The last three albums from Talk Talk represent the high watermark of a fascinating story in the development of a fine band. As set texts for learning how to mature gracefully they are hard to be beaten. What is more, the likes of 'Spirit Of Eden' have become a huge influence on the music we now know as post-rock. It is this album which carried on the sparse, uncommercial parts of previous album 'The Colour Of Spring' and suddenly the tracks were now better described as suites rather than songs. From the sombre tones of 'The Rainbow' to the defiant, redemptive 'Wealth' there is a pattern of minimalism which seems to make more sense now in 2004 than it sounded in 1988, cymbals are brushed rather than struck whilst guitar strings are plucked and left to resonate. In between there is a nice contrast between the quiet-loud dynamics of 'Desire' (one minute Mark Hollis mourns, the next he struggles to be heard above the wailing guitars and "pots and pans" crashing percussion) and the anti-heroin song 'I Believe In You' wherein Hollis' hushed tones convey lyrics ("Is it worth so much when you taste it. Enough there aint enough hidden hurt") in a convincing, highly intimate manner; the instrumental break that separates the two choruses is worth listening to alone but the closing contribution of the choir of Chelmsford Cathedral just about tops it for emotional impact. At this stage of their career Talk Talk had mastered a peculiar art whereby through the medium of music they had provided voices for nature itself with the quiet moments almost verging on silence and the loud moments powerful enough to wake the dead.