Hollis cited [[jazz]] and [[impressionism in music|impressionist]] artists like [[Miles Davis]], [[John Coltrane]], [[Béla Bartók]] and [[Claude Debussy]] as major influences, but the first two Talk Talk albums, ''[[The Party's Over (Talk Talk album)|The Party's Over]]'' (1982) and ''[[It's My Life (album)|It's My Life]]'' (1984), did not readily reflect such influences; critics compared the band to contemporary [[new wave music|new wave]] groups, especially [[Duran Duran]]. Hollis partly attributed the shortcomings of their early music to a financial need to use synthesizers in place of [[acoustic instrument]]s.

Although critics did not favour the band's early output, the first two albums were commercially successful in Europe. This gave Talk Talk the money needed to hire additional musicians to play on their next album, ''[[The Colour of Spring]]'' (1986). The band no longer had to rely on synthesizers. Instead, musicians improvised with their instruments for many hours, then Hollis and producer [[Tim Friese-Greene]] edited and arranged the performances to get the sound they wanted. A total of sixteen musicians appeared on the album around the core of Hollis and Friese-Greene. ''The Colour of Spring'' became Talk Talk's most successful album, selling over two million copies and prompting a major world tour.<ref name="Irvin">{{cite magazine |title=Paradise Lost |magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |location=London |issue=148 |date=March 2006 |last=Irvin |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Irvin |pages=50–56}}</ref><!--"The result was Life's What You Make It, which helped ''The Colour of Spring'' sell over two million copies and sent Talk Talk on the road for the rest of 1986."--> At the same time, minimalist songs like "April 5th," "Chameleon Day," and the B-side "It's Getting Late in the Evening" pointed towards the band's next direction.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |title=The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time |editor-last=Irvin |editor-first=Jim |editor-link=Jim Irvin |publisher=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo Books]] |year=2001 |isbn=1-84195-067-X |page=603}}</ref>

==Music==
===Recording===
{{Quote_box
 |width=30%
 |align=right
 |quote=It was very, very psychedelic. We had candles and oil wheels, strobes going, sometimes just total darkness in the studio. You'd get totally disorientated, no daylight, no time frame.
 |source= Phill Brown, engineer<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Sharing food and conversation with Phill Brown |magazine=[[Tape Op]] |location=Portland |issue=12 |date=Spring 1999 |last1=Crane |first1=Larry |author1-link=Larry Crane (recording engineer) |last2=Eckman |first2=Chris}}</ref>}}

Following the commercial success of ''The Colour of Spring'', [[EMI]] gave Talk Talk an open budget for the recording of their next album, ''Spirit of Eden''.<ref name="Neiss">{{cite magazine |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/BioRC1291.html |title=Talk Talk |magazine=[[Record Collector]] |location=London |issue=148 |date=December 1991 |access-date=13 April 2012 |last=Neiss |first=James |author-link=James Hayward (writer) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000303222847/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/BioRC1291.html |archive-date=3 March 2000 |url-status=dead}}<!--"''Eden'' was the first album for which Talk Talk had been given an open budget and schedule".--></ref> Talk Talk were given complete control over the recording process; their manager and EMI executives were barred from studio sessions.<ref name="Irvin"/><!--"Sessions for ''Spirit of Eden'' began with a blanket ban on Aspden and EMI."--> Recording for ''Spirit of Eden'' began in 1987 at [[Wessex Sound Studios|Wessex Studios]], London and took about a year to complete.<ref name="Irvin"/>

The sessions took place in a blacked-out studio, with an oil projector and [[strobe light]]ing.<ref name="Thomson">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/13/talk-talk-mark-hollis |title=Talk Talk: the band who disappeared from view |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=13 September 2012 |access-date=13 May 2019 |last=Thomson |first=Graeme}}</ref> Engineer [[Phill Brown]] said that the album, along with its successor, was "recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea."<ref name="Brown">{{cite web |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWWpb1198.html |title=The Colour of EQing |website=Within Without |date=12 November 1998 |access-date=13 April 2012 |last=Brown |first=Phill |author-link=Phill Brown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010215110628/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWWpb1198.html |archive-date=15 February 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Brown, "twelve hours a day in the dark listening to the same six songs for eight months became pretty intense. There was very little communication with musicians who came in to play. They were led to a studio in darkness and a track would be played down the headphones."<ref name="Thomson"/>

