Laughing Stock

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Laughing Stock
Laughing Stock cover
Studio album by Talk Talk
Released November 19, 1991
Recorded 1990–91 at Wessex Studios, London
Genre Post-rock, Art rock, Ambient music
Length 43:25
Label Verve Records
Producer(s) Tim Friese-Greene
Professional reviews
Talk Talk chronology
Spirit of Eden
(1988)		 Laughing Stock
(1991)


Laughing Stock was Talk Talk's fifth and final album, released in 1991. It was the only album the band released on the jazz-based Verve Records, after acrimoniously leaving EMI.

The cover art is by James Marsh, responsible for most of Talk Talk's artwork. (Though similar to the cover of the band's previous album, the birds on Laughing Stock's spherical-shaped tree form the shapes of the Earth's continents.)

Like its predecessor, Spirit of Eden, the album featured improvised instrumentation from a large ensemble of musicians. (For example, it featured no less than seven violists.)

Reviews of the album were generally good; many tended to emphasise the fact that it spanned several genres, with some noting a stylistic kinship with Miles Davis' contemplative In a Silent Way album. Like Spirit of Eden, the lyrical themes are often religious. The album is widely considered a key influence upon the post-rock genre, and its backstory has attained near-mythical status among underground music pontificators. Tape Op magazine ran an extensive article detailing the harrowing recording sessions, marked by Mark Hollis' perfectionist tendencies, and his use of candles and incense to set the mood.

Verve Records is said to have taken the album's title as an insult, thinking that the band were trying to make a laughing stock out of them by having them release such a blatantly non-commercial album.[citation needed]

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene.

  1. "Myrrhman" – 5:33
  2. "Ascension Day" – 6:00
  3. "After The Flood" – 9:39
  4. "Taphead" – 7:30
  5. "New Grass" – 9:40
  6. "Runeii" – 4:58

Note: There are two CD issues in existence. The original U.K. version cross-fades "After The Flood" into "Taphead"; the U.S. version does not, and contain a brief, untitled instrumental fragment — originally found at the beginning of side 2 of the LP/cassette version — preceding "Taphead".

[edit] Personnel

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