Laughing Stock

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Laughing Stock
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 Polydor Records
Producer	Tim Friese-Greene
Professional reviews
All Music Guide: link
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.

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.) Its backstory has attained near-mythical status among underground music fans. Tape Op magazine ran an extensive article detailing the harrowing recording sessions, marked by Mark Hollis's perfectionist tendencies, and his use of candles and incense to set the mood.

Paul Webb had left the band prior to recording.

Contents 1 Critical reception 2 Artwork 3 Track listing 4 Personnel 4.1 Musical 4.2 Technical 5 Notes

[edit] Critical reception

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, and along with predecessor one of the first records that could be described into the post-rock genre. Laughing Stock has consistently risen in critical opinion ever since post-rock became a dominant form of avant-garde during the 90s.

Laughing Stock was rated the eleventh-best album of the 1990s by Pitchfork Media, describing the album as "a record that makes its own environment and becomes more than the sum of its sounds. "Entrancing" barely describes the effect."^[1]

[edit] Artwork

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.)

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Mark Hollis, except for "After the Flood", which was written by Tim Friese-Greene and Mark Hollis.

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

The UK CD crossfades "After The Flood" into "Taphead"; the US CD does not, and also includes a brief, untitled instrumental fragment preceding "Taphead" which was located at the beginning of side 2 on the LP/cassette version.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Musical

• Lee Harris - drums
• Mark Feltham - harmonica
• Martin Ditcham - percussion
• Mark Hollis - vocals, guitar, piano, organ
• Tim Friese-Greene - organ, piano, harmonium
• Levine Andrade, Stephen Tees, George Robertson, Gavyn Wright, Jack Glickman, Wilf Gibson, Garfield Jackson - viola
• Simon Edwards, Ernest Mothle - acoustic bass
• Roger Smith, Paul Kegg - cello
• Henry Lowther - trumpet, flugel horn
• Dave White - contra bass clarinet

[edit] Technical

• Phill Brown - engineer
• James Marsh - cover illustration

[edit] Notes