It's My Life
Studio album by
Talk Talk
ReleasedFebruary 1984
Recorded1983
Genre
Length43:13
LabelEMI (UK)
EMI America (US)
ProducerTim Friese-Greene
Talk Talk chronology
The Party's Over
(1982)		 It's My Life
(1984)		 The Colour of Spring
(1986)
Singles from It's My Life
  1. "It's My Life"
    Released: 6 January 1984 [1]
  2. "Such a Shame"
    Released: 26 March 1984 [2]
  3. "Dum Dum Girl"
    Released: July 1984 [3]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
Mojo[6]
Q[7]
Uncut8/10[8]

It's My Life is the second studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1984.

Recording

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]

Cover

The cover to the album was produced by James Marsh, incorporating elements of The Boyhood of Raleigh by John Everett Millais.

Release

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]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Dum Dum Girl"
3:51
2."Such a Shame"Hollis5:42
3."Renée"Hollis6:22
4."It's My Life"
  • Friese-Greene
  • Hollis
3:50
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Tomorrow Started"Hollis5:57
2."The Last Time"
  • Ian Curnow
  • Hollis
4:23
3."Call in the Night Boy"
  • Simon Brenner
  • Hollis
3:47
4."Does Caroline Know?"Hollis4:40
5."It's You"Hollis4:41

Personnel

Talk Talk
Additional personnel

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France (SNEP)[24] Gold  
Germany (BVMI)[25] Gold 250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[26] Platinum 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "New Singles". Music Week. 7 January 1984. p. 10.
  2. ↑ "News". Record Mirror. 24 March 1984. p. 4. ISSN 0144-5804.
  3. ↑ "Talk Talk singles".
  4. ↑ Woodstra, Chris. "It's My Life – Talk Talk". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Eccleston, Danny (May 2012). "Lost Horizon". Mojo. London (222): 100. ISSN 1351-0193.
  7. ↑ Roberts, David (October 2000). "Talk Talk: It's My Life". Q. London (169). Archived from the original on 11 October 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  8. ↑ Wallace, Wyndham (December 2017). "Talk Talk: The Party's Over / It's My Life". Uncut. London (247): 44.
  9. ↑ 'Talk Talk - It's My Life' story on Phil Spalding homepage
  10. 1 2 3 "Dutchcharts.nl – Talk Talk – It's My Life" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Talk Talk Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  13. ↑ Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 268. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  14. ↑ "Start Your Ear Off Right with Talk Talk, Danny Elfman, and More | Rhino". Rhino.com. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  15. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  16. ↑ "Charts.nz – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  17. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  19. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1984". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  20. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  21. ↑ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1984". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  22. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1985". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  23. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  24. ↑ "French album certifications – Talk Talk – It's My life" (in French). InfoDisc. Select TALK TALK and click OK. 
  25. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Talk Talk; 'It's My Life')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  26. ↑ "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".
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