Mark Hollis RIP

Sad news today. Words are failing me. Just listen:
 

And yes, that two-minute silence at the end is on the album. This is the last song on the last record he worked on before retiring from music in the 90s. You can read an excellent account of it (which puts it, accurately, in the same league as Astral Weeks, Rock Bottom, In A Silent Way and Tim Buckley's Starsailor) here.

I remember how "It's My Life" and "Such A Shame" stood out a mile from all the other synthpop on the radio in 1984, liked what I heard when they came out with Colour of Spring, and then Spirit of Eden came out and the world stopped for a moment. I listened to a cassette of that every night for months as I was going to sleep in '88-'89 when I was a student. Love it even more now, and probably always will. Thanks for your work Mark, and for putting up with the music business long enough to get this stuff down on tape. The world is still catching up and will be for a while now.