===Style===
Writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'', Graeme Thomson described ''Spirit of Eden'' as "six improvised pieces full of space and unhurried rhythm," which blend together "pastoral jazz, [[contemporary classical music|contemporary classical]], [[folk music|folk]], [[progressive rock|prog rock]] and loose [[blues]] into a single, doggedly uncommercial musical tapestry" which would be labeled "[[post-rock]]."<ref name="Thomson"/> Simon Harper of the ''[[Birmingham Post]]'' observed the album's "combination of jazz, classical, rock and the spacey echoes of [[dub music|dub]], using silence almost as an instrument in its own right."<ref name="Harper">{{cite news |url=http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/tm_objectid%3D15891543&method%3Dfull&siteid%3D50002&headline%3Dthe-whispers-and-crescendos-of-the-spirit-of-eden--name_page.html |title=The whispers and crescendos of the Spirit of Eden |newspaper=[[Birmingham Post]] |date=24 August 2005 |access-date=10 March 2007 |last=Harper |first=Simon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512035447/http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/tm_objectid=15891543&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=the-whispers-and-crescendos-of-the-spirit-of-eden--name_page.html |archive-date=12 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Although the album is noted for its tranquil soundscapes, [[Graham Sutton (musician)|Graham Sutton]] of [[Bark Psychosis]] notes "Noise is important. I could never understand people I knew who liked Talk Talk and saw it as something 'nice to chill out to' when I loved the overwhelming intensity and the dynamics."<ref name="Reynolds">{{cite magazine |title=Bark Psychosis: Hex |magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |location=London |issue=4 |date=March 1994 |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds}}</ref>

Mark Hollis' lyrics reflect his religious and [[spirituality|spiritual]] outlook. Though he acknowledges that his lyrics are religious, he says they are not based on a specific creed, preferring to think of them as "humanitarian."<ref name="Young">{{cite magazine |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWIRE0198.html |title=Return from Eden |magazine=The Wire|location=London |issue=167 |date=January 1998 |access-date=3 September 2012 |last=Young |first=Rob |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111203842/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntWIRE0198.html |archive-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> "[[I Believe in You (Talk Talk song)|I Believe in You]]" has been described as an "anti-heroin song."<ref name="Neiss"/> When asked whether the lyrics are based on personal experience, Hollis replied, "No, not at all. But, you know, I met people who got totally fucked up on it. Within rock music there's so much fucking glorification of it, and it is a wicked, horrible thing."<ref name="Young"/>

==Contract dispute with EMI==
By early March 1988, the band had finished recording ''Spirit of Eden'' and had sent a cassette of the album to EMI. After listening to the cassette, EMI representatives doubted that it could be commercially successful. They asked Hollis to re-record a song or replace material, but he refused to do so. By the time the masters were delivered later in the month, however, the label conceded that the album had been satisfactorily completed.<ref name="EMI">{{cite court |litigants=EMI Records Limited v Hollis & Others |court=Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |date=23 May 1989}}</ref>

Despite their reservations towards ''Spirit of Eden'', EMI chose to exercise their option to extend the recording contract. The band, however, wanted out of the contract. "I knew by that time that EMI was not the company this band should be with," manager Keith Aspden told ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''. "I was fearful that the money wouldn't be there to record another album."<ref name="Irvin"/> EMI and Talk Talk went to court to decide the issue.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/06963-talk-talk-laughing-stock |title=After The Flood: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock 20-Years On |website=[[The Quietus]] |date=12 September 2011 |access-date=5 December 2015 |last=Wallace |first=Wyndham |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150406092913/http://thequietus.com/articles/06963-talk-talk-laughing-stock |archive-date=6 April 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The case centred on whether EMI had notified the band in time about the contract extension. As part of the agreement, EMI had to send a written notice within three months after the completion of ''Spirit of Eden''. The band said that EMI had sent the notice too late, arguing that the three-month period began once recording had finished; EMI argued that the three-month period did not begin until they were satisfied with the recording, on the basis that the definition of an "album" in the contract provided that the album had to be "commercially satisfactory". The band disputed this, particularly on the basis that there were no changes made to the album in the space between its recording and eventual release. Justice [[Andrew Morritt]] ruled in favour of EMI, but his decision was overturned in the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]].<ref name="EMI"/> Talk Talk were released from the contract and later signed to [[Polydor Records|Polydor]].

