BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985
Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including “Talk Talk”, “It’s My Life”, “Such a Shame”, “Dum Dum Girl”, “Life’s What You Make It” and “.
In their later years the band’s commercial appeal receded, but their critical reputation increased as they moved from synthpop to a more experimental form. Their final two albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, were highly acclaimed and remain influential to experimental alternative rock genres, especially post-rock.
“It’s My Mix” was a compilation EP released in 1985 in Canada and Italy only (this is the Italian pressing) and contains six extended remixes of Talk Talk hits. It also features a giant size poster of the photograph on the sleeve.
‘Why is it so hard’ was originally written by Talk Talk as a song for Michael Apred’s film “First born”. The 7″ version of the track was first released on EMI’s compilation album “Asides Besides” in 1998. The 12″ US remix is only available on this EP – and has so far not been released on CD.
SIDE A:
Why Is It So Hard? (12″ U.S. Remix – Extended Version) 6:05
Written-By – M. Hollis*
Talk Talk (12″ Mix – Extended Version) 4:32
Written-By – E. Hollis*, M. Hollis*
My Foolish Friend (12″ Mix – Extended Version) 5:27
Written-By – M. Hollis*, S. Brenner*
SIDE B:
It’s My Life (12″ Mix – Extended Version) 6:18
Written-By – M. Hollis*, T. Friese-Greene*
Dum Dum Girl (12″ Remix – Extended Version) 5:21
Written-By – M. Hollis*, T. Friese-Greene*
Such A Shame (12″ U.S. Remix – Extended Version) 6:25
Written-By – M. Hollis*
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
Poster: Mint
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: EMI – 62 2403071
Format: Vinyl, EP, Compilation, 33 RPM
Country: Italy
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: New Wave, Synth-pop
Credits: Cover – EMI Italiana Creative Services
Executive Producer – Bob Buziak (tracks: A1), Burt Berman (tracks: A1)
Photography By [Front Cover Photographs] – Sheila Rock
Producer – Colin Thurston (tracks: A2), Rhett Davies (tracks: A3), Tim Friese-Greene (tracks: A1, B1 to B3)
Remix – Steve Thompson (tracks: A1, B2, B3)
NOTES:
The manufacturing date, inscribed on the vinyl in the dead wax, is 11-2-85.
Also contains a 90×120 cm mega poster and a promo sheet showing the poster image and with “Special Price – 11.500” printed on it.
Find The EP On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
where is this download release available – anyone know…
Hi, there’s a chance to make a re-rip of this album or at least of ” Why it’s so Hard” Thanks.
Sorry I Find The Password
Bonjour,
When I download this record from Talk Talk, I Have A Rar File. But I Can’t Open it because I Have to give a password. Is it possible to get it.
Thanks
Que excelente aporte muchas gracias amigo, tenia ratos de andar buscando este album
A million thanks for posting It’s My Mix. I bought the cassette when it first came out, (still have it), and have been looking for a digital copy for years.
Sincere thanks for making this EP (and these hard-to-find remixes) available!
Thanks for this Paul. Talk Talk are one of my favorite bands.
Cheers!
Thanks! I found the pw!
This is great. Thanks, but the password?
What a find! Thank you, as always.
Wow I just came across your blog and discovered your treasure trove of awesome tunes. These bring back some great memories and I’d like to thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Paul,
Another fine 80’s post. Do you plan to post any Level 42 in future?
Hi Paul,
Another fine 80’s post. Do you plan to post any Level 42?
Thanks for this! I have it on vinyl, also, but my copy is filled with scratches and skips after being well loved over the years. I would love to see more Talk Talk creep up in your posts as I think they are one of the finest and greatest bands that have really not gotten the full credit they deserve. Also, there is a solo Mark Hollis album out there somewhere. Have you ever heard it?
Thanks for these mixes. )
You’re welcom Music Fan 🙂
Hi Paul!
Just like alessandro i also remember the time i saw this vinyl in a record shop back in 1985. I was 18.
If im not wrong Howard Jones released a remix EP that year.
Note: 11500 means “11500 lire”. Lira was the italian currency before the €uro era, 11.500 lire is about 6 euros.
Yes Howard Jones did as well. There is also an Italian Duran Duran EP titled “Mixing” that has the same sort of packaging with an extra large poster. I may be posting that one soon.
