At the base of it all, he had a really gentle, kind, sweet character, but was capable of great cruelty and ignorance at the same time,” one long-time collaborator said.

Silence was always the end journey for Mark Hollis and Talk Talk: silence was the final step on their evolutionary ladder. Uneasy with his fame and fiercely private, the post-rock pioneer left behind a musical legacy of extraordinary beauty. In Mark Hollis a perfect silence author Ben Wardle tells the full, fascinating story of one of the UK’s most enigmatic musicians from his earliest beginnings through to his untimely end.He was legendised as a misunderstood visionary, or post-rock pioneer, or as an uncompromising innovator persecuted by treacherous music industry executives. We learn Mark was into golf and motorcycles, but never strayed from that fiercely independent streak. The biography also confirms how Hollis was deeply influenced by his brother Ed, and includes key recollections from producer/musician Tim Friese-Greene and manager Keith Aspden. Interestingly, the album was initially intended as a Talk Talk album and had the title Mountains of the Moon.

His inspiration came not from ‘pop’ but 20th-century classical music and jazz from the late fifties and sixties (there is a distinct flavour of Miles Davis – ‘In A Silent Way’ here) and is one of the quietest and most intimate records ever made – creating an exceptional atmosphere in which the listener can submerge.

Well, the world of music of cinema or TV is complex and full of unrealised projects, but that's particularly frustrating. In a mere eight years and five albums, Talk Talk undertook a transformation unprecedented in popular music history. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Wardle gives an honest account of the musician’s all-out determination to innovate, which he often did to the exasperation of collaborators, bandmates, producers and managers. Often in an artist’s oeuvre, a transformation takes place: sensibilities mature, and abilities crystalize.