It's_My_Life_(album)
It's My Life (album)
1984 studio album by Talk Talk
It's My Life is the second studio album by English band Talk Talk, released on 13 February 1984.
| It's My Life | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 13 February 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1983 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:13 | |||
| Label | EMI (UK) EMI America (US) | |||
| Producer | Tim Friese-Greene | |||
| Talk Talk chronology | ||||
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| Singles from It's My Life | ||||
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Mike Oldfield's bass player, Phil Spalding made an uncredited appearance on the album, substituting for Paul Webb on "The Last Time" – "Paul was exclusively a fretless bass player and they needed a fretted bass on this particular track." Spalding admits to having played the whole session while disastrously hung-over, and that – foreshadowing the approach Talk Talk would take on subsequent recordings - Tim Friese-Greene and Mark Hollis insisted that he record a whole afternoon and evening of multiple takes, despite the simplicity of the part. Ian Curnow adds "we always had to go all around the houses to get next door, just in case there was anything that turned up on the other side."[9]
The cover to the album was produced by James Marsh, incorporating elements of The Boyhood of Raleigh by John Everett Millais.
It's My Life was released in February 1984 by record label EMI.
It's My Life was a top 5 hit album in several European countries, thanks to the big international success of its singles (notably "Such a Shame"), and was particularly successful in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany where the album peak-charted at numbers 2, 3 and 4, respectively.[10] In the Netherlands, the album stayed in the charts for 64 weeks between 1984 and 1986.[10] It also reached number 35 in the UK albums chart.[11] In the United States, the album just missed the top 40, reaching number 42.[12]
In 2000, it was voted number 872 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[13]
In 2021, Rhino Entertainment re-released the album on limited edition purple vinyl.[14]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dum Dum Girl" | 3:51 | |
| 2. | "Such a Shame" | Hollis | 5:42 |
| 3. | "Renée" | Hollis | 6:22 |
| 4. | "It's My Life" |
| 3:50 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tomorrow Started" | Hollis | 5:57 |
| 2. | "The Last Time" |
| 4:23 |
| 3. | "Call in the Night Boy" |
| 3:47 |
| 4. | "Does Caroline Know?" | Hollis | 4:40 |
| 5. | "It's You" | Hollis | 4:41 |
- Talk Talk
- Mark Hollis – lead vocals and backing vocals, acoustic guitar
- Paul Webb – fretless bass (except on "The Last Time"), backing vocals
- Lee Harris – electronic drums
- Additional personnel
- Tim Friese-Greene – synthesizers, piano, programming and drum machine
- Ian Curnow – keyboards
- Phil Ramocon – piano
- Robbie McIntosh – guitars
- Morris Pert – percussion
- Henry Lowther – trumpet on "Renée" and "Tomorrow Started"
- Phil Spalding (uncredited) – bass guitar on "The Last Time"
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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- "New Singles". Music Week. 7 January 1984. p. 10.
- "News". Record Mirror. 24 March 1984. p. 4. ISSN 0144-5804.
- Woodstra, Chris. "It's My Life – Talk Talk". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
- Larkin, Colin (2009). "Talk Talk". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-72636-3. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
- Roberts, David (October 2000). "Talk Talk: It's My Life". Q (169). London. Archived from the original on 11 October 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
- 'Talk Talk - It's My Life' story on Phil Spalding homepage
- "Dutchcharts.nl – Talk Talk – It's My Life" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- "Talk Talk Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 268. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
- "Start Your Ear Off Right with Talk Talk, Danny Elfman, and More | Rhino". Rhino.com. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
- "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- "Charts.nz – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- "Swedishcharts.com – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- "Swisscharts.com – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
- "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1984". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1984". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1985". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- "French album certifications – Talk Talk – It's My life" (in French). InfoDisc. Select TALK TALK and click OK.
- "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Talk Talk; 'It's My Life')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- "Dutch album certifications – Talk Talk – It's My Life" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 24 August 2019. Enter It's My Life in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1988 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".