| Laughing Stock |  | Artist: Talk Talk
Label: Polydor / Umgd
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $4.44
as of 9/9/2010 15:25 MDT details
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New (19) Used (18) Collectible (3) from $2.73
Seller: -importcds
Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 20,316
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 042284771726
EAN: 0042284771726
ASIN: B000001FZK
Release Date: November 19, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Myrrhman | | • | Ascension Day | | • | After The Flood | | • | Taphead | | • | New Grass | | • | Runeii |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: TALK TALK
Title: LAUGHING STOCK
Street Release Date: 11/19/1991
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP
Amazon.com
Dreamy and loose, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock turns 180 degrees away from the '80s pop sound of It's My Life and runs headlong into a web of Brian Eno, avant-garde, jazz, and experimental structure. The songs ache with languid phrases and the naked, vulnerable voice of Mark Hollis, the only element of the band that remains perceptible from their verse-chorus-verse past. The bashing, off-time clatter of "Ascension Day"; the impossibly patient organ motif snaking into a wailing guitar string in "After the Flood"; the terrifying, beautiful silences that engulf "Runeii" and "Myrrhman"; and the teetering, defenseless vocal Hollis lays down on "New Grass"--it all adds up to a stellar, shockingly original work that shreds all pretense of genre limitations, finding a transcendence in the light and shadow of musical color. --Matthew Cooke
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 73
my reaction first time listen June 26, 2010
doctor doobleman (carmel, ca usa)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
i'm shaking, my heart is racing, a joy untold swirls within. happy to be alive. proud to be human. i think i'm in love. thank you to the reviewer that almost begged me to buy this, i heard you and will keep listening and keep looking for music plants and animals.
Don't walk..., run to it ! May 8, 2010
Jodepi (Boston, MA)
I recall Wynton Marsalis' prophetic statement about jazz music,"If you go to it, you will get the benefit of IT". While I would not classify it as jazz, so is true for Talk Talk's - Laughing Stock. You must "go to it".
It is a brilliant work, full of musical textures, arrangements, and melodic complexities. You would be hard pressed to define it, or to select a category. It teeters on rock, but has the inventiveness and improvisational glue of jazz, and an etherial blend of atmospheric nuances that mix the avant-garde with a dark ambient, new-age - without the techno-sound annoyances. Hauntingly beautiful and curious, Mark Hollis' voice is infused with a controlled intensity that weaves into, and also cuts through the most complex passages. You'll find yourself going back to individual tracks again and again to pick up on sounds, lyrics, and sweet notes that weren't heard previously. These are some of the most compelling tracks I've ever heard in music.
When I first listened to Laughing Stock, I immediately acknowledged it's departure from the magnificent melodic structure that make up the tracks on, Color of Spring - also a brilliant work, and so ahead of it's time. Even more innovative than the uniquely beautiful, Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock is an experiment with lyrical sounds and structure, always keeping true to the experience Talk Talk wanted to create.
Any fan of Talk Talk who has an open-minded sensibility about music will understand the overwhelming significance of the work they produced from Colour of Spring through Laughing Stock. They're gifts, and they await those who have the capacity to challenge and really appreciate musical beauty and ingenuity.
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock January 1, 2010
BK (Near the Rocky Mountains)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Probably the most beautiful rock CD I own, Talk Talk's LAUGHING STOCK is the swan song of the band who is credited for founding the post-rock genre. A marvelous thing about LAUGHING STOCK is that it doesn't sound like it was made in any particular decade; it is a truly timeless album. Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Green gathered some magnificent studio musicians recorded LAUGHING STOCK in much the same way as they did on the previous album Spirit of Eden. Highlights include the minimalistic opener "Myrrhman," "Ascension Day," and "After the Flood" with its quiet but powerful organ parts and slightly swinging drum beat. Along with SPIRIT OF EDEN, LAUGHING STOCK represents Talk Talk at their creative peak. This album still stubbornly holds its place as one of my top 10/desert-island discs.
Laughing Stock December 9, 2009
Jerry D. Airheart (Santa Barbara, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this on vinyl when it was initially released and it totally changed my interest in music. It's priceless, nothing like it except Spirt of Eden. It was kind of like the first time I listened to John Coltrane, Mahavishu Orchestra and Return to Forever. You knew these guys had a talent that nobody else had. I bought it yesterday on CD as I wore the vinyl out. I'm over 50 and listen to this all the time.. If you are looking for something different, something that will probably change your taste in music, it's not party music. It's music you listen to with headphones or when you are alone and want to veg out.
Nothing else like it. October 7, 2009
Timothy N. Knight (Knoxville, TN United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am very fortunate that I happened upon this album in a used CD store....yes on the original label. I have listened to it three straight times through. I started reading other reviews and realized that I could not add much more to what has already been said about this amazing recording. I love Talk Talk's debut, Colour of Spring, and Spirit of Eden. This is a tour de force in a complete opposite direction......or maybe not. If you want to talk about the maturity of a band like the Beatles between their first album and Revolver; five short years, expect nothingless than to be blown away by Laughing Stock. This music is a sonic and lyrical blessing.
Dare: put it on and dont take it off, even when you want to. It is like taking a drive through as many landscapes/seascapes/earthscapes as possible in one hour. Unbelievable.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 73
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