After The Noise
Everything Is Equal
Thursday 22 January 2026
John Williams – Jaws: Hand to Hank (2025 Mix) (2025)
One of the greatest films ever made. No debate.
The music is just as famous, yet I’ve barely listened to it properly. Which raises the question: why does this need a 2025 mix?
Remasters. Remakes. Vinyl probably does this best anyway.
I love film music, even if I’ve never fully admitted it. It’s placid. Samey. Written for purpose.
I’ve often wondered how film music is made. Scenes handed over. Music stitched to emotion. Harder than it looks, I imagine.
It’s work I’d have loved to try.
Ted Hughes – Hawk Roosting (2011)
Ted Hughes. The master.
Nature. Animals. The untouchable voice. Nobody comes close.
Listening to Hughes opens your eyes. His writing makes sense of the never-fully-understood. The speech-like quality makes it land even harder.
Didn’t give a fuck. About trends. About softness. About being liked.
Played by Daniel Craig once. Opposite Paltrow as Plath. I should watch it again. Bit of a wanker in real life (Hughes not Craig), allegedly. But who am I to judge the long dead?
Ted Hughes is the daddy of nature writing.
Talk Talk – My Foolish Friend (Extended Version) (1983)
Me and Bowie are doing our thing.
Morning Walk.
Invigorating, after a spell of frustration at the computer. I wanted to kill the computer, frankly, but that’s another matter. Another entry.
I’m chatting to my other AI bot about the book I’m planning when the unmistakable sound of Mark Hollis arrives.
Talk Talk.
Hollis.
No longer with us.
People like to call him a tortured soul. I don’t buy that. I think he just quietly got on with things.
I’d deliberately put the double album asides and besides. I knew it was early Talk Talk. More pop-based. And it’s not one of their songs I know particularly well, which is exactly why I had to log it.
I’m very predictable with Talk Talk. It’s My Life. Spirit of Eden. Laughing Stock. That’s my comfort zone. But listening properly to the early stuff reminds you there’s real quality there too.
They started out as a New Romantic band. That still surprises people.
Uninteresting fact: the first time I ever heard the name Talk Talk was through my sister, when they supported Duran Duran in 1981. Or maybe 1982. That’s where my journey begun.
Spirit Of Eden sealed the deal.
And what they became ten years later is still mind-blowing.
This is a brilliant track. Sharp, confident, and far better than it’s often given credit for.
It’s absolutely worthy of your attention.
End Of Listening Log
The Listening Log 