Remix ＋ Upscale: IT'S MY LIFE by TALK TALK – 40th Anniversary Remaster

_Writer-Producer CJ Simpson aka Perifractic presents a 40th-anniversary tribute remix and remaster of Talk Talk's "It's My Life", creating a live performance "that never was", by blending in live audio parts, and AI upscaled visuals, to honour the band's authentic spirit and aversion to miming, in a version that aligns more closely with perhaps their original artistic intention for this classic yet mimed performance – and all to reintroduce the iconic song to a new generation._ [㏄] Turn on captions for lyrics ©️ This remix is presented for educational purposes as a transformative piece under Fair Use law. All playback revenue goes from YouTube to the original songwriters and publishers listed below. ✍️ *The producer writes:* “Talk Talk’s _It’s My Life_ (January 1984) was written by their indefinable frontman Mark Hollis (who sadly passed away in 2019 at just 64), and Tim Friese-Green (still making groundbreaking music today – https://www.timfriesegreene.co.uk). IMHO it is one of the most precious songs ever recorded. For many who grew up in the 80s it played a part in defining our early years, and with it's 40th anniversary approaching, a tribute felt right. 🎂 📺 The remixed audio plays along to a modest AI upscale using https://www.topazlabs.com/Topaz-Video-AI/ref/1748 of what I think is Talk Talk’s best public performance https://youtu.be/DmKXsEEEAWw The original music video famously featured Hollis with his mouth sealed shut throughout; a protest against artists miming during "live" performances. How sad therefore that their most fun TV performance features them miming due to insufficient TV studio capabilities on the day. 🤐 🎙️ To resolve this and create the best of both worlds I blended in parts of Hollis’s wondrous, melancholy live vocals – often indistinguishable from his studio work – plus live acoustic guitar melodies and live synth pads, all AI separated from actually live performances, to lend the single and this fascinating 1984 appearance on Italy’s _Popcorn_ show that feeling of actually being “live” itself. 🎸 ✇ For the audio I went back to the original 24-track studio masters digitised recently by an anonymous engineer https://youtu.be/S59QEY2umoU adding prominence to elements I personally love in the song (such as Ian Curnow’s Roland Jupiter-8 “animal” sounds 🐘 and airy Oberheim OB-X synth lead, or Paul Webb’s driving bassline). 🎹 🎼 The above was all done in an effort to create the ultimate audio-visual “live” version of the song that also stands on its own as a single, and that I hope you enjoy as my small tribute. 🎈 🎛️ Thank you for stopping by, and for reading me ‘talk talk’ about a song I originally bought back in the day (the CD of which I still have here with me) that helped shape ‘(it's) my life’ and lead to decades of songwriting my own music (http://euromantix.com), at times creating remixes, and on this occasion, coming full circle. 💿 ✨ I should finally note that my instinct is to not touch something that is already perfection, but at the same time I feel Talk Talk and Hollis are criminally underrated, and so by creating a fresh version of the track with more of what I love in it, in an industry that is used to remixes and remasters anyway, the hope is it may introduce Talk Talk to a new audience who can in turn experience the magic that lies inside its four beautiful minutes.” – _Perifractic_ 🙏 Support Perifractic's Retro Recipes by clicking _Thanks_ under the video or visiting http://perifractic.com/support – thank you! *CHANGES INCLUDE:* 0:00 Duplicated the "elephant" sound that fascinated me as a teen to here & few other places 0:01 Increased bassline & flange 0:04 Increased "seagulls" 0:09 Increasaed Oberheim synth notes throughout 0:10 Added country acoustic guitar AI separated from their "Montreux" 1986 live show (and pitched up as the live show was performed 1 semitone lower) 0:17 Used my special technique for adding chorus to vocals without using any effects 0:22 Introduced live vocals mixed with studio vocals (Hollis was remarkably consistent live & it's hard to hear the difference) 0:50 Synth brass pads mostly replaced with the more ethereal ones from "The Saturday Show" live performance https://youtu.be/CpDg93LtC4c (pitched up as it was performed 2 semitones lower) 1:19 The tail-ends of "ends" are one of the rare places it's possible to hear how Hollis's incredible live vocals differed from the single 2:31 Increased the percussive "fiddlesticks" 2:56 Another place it's easier to make out Hollis's live vocals 3:35 Ending tails off as a live performance would do, with Lee Harris’s fading drums revealing the live, unprogrammed elements (intentionally left untidied by me) that lie beneath on the studio tracks 3:39 Hollis's live vocals finally take centre stage and end with his sign off of, "Goodnight". Goodnight Mark. 🌎 My website: http://perifractic.com © Upscale work and remix production work copyright & TM Retro Recipes LLC 1988-2023. #music #remix #talktalk

Added 2 Oct 2026