==Marketing and release==
''Spirit of Eden'''s moody, experimental nature made it a challenge to promote; one critic said it "is the kind of record which encourages marketing men to commit suicide."<ref name="Cooper"/> [[Tony Wadsworth (music executive)|Tony Wadsworth]], [[Parlophone]]'s marketing director at the time, told ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'': "Talk Talk are not your ordinary combo and require sympathetic marketing. They're not so much difficult as not obvious. You've just got to find as many ways as possible to expose the music."<ref name="Devoy">{{cite magazine |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntQxx88.html |title=Come on, ''market'' me |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |location=London |issue=25 |date=October 1988 |access-date=13 April 2012 |last=Devoy |first=Adrian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110014209/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/IntQxx88.html |archive-date=10 November 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Evaluating some masterpieces of the eighties in a 2004 article for ''The Guardian'', John Robinson calls ''Spirit of Eden'', like [[David Sylvian]]'s ''[[Brilliant Trees]]'', "triumphant, [but] completely unmarketable."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/24/popandrock1 |title=Pieces of eighties |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=24 April 2004 |access-date=27 June 2009 |last=Robinson |first=John}}</ref>

Although the band did not originally plan to release a single, EMI issued a radio edit of "I Believe in You" in September 1988 (the previously unreleased "John Cope" was included as the [[A-side and B-side|B-side]]). The single failed to breach the [[UK singles chart]] Top 75. Around August, [[Tim Pope]] directed a music video for "I Believe in You", featuring Hollis sitting with his guitar, singing the lyrics. "That was a massive mistake," said Hollis. "I thought just by sitting there and listening and really thinking about what it was about, I could get that in my eyes. But you cannot do it. It just feels stupid."<ref name="Devoy"/>

The band did not tour in support of the album. Hollis explained, "There is no way that I could ever play again a lot of the stuff I played on this album because I just wouldn't know how to. So, to play it live, to take a part that was done in spontaneity, to write it down and then get someone to play it, would lose the whole point, lose the whole purity of what it was in the first place."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Paradise Regained |magazine=[[Melody Maker]] |location=London |date=24 September 1988 |last=Sutherland |first=Steve |page=8}}</ref> The band would never tour again.

''Spirit of Eden'' was released worldwide in 1988. It did not enjoy nearly as much commercial success as ''The Colour of Spring''. The album spent five weeks on the [[UK Albums Chart]], peaking at number 19.<ref>{{cite book |title=Guinness Book of British Hit Albums |edition=7th |isbn=0-85112-619-7 |last1=Gambaccini |first1=Paul |last2=Rice |first2=Tim |date=11 August 1996 |publisher=Guinness Pub. }}</ref> The [[album cover]] depicts a tree festooned with seashells, snails, birds, and insects. It was illustrated by [[James Marsh (artist)|James Marsh]], who did Talk Talk's artwork throughout their recording career. The booklet provides reproductions of Hollis' handwritten lyrics. The album was [[remaster|digitally remastered]] by Phill Brown and Denis Blackham in 1997.

==Critical reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Ankeny">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/spirit-of-eden-mw0000652670 |title=Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=6 August 2015 |last=Ankeny |first=Jason}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Eccleston">{{cite magazine |title=Lost horizon |magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |location=London |issue=222 |date=May 2012 |last=Eccleston |first=Danny |page=100}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[NME]]''
| rev3score = 7/10<ref name="Williams">{{cite magazine |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevNME240988.html |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |magazine=[[NME]] |location=London |date=24 September 1988 |access-date=6 August 2015 |last=Williams |first=Simon |page=39 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606113442/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevNME240988.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev4score = 10/10<ref name="Larson">{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/talk-talk-spirit-of-eden/ |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |website=Pitchfork |date=13 January 2019 |access-date=14 January 2019 |last=Larson |first=Jeremy D.}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Cooper">{{cite magazine |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevQ1088.html |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |location=London |issue=25 |date=October 1988 |access-date=6 August 2015 |last=Cooper |first=Mark |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606113454/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevQ1088.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Record Collector]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |magazine=[[Record Collector]] |location=London |issue=401 |date=May 2012}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Record Mirror]]''
| rev7score = 4/5<ref name="Page">{{cite magazine |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |magazine=[[Record Mirror]] |location=London |date=17 September 1988 |last=Page |first=Betty |page=32}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev8score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref name="Considine">{{cite book |chapter=Talk Talk |last=Considine |first=J. D. |author-link=J. D. Considine |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=DeCurtis |editor1-first=Anthony |editor1-link=Anthony DeCurtis |editor2-last=Henke |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=George-Warren |editor3-first=Holly |publisher=[[Random House]] |edition=3rd |year=1992 |isbn=0-679-73729-4 |pages=691–692}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]''
| rev9score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Wilkinson">{{cite magazine |url=http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevSOUNDS240988.html |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |magazine=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |location=London |date=24 September 1988 |access-date=6 August 2015 |last=Wilkinson |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Wilkinson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606113447/http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc11425/RevSOUNDS240988.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev10score = 10/10<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden |magazine=Uncut |location=London |issue=181 |date=June 2012 |last=Thomson |first=Graeme |page=98}}</ref>
}}

