It HAS been almost seven years now, Mark.

Been a Talk Talk fan since high school, but never owned this (heard it several times.) Ordered it today.

Yeah, that is a nice one. I've had it since the US release, which was a couple years after the initial release in Europe. A shame it got such little recognition since it does have most of the same spiritual qualities of those last couple Talk Talk albums. More like Laughing Stock than Spirit of Eden, but nearly as good as either. Lots of atmosphere, but very quiet. Think I saw it very high up on Wire's best of year list back then (1998) which is the only reason I even knew about it. Yep, just checked, #10 ... http://www.rocklist.net/thewire.html#The%20Wire%20'98%20Rewind ... and Arto Lindsay Noon Chill at #6. Man, I love that album - just listened to it this morning. Nearly timeless industrialized bossa nova - more accessible than Tom Zé and more interesting than Bebel Gilberto

Talk Talk is a band I know jack shit about yet have been meaning to check out.

Quite a band. If you've been into the post-rock scene at all then Spirit of Eden will pretty much take you back to the origins, and is quite a listen. Music affects us all in ways that are not easily described and once in a while, if you're lucky, you find yourself affected in ways that might as well be called spiritual since our limited vocabulary fails us here. This is one of those albums for me and apparently for quite a few others if you go by the number of 5-star reviews at amazon.com. It's gentle, ambient music in some ways but with a dark undercurrent, strewn with emotional outbursts. It's personal music, the stuff that makes long late night listening sessions seem to pass in a matter of minutes. It completely envelops you in a timeless soundscape which washes your mind clean of the daily distractions and fills it with beautifully developed images of hope and despair ... sometimes both at the same time.

It was digitally remastered in 1997 by Phill Brown and Denis Blackham at Country Masters from the "original 1/2" analogue masters" and distributed by EMI Records in Europe, but has been available in the US as a relatively low cost import and I believe it may have been subsequently released in the US as well (just checked at amazon and I guess there isn't a US release at this time). In any case, the 1997 remastered import sounds great to me. And now you can add to that the highly acclaimed 2003 European reissue in the SACD format as well. Or just find a used copy from someone that updated to a newer version. Essential

yeah, spirit of eden is great. not really what i was expecting, but its great anyway.

Any expectations of a new wave synth band past their first album should be done away with by anyone just now delving into Talk Talk. They're like the anti-Ministry. Went the opposite direction after the synth-pop debut.