"Asides Besides" by TALK TALK – Thirty-Eight-Track 2CD Compilation featuring 45-Singles, Remixes, Extended Versions, Demos and Non-LP B-sides issued between February 1982 and September 1988 on EMI and Parlophone Records (April 1998 UK EMI Records 2CD Compilation with Peter Mew, Denis Blackham and Phil Brown Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Asides-Besides-Talk/dp/B00000883W?crid=1BSPR6KH1IY9M&keywords=724385480720&qid=1706982596&sprefix=724385480720%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=1c84e538466f0d3876545bab2e91d756&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"…John Cope…"

Although "Asides Besides" is a I-will-expire-without-it purchase for your dyed-in-the-wool double-talk believer (of which there are many and rightly so) – I would admit that this 2CD extracurricular extremities fest for England's Talk Talk will not be for everyone. But I love it to distraction.

EMI 845 8072 is one of those twofers that will always take pride of place on my bulging repertoire shelves. I'd like to argue that you consider diving in too because there is never enough of this fab Art Rock band as far as I'm concerned. They became magnificent and are sorely missed to this day (2024). To the logistics/details by our Synth-Pop wonders…

UK released April 1998 - "Asides Besides" by TALK TALK on EMI 845 8072 (Barcode 724385480720) is a Thirty-Eight Track 2CD Compilation featuring UK and US 45-Single Mixes, Remixes, Extended Versions, Demos and Non-LP B-sides between February 1982 and September 1988 on EMI and Parlophone Records and it plays out as follows:

CD1 The Longer Versions (76:59 minutes):
1. Talk Talk (Extended Version) – October 1982 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5352
2. Today (Extended Version) – June 1982 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5314
3. My Foolish Friend (Extended Version) – March 1983 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5573
4. It's My Life (Extended Version) – January 1983 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5443
5. Such A Shame (Extended Mix) – March 1983 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5433
6. Such A Shame (Dub Mix) – July 1984 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5480
7. Dum Dum Girl (12" Mix) - July 1984 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5480, A-side
8. Without You (12" Mix) - July 1984 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5480, B-side of "Dum Dum Girl"
9. Life's What You Make It (Extended Mix) – February 1986 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMIX 5540 – Remix by Tim Friese-Greene – band chosen mix
10. Living In Another World (Extended Remix) – March 1986 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5551
11. Pictures Of Bernadette (Dance Mix) – May 1986 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12R 6131, B-side of "Give It Up"
12. Happiness Is Easy (12" Mix) – October 1986 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12R 6144, B-side of "I Don't Believe In You"

CD2 The Extra Tracks (66:02 minutes):
1. Talk Talk (Demo Version) – March 1984 UK 7" Single Double-Pack on EMI Records EMID 5433
2. Mirror Man (Demo Version) - March 1984 UK 7" Single Double-Pack on EMI Records EMID 5433
3. Candy (Demo Version) - March 1984 UK 7" Single Double-Pack on EMI Records EMID 5433
4. Strike Up The Band – February 1982 Debut UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5265, Non-LP B-side of "Mirror Man"
5. ? – April 1982 Second UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5284, Non-LP B-side of "Talk Talk"
6. My Foolish Friend – March 1983 UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5373, A-side
7. Call In The Night Boy (Piano Version) – March 1983 UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5373, Non-LP B-side
8. Why Is It So Hard? – Debut Appearance of a 7" Single Mix of a song written for the 1984 Michael Apted film "First Born" – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ON CD
9. Again A Game…Again – March 1984 UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5433, Non-LP B-side of "Such A Shame"
10. Without You – July 1984 UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5480, Non-LP B-side of "Dum Dum Girl"
11. Dum Dum Girl (US Mix) - July 1984 UK 12" Single on EMI Records 12EMI 5480, Non-LP Second B-side to "Dum Dum Girl (12" Mix)"
12. It's Getting Late In The Evening – January 1986 UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5540, Non-LP B-side of "Life's What You Make It" – also on the B-side of the twelve-inch single
13. For What It's Worth – March 1986 UK 7" Single on EMI Records EMI 5551, Non-LP B-side of "Living In Another World"
14. Pictures Of Bernadette – May 1986 UK 7" Single on Parlophone Records R 6131, Non-LP B-side of "Give It Up"
15. Eden (Edit) – September 1988 UK 12" Single on Parlophone Records 12 R 6189, Non-LP B-side of "I Believe In You" – also a Bonus Track on the CD-single Parlophone CDR 6189 – Edit runs to 4:11 minutes
16. John Cope - September 1988 UK 12" Single on Parlophone Records 12 R 6189, Non-LP B-side of "I Believe In You" – also a Bonus Track on the CD-single Parlophone CDR 6189

TALK TALK were:

MARK HOLLIS - Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards 

TIM FRIESE-GREENE - Keyboards, Wind Instruments

TIM HARRIS - Drums and Percussion

The 20-page booklet doesn't have liner notes per say, but it does feature those all-important James Marsh picture sleeves – his gorgeous paintings-artwork synonymous with the band. Beside each entry is a basic discography (which I've expanded on above) and the usual reissue credits. The discs are themed – The Longer Versions on CD1 and The B-sides as The Extra Tracks on CD2 – both making for a surprisingly satisfying listen because they do feel like two sides of a single-coin. CD2 also boasts an exclusive on Track 8 – the digital-debut appearance of "Why Is It So Hard? " in 7" Single Mix form - a song written for the 1984 Michael Apted film "First Born". Fans will know that there is a 12" mix of this song on the vinyl compilation called "It's My Mix", but that is AWOL here – the band clearly opting for the more to-the-point single variant.  