''Spirit of Eden'' has been both acclaimed and panned by numerous music critics. Among contemporary reviews of ''Spirit of Eden'', ''[[Record Mirror]]''{{'}}s Betty Page commented that Talk Talk had become "a law unto themselves, unconstrained by narrow ideas of 'what will sell'",<ref name="Page"/> while ''Q''{{'}}s Mark Cooper likened the album to "the pastoral epics of the early 70s" and noted "a range, ambition and self-sufficiency that enables Hollis and co to step out of time and into their own."<ref name="Cooper"/> "No hit singles then", the latter wrote, "but a brave record that is not afraid to follow its own muse and damn the consequences."<ref name="Cooper"/> In ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'', [[Roy Wilkinson]] said that Talk Talk had "evolved into contemplative muso-techs", and while finding their lyrics occasionally awkward and the album's second half not at the level of the first's "magnificence", he deemed ''Spirit of Eden'' as a whole "uncommonly beautiful."<ref name="Wilkinson"/> Simon Williams began his review for ''[[NME]]'' with a joking dismissal of the album as an exercise in "conceptualism", before going on to describe the band as "resolute and determined" in their flouting of "commercial rules with fascinating disregard for understanding or acceptance."<ref name="Williams"/>

In the [[The Rolling Stone Album Guide#Third edition (1992)|1992 ''Rolling Stone Album Guide'']], [[J. D. Considine]] rated ''Spirit of Eden'' one star out of five: "Instead of getting better or worse, this band simply grew more pretentious with each passing year ... by ''Spirit of Eden'', Mark Hollis's [[Pete Townshend]]-on-[[dimenhydrinate|Dramamine]] vocals have been pushed aside by the band's pointless noodling."<ref name="Considine"/> [[Marcus Berkmann]] of ''[[The Spectator]]'' in a 2001 retrospective felt that the album was "almost wilfully obscure", with a musical style close to free-form jazz that was too far removed from ''The Colour of Spring'' for fans to enjoy.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-89953065 |title=Hits and misses |magazine=[[The Spectator]] |location=London |date=10 November 2001 |access-date=3 September 2012 |last=Berkmann |first=Marcus |author-link=Marcus Berkmann |url-access=subscription }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

''Spirit of Eden'' has received more unanimous acclaim in the decades following its release.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2019/02/classic-album-spirit-of-eden-talk-talk/ |title=Classic Album: Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk |website=[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]] |date=26 February 2019 |access-date=26 August 2023 |last=Wallace |first=Wyndham}}</ref> [[AllMusic]] reviewer Jason Ankeny considered the album, in its eschewing of "electronics for live, organic sounds" and of "structure in favor of mood and atmosphere", an "unprecedented breakthrough".<ref name="Ankeny"/> ''Mojo''{{'}}s Danny Eccleston wrote in 2012 that "there will never be another album like it, since the demise of the profligate old-school record industry means that no one will ever spend so much money making anything so left-field again."<ref name="Eccleston"/> In a 2019 review, Jeremy D. Larson of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' lauded the record as a masterful achievement in contemporary music, stating that "''Spirit of Eden'' was the great inhale of religious feeling, one rock and pop music had been expelling for years and years. The thrill and stasis of a held breath carry the album from beginning to end."<ref name="Larson"/>

