10 Perfect New Wave Albums With No Bad Songs

Talk Talk's fourth studio album was their magnum opus, even if the critics didn't think much of it at the time. The group started their musical career releasing synth-pop laced new wave albums, but Spirit of Eden, was something else entirely. This was when new wave went progressive. The album contained a mere six tracks, and the ambient art house nature to them, garnered accusation of pretentiousness.

This album plays with volume, space and timing, to such a degree, that it transcends the notion, that music is just a form of entertainment. The feedback of an instrument is just as important as the note that preceded it. The opening number resonates with an ambient hum for several minutes before anything really happens. Eventually the warming soundscape is broken by a reverb-soaked guitar riff, followed closely by the piercing shrill of an electric harmonic. We're approaching the three and a half minute mark before any vocals make an appearance. By this time, a soft and subtle drum beat is adding to the slow but direct motion of the track.

Each song takes on its own mantel, but all are laced with a delicately precise attention to detail. But, you still get the sense that making this album was an organic process; nothing feels forced and each moment seems perfectly fated.