The AUDIO is care-of three great names in Remastering – DENIS BLACKHAM who handled the four album Remasters for Talk Talk (1982's "It's My Party" to 1988's "Spirit Of Eden") and PETER MEW with PHIL BROWN - no strangers to EMI or Abbey Road Studios when it comes to Rock transfers (Hollies, Kevin Ayers, Deep Purple, Robin Trower etc). Talk Talk's material was always well recorded, but on "Asides Besides" you get that subtle oomph. To hear one of my fave-rave B-sides of all time "John Cope" in this quality is fantastic – my twelve-inch having been battered for decades now. All good really – to the music…

I would imagine it is only diehard Talkies who would endure the 6:30 minutes of the Dub Mix for "Such A Shame" – it ain’t for me – but the 5:54-minute piano-funk synth-pop of the extended "Without You" is wickedly good – another punchy Tim Friese-Greene production. By the time we get to Track 9 we are into the magical "The Colour Of Eden" album from 1986 where the band became something otherworldly. Everything about that LP and its splinters do my collector head in – fantastical stuff. There is another mix of "Life's What You Make It" from another twelve-inch (12EMI 5540) remixed by Denis Weinreich that runs to almost eight-and-half-minutes – but the band have chosen the more guitar/piano funky cut on the American twelve (12EMIX 5540) remixed by their own Tim Friese-Greene that sexes its way across your living room for 6:58 minutes on CD1 (there are more versions of the song when it was reissued in 1990 to support the "Natural History" Best-Of album, but they are not dealt with by this compilation). 

Not to be outdone in brilliance, next up is the radically and brilliantly re-worked "Living In Another World" that slips tasty Harmonica and Synth fills alongside echoed vocal bits – and I love all its madly 80ts 8:57 minutes. Children giggling and playing open the Dance Mix of "Pictures Of Bernadette" after which it settles into a guitar-Indie groove where the boys allow the axes to distort and contort to a backdrop of drums and percussion. Then that huge organ comes roaring in – Hollis again letting it rip with that other-place voice of his before we return to mad Smiths-like electric and acoustic guitar fills. The Dance Mix of "Pictures Of Bernadette" is brilliant and a genius inclusion in all its 8:05 minute glory. And CD1 ends on another huge fan-fave - the Twelve Mix of "Happiness Is Easy" – the 7:02 minute Remix turning it into a more Acoustic-and-Bass Chic-Funky spacious beast (all this and the magnificent "I Don't Believe In You" on the A-side – what a 12 single-buy that was back in the day).

You might think that opening CD2 with three demos in row (turned on a seven-inch double-pack) that got their EMI contract would mean an interesting listen rather than an essential one – but this is Talk Talk – and they are far better than you would assume. Recorded June 1981, the synth-pop vibe and sound is there but somehow the "Mirror Man" version captures something even more angst that the released mix. And there is a soulfulness to "Candy" – Hollis sounding every bit like the ground-trembling sets of pipes he was and would become. Fantastic stuff and you can so hear why the band would want punters to be re-reminded of these early-years accomplishments. 

Things start to B-side the Seaside hot up with "?" and "My Foolish Friend" - two great Non-LP tracks with "My Foolish Friend" sounding like UK 80ts Synth-Pop at its hooky best. Fans will salivate at a clean Remastered version of the gorgeous "Call In The Night Boy (Piano Version)" - so Japan, so David Sylvian, so Peter Gabriel while the compilation offers up something new to CD - the 7" version of the film song "Why Is It So Hard?" - a tune that could easily have been an album inclusion (great audio to as those keyboards swoon and pop). The "Such A Shame" B-side "Again A Game...Again" could be the little brother of "Why Is It So Hard?" - another Synth-Pop Funkathon that sounds huge here. I'm no boy stealing pennies - Hollis sings on the slyly sinister "Dum Dum Girl" - presented to here in its US 7" Mix which I must admit doesn't feel 'that' different. Heading into the homeward strait with the deeply cool "It's Getting Late In The Evening" - a B-side let-it-all-hang-out indication of their musical direction as they hurtled towards disbandment in 1991 (1988's "Spirit Of Eden" and 1991's final "Laughing Stock") - weird, spacial and wonderfully evocative. Swirling beautiful comes in the shape of "For What It's Worth" (tiger butterfly artwork gets me every time) while guitars fuzz-funk up "Pictures Of Bernadette" - another fab discovery. 

"Asides Besides" ends with the Edit of "Eden" where jagged guitar-notes introduce Hollis' trademark warble, sparse drum whacks and huge keyboards (mesmerizing stuff) only to be whomped by my go-to-poison - the out-there-in-the-stars "John Cope" - the kind of cool few bands ever achieve (apparently Hollis used it as an alias at times). And it was a B-side!

(Mark David) Hollis would make that slightly disappointing self-titled solo LP in 1998 on Polydor Records before he disappeared out of the music business entirely only to lose him in 2017 - a genius gone too soon. "Asides Besides" always makes me think of him and the fans who obsess over the band the way Smiths or Cure fans do. God bless 'em. Be no foolish friend and get this twofer in your rig - soonest...