==Legacy==
Some music critics consider ''Spirit of Eden'' and its 1991 follow-up ''[[Laughing Stock (album)|Laughing Stock]]'' influential to the post-rock genre, which developed in Britain and North America in the 1990s. In a review of Bark Psychosis' album ''[[Hex (Bark Psychosis album)|Hex]]'', where the term "post-rock" was coined, [[Simon Reynolds]] opined that ''Hex'' aspires to the "baroque grandeur" of ''Spirit of Eden''.<ref name="Reynolds"/> Andy Whitman of ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' magazine argued that ''Spirit of Eden'' represents the beginning of post-rock: "The telltale marks of the genre—textured guitars, glacial tempos, an emphasis on dynamics, electronica, ambience and minimalism—were all in place, and paved the way for bands like [[Sigur Rós]], [[Mogwai]], [[Godspeed You! Black Emperor]], [[Low (band)|Low]] and latter-period [[Radiohead]]." In the ''Birmingham Post'', Simon Harper held that "there can be little argument that [[Tortoise (band)|Tortoise]] and their Chicago-based compatriots would hardly sound the same were it not for the staggering achievements of Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene".<ref name="Harper"/> Numerous bands and artists, including [[Graham Coxon]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/graham-coxon-my-music-45260 |title=Graham Coxon – My Music |website=[[NME]] |date=22 September 2009 |access-date=5 April 2015 |last=Coxon |first=Graham |author-link=Graham Coxon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312202132/https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/graham-coxon-my-music-45260 |archive-date=12 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Doves (band)|Doves]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nbhap.com/sounds/doves-lost-souls |title=15 Years of 'Lost Souls': Doves talk their debut album |website=[[Nothing but Hope and Passion]] |date=3 April 2015 |access-date=5 April 2015 |last=Fleischer |first=Norman}}</ref> [[Elbow (band)|Elbow]]<ref name="Thomson"/> and [[Bedhead (band)|Bedhead]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/02/glacial-pleasures-of-slowcore-codeine-duster |title='Our music didn't build. We were anti-catharsis': the glacial pleasures of slowcore |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=2 August 2023 |access-date=2 August 2023 |last=Chick |first=Stevie}}</ref> have praised ''Spirit of Eden'' or have cited it as an influence.

In 2008 [[Alan McGee]] wrote: "''Spirit of Eden'' has not dated; it's remarkable how contemporary it sounds, anticipating post-rock, [[The Verve]] and [[Radiohead]]. It's the sound of an artist being given the keys to the kingdom and returning with art."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/apr/09/markhollis |title=Wherefore art thou Mark Hollis? |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=9 April 2008 |access-date=5 April 2015 |last=McGee |first=Alan |author-link=Alan McGee}}</ref>

Mark Lager, writing about the album on its 30th anniversary in September 2018 for [[PopMatters]], similarly stated that ''Spirit of Eden'' "influenced and inspired the three most experimental and innovative albums of the 1990s: ''[[Lazer Guided Melodies]]'' ([[Spiritualized]]), ''[[A Storm in Heaven]]'' (The Verve), and ''Hex'' (Bark Psychosis). All three albums followed its patterns of dynamic intensity, free jazz improvisations, and spaces of silence."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/talk-talk-spirit-of-eden-2605693111.html |title=Talk Talk's Mark Hollis and His Experimental, Innovative Legacy on 'Spirit of Eden's' 30th Anniversary |publisher=[[PopMatters]] |date=17 September 2018 |access-date=14 July 2023 |last=Lager |first=Mark}}</ref>

''Spirit of Eden'' was voted number 419 in the 2000 edition of [[Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|editor-first=Colin|editor-last=Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=155}}</ref> In 2006, ''Q'' placed ''Spirit of Eden'' at number 31 in its list of the "40 Best Albums of the '80s"<ref>{{cite magazine |title=40 Best Albums of the '80s |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |location=London |issue=241 |date=August 2006 |pages=84–89}}</ref> and in 2013, ''NME'' ranked the record at number 95 in its list of the "[[NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]".<ref name="NME500">{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-100-1-1426116 |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 100–1 |website=[[NME]] |date=25 October 2013 |access-date=4 October 2020}}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| all_writing = [[Mark Hollis]] and [[Tim Friese-Greene]]
| headline = Side one
| title1 = The Rainbow
| length1 = 9:05
| title2 = Eden
| length2 = 6:37
| title3 = Desire
| length3 = 6:57
| total_length = 22:39
}}

{{Track listing
| headline = Side two
| title1 = Inheritance
| length1 = 5:16
| title2 = [[I Believe in You (Talk Talk song)|I Believe in You]]
| length2 = 6:11
| title3 = Wealth
| length3 = 6:35
| total_length = 18:02
40:41
}}

'''Notes:'''
*Original CD pressings combine "The Rainbow", "Eden" and "Desire" into one track running 23:11.
*Later CD pressings separate tracks differently than the LP, resulting in "The Rainbow" lasting 8:02 and "Eden" lasting 7:39.

