Beth Gibbons / Talk Talk comparisons

Music
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Does anyone else think Beth Gibbons takes a lot vocally from Mark Hollis? I was just listening to TT at the weekend, and suddenly thought “this sounds oddly like a Portishead song”, which isn’t something I’ve ever thought about before, but then she’s recorded two albums featuring members of the band, which seems a pretty strong indicator that she’s a fan, but there’s just…

The slight faltering, yearning way she sings sometimes comes across as very Hollis-y. It’s not a comparison I’ve seen anywhere (just googled their names and found naff all), but I just can’t unhear it now.

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I’d need to have another listen to Spirit of Eden to see what you mean - but the Beth Gibons/Rustin Man collaboration is with the bassist from Talk Talk so it would make sense if they were vocally similar!

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It meant she got a better deal with them than if she had gone with Virgin or Sky

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Can definitely hear it. Roads was the first song that came to mind after reading your post where there’s a strong similarity.

(How stunning is this live version??)

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I’d not considered it before but I can definitely see where you’re coming from.

The Roseland video @VestanPance posted also reminded me of Mark Hollis’ stage presence, before Talk Talk became a purely studio based thing:

Not like he was the first person to keep the mic on the mic stand and clutch it in both hands in quite an intense way, but there’s definitely a similar vibe.

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…and her album from this year featured the drummer playing on some of it!

[checks wikipedia for full details] Oh wow, he playing drums on 9 of the 10 tracks, co-wrote 4 of them, and did string arrangements on one track!