Laughing Stock

Laughing Stock

Infobox Album |
Name = Laughing Stock
Type = Studio album
Artist = 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
Reviews = *"Allmusic": Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:16fe4j670way link]
Last album = "Spirit of Eden" (1988)
This album = "Laughing Stock" (1991)
Next album =

"Laughing Stock" was Talk Talk's fifth and final studio 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, including as many as seven violists on occasion. The recording sessions have attained near-mythical status among underground music fans; "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.

Original bassist Paul Webb had left the band prior to recording.

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 (along with "Spirit of Eden") as one of the first records to be classed - arguably retroactivelyFact|date=September 2008 - as within the post-rock genre. Laughing Stock has consistently risen in critical opinion as a result of post-rock's rise to relative popularity during the late 90sFact|date=September 2008.

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." [ cite web | url= http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36737-staff-list-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/page_9 | title= Top 100 Albums of the 1990s; 20-11 | publisher= Pitchfork Media]

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 tree form the shapes of the Earth's continents.)

Track listing

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

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

The UK CD crossfades "After The Flood" into "Taphead"; the US CD does not.

There is a brief, untitled instrumental fragment preceding "Taphead" at the beginning of side 2 on the LP/cassette version. This is not present on CD, except for the US CD.

Personnel

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

Technical

*Phill Brown - engineer
*James Marsh - cover illustration

Notes


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  • Laughing Stock — Studioalbum von Talk Talk Veröffentlichung 16. September 1991 Aufnahme 1990 91 Label …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • laughing stock — laughing stocks also laughing stock N COUNT If you say that a person or an organization has become a laughing stock, you mean that they are supposed to be important or serious but have been made to seem ridiculous. The truth must never get out.… …   English dictionary

  • laughing-stock — also laughingstock; 1510s, formed by analogy with whipping stock whipping post, later also object of frequent whipping (but that word is not attested in writing in this sense until 1670s). See LAUGHING (Cf. laughing) + STOCK (Cf. stock) (n.2) …   Etymology dictionary

  • laughing stock — also laugh|ing|stock AmE [ˈla:fıŋstɔk US ˈlæfıŋsta:k] n someone who is a laughing stock has done something so silly that people have no respect for them ▪ The programme has made the U.S. a laughingstock …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Laughing Stock — Album par Talk Talk Sortie 19 novembre 1991 Enregistrement septembre 1990 avril 1991 Durée 43:25 Genre post rock Producteur …   Wikipédia en Français

  • laughing stock — If someone becomes a laughing stock they do something so stupid or wrong that no one can take them seriously and people scorn and laugh at them …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • laughing stock — [n] object of ridicule Aunt Sally, butt, dupe, fair game, fall guy*, fool, goat*, joke, laughingstock, stooge, target, victim; concept 412 …   New thesaurus

  • laughing stock — ► NOUN ▪ a person subjected to general ridicule …   English terms dictionary

  • laughing stock — [noun] figure of fun, Aunt Sally (Brit.), butt, target, victim * * * ▶ noun FIGURE OF FUN, dupe, butt, stooge, Aunt Sally; informal fall guy. * * * laughing stock noun An object of ridicule • • • Main Entry: ↑laugh * * * laug …   Useful english dictionary

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