I actually bought “Mixing”… which was, honestly, a bit disappointing, and didn’t contain anything so rare as TT’s Why Is It So Hard mix on It’s My Mix. As an additional note regarding It’s My Mix’s RRP, at that time 12” singles in Italy usually cost between 7500 and 8500 Lire, whereas LPs cost between 12000 and 13000 Lire, so It’s My Mix was an “aggressively priced” LP. For some strange reason, the Pet Shop Boys’ Disco LP was priced 8500 or 9000 Lire, just above a regular 12″. Now that we’re talking about Italy-only releases, I still have a… Read more »
Hi and thanks for all your releases. I have a question about this one in 24bitFlac format. The filesize for “Such A Shame” is 133 MB while the others are less than 65 MB. I don’t know if it’s related but I cannot play it on my Dvico player. I don’t have issue playing the 5 others.
Hi LoloFrance
I show the file size as 133 m and I do not have any issues with playback using Foobar2000. There have been no other reports of problems. You might need to download it again because the download may have gotten corrupted during transfer.
I downloaded the archive again and I have the same issue with “Such A Shame”. I have no problem playing it on my computer. I think it could be a limitation with flac filesize on my dvico player. I will use the regular flac one as a workaround. Thanks.
Some new informations. I downloaded the regular flac file and everything is ok. So I ran FlacTester (from the official Flac website) on both formats and it confirmed a problem with the 24bit version of “Such A Shame”. Something may have went wrong converting it from wav.
Results from FlacTester on the regular flac files :
6 files, 0 errors
Results from FlacTester on the 24bit flac files :
D:\Temp\Talk Talk – It’s My Mix (Italy 12” EP) (1985) [DjPaulT FLAC] {24bit-96kHz}6 – Such A Shame (12” U.S. Remix – Extended Version).flac…FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_UNPARSEABLE_STREAM
6 files, 1 errors [6]
I tested it using Traders Little Helper and it tests fine. The file plays perfectly in Foobar2000 and Winamp. So I am not sure how to correct this. I don’t know what that error means. The regular flac files are resampled from the 24 bit file so it is the same file just in 16 bit.
This one brings back good old memories. I still remember walking into the record shop the day of release and buying it. I saw Talk Talk appereance at the Sanremo Festival (an institution here in Italy) where they performed Why Is It So Hard, and i was surprised to find out they had a new song to promote, since the last album – It’s My Life – had been released only six months earlier. I was searching for the 7-inch single, but i couldn’t find it, so i opted for this remix collection, which was really an unusual thing at… Read more »
Hi Alessandro,
I have done some upgrading. I bought a new tube for my pre-amp which has made a huge difference. I also started using some new methods of ripping vinyl along with some new software (iZotope RX Advanced 2) for the resampling part. Thank you for the comment I aprreciate it very much 🙂
Got this album on vinyl. Nice to see it remastered by a pro ;).
Thank you Dejan 🙂
Just a great couple of uploads. Thanks dude! Any more Talk Talk on the way?
Most certainly yes 🙂
One of the best remix ep’s ever. I have this on vinyl, too, with a giant poster included. And even after most of the mixes have been released on cd this is still a gem. Thanks for ripping it in great quality.
Best wishes
You’re welcome 1980-F 🙂
Multitude of accolades for your Talk Talk uploads, it’s appreciated greatly.
Thank uou Falke 🙂
Awesome, been a while since I last heard the EP, thanks for the priviledge of listening once again to these classics
You’re welcome Super C. I hope that you enjoy it 🙂
I. am. so. happy! thanks so much!
You are so welcome Conner. Enjoy!!
12″ remix compilations are uber rare during the pre-internet, pre-CD days…
so this is an excellent piece of vinyl, Paul. Thanks!
Mark’s vocals has this sad quality to it, and It’s My Life and Such A Shame are so melancholic…always give me a feeling of yearning and longing whenever I listen to them…sigh….
You’re welcome Ric. “Such A Shame” is my personal favorite. Enjoy!!
hope you had a great weekend!!!
thanx for Talk Talk!!!!
they were very popular here in Greece!!!!!!
cheers Paul!!!!
You’re welcome Giorgio. I had a great weekend thank you 🙂
Used to own this!!!….can’t wait to hear your super-üper rip of this gem.
Mine had become like a fireplace after so much use.
This is a very nice TT item 🙂
Thanx
MM
You’re welcome Maggi M. Enjoy!!
thanks for all these 12″ versions!!!
You’re welcome Drake 🙂
Thanks Paul,
This is so great! Never knew this existed!
Cele you’re welcome 🙂
Thanks Paul. I have their greatest hits but wasn’t aware of some of the remixes. These are great.
You’re welcome Omar 🙂