“There are an awful lot of synthesizers on the second album, that’s true. But we use the synthesizer for organic sounds, not synthetic. I want to make that clear. In the string arrangements, we are guided by composers for the violin like Debussy. We can’t afford an orchestra, but we can use synthesizer in an economically responsible way, and move in that direction.”
Vogue Italy: July/August 1985
Does Caroline Know? kicks off with hand drums, burbling and skipping like water over rocks in a stream, and then the bassline enters, dancing and rumbling, a deep-voiced frog chorus; the synthesised strings sound like sunlight reflecting off the bubbling river of percussion, and then swoop and dip like birds diving for bugs off the surface, and to complete the bucolic picture the fade-out fills up with electronic tweets and chirps of insects and birds and other creatures inhabiting this vivid soundscape.
Floating above it all – because where else? – is the sad and dreamy vocal, made even more melancholy by its summery surrounds. ‘Every little accident takes time” drifts further into the ether on an angelic harmony worthy of the Beach Boys. You would expect a close-listener like Mark Hollis to know and appreciate the Beach Boys and particularly their magnum opus, Pet Sounds, home of Caroline, No. I guessed Hollis pilfered and edited that song title for himself, and was stoked when I finally found the quote where he said that he was a Beach Boys fan. Gotcha!
Does Caroline Know? wasn’t ever a single or a club favourite (despite being extremely danceable), but it’s a complex and glorious composition that was a live staple for as long as Talk Talk were a live act, where it was often extended, jammed out, truly wonderful – for sure one of their best album tracks.
Mark: “New wave. I like that, it’s just like being called contemporary. That’s fine, it dates you to a period rather than a type. ‘Pop band’ is such a horrible description. To me it means bland, disposable, instant, not very long lasting. We’re an albums band, I only worked it out today – it’s because we don’t release our best tracks as singles!” – Mark Hollis talking to Betty Page for Record Mirror 1984
Does Caroline Know?https://youtu.be/D78T-E7nXcc?si=e13X1IBOuPVcfs8d
Caroline, Nohttps://youtu.be/4OCja0WBWYA?si=78oG6nvr8JEMFCR7