Given free rein by EMI to duplicate the success of "The Colour Of Spring", Talk Talk metamorphosed into a musical entity with this album that owed more to Brian Eno and Eric Satie than to Duran Duran or Roxy Music. Song structures are played with to the extent that this is no longer pop music. It is not jazz either, but the songs swing and there are barely any electric instruments. Instead harmonicas, double basses, violins, woodwinds, trumpets and other orchestral instruments are used. The result is the ambiental beauty of "The Rainbow" and "Eden", occasionally punctured by the ferocity of songs like "Desire". With this album and "Laughing Stock", their 1991 swan song, Talk Talk secured their place in pop history simply because these are two records that current popular acts like Catherine Wheel and Sarah MacLaughlan use as source of ideas and sounds. This is clearly the band's best artistic creation, and the only other album worthy to be compared to this is Van Morrison's seminal "Astral Weeks". Rating ***** out of 5