==Personnel==
'''Talk Talk'''
* [[Mark Hollis (musician)|Mark Hollis]] – vocals, electric guitar, [[Hammond organ|organ]], [[melodica]], piano, and [[Variophon]] (uncredited)
* [[Lee Harris (drummer)|Lee Harris]] – drums
* [[Paul Webb]] – electric bass guitar

'''Additional personnel'''
{{div col}}
* [[Tim Friese-Greene]] – [[Pump organ|harmonium]], piano, organ, guitar
* [[Martin Ditcham]] – percussion
* [[Robbie McIntosh]] – [[dobro]], [[twelve-string guitar]]
* [[Mark Feltham (musician)|Mark Feltham]] – harmonica
* [[Simon Edwards (musician)|Simon Edwards]] – Mexican bass
* [[Danny Thompson]] – [[double bass]]
* [[Henry Lowther (musician)|Henry Lowther]] – trumpet
* [[Nigel Kennedy]] – violin
* [[Hugh Davies (composer)|Hugh Davies]] – [[shozygs]]
* Andrew Stowell – [[bassoon]]
* Michael Jeans – [[oboe]]
* [[Andrew Marriner]] – [[clarinet]]
* Christopher Hooker – [[cor anglais]]
* Choir of [[Chelmsford Cathedral]]
* [[Phill Brown]] – [[audio engineering|engineering]], [[bowed guitar]]
* [[Tim Friese-Greene]] – production
* [[James Marsh (artist)|James Marsh]] – cover art
{{div col end}}

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (1988)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
{{album chart|Netherlands|32|artist=Talk Talk|album=Spirit of Eden|access-date=18 June 2018|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{album chart|Germany|id=778|16|artist=Talk Talk|album=Spirit of Eden|access-date=18 June 2018|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{album chart|Switzerland|12|artist=Talk Talk|album=Spirit of Eden|access-date=18 June 2018|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{album chart|UK2|19|date=19880918|access-date=18 June 2018|refname=UK2-19|rowheader=true}}
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
!Chart (2019–2025)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
{{album chart|Flanders|77|artist=Talk Talk|album=Spirit of Eden|rowheader=true|access-date=26 July 2025}}
|-
{{album chart|Wallonia|127|artist=Talk Talk|album=Spirit of Eden|rowheader=true|access-date=26 July 2025}}
|-
! scope="row"| Hungarian Physical Albums ([[Association of Hungarian Record Companies|MAHASZ]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Album Top 40 slágerlista (fizikai hanghordozók) – 2025. 27. hét |url=https://slagerlistak.hu/album-top-40-slagerlista-fizikai-hanghordozok/2025/27 |publisher=[[Association of Hungarian Record Companies|MAHASZ]] |access-date=9 July 2025}}</ref>
|align="center"| 18
|-
{{album chart|Scotland|18|date=20190301|rowheader=true|access-date=26 July 2025}}
|-
{{album chart|UK2|63|date=20190301|access-date=4 March 2019|refname=UK2-63|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{album chart|UKDigital|7|date=20190301|rowheader=true|access-date=26 July 2025}}
|-
|}

==Certifications==
{{certification Table Top}}
{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|artist=Talk Talk|title=Spirit of Eden|award=Silver|certyear=1988|relyear=1988|access-date=24 August 2019|id=6206-1381-2}}
{{Certification Table Summary}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Worldwide|nocert=true|salesamount=500,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mark-hollis-singer-who-led-the-influential-rock-band-talk-talk-dies-at-64/2019/02/26/ecfd374a-39dd-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html?noredirect=on|title=Mark Hollis, singer who led the influential rock band Talk Talk, dies at 64|date=26 February 2019|first=Harrison|last=Smith|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

<!--==External links==-->
{{Talk Talk}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Talk Talk albums]]
[[Category:1988 albums]]
[[Category:Experimental rock albums by British artists]]
[[Category:Progressive pop albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Tim Friese-Greene]]