Laughing Stock (album)
Occupation
- Vocals, guitar, piano, organ: Mark Hollis
- Percussion: Martin Ditcham
- Drums: Lee Harris
- Harmonica: Mark Feltham
- Organ, Piano, Harmonica: Tim Friese- Greene
- Bass Guitar: Simon Edwards, Ernest Mothle
- Cello: Roger Smith, Paul Kegg
- Trumpet, flugelhorn: Henry Lowther
- Clarinet: Dave White
Laughing Stock is the fifth and final studio album by Talk Talk. It was published in 1991 and was the only album of the band, which appeared on the jazz label Verve Records affinity after the band had left EMI in dispute.
Like its predecessor, the album Spirit of Eden (1988 ), it is considered one of the pioneers of post-rock albums.
Style and history
The album often includes improvised music from a large ensemble of musicians with a great instrument. There were, for example, seven violinists active. The genesis of the album is described as Odyssey, only comparable to the recording of Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. The trade magazine Tape Op about music production reported in a long article about the exhausting and long albums recordings, which were driven by Mark Hollis ' perfectionism and his desire to create by candles and incense the right mood to take pictures.
The actual bassist of the band, Paul Webb, left the band before the recording of the album.
Reception
Reviews of the album were generally positive. Many stressed that the album Operating the different genres. So the music has also been compared with the stylistic achievements of Miles Davis. As Spirit of Eden are the themes in the lyrics often religious. The album is considered together with the previous album as one of the first albums, which operated a genre that would become known as post-rock in the '90s.
Laughing Stock is according to Pitchfork Media, the eleventh best album of the 90s is: " An album that creates its own environment and more than the sum of its sounds is the word ' charming ' hits the effect just as straight. . "
The album reached number # 37 on the list of " 100 plates of the century", curated by Viva Zwei and the spex.
When the critic Jason Ankeny writes allmusic because of its albums rating 5 out of 5 stars:
" A work full of amazing complexity and poignant beauty and remains Laughing Stock an undervalued masterpiece and its echoes can be perceived by much of the finest experimental music which was influenced from the album today."
Artwork
The album artwork is by James Marsh, who was responsible for most of TalkTalk 's Artwork. It is similar to the cover of its predecessor, but the birds are formed on the circular tree of the cover according to the five continents of the world.
Title list
All songs are by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese- Greene.
Before " Taphead " there is a short untitled and instrumental fragment at the beginning of the second page on the LP / MC version. On the U.S. version of the CD, this fragment does not find it also on the UK version of the CD.