It's My Life (album)

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

For the album by Sash!, see It's My Life – The Album.

"Dum Dum Girl" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Dum Dum Girls.

It's My Life
Studio album by Talk Talk
Released	February 1984
Recorded	1983
Genre	Synthpop new wave art pop progressive pop
Length	43:26
Label	EMI (UK) EMI America (US)
Producer	Tim 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
"It's My Life" Released: 13 January 1984 "Such a Shame" Released: March 1984 "Dum Dum Girl" Released: 1984 "It's My Life" Released: 1985 (reissue)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Mojo	[3]
Q	[4]
Uncut	8/10[5]

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."[6]

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.[7] In the Netherlands, the album stayed in the charts for 64 weeks between 1984 and 1986.[7] It also reached number 35 in the UK albums chart.[8] In the United States, the album just missed the top 40, reaching number 42.[9]

In 2000 it was voted number 872 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[10]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Dum Dum Girl"	Tim Friese-Greene Mark Hollis	3:51
2.	"Such a Shame"	Hollis	5:42
3.	"Renée"	Hollis	6:22
4.	"It's My Life"	Friese-Greene Hollis	3:50
5.	"Tomorrow Started"	Hollis	5:57
6.	"The Last Time"	Ian Curnow Hollis	4:23
7.	"Call in the Night Boy"	Simon Brenner Hollis	3:47
8.	"Does Caroline Know?"	Hollis	4:40
9.	"It's You"	Hollis	4:41

Personnel

Talk Talk

• Mark Hollis – lead vocals and backing vocals, acoustic guitar
• Paul Webb – fretless bass (except on "The Last Time"), backing vocals
• Lee Harris – electronic drums

Additional personnel

• Tim Friese-Greene – synthesizers, piano, programming and drum machine
• Ian Curnow – keyboards
• Phil Ramocon – piano
• Robbie McIntosh – guitars
• Morris Pert – percussion
• Henry Lowther – trumpet on "Renée" and "Tomorrow Started"
• Phil Spalding (uncredited) – bass guitar on "The Last Time"

Charts

Chart (1984–86)	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[7]	3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11]	4
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[12]	27
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13]	49
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14]	2
UK Albums (OCC)[8]	35
US Billboard 200[9]	42

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[15]	Gold	100,000^*
Germany (BVMI)[16]	Gold	250,000^^
Netherlands (NVPI)[17]	Platinum	100,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Woodstra, Chris. "It's My Life – Talk Talk". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
2. Larkin, Colin (2009). "Talk Talk". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-199-72636-1. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
3. Eccleston, Danny (May 2012). "Lost Horizon". Mojo. London (222): 100. ISSN 1351-0193.
4. 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.
5. Wallace, Wyndham (December 2017). "Talk Talk: The Party's Over / It's My Life". Uncut. London (247): 44.
6. 'Talk Talk - It's My Life' story on Phil Spalding homepage
7. "Dutchcharts.nl – Talk Talk – It's My Life" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
8. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
9. "Talk Talk Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
10. Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 268. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
11. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
12. "Charts.nz – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
13. "Swedishcharts.com – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
14. "Swisscharts.com – Talk Talk – It's My Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
15. "Les Certifications depuis 1973: Albums". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 24 August 2019. (select "Talk Talk" from drop-down list)
16. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Talk Talk; 'It's My Life')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
17. "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.